The oldest of eight brothers and sisters, Erma Vizenor has had plenty of "firsts": first in her family to graduate from high school, the first to get a Harvard Ph.D., and now, the first female leader of the White Earth Ojibwe, the largest Native American group in Minnesota. Vizenor, 60, was recently elected chairwoman -- defeating a political rival who served prison time for misapplying federal funds. Her goal: to reform local government. This is what she has to say about finding joy:
We grew up very, very poor. My dad was a seasonal worker, so we followed the seasons from the potato fields to the [wood] pulp camps to the wild rice harvest. I would change schools many times a year, but I loved to learn.
To lead a nation of people where unemployment is 65 percent, where mental depression is the number one health issue, diabetes is rampant, high blood pressure, cancer...is very, very challenging.
To accomplish the things I want to accomplish, I'd need to live three lives. I still want to become a priest, I want to start a school, a little one-room schoolhouse. [But] if I lived my life over, I'd do exactly the same thing.
