Paula Underwood authors Native American Oral History The Walking People in English

Paula Underwood's Oral History, The Walking People, continues to gain admirers and illustration.

     The Walking People, published with the help of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, is authored in English by Paula Underwood. This written Oral History puts the listener inside the events, and we learn as they did, as if we were there. As an ancient oral history, the stories have been crafted to maintain meaning while changing into the modern language with each new generation. Women learners were as frequent as male learners, and as the stories were passed down, the female characters were not blotted out, as in other traditions where males reigned supreme. The value to both women and men as learners is inestimable. The person learning the story tells the story back to the one teaching them in three ways, none the same as it was received, while maintaining meaning. So innovation and personal insight are a crucial part of the learning of these stories.
I met Paula Underwood and enthusiastically devoured her book, The Walking People, and her Guide for Learners, Three Strands in the Braid around 1993. I have listened many times to her telling on audio selected excerpts from the Learning Stories and Oral Histories. The stories offer gifts of insight to people challenged by all sorts of difficulty. I was delighted to find several Learning Stories involving disabled people, who are challenged by what challenges me.  I was thrilled to see how they learned what to do next.
I have found much comfort and positive role models in Growing Woman and Fly Like Eagle, both stories about physically challenged people who lived important and useful lives in their community. I have spent many happy hours illustrating them and retelling them with charcoal, ink and watercolor.  I feel right in the heart of the tradition as I am illustrating these stories and publishing them on my blog, miriammoore.blogspot.com