Lucy Moore Associates, Inc.

Author

Like so many young people in the 1960's, my then-husband and I wanted to do good… and having an adventure was a good idea, too. We set off for Chinle, Arizona, in the heart of Navajo Country, in June 1968, in the wake of two assassinations – Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy. They were turbulent, frightening times, but also there was hope and optimism that things were going to get better. Surely society would become just, peaceful, and equitable if we tried hard enough.

Our brand of trying involved transplanting ourselves from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where we both had spent several idyllic years isolated from the rest of the country, to Chinle, a place we found also idyllic and isolated, but oh so different. My husband, newly graduated from law school, opened the first legal services office in Chinle. He was busy from the first day, helping individual Navajos with legal problems, and delving into problems that would eventually evolve into class action lawsuits. For me, it was less clear. What was I to do with my college degree in Modern English and French History and Literature?

My cross-cultural memoir reflects on those years spent as an outsider in a very foreign culture, and how we adjusted and came to feel at home – so much at home that it was a wrenching experience to leave. The process of learning to accept oneself as an outsider and find ways to be useful was difficult, funny and poignant. I found that if I took my time and watched and listened, I could see places where my skills might help. I helped in the Headstart classroom, and then became a teacher. I ran for Justice of the Peace and was elected to two terms, finding myself faced with duties I was not trained or particularly suited for – like agricultural inspector, and coroner. Most surprising of all – and perhaps most useful -- I became an insurance agent, selling Navajos vehicle insurance before their visit to the off-reservation dealership where insurance coverage was triple my price.

Into the Canyon: Seven Years in Navajo Country, was published by University of New Mexico Press in 2004. Women Writing the West gave the book the Willa Award for the Best Memoir 2005.

In 2005 I met Carolyn Wing Greenlee, an amazing poet, artist and woman. Dealing with a degenerative eye problem, she "ordered" me to record my book, and being obedient, I did so. The set of 9 CDs, unabridged, are read by the author and are attractively bound in a binder-style case.

Adam Teller was a young boy in Lucy’s book. He now gives tours of Canyon de Chelly. Visit his site by clicking here.

"[Into the Canyon] is a quietly thought-provoking, delightful book, and it is practical on several levels. Anglos might consider Into the Canyon a guide to interaction with Navajos."
	American Indian Culture and Research Journal

“A delight to read; an invaluable historical and cultural narrative.”
	Leslie Silko, author of Garden In the Dunes and Ceremony

“(Moore) has an easy way with language that lets her make simple yet powerful points and observations, all of which derive organically from the stories she relates.”
	Tucson Weekly