As a poet, activist, and musician, Joy Harjos work has won countless awards. A short book that will reward re-reading. Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years Poetry, 2022. These lands arent our lands. Accessed July 9, 2019. https://poets.org/poet/joy-harjo. It hasn't always been this way, because glaciers, who are ice ghosts create oceans, carve earth, Once a storm of boiling earth cracked open, It's quiet now, but underneath the concrete, which is another ocean, where spirits we can't see, are dancing joking getting full, On a park bench we see someone's Athabascan, grandmother, folded up, smelling like 200 years, of blood and piss, her eyes closed against some, unimagined darkness, where she is buried in an ache. This city is made of stone, of blood, and fish. Dont take on more than you can carry, said the eagle to his twin sons, fighting each other in the sky over a fox, dangling between, them. September 29, 1989. https://billmoyers.com/content/ancestral-voices-2/. You must be friends with silence to hear. He is your life, also.Remember the earth whose skin you are:red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earthbrown earth, we are earth.Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have theirtribes, their families, their histories, too. Date accessed. Songs for planting, for growing, for harvesting. The author of ten books of poetry, including the highly acclaimed, Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years, several plays and children's books, and two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, her many honors include the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She performs nationally and internationally solo and with her band, The Arrow Dynamics. by Joy Harjo. - Joy Harjo was appointed by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden to serve as the 23rd Poet Laureate on June 19, 2019. June 21, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/06/21/734665274/meet-joy-harjo-the-first-native-american-u-s-poet-laureate. After reading Harjos memoir Crazy Brave earlier this year, her poetry does not seem as powerful to me because I am now familiar with its backstory. We. "Joy Harjo Becomes The First Native American U.S. Much later in life, nearing age 40, she picked up a saxophone for the first time. In her new memoir, Joy Harjo recounts how her early years a difficult childhood with an alcoholic father and abusive stepfather, and . She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Board of Directors Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and is the first Artist-in-Residence for Tulsa's Bob Dylan Center. Watch your mind. What you eat is political. Hardcover, 169 pages. strongest point of time. Oftentimes, Americans think unique tribal backgrounds are one and the same. we are here to feed them joy. Remember your birth, how your mother struggled. Photo:Library of Congress - https://www.flickr.com/photos/library-of-congress-life/48092158967/in/photostream/. Joy Harjo has always been an artist. Now you can have a party. But her poetry is ok. We gallop into a warm, southern wind. Inside us. Copyright 2015 by Joy Harjo. Let go the pain of your ancestors to make way for those who are heading in our direction. where our hearts still batter away at the muddy shore. without poetry. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The grant began the momentum that carried me through the years.. Because who would believe, the fantastic and terrible story of all of our survival. Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. She published her first book of nine poems calledThe Last Songin 1975. PoetLaureate. Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. It may return in pieces, in tatters. Remember sundown. She published her first book of nine poems called, In 1980, Harjo published her first full-length volume of poetry called, Harjo is a founding board member and Chair of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and, in 2019, was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. In this stunning collection, Joy Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where the Mvskoke people, including her own ancestors, were forcibly displaced. While I myself have no native american ancestry, I grew up immersed in pow wow country and surrounded by Mvskoke (and Seminole, and Cherokee, and Choctaw) friends. Its that time of the year, when we eat tamales and latkes. To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon rich and reverential tribute to life, family, and poetry., Evoking the cyclical feeling of a slow breath in and out, its a smartly constructed, reflective picture book based in connection and noticing., The teeming images thrillingly catch young viewers up as they swirl, circles emphasizing the cyclical nature of life. Joy Harjo performs with her band during her opening event as the 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress, 2019. In her autobiography, Harjo discussed her fathers struggle with alcohol and violent behavior that led to her parents divorce. For death (those are the heaviest songs and they Have to be pried from the earth with shovels of grief) by Joy Harjo. Ask the poets. You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return. Although she is perhaps best known for her writing, Harjo is also a talented musician and playwright. 7) To pray you open your whole self To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon To one whole voice that is you. She has always been a visionary. Joy Harjo, the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, is amember of the Mvskoke Nation. Although she is perhaps best known for her writing, Harjo is also a talented musician and playwright. That night after eating, singing, and dancing. And http://davidthemaker.blogspot.com/, Singing Everything - Joy Harjo (A member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation). Writing is a vulnerable, even dangerous, act. "Joy Harjo Is Named U.S. Let go the pain you are holding in your mind, your shoulders, your heart, all the way to your feet. Crazy Brave. Falling apart after falling in love songs. Harjo is a force to be reckoned with. Everyone laughed at the impossibility of it,but also the truth. The poems in this collection are a song cycle, a woman warriors journey in this era, reaching backward and forward and waking in the present moment. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean. In this bonus lesson, Joy takes us on a journey with her musical partner Larry Mitchell to turn a poem into a song. To pray you open your whole self The Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to "Indian Territory," which is now part of Oklahoma, via what is now referred to as The Trail of Tears. Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accountability. Let go the pain you are holding in your mind, your shoulders, your heart, all the way to your feet. It hurt everybody. Joy Harjo will become the 23rd poet laureate of the United States, making her the first Native American to hold the position. Drawing and acting classes were a much-needed escape from Harjos oppressive reality. Or stones, or sky elements, or each other." Perhaps the best way to explicate Joy Harjo's belief in the connectedness of all entities is to cull through the poems where she has expressed this so elegantly. Tonight, she just wanted a good sleep, and picked up the book of poetry by her bed, which was over a journal she kept when her mother was dying. We keep on breathing, walking, but softer now,the clouds whirling in the air above us.What can we say that would make us understandbetter than we do already?Except to speak of her home and claim heras our own history, and know that our dreamsdon't end here, two blocks away from the oceanwhere our hearts still batter away at the muddy shore. Participants can also put their favorite lines in chat, and we will compile a found poem from those that we will share later. Harjo is a founding board member and Chair of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and, in 2019, was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. BillMoyers.com. Remember your father. At the age of sixteen, she left home to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Watch your mind. You are evidence of. The Bollingen Prize, established by Paul Mellon in 1949, is awarded biennially by Yale University Library through Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library to an American poet for the best book published during the previous two years or for lifetime achievement in poetry. Gather them together. Neary, Lynn, and Patrick Jarenwattananon. When she finished all the books in the first-grade classroom, Harjos teachers sent her on to the second-grade bookshelves. XXXIV, No. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she left home to attend high school at the innovative Institute of American Indian Arts, which was then aBureau of Indian Affairs school. And I think of the 6th Avenue jail, of mostly Native, and Black men, where Henry told about being shot at, eight times outside a liquor store in L.A., but when. She strongly believes that telling stories and creating art is a pervasive ability thats not unique to those individuals whom society labels artist. She said, Everybody has a story about creation, so we therefore are part of the need to create. Playing With Song and Poetry. In addition to her many books of poetry, she has written several books for young audiences and released seven award-winning music albums. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1951, Harjo is a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. It doesnt matter how old, how many days, hours, or memories, we can fall in love over and over, again. Sun makes the day new.Tiny green plants emerge from earth.Birds are singing the sky into place.There is nowhere else I want to be but here.I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us.We gallop into a warm, southern wind.I link my legs to yours and we ride together,Toward the ancient encampment of our relatives.Where have you been? . A reading of two (timely) poems, "Singing Everything" and "For Earth's Grandsons", by incumbent Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo, from her colle. From there she could hear the winds Lifting from their birthing places She could hear where sound began. A gorgeous, moving, devastating collection. Her stepfather was a controlling man with an unpredictable temper. Be respectful of the small insects, birds and animal people who accompany you. - They sit before the fire that has been there without time. Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control. Without training it might run away and leave your heart for the immense human feast set by the thieves of time. Yes, theres a cosmic consciousness. King, Noel. As she grew older, words excited Harjo even more. We will keep going despite dark or a madman in a white house dream. Today we have a poem from United Stated Poet Laureate. Being alive is political. (c/p from my review on TheStoryGraph) A beautiful book of poems. Nobody goes anywhere though we are always leaving and returning. Her mother used to write songs and her grandmother played the saxophone. These early compositions, set in Oklahoma and New Mexico, reveal Harjo's remarkable power and insight into the fragmented history of indigenous peoples. Enjoyed most of them, but as usual, some went over my head or didnt resonate with me as much. She has been a prominent poet for years now, and is much deserving of this honor. This collection is short, and I chose the audiobook because its read by the author. It doesnt necessarily belong to me. Acknowledge this earth who has cared for you since you were a dream planting itself precisely within your parents desire. Heredity is a field of blood, celebration, and forgetfulness. Take a breath offered by friendly winds. Here is unbridled potential for the poeticin everything, even in ourselves., These poems taken from half a century of Harjos work show the powerful words and moving themes that have made her an unforgettable voice in the world of poetry.. We have also been talking to our poet laureate, Joy Harjo, about her life right nowas she has started to field requests to respond to the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis with an eye toward poetry. Toshiko Akiyoshi changed the face of jazz music over her sixty-year career. She earned her BA from the University of New Mexico and MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. Copyright1983 by Joy Harjo from She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo. For Keeps. It sees and knows everything. She possessed a natural propensity for singing and performed occasionally with a country swing band. She went on to earn her MFA at the Iowa Writers Workshop and teach English, Creative Writing, and American Indian Studies at University of California-Los Angeles, University of New Mexico, University of Arizona, Arizona State, University of Illinois, University of Colorado, University of Hawaii, Institute of American Indian Arts, and University of Tennessee, while performing music and poetry nationally and internationally. She has won many awards for her writing including; theRuth Lilly Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, the New Mexico Governors Award for Excellence in the Arts, a PEN USA Literary Award, the Poets & Writers Jackson Poetry Prize, two NEA Fellowships, a Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Somewhere between jazz and ceremonial flute, the beat of her sensibility radiates hope and gratitude to readers and listeners alike. Today she is seen as an icon of the feminist movement and a voice for Native peoples. Sunrise occurs everywhere, in lizard time, human time, or a fern uncurling time. Art classes saved my life, she said. And then the other clans, the children of those clans, their children, And their children, all the way through time, For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet. It may be caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse. All this, and breathe, knowing Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. Poet Laureate Harjos acclaimed poem becomes a beauty to beholdA Harjos home was no less broken when her mother remarried several years later. There she also gained the technical skills and practice that would draw her to a career in art. Chicago Alexander, Kerri Lee. I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us. Her father was a Muscogee Creek citizen whose mother came from a line of respected warriors, and speakers who served the Muscogee Nation in the House of Warriors. The sun crowns us at noon. watermelon in the summer on the porch, and a mother so in love that her heart breaksit will never be the same, yet all memory bends to fit. Yet, the prose is still poignant, and Harjo interjects the poems with historical anecdotes of the Cherokee Trail of Tears and how her Ocmulgee people have gotten to where they are today. tribes, their families, their histories, too. She also wrote songs for an all-native rock band. There is no cost to have the Friends of Silence monthly letter sent to you each month. Harjo recalls that the very first poem she wrote was in eighth grade. She is a creative polymath, having experimented and succeeded in nearly every artistic discipline. Weaving Sundown in aScarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, APlay, When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came ThroughANorton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth, Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their. . Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1951, Harjo is a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. She writes extensively about what it means to be Native American in a primarily non-Native country. During this time, she joined one of the first all-native drama and dance groups. Her mother wrote songs and her grandmother and her aunt were both artists. Singer, saxofonist, poet, performer, dramatist, and storyteller are just a few of her roles. Discontent began a small rumble in the earthly mind. Toward the ancient encampment of our relatives. Chocolates were offered. She has since been. Yvonne B. Miller, her accomplishments, and leadership attributes, so they can apply persuasive techniques to amplify her accomplishments, leadership attributes, as well as those in leadership roles in their community. Notes. That you can't see, can't hear; As a member of the National Council on the Arts, she said, I was able to witness the impact of arts at the national level. She said artists deserve a seat at the decision-making table. Harjo is the first Native American poet to serve in the position--she is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation--and is the author of eight books of poetry, including "Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings," "The . They include She Had Some Horses, In Mad Love and War, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, and her most recent How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2001 from W.W . Let go the pain of your ancestors to make way for those who are heading in our direction. Remember her voice. Brief blurbs explaining history and quotes from oral histories and other poets are interwoven with her own work. I highly recommend it! Knoxville, December 27, 2016, for Marilyn Kallets 70th birthday. Harjos mother, although she had only an eighth-grade education, loved William Blake and taught herself the arts of poetry and music. Storytelling from Joy Harjos poetry. Then, you must do this: help the next person find their way through the dark. Before she could write words, she could draw. Harjo currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she serves as the first Artist-in-Residency of the Bob Dylan Center. At 64 years old, Harjo remains an unstoppable artistic force. They will be happy to be found after being lost for so long. Theres where fears slay us, in the dark of the howling mind. to catch up, and then it did, and she took it that girl who was beautiful beyond dolphin dreaming, and we made it, we did, to the other side of suffering. When Miles Davis was playing a solo, said Harjo, I could see the whole universe. Music added new hues to the palette she used to color her world. As a poet, activist, and musician, Joy Harjos work has won countless awards. Invite everyone you know who loves and supports you. This book of poetry includes all of the poems she wrote in her 1975 collection. I chose to listen to the audiobook of this poetry collection. Harjo then graduated from college a year later and started the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing at the University of Iowa (Iowa Writers Workshop). they ask.And what has taken you so long?That night after eating, singing, and dancingWe lay together under the stars.We know ourselves to be part of mystery.It is unspeakable.It is everlasting.It is for keeps. In her childhood, she was called Joy Foster. Harjo, Joy. And kindness in all things. As a musician and performer, Harjo has produced seven award-winning music albums including her newest, I Pray for My Enemies. Harjo is the author of ten books of poetry, including her most recent, Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years ( 2022 ), the highly acclaimed An American Sunrise ( 2019 ), which was a 2020 Oklahoma Book Award Winner, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings ( 2015 ), which was shortlisted for the Griffin Prize and named a And Poet . For the past 32 years, a small band of dedicated friends have poured their hearts and love into Friends of Silence. Befriend them, the moon said as a crab skittered under her skirt, her daughter in, the high chair, waiting for cereal and toast. She has found a singing language for grief and meaningfully transforms the American story. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean. ~ Joy Harjo from "Singing Everything" in AN AMERICAN SUNRISE, ~ Joy Harjo in "Eagle Poem" from IN MAD LOVE AND WAR, 2021 Friends of Silence | NPR. The poems are beautiful, regretful and bittersweet, but most of assessible to all readers, lovers of poetry or not. More information: https://www.joyharjo.com/, A U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory Managed by the University of California, Questions & Comments Privacy & Security Notice, Name Change for Published Research Outputs, Gender Identity and Transition in the Workplace, Harassment & Discrimination Prevention Policies, Latin American and Native American Employee Resource Group. This city is made of stone, of blood, and fish.There are Chugatch Mountains to the eastand whale and seal to the west.It hasn't always been this way, because glacierswho are ice ghosts create oceans, carve earthand shape this city here, by the sound.They swim backwards in time. We are truly blessed because we Now that Harjo is the US Poet Laureate, I look forward to upcoming expressive work of hers. "Singing Everything" Once there were songs for everything, Songs for planting, for growing, for harvesting, For eating, getting drunk, falling asleep, For Sunrise, birth, mind-break, and war For death (those are the heaviest songs and they Have been pried from the earth with shovels of grief) Now all we hear are falling-in-love songs and Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you. When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed. We are right. Her ability to make the reader see and feel the seemingly intangible is unmatched. Of fear, greed, envy, and hatred, put out the light. We ate latkes for hours to celebrate light and friends. I was happier than ever before to welcome her, happiness was the path she chose to enter, and I couldnt push yet, not yet, and then there appeared a pool of the bluest water. You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return. A descendant of storytellers and "one of our finestand most complicatedpoets" (Los Angeles Review of Books), Joy Harjo continues her legacy with this latest powerful collection. Goodbye, goodbye, to Carrie Fisher, the Star Wars phenomenon, and George Michael, the singer. which she connected to her mother's singing and her deep identification with music. To one whole voice that is you. "Joy Harjo." This is the story our mothers tell but we couldnt hear it in our ears stuffed with Barbie advertising, with our mothers own loathing set in place by patriarchal scripture, the smothering rules to stop insurrection by domesticated slaves, or wives. This poem was constructed to carry any memory you want to hold close. Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the. Once the world was perfect, and we were happy in that world.Then we took it for granted.Discontent began a small rumble in the earthly mind.Then Doubt pushed through with its spiked head.And once Doubt ruptured the web,All manner of demon thoughtsJumped throughWe destroyed the world we had been givenFor inspiration, for lifeEach stone of jealousy, each stoneOf fear, greed, envy, and hatred, put out the light.No one was without a stone in his or her hand.There we were,Right back where we had started.We were bumping into each otherIn the dark.And now we had no place to live, since we didnt knowHow to live with each other.Then one of the stumbling ones took pity on anotherAnd shared a blanket.A spark of kindness made a light.The light made an opening in the darkness.Everyone worked together to make a ladder.A Wind Clan person climbed out first into the next world,And then the other clans, the children of those clans, their children,And their children, all the way through timeTo now, into this morning light to you. In REMEMBER, acclaimed Indigenous creators Joy Harjo and Michaela Goade invite young readers to pause and reflect on family, nature, their heritage, and the world around them. "Meet Joy Harjo, The First Native American U.S. In addition to art and creativity, Harjo also experienced many challenges as a child. In addition to her many books of poetry, she has written several books for young audiences and released seven award-winning music albums. Harjo began writing poetry as amember of the University of New Mexicos Native student organization, the Kiva Club, in response to Native empowerment movements. Cut the ties you have to failure and shame. At the age of sixteen, she left home to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. People dont want to hear about Native Americans unless theyre feather-clad and dancing, she said. As Harjo herself said, There would be no universities, no schools without what artists do. We separate children and cage them because they are breaking our Gods law. She returned to where her people were ousted. What are we without winds becoming words? Moyers, Bill. Remember the dance language is, that life is. Oh baby, come here, let me tell you the story. NPR. In 1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. We keep on breathing, walking, but softer now, What can we say that would make us understand, Except to speak of her home and claim her, as our own history, and know that our dreams, don't end here, two blocks away from the ocean. She has since been inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame, National Native American Hall of Fame, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed. She is only the second poet to be appointed athird term as U.S. Her tribal ancestors of Muscogees (Mvskokes) were ousted from their homes and lands in Alabama, forced to abandon their lives and possessions, and trudged a Trail of Tears to the Oklahoma Territory. 48 views, 3 likes, 0 loves, 0 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Concho Public Library: Concho Public Library presents A Poem A Day. She switched her major to art, and then again to creative writing after meeting and working with fellow Native American poets, including Simon J. Ortiz and Leslie Marmon Silko. Birds are singing the sky into place. Her work is rich and profound, filled with phrases that linger in the air as they roll off the tongue. I was surprised to learn that it was illegal for native persons of the U.S. to practice religious, spiritual, and cultural rituals until the Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 was enacted. Her spiritual grandfather Monawee has been able to travel beyond the boundaries of time and visit members of his tribe and blessing them with good tidings. Several lines stopped me in my tracks. Ask their forgiveness for the harm we humans have brought down upon them. This book will show you what that reason is. Sun makes the day new.Tiny green plants emerge from earth.Birds are singing the sky into place.There is nowhere else I want to be but here.I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us.We gallop into a warm, southern wind.I link my legs to yours and we ride together,Toward the ancient encampment of our relatives.Where have you been? Joy Harjo has been named the new US Poet Laureate in 2019, becoming the first Native American to hold the position. Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop. In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. You think you can write poetry, then you read someone like indigenous American 3 time poet laureate Joy Harjo and realize you still have a LOT to learn. Now you can have a party. Each word is a box that can be opened or closed. Harjo received her first NEA Literature Fellowship in 1977, when she was a single mother with two children, and had just graduated from the Iowa Writers Workshop and was looking for work. A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land. In this lesson, students will experience the tragedy of the commons through a team activity in which they compete for resources. These helpers take many forms: animal, element, bird, angel, saint, stone, or ancestor. In 1830 Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, forcing indigenous peoples out of the southeastern United States. Harjo talks of Monawee as well as her aunts, uncles, and grandparents, noting that she and her grandmother share a love of the saxophone, both being above average musicians. Also: Then, you must do this: help the next person find their way through the dark. This was when Harjo and her classmates changed how Native art was represented in the United States. Poet Laureate Harjos acclaimed poem becomes a beauty to behold. Once the world was perfect, and we were happy in that world. She/they have toured across the U.S. and in Europe, South America, India, Africa, and Canada. After graduating from high school, Harjo attended the University of New Mexico as a Pre-Med student. No more greedy kings, no more disappointments, no more orphans, or thefts of souls or lands, no more killing for the sport of killing. Harjo had a hard time speaking out loud because of these experiences. We light candles, fires to make the way for a newborn child, for fresh understanding. During this time, she joined one of the first all-native drama and dance groups. We pray that it will be done Talk to them,listen to them. Get help and learn more about the design. Poet Joy Harjo, pictured at the Governors Awards gala hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, Calif., on Oct. 27. These helpers take many forms: animal, element, bird, angel, saint, stone, or ancestor.