So you found Sweetgrass Magazine. Alright. Awesome. Great. So what is Sweetgrass Magazine?

SGM (I can use acronyms, right? Is that a cool thing to do?) is a zine project that supports Native American art, writing, media – Native everything, really. It’s run by a few cool artists from Chicago who have connections to the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. We have backgrounds in photography, graphic design and creative writing. We love and support everything Native, because, gosh darnit, there simply aren’t enough people who do. And by Native everything we mean art and media that really gets to the heart of Native issues (contemporary and historical). What we won’t be doing is posting photos of “Navajo print” cardigans from Urban Outfitters, or hipsters wearing fringe and war bonnets. That’s just not our thing.

So how can you get involved with SGM? It’s simple, really—just send us your Native-related art. And we’re pretty flexible with the term “art”. As long as it’s creative and can get onto the internet in some way, shape or form, it counts (though we are looking into creating a print version, but apparently printing costs money and in case you didn’t know, we artists aren’t exactly rolling in cash). Graphic art, fine art, body art, photography, poetry, fiction, essays, music, video: all of this is fair game. We want Native art that is meaningful to culture or tradition or to you as a Native (or informed non-Native) person. We have a special connection with the Lakota Sioux from Cheyenne River, but we are an intertribal initiative, so Apache, Spokane, Seminole, Ute, Lummi, Lakota—we want it all. And bonus points if it makes us laugh, cry, punch the air, or shout in awe.

So send it in, sweetgrassmagazine@gmail.com. Our first issue will be published January 2012. Add us to your radar. And tell your friends.

From your friends at Sweetgrass Magazine, Mitakuye Oyas’in.

Francesca Thompson (writer)

Melinda Jane Myers (photographer)

Margo Yoon (graphic designer)

Lakota Medicine Wheel ~ Melanie Myhre