Includes bibliographical references.

Family occasions. Sundays ; The contest ; Father's day ; The New York hat ; The train cake ; A second adoption ; Growing up ; Mice -- Rites of passage. On the road ; The quest for pie ; The sentry -- Everybody's children. Thankfulness ; Fetal alcohol syndrome : a national perspective ; Fetal alcohol syndrome : a parent's perspective ; Crossing the line ; Crazy Horse malt liquor ; The power of love -- Indians. "I" isn't for "Indian" ; Indians on the shelf ; Rewriting history ; Discoveries ; The grass still grows, the rivers still flow : contemporary Native Americans ; The hundred year war for White Earth -- Learning from mistakes. For Indians, no Thanksgiving ; Native American literature in an ethnohistorical context ; Mr. Reagan and the Indians ; Dances with Indians -- Opened doors ; Beating the system ; Trusting the words ; Summer reading ; Word from the front ; House of stone ; Little fears -- Going places. Americans all ; Martyrs ; Pen pals ; The forgotten algebra test nightmare ; Life stories -- Home. The cherry tree ; Three yards ; Real and true estate ; Maintaining a home ; Cutting grass.

A collection of essays in which author Michael Dorris reflects upon his roles as father, son, and husband; scholar, professor, and student; writer and critic; activist; traveler; and observer.