ROBERTA

As women, we hold up the sky. As women, we have the power.

In a tribal community, there is a sense of intergenerational connection. Since I was 22 years old, I have been an advocate for people over 55 years old. And here I am, in the population I used to advocate for. Every day we get older or we die. Now I am “on the side of the setting sun.” I have an eternal dialogue about how to embrace that.

I feel ageless, in that whomever I sit with, I connect with that group. People can’t figure out my age. I feel good about saying that age is just a number. Ageism is very heavy on women. This makes me very angry. There is still a double standard.

What keeps me so centered? I think maybe it is my sense of place. We have been here for 20,000 years. I have a sense of place in the universe. Here on this land, my land, there is a beginning and an end. This place has given me freedom to do and explore a lot of things.

This is an excerpt from a comprehensive interview.