Local author explores Native American history through comedy

Welcome back to Seattle News. Today I'm your host, Felicia Michelle. This I'm very excited about. A new book is out from Joey Cliff. It is titled, We've Been Here the Whole Time, A Not-So-Sacred Guide to All Things Native American. Joey's appeared here on Fox 13 before, thanks to his work on the hit show Spirit Rangers. He's a member of the Cowlitz tribe, and he's coming back here on Monday for an event to connect with readers. I'm going to welcome Joey up to the show right now. Hey, Joey, how are you doing? Welcome. Hey, thanks so much for having me. I got to say, I grew up loving Fox 13, watching a lot of Simpsons reruns. So I feel so, I feel this is a homecoming for me. Oh, welcome home to you. First off, congratulations on the book. It's, it's, that's really cool for anybody to get to write a book and publish and have people read. I think that's also really cool. And you've been bouncing around on tour, meeting some people. So how has that been? And how would you describe your book to maybe people who this is their first time ever hearing about it? Oh, yeah. Thanks so much for asking that question. So, yeah, my book One More Time is called You've Been Here the Whole Time, and that's a sacred guide to all things Native America. And it's like a comedy satire book about all the Native history, culture, and notable people they don't teach you about in school. I like to think about it as it's like if The Onion or The Daily Show wrote a book about Indian country. And it's, as far as I know, one of the first comedy books to tackle this subject matter. And I have to say, the reception has been incredible. The book came out October 6th, so about a month ago. On our first day, we sold out our first two printings of the book, and just last week for the number one bestselling nonfiction book in Oklahoma, we've made it on a couple of bestseller lists so far, and it really feels like it's helped people by giving an attainable and easy way to get educated about Native history. Let's talk more about your local connections. So you have local ties to both the Cowlitz and the Tulip, Tulalip. Did I say it correctly? Tulalip? Tulalip, yes. Yes, tribes for local readers. What will they see in that book? Will local readers see some of those tribes and kind of like more about them in your book? Oh, yeah, for sure. Yes. I'm an enrolled member of the Cowlitz Indian tribe, which were based out of kind of southern Washington. And then I grew up on the Tulalip Reservation, which is about 45 minutes north of where y'all are at in Seattle. And, you know, the book is it definitely covers a lot of, you know, Pacific Northwest history. I talk about my tribe a lot. There's specifically a chapter about how much I love my tribe's casino. It's 20 minutes north of Portland. There's a hand-drawn map in the book that, like, Shows you how to get to my tribe's casino from Portland, Oregon, which I think is very funny. And then I talked a little bit, like, so yeah, there's the map right there. And then I talked a little bit. Did you draw that, Joey? Oh, no, we had a really great illustrator named Julie Thievish, who's a Diné member of the Navajo Nation. And they're just a really fantastic zine illustrator. But then I also talked a lot about, I mean, my in-point to how I know Native culture is my experiences growing up on the Tulalip Reservation. I talk a lot about, you know, the benefits that tribal businesses have on local communities. And I mentioned the Tulalip tribe a lot in that. I went to Tulalip Elementary School and a lot of schools run by the Tulalip tribe. So I talk about sort of. My experience is getting what to me felt like a pretty comprehensive education about Native history when I was, you know, going through a K through 12 education and then going across the state to Washington State University and meeting people who had never met a Native person before and realizing how rare. I was OK. Native history is. That's one of the questions that I wanted to ask you, because I recently moved here just a couple of months ago. And so I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of people who are Native, too, and get to really share their culture and then talk to me more about it. that there may be a disconnect with what we think someone who's Native looks like, sounds like, is versus maybe kind of what is in our mind based off like television or like movies or something like that. And I think your book does a great job to kind of bridge in the gap of bringing the entertainment part and the education part together. Was that like on purpose? Were you saying I can use my comedy and what I'm able to do to reach people to educate them at the same time? Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, I've, for my day job, I write for a lot of, you know, kids comedy shows, things like Paw Patrol, you mentioned Spirit Rangers, Molly of Denali, and have a lot of experience in a comedy streamer called Dropout and Comedy Central and places like that. And something that I've learned through my comedy work is that comedy is a really great way to help people retain information. The way that I think about it is, is a joke. It's like the gob of peanut butter that you put the pill in to feed to your dog to make sure that your dog gets their medicine. the candy coating around, you know, your cough syrup that you have. And I definitely was very intentional with this book in that I feel like up until this point, most books that cover Native history are either super thick academic textbooks or things that are just like ultra, you know, focused on our trauma. And I wanted to create something that felt like an attainable and accessible way to get educated about this stuff. You know, it's the sort of thing that you could I could read in about four hours and laugh along the way while doing it. And, you know, You know, I think that especially now with, you know, how little education there is about Native people in schools, there's a research study that came out that showed that 87% of U.S. schools don't teach Native history past 1900. That was an organization called Reclaiming Native Truth. How, like, important it is to have accessible ways to get educated about this stuff. And also, too, to look at the culture as one that is ever evolving and it's changing and it's not like, OK, it just stopped here. It's not like using the Latin language where there's no more language. There are still things that are changing and growing and to be explored and to talk about, too. I have I lived out in the Midwest and they have a tribe out there, the Potawatomi tribe. And they, yeah, they... Are some of the most incredible people that I've gotten to meet the level of creativity, like the spirit? I think that's what it is. And I'm assuming that's what you really wanted this book to capture, the spirit. Like you talked about, a lot of the literature is based off of trauma and the things that happened that are real that we need to know about. But sometimes you miss the spirit of a culture, of a people, of the jubilation of it all. Because that's a big part, Singing, dancing, community, Like going to get him to go to a powwow like there's not anything like that kind of energy that I've ever experienced before And I think it's really cool that you are just modernizing the idea for people just because sometimes I don't think they maybe Have ever thought about it in that way and now they and also can get a little laughing too Oh, yeah. Thanks so much for pointing that out. And to me, the book really is a celebration of Native joy. And if you've never hung out with a group of Native people before, or if you have, you've probably noticed that Native people are really funny. People are always cracking jokes. It's a very joyous experience. So I think that when we're only seen in sort of one kind of stereotypical way on TV, usually it's like stoic medicine men and medicine women and stuff like that. It really robs us of like that aspect of Native culture, which is like how much How much fun a powwow is, how many illegal fireworks you can buy at a powwow, you know, how delicious Indian tacos are, the food, the Indian tacos, the fried bread, the salmon, especially in Washington state. And so for me, the book is like, you know, the book covers Native history, but I'm also celebrating really great Native folks who are doing amazing stuff today. Like I have an entire chapter about Deb Holland, who was just elected as... governor of New Mexico. You know, I write a lot about really great accomplishments Native folks have had in the sciences. You know, something that I really stress a lot when talking about, you know, Native people and Native issues is that, like, you know, once again, like the title of the book says, like, we've been here the whole time. We're still here. We didn't die off in the 1900s like forest ghosts, you know. So I think that that for me is, like, the big takeaway from from the book that I always tell people is. Um, the book is a celebration of native culture and native people, but it is also something that really underlines that, you know, we, we are still here. We're flourishing people. We're doing great stuff and you should check us out and learn about us. Let's talk about this event that's happening on, on Monday. Can you kind of tell us a little bit more about that? Cause people might want to see this now. Like I want to come and meet Joey. I want him to sign my book for me. Oh, thank you. Yeah, thanks so much for asking that. Yeah, I have an event this Monday on November 9th. That is Monday at 7 p.m. at Elliott Bay Book Company. And that's going to be sort of a big celebration of Native art. It's going to feature me in conversation with Matika Wilbur, who's a member of the Tulalip tribe. I'm the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Project 562. We're going to feature a stand-up comedy set from a super funny local indigenous comedian named DK. And the entire event is sponsored by the Potlatch Fund, which is a really great Native arts funder doing a lot of really great work, you know, supporting Native artists in the Pacific Northwest. So come out to that, 7 p.m. on Monday, Elliott Bay Book Company. You'll see me cracking jokes, talking with some really great people, and then selling copies of my book and, you know, signing them and taking selfies afterwards. So it's going to be a really good time. I know people are excited for that, too. Congratulations on your book. If there is just one thing that you would want people to read your book and to walk away with, what would that one thing be? Yeah, so I say in the book that if you learn one lesson from this book, I want it to be that Native people are still here and we rock. But if you weren't learning two lessons from this book, I want it to be that the Kellogg's Casino, ALNA, is a 20-minute drive north of Portland. It's very fun and nice. You should go to it. I literally don't, don't play Joey. Cause I, you can invite me to the opening of like, I don't know, like, uh, anything. They're like, we're opening a balloon shop. A police will show up. I'll go. He said, there's a casino, a new restaurant. You have the invite. I'll definitely, I'll make sure. Let me let me know. No, I do. I think it's really important to create different types of literature like this when you are talking about a culture of people that you are not only putting a magnifying glass on the pain, but also the purpose, the joy and the spirit that is so very much alive in folks. I appreciate you so much, Joey, for stopping in and talking with us. We have those details over on our website where you go check out Joey on Monday to see him getting to sign your book. I would ask you. For me, myself personally, can you sign my book as Marshall? Because that is my favorite Paw Patrol character. Oh, I would love to do that. All right, Joey, we appreciate you stopping in for us. You are always welcome here at FOX 13. We appreciate you. Thank you.