Red Honey Magazine 2013 Archive Edition | Page 51

Your definition of Beauty: My definition of Beauty is someone with a loving heart and soul who gives of themselves willingly and unselfishly. Beauty is when you feel your best even if you look your worst. Beauty is watching a baby take their first steps, seeing tiny tots dance their first song, hearing elders share their stories, families laughing with one another. Beauty is love. The most Beautiful person you know and why. The most beautiful person I know is my mother, Sandra King. She is a genius, literally. She writes grants and proposals for our tribe, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, which brings in millions of dollars so programs can be funded to help all Red Lakers. My mother has four children, three sons and myself. She has been married to my father, Archie King, for 40 years. She loves to spoil all of her 7 grandkids. My mother is a writer, author, poet, artist and creator of wonderful pow-wow regalias. I admire my mom for so many reasons. She is always there to listen and offer her help. I value her opinion on everything. My mother right now is writing her second novel. Her idea of a lovely day is Beautifully Native peacefully writing in her studio while watching the birds fly outside her window. Everything my mother creates is beautiful in my eyes. I hope to someday be just like her. What would you say makes a Native (Indigenous) woman strong? I think for any woman, especially Native woman, to be strong she needs a great sense of who she is, where she comes from and where she is going in life. Family and tradition are great attributes in making any woman strong. I believe laughter is a form of strength for Natives. My mom, aunties, grandmas, and girlfriends all love to laugh and laugh at themselves. They have all endured some form of hardship or lose in their life, while still having the ability to continue on with pride, love and laughter. This is what I think makes Native women strong. If you were a cartoon char