Tori McConnell

Tori is a Yurok tribal member from Humboldt County, CA. She is a lifetime artist and current graduate student in the Environment & Community program at Cal Poly Humboldt. This year she passed on her Miss Indian World 2023 title to Kassie John of the Navajo Nation; during her time as MIW, Tori won the 2023 Creative Native contest. Now Tori is focusing on finishing her Master’s degree and working on a tribal fire project at her university.

You can hear the rushing river, the silence of the forests, the soft pitch of the eagle bone whistles, the rhythmic beat of singers and the piercing hollers of the dancers. From the golden light of the morning to the hot sun of the afternoon they dance. Against the night sky, the deers lift up our prayers. We pray for food, for balance, for life. We pray for the world. The moon holds many stories. But the ninth full moon is special. It marks the beginning of the White Deerskin Dance —the most sacred time, time for a New Year.