Deep Hanging Out (Wanderings and Wonderment in Native California)

From a cofounder of News from Native California, a chronicle of fifty years of friendship, story-sharing, and cultural renewal in California's Indian Country

"Deep Hanging Out is a vibrant testament to one man’s commitment to nurturing community and dancing with change." —Terry Tempest Williams

For nearly five decades, Malcolm Margolin immersed himself in what he called "deep hanging out"—building lasting relationships with Native communities across California's Indian Country through curiosity, respect, and friendship. Deep Hanging Out gathers thirty of his most memorable reflections about California's diverse tribal communities, many originally published in the groundbreaking magazine News from Native California, which Margolin cofounded in 1987.

Drawn from conversations, shared experiences, and trusted relationships, these writings offer a rare window into the multicultural richness of California's more than one hundred Native tribes, comprising a trove of knowledge and traditions that California Indians generously shared with him over the course of a half century. Margolin recounts moments both intimate and profound: helping raise a ceremonial enclosure in Northern California that is intentionally built to be remade by each generation, witnessing Indigenous Hawaiian leaders formally recognize Native Southern Californian tribes, and learning from elders about leadership traditions, pedagogical techniques, and conservation practices from across the state.

Written with warmth, humility, and deep admiration, Deep Hanging Out offers fascinating glimpses into Indigenous worldviews that contrast those of mainstream settler culture. Both those encountering these stories for the first time and those whose roots and hearts reside in the state’s Indian Country will find inspiration in these pages. A celebration of the resilience, creativity, and living cultures of Native California, this collection offers a deeply human portrait of a place and the people who continue to shape it.