July 6th, 2010

Another work day done. We went to a mobile home to add an insulating skirt underneath to help with the heating bills. When we got there, we found that the electric company had cut off their power. So, no power tools. Not the most promising start. All we had to work with were a few cordless tools until the batteries ran out and hand tools. We also were not able to use the table saw to rip the final wooden covers that will go over the insulation and actually stop the wind.

Once again, the kids did a fantastic job. Sam to to use a reciprocating saw, which she handled with aplomb, along with brushing up on her hammering skills. Nicole practiced with a hand saw and enjoyed it so much she went looking for more wood to cut once we finished cutting the cross members.

Because there was no power, there was not enough work to go around. But, no one complained about being bored. When given direction, each of them tackled it with gusto.

The rolls of insulation were just a little short for the frames to tack them into place properly, and a few times we’d get the frame into place only to have the insulation fall down. I got to climb under the mobile home in a space about as large as I am when lying prone and crawl down its length, nailing the insulation back in place where it had fallen. There were a lot of spiders, apparently many of them poisonous. Huzzah, no bites! Art, one of the leaders from the Danvers group told me he’d never be able to do that. I’m glad the kids did not try it either.

There were also lots of grasshoppers and a pair of dogs showed that the kids nicknamed Rabies and Dead. For the record, they did not have rabies and did not die. April is writing in the group journal today, so I’ll leave it to her to cover that in more detail.

After getting back I drafted April and Theo to help me in the kitchen to bake a birthday cake for Brian. Again, a classic example of these guys not stepping up, but leaping at the opportunity to help out and do more.

Our 3rd speaker tonight. Not quite as engaging as last nights, but still quite good. He gave a more detailed creation story and described a lot of the parallels between Christianity and Native American stories. Plus, info on the 7 sacred ceremonies. Twice in a row now, Brian has gone to talk with the speaker afterward. Awesome!

The cake went over well. Brian was completely surprised, even though probably everyone else had heard about it by this point. Julie would be proud of me. The oven didn’t work right but I still managed to get both cakes baked with no burning (though some sticking, don’t trust Crisco spray).

Next morning

I forgot to write about a conversation I had with Ted that clarified my concerns about the trash issue. It turns into an excellent lesson about the extreme poverty. We spent a lot of time picking up trash during our first workday, and yet they tell us stories about how important it is to respect the earth as part of the Lakota culture. But, when it comes down it, they have to choose between buying food and buying trash bags. Given that families already run out of food before the month ends, food always wins. So, the garbage gets thrown under the deck, or in a hole in the ground. The wind picks it up and it goes everywhere. There is a trash pickup service, but you have to pay for it, and it’s not cheap. Garbage collection is a luxury your average Lakota simply cannot afford.

July 5th, 2010

Our first work day. Everyone did a fantastic job! We spent most of the day painting a wheelchair ramp to protect it from the elements, as paint is cheaper than urethane, and the wood that gets donated is not pressure treated.

Got the most important surfaces covered, but cut it short while painting the understand as mold was discovered. Most likely not the black mold of legend, but better safe than sorry. At that point we moved to pick up litter. It being the day after the 4th of July, there were lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of expended fireworks. Fireworks were actually going off pretty frequently during the work day as well. We got done with the yard of the house we’d been working at and moved down the street. Ended up filling a lot of garbage bags. Of it firecrackers, but a lot of it not from this year. There were a fair amount of firecracker remains that was definitely not a day old.

The funny story from the day is that Brian asked me if gangs were  a problem. I said I didn’t think so but that there was a fair amount of theft. As if on cue, a kid rides up to a bike that’s lying by the side of the road, says “Hey, that looks like a nice bike” grabs, and takes off with it before any of us can react.

It’s worth noting that later on we found out that gangs are a problem on the Rez, along with theft.

Speaker that night was Will Peters. He was a fantastic speaker. He’s  full time teacher, and really got everyone’s attention from the get go and kept it the entire talk. I got his email address and hope to talk to him further. If we’re going to try to solve problems post trip, he can provide some insight I think.

Stayed up too late. Getting up tomorrow to watch the sunrise.

I miss Julie and Alex.

A lot.

July 4th, 2010

A day both intense and lackluster. We visited Wounded Knee, learned the story of the massacre, wandered the cemetery (which is still active). Saw tombstones of veterans of World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, all buried next to people from the 1890’s.

I’m used to cemeteries with flowers on the graves, and there were plenty of those, but other things too. Speaking with Dave, one of the project managers, explained that loved ones will bring that which people enjoyed in life. There was a can of Pepsi on one tombstone, cigarettes on another. There was a purple ceramic hand. There were also Teddy bears, for those that died young.

There were a lot of teddy bears. Makes me want to give Alex a hug.

Dave told me about a drink called Hurricane. It’s half beer, half energy drink that’s sold almost exclusively in depressed areas like ghettos and reservations. The idea is to keep you awake and active, so you can drink more. It was, sadly, among the offerings. Apparently you have to do a lot of research to find the connection between Hurricane and the Brewer, Anheiser-Busch. Took a research student 3 months to trace that back.

Next came a hike into the badlands. Sadly, a very short one. A storm front was moving in so we only had a short while before getting washed out. The badlands is not a good place to be in a storm. Actually, no place out doors on the Rez is a particularly good place to be outside when there’s a storm. The rain is hard, it hails often, and the wind can be pretty fierce. The hills in the badlands are effectively dry mud, so when the rain comes, you’ll have a hard time getting down safely, assuming you don’t drown in a mudslide.

The scenery was beautiful. Those with cameras burned through a lot of shots while we were there. There was not enough time for silent contemplation.

Returned to the badland visitor center for lunch. Had it in the basement next to a stuffed deer. Food was good. Deer did not provide much in the way of conversation.

After an extra long drive back to Re-Member (I think they were trying to kill time), we had some time to play games. I introduced Chrononauts, which went over well. April seemed to like it a lot. I also learned that Geoff and Jaime cannot be trusted to play Uno alone. Uno can be a surprisingly violent game, especially after Jaime beat Geoff 6 times in a row.

Nice talk from the speaker after he smudged us with wheat grass. He spoke very softly, which made it hard to heard and I think put some people to sleep. Turns out the badlands were known as the white hills prior, which makes a lot of sense. It’s basically a bunch of white hills. The badlands were a name assigned to give the area a negative connotation, so that it would sound like the army was doing the Lakota a favor by taking it over.

July 3rd, 2010

*Note, I’m skipping the first travel day. Not much to report beyond heavy bags and a lot of time in a plane and a bus. I’ll try to edit out the boring stuff, but no promises.

What a day. Watched a couple of movies on the bus, one of which was ridiculously inappropriate, what with the endless profanity and gratuitous sex scene. The movies were pulled from the Re-Member list to learn more about Native American culture, but apparently were not previewed to determine their appropriateness for the audience.

But, the bus did not break down, and we managed to get to Re-Member without incident.

It’s worth noting the watch story. When we started this trip, I did not have a watch. I stopped wearing a watch a few years ago and have relied on my phone, but given that my phone will spend most of the time turned off, and given that there seems to be a fair bit of scheduling going on that I should keep track of, I opted to buy a watch. At the gift shop in Colorado, they only had one kind of watch. It was a Timex watch for kids, which had a button specifically to animate a dog running around. It just barely fit, and had a motion sensor so that any time the watch moved, it did an animation where the numbers sweep away and back again, taking about 7 seconds. You cannot skip it, so you have to wait for it to stop before you can check the time. You also have to hold perfectly still while checking the time or it starts all over again.

Less than one day and I was done with that watch.

So, on the way to Pine Ridge we stopped at a gas station where I finally find a decent watch. Between the two, I’ve spent about half of the money I’d budgeted for the trip, but at least I had a working watch.

Arrive a Re-Member, attend orientation. The first thing Ted says, “Here on the Reservation we do things a little bit differently. The perception of time is different, so you can take your watch, put it away, as you will not need it for this trip.”

As Jaime tells it, she turned to look at me and my head was on the table at this point. And the entire Burlington group cracked up.

For Dinner we had Buffalo stew, which was quite delicious.

Oh, and we saw Car-Henge on the way up. Fantastic!!

The Pow-Wow was a lot of fun. They started it by having all of us go out and dance for about 10 minutes. It was a simple round dance, but it was also about 10 minutes. It was pretty exhausting.

Next, I got to go up and say a few words about our group, why we’re here, and what we hope to do.

Some friends were made. The girls befriended some young girls named Cecilia and Morningstar. Apparently Cecilia “Brings the shizzle, up in here!”

All in all, a good time was had. And now: Too sleep!

The Rez

It finally happened. After a year of planning, fundraising, and psyching myself up, we made the trek to Pine Ridge. There’s too much to cover in a single blog posting, so suffice it to say that it was very, very intense. Perhaps at some point I’ll transcribe the journal I kept (edited for content, language, handwriting, etc.), but for now I’ll simply say that things need to happen there. Big things. Important things. Otherwise, people are going to keep dying. Imagine a place that is in a state of triage for 150 years. Imagine a place that is so pretty it turns your stomach to know that to see it on a regular basis means you will likely not live to see 50. I was sad to leave, but at least I can. Not everyone is so lucky.

Etiquette oddities

Normally, standard etiquette dictates that people exiting a space are granted the right of way. You let people off the elevator, or coming out of a restaurant first. It makes sense logically, as you’re making room for yourself by letting them out, but I’ve noticed one distinct contradiction.

Subway entrance gates while the train is parked in the station with the doors open. It’s best to step aside and let the people scrambling to get onto the train before the doors close and the train leaves go first.

I try to do it for them. I’d like to think they’d do it for me.