Ignorance is bliss/ Ignorance= A teachable moment

This week, I have has many moments where the saying "ignorance is bliss" pop up. What does that actually mean? If you do not know about something, you do not worry about it. Ok. and ignorance means? Lack of knowledge or information...

I have been working on our cultural programming for when our volunteers come out here. I have been digging through different papers and documents that the program director before had put together on the history of the Lakota people and their culture and how to teach others about it. I was speaking with some of the teenagers that were at our teen night the other night and asked them "if they could tell the volunteers or others with little or no information on their culture, what would it be?" They told me that they wanted people to know that they do not live in tipis and that they drive cars. They told me about when they went to a conference out east that many people had no idea that they drove cars. They thought that Native Americans still rode horses everywhere. Speaking with my boss the other day, she went on to tell me that there are many people even in South Dakota that do not know there are even any reservations or Natives left. WHAT!!!!!?

To me that is crazy. How can people be living in an area and not even know about the state they live. How have we as Americans who live in the US let that happen? Is ignorance really bliss? I went to a pow wow down in a community here called Cherry Creek last weekend. I didn't stay long or really go into the actual spot they were holding it (I was there for camp promotion) but driving around that part of the rez and seeing the living conditions that some of these families live in... the two counties in which the Sioux YMCA serves are two of the poorest counties in our country. Speaking with two of the girls who went with me, they told me that there is a lot of violence out in those parts because they are a long ways away from everything. If you live in Cherry Creek or Takini, you have to drive at least an hour to get groceries and that's if it's a nice day. If there's snow, good luck PLUS, you will need to find someone who has a car that runs. Oh, and you need to make sure that car has enough gas to get there. No wonder there is violence and other problems out there. Besides a beat up community center, there are houses and that is it. In Takini, there is a school. The Y has started to do an after school program there once a month. Whenever we hire our second person, I am going to be able to work closely with the school in the communities and this makes me super excited. We have had a couple kids from the school ask for tutoring help and I'm pretty excited (hopefully it's not math).

The drive from Dupree out to Cherry Creek and Takini is beautiful. I have also learned a bit about the politics out here on the rez. From what I have gathered, a lot of the money that the tribe receives for the schools stays on towards Eagle Butte and Dupree. Eagle Butte is where the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is located which is where the money comes from. Eagle Butte is also the biggest community? I think it's still called a community or maybe a city, but I could be wrong. The internet tells me that there are 1,350 people who live there. I feel like it is a bit more, but who knows. Anyways, the communities out towards Cherry Creek don't see much money. Cherry Creek also has a lot of history. I'll have to look into that and get back to you all. I can't remember much about it, but it is a very old community.

Growing up in Northern Lower Michigan and then moving up to Marquette, I guess I have always been around Native Americans. I don't ever remember being shocked by the fact that Natives actually live in houses or don't ride horses everywhere anymore. I do remember hearing the stereotypes and whatnot, but it never stopped me from being friends with Native American kids. Although there weren't many African Americans in Charlevoix or Marquette for that matter, I never treated someone who wasn't like me any different because of the color of their skin or for their sexual orientation. I guess I was just brought up to treat others how you want to be treated. I took a couple Native American Studies courses in college and it opened my eyes up to the truth on how Native Americans have been treated throughout our history in America and that has helped me understand the past history of Natives and living out here on a reservation. I have only been out here for a little over a month, but the information and different experiences I am having is amazing. I am learning so much and I LOVE it.

The Lakota people are so great. I have had all this information on how to act and how to present myself and what I have found is that if you are nice, polite, OPEN to learning about a different way of life and know how to laugh, that's all you really need going into any new culture. Sure there are bad things that happen out here and life is hard, but things are so beautiful out here. The sunrises alone are the best I have ever seen. I have also noticed that no matter where I'm at, be it Michigan on the Great Lakes, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains, California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains or out here on the Great Plains, I always say the stars couldn't be brighter anywhere else... But seriously, out here they are SO bright. There is no light pollution and they just shine. There is so much hope and love out here it is amazing.

So, I guess ignorance is bliss, but it shouldn't always be. It should be a teachable moment. A moment to erase ignorance and create bliss.

I'm off to Rapid City! I'm taking Atlas with me and we're going to stay at a hotel. HEH. First we're going to go to one of the four or five dog parks in the city and let him run around with other dogs out of a fenced in yard. :) I think he's excited. I brought down his kennel and he can't stop whining and jumping around because he knows he's going somewhere. I am also going to do some exploring and DRINK A BEER! I guess that means I'm going to go to a restaurant alone for the first time. Gulp. I'm kind of excited to do that though.

Ps. I have made friends with the two girls who work for the after-school program. They are great. They are Christina's (my sister) age of about 19 or 20 so that's pretty funny. They are amazing and are very outgoing. I have enjoyed talking with them and hearing their stories and ideas for the Y. Plus, it's nice to have people to actually have over and watch movies and whatnot. :)

Until next time!

-Love Court

Little House on the Prairie, Owls and "I'm a Cherokee"

I FINALLY moved into the house about a week or so ago. Thank goodness! It's a cute little house that was built during the second world war I guess. It's cozy and warms up well. Check out the pictures on facebook if you'd like to see the inside. 

Funny quick story... After about four days in the house, I found another leak! So, thankfully this one is small enough where I can still live in the house. The plumber is coming tomorrow. Heh. Seriously though, this is my little house on the prairie. It sits on the outskirt of Dupree and looks down onto the community. I love it and Atlas loves the backyard. I found out that that is a Vicious Dog Ban here on the Rez for Pitbulls so Atlas will be staying in the backyard. No free running for him. That or I have to put him on a chain to walk him. Not a leash, but an actual chain. To me, that's a bit crazy because he's a small guy, but because he looks like a Pitbull, he needs to be on one... Oh well. Thank goodness for the backyard. He met a girl who works at the Y the other day. It was the first person he's seen besides me since we've lived here. He was SO excited. haha He didn't even bark or anything. Just jumped up and down a lot and ran around. She let him out for me on Saturday so I could go to the Black Hills Stock show and Rodeo. It was my first rodeo and let me tell you, it was pretty amazing! It is a top qualifying rodeo and one of the biggest events in South Dakota (besides the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally). 

While talking with my boss the other day, she was talking about how Lakota's are very spiritual and love to tell ghost stories (awesome!). Somehow she brought up the fact that Owls are considered a very scary animal within the Lakota culture and history. I have done a little bit of digging on the internet and have come to determine that the owl is both feared and embraced by the Lakota's. The owl is an important animal when talking about the medicine men. The medicine men used the owl as a source of healing and thought it to be very powerful. Like all good in the world, we only know things to be good because we know the bad as well. This goes with the powerful owls and medicine men. Within many tribes there are also those medicine men and women who go bad or are thought of as witches. They use the owl to cast spells and death upon members on the tribe. Owls are nocturnal and for the most part do their hunting at night. It was said that the witches of the tribe would either turn into or use the owl to spy on members of the tribe or to bring the bad upon them. This is how many Lakota's have become afraid of the owl.Coincidentally, I have about four glass owls sitting inside my house right now. :) I'll keep you all updated as to whether or not anyone asks about them. 

I am reading a really interesting book called Land of the Spotted Eagle. It was written by Luther Standing Bear in the early 1930's. Within the book, he speaks about the misconceived thoughts and lies that have been presented on the Lakota Indians. Within the book he speaks about what it was like growing up and all of the traditional parts of their culture that are no more. There are many things that I have put together as far as traditional Lakota and modern day Lakota, such as the speaking loudly thing I had mentioned in a prior post. Many Lakota's do not speak loudly and this is because traditionally, it was looked down upon. Especially while courting. The women rarely spoke and the men when courting a woman would speak very softly if at all. There are many things that Lakota's still do today that are a part of their history and traditions and as my boss said once, they most likely don't know why they do some or most of the things they do, but it actually does go back to their traditions. It's sad that many Lakota's are not as in touch with those traditions as their grandmothers or grandfathers once were. I'm hoping to really focus on bringing traditional activities to the children while I'm out here. It's an interesting matter because I don't want to overstep any unsaid barriers that may be out there as far as a white girl going and trying to bring those things to the kids. From what I understand, many of the elders are very much accepting of it and I feel with me really understanding I don't want to step on anyone feet, I'll be successful at doing it. 

I was speaking with my boss on our way back from the rodeo about how I think it's great that there is so much history and traditions that the Lakota's have and how I wished I knew more about my heritage. I told her about how I went online and searched one summer and followed it back to being Irish on my mom's side of the family and Cherokee on my dad's side (which is actually true, I found our relative's name on the Dawe's Rolls). She laughed and went on to tell me that "being Cherokee" is kind of a joke within Indian culture. She said that everyone says they are Cherokee and that is how many white people try to connect to the native cultures. Shit. Was all I could think. She went on to say that even if you are Cherokee, keep it to yourself. I may dig up some more information on that as well... haha. 

As far as the job goes, I'm just plugging away at it all. I am still in need of some male counselors. We are getting two counselors from Brazil, so that should be interesting. This next week, I believe I am going with my boss (Carol) to Whitehorse which is a small community out here on the Rez. I am also working on a possible Grant for $20,000 for healthy food and physical activity for our kids in our after-school programs and hopefully camp as well. The kids are def. getting used to having me around and are starting to open up a bit which is awesome. 

Although, I'm by myself for a large chunk of my time out here, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I have actually really enjoyed living by myself (with Atlas). It's not that I wouldn't like a roommate, because roommates are great when they are in fact, great people, but having time to myself where I can just be... It's nice. I don't have to worry or spend my time thinking about what I'm doing with my life or what job I'm going to try to get or do because I have it! I was also thinking about my time in college and how I switched from Nursing to Education, to Early Childhood Development and then went and worked at my first camp. Spending that time out at Camp Sugar Pine and getting in all of those interesting experiences and REALLY learning about risk management shaped me into the person I am today. I knew then that I wanted to be a Camp Director and five years late, here I am. Hard work and Dedication. Not to brag or anything, but I made it. I did it. I did what I set out to do and here I am. Ask me how I enjoy it when Camp is in session and we'll see what my thoughts are on it then. :) 

Love and miss you all! 

-Court