Emily DeCory was born and raised in the Encinal village on the Laguna Pueblo reservation. She moved to the Santa Fe Indian Village when she was just three years old along with her family. The village was established as a colony of the Laguna Pueblo and elected its own governor and tribal council. DeCory's father, Tom Ahmie, served as first governor of the Laguna people in the colony and was re-elected for three times. He worked as a blacksmith for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company. She discusses her life as a Laguna living between the reservation and the advantages offered by urban life. She remembers how they first lived in passenger cars of the train and later were set up by the railroad company in boxcars fashioned as living quarters. She describes the conditions living in the backyard of the Standard Oil Company and the effects of the smoke that blew over the village causing health problems. DeCory eventually returned to live in the Encinal Villlage.