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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

“Warrior Spirit Rising” is story of redemption

David Colburn
Posted 7/22/20

ORR- Listening to Gene Goodsky and his daughter, Dianna, exchange playful teases and laughter over breakfast at T. Pattenn Café in Orr on Sunday, seeing the loving gazes and affectionate …

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“Warrior Spirit Rising” is story of redemption

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ORR- Listening to Gene Goodsky and his daughter, Dianna, exchange playful teases and laughter over breakfast at T. Pattenn Café in Orr on Sunday, seeing the loving gazes and affectionate touches they shared, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a time when Dianna didn’t want anything to do with her father at all.
But there was such a time, decades ago, when, as Dianna says in the opening line of her new book, Gene was “the town drunk.”
“He said, ‘Well it’s the truth,’” Dianna said. “I said, ‘Dad, I only want to tell the truth.’ He said, ‘Yes, you can only tell the truth.'"
Dianna Good Sky’s book, “Warrior Spirit Rising,” relates the truth behind Gene’s transformation from a man tormented with post-traumatic stress disorder from his days in Vietnam, and consumed by demon liquor, to a widely respected and beloved teacher, healer, and spiritual adviser, a change triggered by a remarkable spiritual journey taken on one night that began in despair.
But “Warrior Spirit Rising” is about much more than Gene. It’s about the history of Native Americans being forced to abandon their cultures and the impacts that had on generations of the Goodsky family and others. It’s about successfully challenging the local norms of racism to create a more accepting and unified community.
And it’s about a daughter’s journey, too, from a place of a child’s angst and disgust to a place of loving admiration and respect for the man her father has become.
“To go from hiding from him to being so proud of him – I could cry, but I won’t,” Dianna said. “I knew the stories I wanted in there. I started putting them together, but they were lacking something. I realized what was missing – it was my story inside of his. We had his stories, we had the history, and what I needed was to put me in it.”
It was 1980, when Dianna was ready to leave home to join the Navy, that Gene told her he was going to give up drinking. It wasn’t the first time he’d made that promise, and Dianna had good reason to be skeptical.
But as time passed, Dianna saw that this time was different, that Gene Goodsky was indeed a changed man. She also grew in her understanding of Gene’s story about his lifechanging spiritual journey when he was barely clinging to life, and from those things the idea of writing a book was born.
She started keeping notes about their conversations, but they just sat in a folder for years. The hurdle to overcome in getting started on the book was Gene.
“It took years to get him to give me permission,” Dianna said. “He always said, ‘You’ll know when it’s time.'"
That time finally came about three years ago during a phone conversation right after Gene’s position as spiritual adviser for the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa was eliminated.
“It was a shock,” Dianna said. “I said, ‘Dad, would you please let me tell your story?’ He took a breath and said ‘Yes.’”
The introduction came to her while she was driving from California to Salt Lake City; she recorded herself and transcribed it later. She sent that and a second chapter, about Gene’s role in the healing of Orr native Ryan Holman after a terrible snowmobile accident, to friends for their reactions. The feedback she received was so positive that she found it momentarily daunting.
“I felt like I had this super high bar that I set for myself, and that I was afraid of falling short. It was hard for me,” Dianna said.
Writing worked best for Dianna when she was alone in nature, and she split her time between a Costa Rican retreat and a cabin in the Virginia mountains. It was only after she started writing that the larger theme about history emerged, prompted by her editor, who was startled to learn about the laws and schools that were intended to eradicate Native American culture. And as she wrote about Gene’s decades of service as a cultural teacher at Orr High School, the theme of racism and resolution became apparent as well.
“I felt a responsibility to do a little bit of education, and it’s in our nature – I’m a teacher, dad’s a teacher. I want to foster better understanding. I feel like the narrative was very important for helping people understand why Natives are the way they are.”
Self-publishing
One thing Dianna said she hopes will come from the book is getting enough money to build a new house for Gene, although she acknowledges that will likely take much longer than she originally hoped. When she started looking at what it would take to get the book into print and online, self-publishing appeared to be the best route to take.
“I found out how much it costs to do a book, and how little you actually make,” she said. “If you find a publisher, even if they sell it for $20 we’ll make $4.”
So, instead, she turned to self-publishing and Amazon, and got a shock when the sign-up process suggested a promotional pre-sale prior to the book’s June 21 release date.
“Amazon suggested $3.69 for the price and I was offended,” Dianna said. “All this work and you want me to sell it for $3.69? But I also know to listen to the experts, so I hit the OK button. I don’t intend to ever put it that low again because that story is valuable.”
There were 178 pre-orders, and then came the reviews.
“Five-star reviews started coming in on Goodreads and Amazon, and then I started getting private messages almost every day,” Dianna said. “I’m moved to tears by their response.”
“Warrior Spirit Rising” is available on Amazon in both print and Kindle versions. Dianna said she also plans to make copies available at several local businesses.
“That’s until I get picked up by a big publisher and it’s made into a movie,” she laughed.
Future literary plans for Dianna include writing another book, “Blue-eyed Chippewa,” about her own life experiences, and finding ways to help other Native American writers tell their stories and get published.
“There are so few Native American authors out there, but we’re natural storytellers and we have so much to tell that isn’t being shared."

About the author
Dianna Marie Good Sky was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is 13/16ths American Indian. 13/16 parts Ojibwe Native to be exact. She is a registered member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa located in Northern Minnesota and spent most of her young life there. Until her Navy dad took the whole family along with him to his duty stations, after Vietnam of course. Dianna joined the Navy herself when she was 18 and retired as a Navy Chief Petty Officer in 1995. While she was finding ways to heal from her own military-related trauma, she discovered that writing had beautiful healing properties and that maybe others could benefit from her stories. Besides, she's Native American and storytelling comes naturally to her. She has not won awards yet, but, she has won the hearts of those who read her stories. Updates on "Warrior Spirit Rising" and her future projects can be found on her website, diannagoodsky.com. Thank you/MiiGwetch.