Visit to Hays!

Had a lovely time visiting Hays this weekend! Was so happy to finally see Hays and to get to visit Miss Carmody and her beautiful second graders!






Miss Carmody and the Mountain Lion Clan!


I explained the Crow Flag and they colored their own :)

A package arrives with second grade supplies... it's like Christmas!


New friends :)



Poetry recitation by Lane... the best thing. And the proudest second graders.


PRECIOUS!

Mary's birthday dinner!




Goodbye, beautiful Hays, hope to see you again!

"Who rocks the house? The Eagles rock the house!"

Man, basketball is quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of life here. Where, as some of the kids have said, basketball IS life.

After school was the first home game of the boys' basketball season. This means kids running all around, tons of tempting treats for sale, families to greet or meet, a cramped gym filled with chatter and excitement, and oh yeah, three basketball games going on.

They played Lodge Grass, another Crow team, and it was actually a pretty good match up; from what we've seen, Pretty Eagle teams tend to dominate at everything (to the point where it actually feels sad for the other team), so the intensity was exciting. I sometimes forget I'm not watching a high school team! The girls team was the same way- they are inTENSE. I've never been a basketball fan or anything, but it was really fun sitting in the stands with families and cheering on our students.

And oh yeah, I'm also helping out with cheerleading now. (The coach saw the 2nd grade girls' dance in the Christmas Show and asked if I would do a dance for the cheerleaders- I just started teaching them one this week, but it's been fun!) It's just about 12 girls 4th-8th grade that cheer at all the basketball games, nothing too intense, but I think it's nice that they have it as an option to do something fun and try it out.

Fun times at Pretty Eagle!

Before Mother Earth begins shaking...

The Grandmothers know there has been an undeniablle corruption of humanity's spirit. The global human family, a macrocosm of the tribal system, is lost in confusion and sickness. We are disconnected from ourselves and from the planet that nurtures us, body and soul. Violence and war have bred hunger, poverty, loss of culture, and a lack of understanding concerning basic human rights. Our waters, the blood of our Mother Earth, are often too polluted to drink, the air in some places too polluted to breathe. Do we really want it this way for ourselves, for future generations, they ask? We have lost the most fundamental teaching: that all life is sacred, all life is One. The Grandmothers say we must wake up from our trance before the Earth begins shaking.

-from the Introduction to Grandmothers Council the World

Pryor, MT

Yesterday we had to go to St. Charles School (the other St. Labre school) in Pryor, MT for a Professional Development Day. Though it was blanketed in white from this week's snow, here are some photos from Pryor when we visited in September that I never posted. It's a scenic spot on the Crow Reservation surround by rocky, pine-covered hills and rolling ranches.




Sunflowers in September

SNOW DAY!!

Currently: -4 degrees. AH!

The snow is so powdery here!
With snow forcasted throughout the night last night, they decided to call school off for today (so of course I ran around the house cheering and doing a snow day dance. Snow days will never lose their excitement!) Which meant we only had a 3-day school week, since it's an in-service day tomorrow... woohoo!

Checking off to-do lists, catching up on school planning, reading Reservation Blues, and watching I Love Lucy :)

Review: Sweetgrass Basket

I grabbed this book out of the school library last week, brought it home, and read it all in one sitting. It's about middle school level but I thought it was a beautiful read and wanted to share.

Sweetgrass Basket is a gently woven prose poetry story shared in the voices of two Mohawk sisters who are sent away to Indian boarding school. Author Marlene Carvell's poignant language and use of form captivates the characters' every emotion so that the reader can truly feel what it was like to be in their position: young Indian girls, displaced, longing, confused, and being stripped of family, home, and culture. A moving and well-done piece.

We Have A Dream

Today made for an excellent Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Pretty Eagle Catholic Academy. As AmeriCorps members, we were asked to do a special service project to commemorate the day and inspire service in our communities. Since our school did not have the day off, we wanted to do a service project that involved our students- to spread the spirit of service to them and to demonstrate what Martin Luther King Jr. was all about.

Weather complications and last-minute planning led us to the best idea we could have done. We shared a presentation about speaking out for what you believe and held a forum for students to voice what they care about.

We didn't want to just focus on MLK and what he did- we wanted to show what each of us have done in the model of MLK to carry on his spirit of activism and make change in our own communities. Don gave a great introduction to the message of Martin Luther- discussing what 'civil rights' and 'equality' really mean and how he stood not just for black people but for equality between ALL people.

Sarah showed photos from anti-war protests she's been part of and shared her dream of living in a world where somebody's child is not killing another person's child. Don shared photos from his youth ministry in New Jersey where they took action against homelessness. Matt talked about volunteering at a self-sustaining farm to engage in stewardship for the earth. I was excited to share about Activism Club and the steps we took to successfully get Stonehill to Think Outside the Bottle! (Reminded me of what a big challenge we took on, how much planning, time, effort, & passion went into it, and what an awesome success it was... re-inspired myself!)

After talking about the ways in which WE have taken action, we turned the floor over to the middle school students and asked to hear what they cared about- what they wanted to see change. Fellow teachers joined in with stories of racist interactions they've encountered and shut down. And Rich, our Crow P.E. teacher, said it bluntly to them- "I'm gonna say it straight up- you guys are so 'rez-ed out' that no one wants to stand up, no one wants to speak out- you need to stand up for what you believe and be proud to be who you are. Be proud to be Crow. It's up to you guys to be leaders in our community." He talked about hardships he's faced, inequalities and injustices that they deal with every day. He had powerful words, speaking through his own experience and relating to theirs. And they were listening. Though not many students spoke up, the inspiration was evident when my proposal to get together in a group to discuss, plan, and take action was met with enthusiasm. Within 5 minutes of Sarah posting our new sign up sheet for MLK Club, the page was half full.

So, looks like we have a little Activism movement stirring here at Pretty Eagle. We're going to meet at lunch/recess probably one day a week and really get some action going on the issues that they want to see changed. I was impressed that we were able to have such an honest discussion- about racism, drug & alcohol problems, real problems on the rez. And I'm excited that they seem to get that the power is in their hands. Looking forward to planting these seeds.

...Until justice rolls down like waters
and righteousness like a mighty stream. - MLK Jr

Grandmothers and Children: the Hopes of the World

(c)Marisol Villanueva, courtesy of The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
Had a beautiful weekend of our JV experience with Sarah these past two days. It began Saturday morning with one of the most important and serendipitous things I've ever been present to- meeting Grandmother Margaret Behan, Northern Cheyenne Elder, of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. The greatest thing you've ever heard of, right?

The Council is, as the name says, a group of 13 indigenous grandmothers from around the world. They came together to unify around their common vision, each answering a specific calling and responding to separate but parallel prophecies. They recognize that the earth is in a state of pain and suffering, and it is the grandmothers of the earth who can bring about healing. Grandmothers, in their wisdom and nurturing of life.

Alliance Statement of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
We are the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. We have united as one. Ours is an alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children and for the next seven generations to come.

We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth, the contamination of our air, waters and soil, the atrocities of war, the global scourge of poverty, the threat of nuclear weapons and waste, the prevailing culture of materialism, the epidemics which threaten the health of the Earth’s peoples, the exploitation of indigenous medicines, and with the destruction of indigenous ways of life.

We, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, believe that our ancestral ways of prayer, peacemaking and healing are vitally needed today. We come together to nurture, educate and train our children. We come together to uphold the practice of our ceremonies and affirm the right to use our plant medicines free of legal restriction. We come together to protect the lands where our peoples live and upon which our cultures depend, to safeguard the collective heritage of traditional medicines, and to defend the earth Herself. We believe that the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future.

We join with all those who honor the Creator, and to all who work and pray for our children, for world peace, and for the healing of our Mother Earth.

So last week, Sister MaryAnne of the Prayer Lodge (another treasure that I must also describe) invited us to a meeting they were having with Grandmother Margaret to help plan the Grandmothers' next Council gathering, which will take place this summer in Lame Deer, Montana (Grandmother Margaret's home.) Sarah & I looked up the Council to learn more and were completely enamored.

The Prayer Lodge in Busby, MT is a place of peace for women and provides resources for women of the Northern Cheyenne reservation. It's SO wonderful. TOO perfect of a place for Sarah & I to encounter.
So we headed down Saturday morning and spent the entire meeting in awe of the Grandmothers and their work. One of the amazing parts was just being part of the gathering; just meeting Grandmother Margaret, who, though an international leader on the level of the UN, is still just that- a grandma. Grounded and humble and loving and welcoming. Her assistant Skybird was there as well, along with several other Sisters, another young girl, and Margaret's granddaughter, Cedar Rose. But just being there- hearing some of her wisdom, learning more about the Council- was such an opportunity.

The other amazing part was the opportunity to be involved with this Council gathering. [My understanding is that the gathering will be a sacred time for the Grandmothers to come together first, to have their private council, deliberating issues that have been brought to them for input or endorsement, and praying. They then will have the public council where hundreds of participants join them in support of their prayers for peace.]

Grandmother Margaret shared her vision for what she wants the gathering to be, and shared her four hopes that are starting to be met by her prayers. Being the first gathering to happen on a reservation, (the 11th so far- after they have one at each of the grandmother's homes, they will start "taking invitations from the world." And they already have a waiting list!) she wants it to be completely aligned with traditional values in every detail. The most important part of her Cheyenne culture is feeding guests- welcoming people and caring for them. So she prays that they will be able to feed all of the participants. At the least, she will be able to feed her fellow Grandmothers around her own kitchen table, which is so special to her. They also are focused on building an ecological site for the gathering so that they continue to respect and care for Mother Earth throughout the event.

It is just such an inspiring movement that the Grandmothers have formed. I am so eager to hear more of their wisdom and individual-yet unified-visions. I felt so blessed to be there and to be introduced to this hope for the world.

Detail on the outside of the sweat lodge at the Prayer Lodge
----

To continue the lovely weekend, Sarah, Don & I went to mass at St. Dennis in Crow Agency this morning, where we see many friendly faces from the Crow community and several of our friends, too. After church, we sat with one of the families we are close with, the Briens, whose kids wanted to come over, so we took them with us. We went on a hike in the hills down the road, which was a fun adventure. We came back to warm up with hot chocolate and snuggled up in blankets to watch some "I Love Lucy" ... plus we had doritos, chocolate chip cookies, pudding, painting rocks, and the movie Tangled. Comfort & joy. Such a fun afternoon & so lucky to have those great kid friends.

Danielle and Tomas, looking for prairie dogs!

Reinventing the Enemy's Language

I have become enthralled by the way language is inseparably linked to identity and is invested with the role of proliferating a culture. (A fact particularly brought to light by the link of language and culture on reservations.) I have found fascination in an incredible anthology on this theme, Reinventing the Enemy's Language- an anthology of poetry and prose by Native women from all over the world that gives voice to their struggle for "beautiful survival."

"Many of us [native peoples] at the end of the [21st] century are using the 'enemy language' with which to tell our truths, to sing, to remember ourselves during these troubled times. Some of us speak our native languages as well as English, and/or Spanish or French. Some speak only English, Spanish, or French because the use of our tribal languages was prohibited in schools and in adoptive homes, or these languages were suppressed to near extinction by some other casualty of culture and selfhood."

-Joy Harjo, from Reinventing the Enemy's Language

Can you imagine having your language ripped away from you? Not only ripped away, but then thrown on the dirt and stomped on. Smothered until extinction- what is left to keep the flame of culture alive?

This is what happened to the native peoples of this land, who are still part of our country today yet must fight for oxygen to keep the flicker of their culture burning strong.

How does American society go on living so carelessly about these people that were so brutally maimed of self and spirit?

Exploring Wyoming

Yesterday Sarah, Matt, and I took advantage of the nice day and decided to check out some waterfalls in Wyoming that one of the teachers kept suggesting we go see. We're only about 35 miles from the Wyoming border, which is pretty neat.



We drove into Bighorn National Forest, which was an absolutely beautiful ride, winding through snowcapped mountain tops by pine-lined paths. Wish I got some photos along the way there.

It seemed to take forever to find Shell Falls, so we laughed when we finally did and the sign read "Shell Falls - CLOSED". But no matter, it was just closed for the season, but we could still walk over and see the view.


It was freezing up high on the mountains, so the waterfalls were actually frozen- but it looked pretty cool!

We continued past Shell falls, out of the Bighorn Forest, into the very small (population 83) and very old-time town of Shell, WY.



...and we stopped at the most Western-y spot I've been yet, an old western country store called Dirty Annie's.



We headed on home just as the sunset was painting everything pink. The scenes were stunning.


It was amazing that so much beautiful scenery is so close to flat old St. Xavier. It was a great afternoon adventure in Wyoming!

Hi 2012, nice to meet you.

Back to school!

Thumbs up for back to school!

The girls in my dance group- they danced to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" for the holiday pageant :)

Uh oh... double trouble!

Happy New Year!

p.s. 56 degrees today out here in Montana... so much for frigid winter!