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As the Rez Turns

I think I've finally settled in, caught up with myself, and started to process being back -- three weeks later. It seems like it has been longer, actually. The familarity of my surroundings: seeing the same people at Bats from last summer, working in the same communities, and getting back into the routine at Re-Member. This season, I've taken on a number of new roles with the organization, allowing me to be more closely involved with the day-to-day and long-term operations. I am also coordinating our Program Manager staff, consisting of former volunteers who elect to come back with us for anywhere from three to eight-plus weeks as staff. It is both a challenge, and an opportunity to coordinate this program, as I was in that role last year. Spending more time in the office does have certain drawbacks, the greatest of which is spending less time out in the communities. I have certainly found myself missing the amount of interaction that comes with being in homes every day. With b...
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Returning to the Rez

I am returning to Pine Ridge, and to Re-Member in one week. The course of events that has brought me here has been an interesting one to say the least. When I left Pine Ridge last fall, my intent was to seek permanent employment in a career-path job, but as time passed, and options opened, and closed, and then opened again, I found the option that was best suited for me right now was on the Rez. Is this a career? No, but it's an opportunity that is available right now to do something I am passionate about, to work with people who love what they are doing. It almost has become a joke with family and friends that after applying for over twenty jobs (mostly in Northern New England) that I've settled on returning to Pine Ridge because "there's more opportunity on the rez than there is at home!" It's not about the money, and although there are loans to pay each and every month for the education that is responsible for bringing me to Pine Ridge in the first place, I...
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Wasted in Whiteclay - KELO TV

A report from KELO-TV in Rapid City shines a light on the ongoing issues of Whiteclay, and the latest efforts to bring change to the area. See the original story, posted online, here .
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Avatar - The World's Most Popular...Historical Docu-Drama?

I haven't seen Avatar, and probably won't till it works it's way onto my Netflix queue a year from now. The hype surrounding the stunning animation failed to draw me into a theater (due partly in fact to the reality that the nearest I-Max theater is over an hour away) but the story, at first blush didn't seem all that appealing either. However, as the reviews began to delve deeper into the storyline, and informed movie-viewers started to draw parallels to Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves , one begins to wonder... Did James Cameron just produce the box-office record setting film that is effectively a storyline that describes the historical realities of the American West? In reading several analysis pieces, MTV provides one of the more telling analyses. Following, a piece from 4 January, 2010 -- found in full at the MTV website . 'Avatar' And 'Dances With Wolves': How Similar Are They? We break down the similarities between the epic movies. By Eric D...
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The Passing of Time

It's been a while since I've posted any original content, but the associated links and content were fillers in a time where I felt it appropriate to step away, for a time, and evaluate my position with things on Pine Ridge. Since leaving in October of 2009, I've been on an interesting journey. From crossing the country, or parts of it several times, to dealing with unemployment, prospective employment, and temporary employment, my mind has been torn in about as many directions as possible. I applied for the vacated Director position at Re-Member following my travel to Michigan to meet with the Re-Member Board of Directors in November 2009, and was informed on December 31 that I was a finalist for the position, but that another individual had been selected. I congratulate Ted, the former Board President on assuming the reigns of Re-Member, and leaving behind his own business and personal life in Michigan to attend to the organization he has coordinated from a Board position ...
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Gangs on Tribal Lands - The New York Times

From The New York Times: "Tribal officials on the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Reservation are struggling to control a rash of gang-related crime among native youth." View the published article, and an accompanying audio slideshow from the NYT Online. The article, published in the Times on 13 December: "Gang Violence Grows on an Indian Reservation." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/us/14gangs.html Styling themselves after large urban gangs, the Indian gangs have emerged as one more destructive force in some of the country’s poorest and most neglected places. The audio slideshow : http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/12/13/us/1247465539709/gangs-on-tribal-lands.html
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"...Double Life..."

A story from the Rapid City Journal on the Pine Ridge BIA Chief's son, a Darmouth College grad who by all standards, lived a double life upon his return to the Rez. From the RCJ: By day, Ecoffey worked for the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce. He mentored and tutored reservation youth, taught classes and was assistant basketball coach at Red Cloud High School. But by night, he ran with a crowd that was dealing cocaine and marijuana. He developed a gambling problem and a serious cocaine addiction, eventually distributing drugs himself. Read More: BIA superintendent's son sentenced for drug conspiracy
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