Saturday Evening On the Rez

As I drove towards the people working, one woman came bounding over and asked if she could help me in a lovely Italian accent.  She was all smiles as she pointed me towards the big red building called 'Shelem' and even helped me with my gear. This was my introduction to Erika, one of the staff members at Re-Memeber. 

As I got out of my car, a tall man with a ponytail said "Welcome, John." I was so taken aback that he knew my name, I was actually speechless for a moment. "Or, not John." He said.
"No, I'm John." I replied. "But how did you know that?"
"You look like a John." He said, and introduced himself as Ted, the director of the program. 

Entering the building, I took note of the organization name in tile on the floor, and entered the gathering room...

An eclectic mix of colors and pictures and Native inspired hanging things.  A bookshelf (in the right of the above picture) held just as eclectic a mix of reading material and other things.  A smudge pot with sage and sweetgrass bundles, a miniature bunk bed. And books on Lakota topics, other religious topics and random novels.  I stowed my stuff on a bunk in the men's dorm side of the building...

and went back outside to see what I could do to help.  Everyone was down at the old barracks building, so I walked down that way and discovered that the barracks had been converted into a shop. Ted, Erika and another young woman were loading folding picnic tables into a flat trailer, and were just finishing up when I arrived.  I walked back with Erika and the other woman, and was thus introduced to Jen, the program director for the summer. They were very welcoming and friendly, and suggested I relax and take it easy, and go up on the big hill behind the buildings.  We found Ted in the kitchen, and he suggested the same thing.  So I headed up to see what all the fuss was about.

It was spectacular.  A panoramic view that stretched for miles.  If you look south, you can see Nebraska just a couple of miles away. And it was so quiet.  All I heard was wind blowing through the long grass and a couple of pine trees. Occasionally a cow would moo. And a little yellow breasted bird was singing it's song.  It was very peaceful.  I sat down on a little patch of rock to soak it in.

Looking at the ground to my immediate left I saw this...

And to the right were these...

So I decided to go put some real shoes on instead of my sandals, and at the very least find a place to sit with less pain potential.

As I walked back down the hill, other groups began to arrive.  A group from the University of Maryland, another from Hope College, then Hendrix College and a bunch of high schoolers from Denver Academy.  I suddenly felt rather old and out of place.

I met a very nice gal named Kate who was heading up the hill at the same time I was after I had changed my shoes, so I talked with her a little as we climbed up. My plans to remain anonymous were deteriorating quickly.

At the top, the Hope group had gathered and were playing 'knot' which I thought looked a lot like a strange Michigan bonding ritual, so I had to get a shot of that.

It was significantly louder on the hill than it had been when I was alone, so Kate and I hiked back down and parted ways. I went off to explore and take some pictures...

horses in the field next to the hill...

some sort of prairie wildflower, now dried into this pretty shell...

and as I walked back to the camp, this dog...

That shadowed me along his property line, and crouched into the play stance anytime I looked at him. But would not come up and say hello.

Soon it was supper time. Buffalo Stew. And since it was St. Patrick's Day, Jen decided to have some fun with the group, and soon had a guy speaking with an Irish accent, and a huge group up to do an Irish Jig. 

After supper we had our first history lesson with Ted.  It was a bit depressing. He told us some of the stats. 90% unemployment, only 60% of homes with electricity. 10 times the rate of diabetes and up to 80% rate of alcoholism. Over ten times the rate of suicides as the national average. Life was hard out here.  No doubt about it. This was the poorest county in the US, and second poorest to Haiti in the entire Northern Hemisphere. 

I had heard these statistics before. They seemed no more real to me on this night as they had reading about them back in Minnesota.  But that would change over the next week.

Ted gave us our marching orders, too.  Relax.  Shut off the cell phones and computers. Disconnect from our usual way of life.  And most importantly, listen.

Listen to what the speakers would be telling us.  Listen to what the locals had to say.  Listen to the wind in the grass and the trees.  Just slow down and listen.  It was a tall order for many of us.  Me for certain. But the last line I wrote in my journal that night was "I am open to what may come." If it took slowing down and listening to do that, then I was all for it.

During free time, I grabbed my camera and headed out into the dark to get some shots of the sky.  It is much darker there than anywhere I had been before.

I got Jupiter and the moons...

and a pretty OK timed shot before it was time for bed.

 I sat in the darkness and listened to the wind blow. I heard laughter and talking from the groups going up and down the hill. I saw about a billion more stars than I was used to seeing, and already was planning another night or three out taking pictures.  But the long day of driving and the excitement of settling in and meeting people soon had me yawning something fierce. So I packed it in and headed for bed.  I wanted to try and get some sleep, as Sunday was a day of acclimatization and slowing down.  I wanted to be ready for it.

More Later

Heading to South Dakota

I left on a Friday evening, even though check in at Re-Member was scheduled for somewhere between 2 and 5 pm Mountain Time on Saturday.  Since I am part of a group from my church going in June, I wanted to see what the drive would be like for us then.  But mostly I wanted to be home for the Boyo when he came back from school so we could say our goodbye's for the week.  Anyway, it was a short three hour drive across Minnesota on I-90 to Sioux Falls. That's where we'll be stopping in June, but I was feeling pretty good and as the sun set I decided to continue on to Mitchell, SD and find lodging there for the night.

On the way I was listening to a Classic Queen CD that I had purchased shortly after Boot Camp.  In infantry school I had a cassette tape of that album, the only cassette I had, so it was listened to during long marches and such, and as I listened to the CD it really took me back to those memories.  It was twenty years ago next month that I graduated from USMC Boot Camp.

Somewhere along the road I passed a sign, big blue letters on a white background. ENJOY LIFE! it said. Nothing else on it. A good motto to adopt for this week. And maybe beyond.

I did not sleep well that night for the anxiety I was having about the upcoming week.  What was I heading in to?  I knew there would be other groups there, and I was flying in solo.  I knew from past camp experiences that groups were usually pretty tight knit, and so I geared myself for a week of self reflection, learning about the Lakota, and getting sweaty with the construction of things.

Saturday morning I checked out early, as I was awake anyway.  Since I had some extra time, I decided to swing by the World Famous Corn Palace! That always needs to have an exclamation point after it, because it is just that awesome.

I got there as the sun was rising, painting the World Famous Corn Palace! in early morning pastel hues, bathing the palace (!) in all of its glory...

I was going to go in for awhile and poke around, but there was a show choir invitational just getting underway, and an $8 admission was not something I felt like splurging on given the glittery and sequined crowds that were gathering.  So I walked to the end of the block and crossed the street to the local Casey's for a soda and a map of South Dakota. It was while waiting to cross back that I noticed that every streetlight base has this...

Just in case you forgot what the palace (!) was all about.  I was laughing out loud as I walked down the street, noticing the glances of wary confusion cast my way.

I checked the map and saw that around Rosebud somewhere was the Sioux Indian Museum. I made that my goal for later in the day. 










South Dakota, at least the Eastern side, is pretty flat. Long straight roads of flat.  It was an excellent day for a cruise across the endless expanse of prairie.

After what seemed a short time I crossed onto the Rosebud Reservation. I passed through Okreek and the first thing I saw was a White Shoba standing beside the road, wagging her tail and smiling a greeting to me.  I almost stopped to adopt her on the spot.  But the very next thing I saw was a dead puppy along the road. Great joy and great sadness, all at once. A fitting metaphor for life on the Rez.

As I drove into Antelope/Mission I noticed a great many of these signs on both sides of the road...

Alcohol related death. Drinking and driving. Made me sad, and brought back some memories of accident scenes I've been on as a medic.

Anyway. I headed for the museum and passed through the town of Rosebud. I saw much evidence of poverty, run down houses and such. But I also saw a lot of nice places, well kept. I have studied the Lakota history for many years, and know of the broken treaties and broken promises from the past. What I did not know was what life was like today, and how it tied into the past.  In my journal I wrote that I was "here to break apart or confirm the stereotypes, and I am leaving myself wide open to whatever happens."

I got to the museum, only to find it was closed on Saturday.  Though I did get a picture of this statue...

with the idea of getting home and figuring out who she was and what she had done to earn the title of "Glory of the Indian Race".  So I continued my journey. As I drove between Rosebud and Pine Ridge, I saw two Golden Eagles.  I've never seen them in the wild before, only in raptor centers and such.  Now I saw one dining on a road killed deer, who was not happy when I turned back to try to get her picture. And another high in a tree, looking majestic and regal.  It was a real treat for a raptor lover like me!

I had lunch at Subway in Martin, fully aware that I was going to get to Re-Member very early, especially since I lost an hour crossing into Mountain Time.  So I ate leisurely, called my folks, and eavesdropped on the locals having conversations.  It being St. Patrick's Day, most of the talk centered on wearing green and what everybody was doing that night to celebrate.  After awhile the novelty of the conversations wore off and I decided to spend some time exploring the town. 

That took up about ten minutes, and I drove pretty slow. So I headed to Batesland, a little village on the border of the Rez, and parked at the post office to clean up the car, repack my gear and get ready for the final push to Re-Member.

After all was ready, I still had fifteen minutes to spare, so I sat in the car with the engine off and the doors open and was still.  There was a pow wow circle across the street...

and the wind was not moving much at all.  The silence was deafening. I soaked it in, and it seemed to me that my soul had been missing silence forever.  I got out and stood there and just listened.  It was amazing.  I watched and heard a breeze move the grasses across the road. Straight into the pow wow circle and beyond.  Amazing.

My watch told me I could leave for Re-Member any time and not get there too early.  So with a farewell to the silence, I got back in my car and drove onto the Pine Ridge Reservation.  The miles went by quickly, and the anticipation built in my gut as I approached mile marker 112, the turnoff for the camp.

Then I was there. Turning onto the dirt road leading up to the camp.  Tan building, Red building, trailer, tipi, some vans and an old Bluebird bus. And a little farther down the road, what looked like an old military barracks like I slept in at Ft. McCoy, and a little startlingly, a cemetery.  I pulled into the first driveway and saw people working.  I had arrived.

More Later

Pine Ridge... Processing

Last week I was in Pine Ridge, SD, on the Oglala Lakota reservation. I went to work with an organization called Re-Member. They do things like fix roofs, make beds for people who don't have them, skirt trailers, build outhouses, and generally work to make the lives of the people of Pine Ridge better.

They also mix the work with an immersion program into Lakota and Native American culture.  In the mornings we would hear from Ted, the director of the program, about the Wisdom of the Elders. Quotes and thoughts from Native Americans from many tribes. Words about their thoughts on life, the earth, the conflict with the American Government, and so forth. In the evenings we had Lakota speakers come and talk to us about modern politics, social issues, Lakota spirituality, and even a language lesson. Any and all questions are welcomed by these speakers, even naive questions.

When I went, I had every intention of staying in the background, being a wall flower, and learning as much as I could in the short time I had.  But the other volunteers there sort of overrode my plans.  Groups from Hope College in Michigan, Hendrix College in Arkansas, University of Maryland, and high schoolers from Denver Academy were all very open and friendly, and it was hard not to respond in kind.

Over the next few, or many, posts, I'll be writing about each day I spent out there, drawing from the journal I kept, the pictures I took, and the memories I have. I am still processing a lot of what I learned, as there was so much fantastic information and experience packed into the week.  But I think I've reached a place where I can start putting it down into words, both in blog form and in song.  The biggest thing is to get it down, because I don't want to forget a thing from last week.  I want to Re-Member.

More Later

Weekend Bowyery

A while back, my sister and her family expressed a desire to build their own bows. This led to the First Ever Bluefeather Archery Workshop!

Due to time constraints, we had about 24 hours to accomplish our mission. So a basic board bow design was the order of the day. It started on Friday night with a quick lesson on how to pick a good board for a bow, and the group posed for the Before portrait.

Soon-to-be-Bowyers with their soon-to-be-bows.

We started by taking measurements and laying out our bows.


Everyone worked to the best of their abilities, and pretty soon we were on to cutting out the rough shapes.


including a MacGyver solution to keeping the sawdust out of the cutting area. Nice bandito look for Steph, too!

Then came the first of much, much sanding. All of the bow blanks needed to be sanded down on the sides and the back to prepare for gluing on the riser (handle) and the silk backing.  Steph found some excellent 100% silk ties that would have looked rather questionable on a human, and everyone picked one they wanted and cut them apart. Sanding took up a lot of the evening.



After much prep work, we finally glued up the bows around midnight. (In our defense, we didn't get started until a bit after eight that night!)  Steph, Harrison and Julio all used Tightbond III to glue on their risers and ties.  Dad used epoxy, as did I on the "demo" bow I was building. The ties may have been awful for people, but they ended up looking really cool on the bows!






The next moring, my friend Matt joined us, so I gave him the "demo" bow to finish for himself. I cut the bellies out of most of the bows to save some time, and the shop quickly became a beautiful, chaotic dance of people working on bows. Sanding, cutting in nocks, more sanding...



Soon we were into tillering, or getting the bows to bend how we wanted them too. I also did a quick lesson on building Flemish twist strings, and Dad, Julio and Harrison all gave it a go!

Matt waiting for tillering assistance, Dad working on a string, and Harrison waiting for the tillering tree.


Harrison soon had his bow on the tillering tree and learned the basics.

After much tiller checking, sanding, checking, and sanding, the students started work on their risers (handles) to get a good grip, and cut their arrow shelves in.



Dad marking his riser for the arrow shelf and grip.



Matt was the first one to finish his grip and arrow shelf, and it was time to shoot a few arrows and see how it worked out.

Success!

Following close on the heels of Matt was the other left handed shooter of the group, Julio - Showing fine form as he released his first arrow!



I taught Matt how to put serving on his string while Julio tweaked his bow.

Dad has some great tools for cutting down on build time.  I usually do this part with files and sandpaper wrapped around my finger.  Way to work smarter - not harder Dad!


Julio moved on to serving his string while Harrison and Steph were finishing up their handles and arrow rests.



Meanwhile, Dad was ready to fire his first arrow.  A sweet shooting little bow, there!


Harrison was next up, having done about 99% of the work on his bow himself! Well Done HD!


As Dad added the serving to his string,  Steph released her first arrow at about a quarter to eight, bringing out total to five shootable bows in just under 24 hours!  Excellent form too, Steph! And from a well made bow!



Five new bowyers with their five new bows!  From Left to Right -
Harrison, with his 72" 20# @ 25" bow.
Terry, with his 66" 25# @ 28" bow.
Steph, with her 66" 20# @ 25" bow.
Julio, with his 66" 25# @ 28" bow.
Matt, with his 72" 33# @ 28" bow.




Those were just sticks last night at that time!  Well done group!

And the obligatory full draw shot...


Sweet!



It was a very fun, if hectic weekend.  I learned that working in a shop not my own requires a bit more prep work, but loved working in Dad's well equipped shop. And it was really, really fun to see those I had just taught a skill turning around and teaching it to others.  I liked the looks of satisfaction on everyones face as they fired their first arrows, too.  When I do this again, I'll plan for shorter work days and more days, total. But overall I think it worked out great!

Well done inaugural class of Bluefeather Bowyers!  Happy shooting!

More Later