On April 25th, author Toni Jensen will discuss her newest book, Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land in the Toledo-area campus and Findlay-area campus.
Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land is a detailed “memoir-in-essays” of Jensen’s life growing up in rural Iowa as an indigenous woman and her experience with gun violence.
“It’s okay, I’ve learned, to love the things that make you, even if they also are the things that unmake you.” – Jensen, Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land
On April 25th, the event will begin at 10 A.M. in the CFPA Theatre (Toledo-area Campus). One of the event organizers, Jane Berger, explained when asked about the schedule of the event that “after her talk, there will be an opportunity for some questions and answers from the audience. After a brief recess, Jensen will be available in the rotunda to sign books.” Don’t worry if you do not have a copy just yet, because “bookmarks that come with a free book will be available at this time for purchase,” as well for just twelve dollars.
“When you’re going to be called trouble anyway, your life then becomes your own.” – Jensen, Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land
If you’re wondering who Toni Jensen is, she has a background in teaching “creative writing at the University of Arkansas and is outspoken about Indigenous rights and harm to the environment,” as stated by Connor Goodwin, in his article, “Author Toni Jensen Reminds Us the Face of Gun Violence Is Not What We Think.”
Jensen is a Metis author who grew up in rural Iowa with her dad, who is an “American Indian and card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association (NRA)” who taught her how to shoot guns, noted by Goodwin. She has published two books: From the Hilltop and Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land.
In Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, the book covers some difficult topics, like “indigenous rights, the transmission of trauma, and the racist imaginary in MFA programs,” stated Goodwin. Each essay is “thoroughly researched and furnished with startling statistics, but Jensen takes care to keep the reader tethered to the personal and everyday so as not to lose sight of the human actors that perpetuate gun violence,” according to Goodwin.
When interviewed by Goodwin, Jensen said that she wanted to focus on gun violence, but not have mass shootings front and center, because “mass shootings get an inordinate amount of media space. They capture the public imagination and we’re fixated on them culturally, as Americans, in ways that we aren’t with other sorts of violence. But the other sorts of violence make up ninety-nine percent of American gun violence. The only time mass shootings come up (in Carry: A Memoir of Survival of Stolen Land) is when I have intersected with those places and those cultures, but otherwise, no. I think it’s very important to shift the focus of the conversation. Yes, mass shootings are terrible, tragic events that happen, but what about the other ninety-nine percent of gun violence in this country?”
When reading Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, Jensen “uses a series of interconnected personal essays to spotlight the other ninety-nine percent of shootings to challenge how we talk and think about gun violence,” notes Goodwin.
If you miss out on the event in the Toledo-area campus, Jensen will make an appearance at the Findlay-area campus at 3:30 P.M. in EC 111. Can’t make it in person? A livestream of the event will take place on Zoom during the Toledo session. Access to the Zoom can be clicked here.
All bookmark purchases made during the event can be accepted through cash or checks made out to Owens Community College. The bookmarks with a free book cost twelve dollars.
For more information regarding Toni Jensen’s visit, send an email to the event organizers: Jen Hazel at [email protected] or Jane Berger at [email protected]. Toni Jensen’s website can be accessed here.
