Sundance. Let that sink in. Sundance is an explosion. Sundance is an explosion of talent and possibility. 2013 was my breakout year. So many things went right and so many thing went wrong.

My Father passed that year. That in and of itself was difficult. Quite unexpectedly. We didn't have the money to bury him at the cemetery but I think he's much more comfortable to be out in the back yard.

My daughter was in the hospital for seizures. We did not know what was going on with her. I was afraid that it was killing her - at the very least it was making her unable to function in the outside world. Here he is in his prime. =>

My college experience was exciting. I was ready to pack it up and go home. My screenplay, <= The Trail Home, was read on stage by this batch of fabulous readers! I also had a short voiced play that year in Famous For Fifteen.

I did eventually stick it out and graduated with two degrees: Associates of Applied Science in Business Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Filmmaking. It was difficult but I was so jazzed to be walking down the aisle with Sam (fab actor in Alaska) with my family looking on.

But we were talking about Sundance. Sundance exploded it's goodness all over my life. Bird Runningwater sent me an email saying he'd like to talk to me about my script - Avé and the Uglies - a post apocalyptic script about a young woman making the hard survival decisions. The next day we were on the phone and then I was there. At the Inn of the Mountain Gods on the Mescalero Apache reservation. At Native Film Sundance!!! Okay there was some amount of months between the phone call and the Inn but it felt like it was a POOF and I was there suffering from imposter syndrome and not a little bit of fear.

Our Mentors guided us through the ins and out of our scripts and angst. We then came to Park City, during the Sundance Film Festival, to watch shorts and to hear and talk to other producers, directors and actors of shorts and features. An amazing experience that I wouldn't change - ever!