"Delphine Red Shirt has done a very admirable job of interweaving the past and present, the old ways and new ways, and has captured the often poignant struggle to strike a middle ground between these two often conflicting worlds. . . . This story . . . derives a great deal of strength from its detail and honesty."-Joseph Starita, author of The Dull Knives of Pine Ridge. "Delphine Red Shirt gently explores her childhood caught between traditional and evolving Lakota ways. She movingly recalls how her family's support enabled her to thrive despite the tragedy and poverty of reservation life."-Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve. "Delphine Red Shirt writes with a wonderful lyrical gift, and scene after scene seemed to be evoked with almost magical clarity.-Richard H. Brodhead, Yale University. This is the beautifully-told story of a Lakota girl's experiences growing up on the Pine Ridge reservation in the 1960s and 1970s. Like her female relatives and ancestors, Delphine Red Shirt felt a powerful connection to the openness of the plains. She participated in coming-of-age ceremonies, learned the special rules for stringing beads together, and the messages conveyed by hairstyles. At the same time, Red Shirt became increasingly aware of the distance between her world and that of her ancestors. Ringing with insight and honesty, this memoir gives voice to an emerging generation of Lakota women who attempt to navigate the difficult paths of a bicultural world. Delphine Red Shirt is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and a former advisor to Native American undergraduate students at Yale University.