Since beginning my museum career in 1979, I focused on battling stereotypes and misinformation about American Indians. For almost a decade, I worked in a small museum in Connecticut, conducted research on Southern New England Native history, and wrote and spoke throughout the Northeast on Native American topics. In 1989, the New England History Teachers Association presented me with the Kidger Award for excellence in history education. I also wrote for, and served on the board of, Eagle Wing Press, a New England American Indian newspaper. EWP produced the book, Rooted Like the Ash Tree, containing the writings of American Indians, which was distributed to every school in New England (and I married the editor, Jim Roaix). While working in Connecticut, I learned to finger weave (a Native craft turning colorful yarns into patterned sashes).

I continued in the museum field at the Museum of the Great Plains in Oklahoma and at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in Maryland. In 1994, I was recruited by the Smithsonian to manage their museum training program as mandated by the legislation establishing the National Museum of the American Indian. That work took me to more than half the Native museums in the United States, and brought me into contact with Native museum leaders, allowing me to assess the state of Native museums, and museum practices affecting Native communities. My book, Spirited Encounters, chronicles Native protests of museum policies. I now live in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, having returned to the state of my birth. I provide museum consultations, teach occasional classes, and continue to write. See additional pages of this Web site: Museum Consulting, Finger Weaving, and Published Works.