Indian Yell: An Evening With Michael Blake

Friday night Jenifer and I drove in to Lancaster for a special event held by the Lancaster Literary Guild, where I had taken several screenwriting classes over the past couple years. Novelist and screenwriter Michael Blake, author of Dances With Wolves, was in the area to promote his new book and agreed to be a last-minute addition to the Guild’s lecture series.

Michael read selections from Indian Yell: The Heart of an American Insurgency, his first non-fiction work and the result of years of passionate research and advocacy. This is a guy who “lived like a running dog” for 12 years in Los Angeles before finding tremendous commercial and critical success with Dances With Wolves, winning the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and WGA award for his adapted screenplay. As he described the highs and lows of living in a rented garage in “Lower Guatemala,” trying to break into the biz, I saw how his story, and its mysterious blend of chance, opportunity, and hard work, was no different than the story of anyone committed to walking a path. It’s always inspiring to see someone on the other side of success – and who’s still walking his path – and as gracious and generous a human being as Michael.