Broken Home, Healed Nest
Trigger Warning: Please note this book addresses sensitive topics including suicide, substance abuse, and family violence. While these emotionally challenging realities are held thoughtfully, and with love, this story may be triggering.
Jessica has contemplated suicide for a while now. Grappling with the reverberating grief of losing her beloved grandmother and the trauma of a broken home, young Jessica is reaching a place so far from herself, her community, and the traditional Indigenous teachings she once lived by, it is frightening.
When it all becomes too much, Jessica attempts to take the final step over the ledge.
What follows is a journey through the sacred spaces within memory, song, and the spirit world, guided by two playful tricksters - eagles, who happen to have lifetimes of wisdom to share.
With a love of riddles and soaring beyond the edges of possibility, they turn and twist Jessica's reality until she can finally ground herself in what she has known all along, and allow the love, strength and voice of her beloved grandmother to once again be remembered and heard. The trajectory of Jessica's life will be changed forever.
Bio
Pershlie “Perci” Ami is a member of the Hopi/Tewa Tribe, from the Village of Walpi, AZ. As a Hopi elder, coming from a marginalized community, Perci overcame the social, educational, and economic challenges, and has used her struggles and experiences to help others overcome barriers just as she has.
For more than ten years, Perci has served as a strong advocate for suicide prevention, substance abuse, and addiction, devoting her time to the Native American Center for Excellence Substance Abuse Prevention Program as a facilitator for the Gathering of Native Americans (GONA). Perci is associated with the Voices of the Grandmothers, which consists of Indigenous grandmothers from all over About the Authors the world, whose purpose is to share traditional beliefs and stories reflecting a holistic existence of life.
Perci received the Women’s Federation for World Peace USA, Her Story Award, honoring her exemplary work of serving, healing, educating, and uplifting others in the Native American communities. She also received the Marcus Harrison Jr. Leadership Award for her tireless efforts in advocating for Indigenous peoples with disabilities.
Perci played the lead actress role of Daisy, in the newly released film, “Touch the Water” (2023), which is a movie about the mental, emotional, and physical challenges faced as an elderly Native American woman who desires to accomplish a lifelong goal, which ends up being a life-changing journey, as Daisy is challenged to believe she is never too old to dream.
Perci utilizes her values of culture, traditions, and family in her peace work, helping Indigenous people connect and focus on healing the mind, body, and spirit. When she is not providing her counseling and facilitating services, Perci volunteers her time at a local ministry in Phoenix, serving individuals within the city of Phoenix, and the homeless.
