"Do What You Believe In"

Tonight I'm reading a book that gets my mind dancing all over the place. It's for one of my major classes, and it's called "Tribes" by Seth Godin. It's an easy read; very concise and pretty fun. I would definitely recommend it.

Basically,  the book is about how to be a leader and what a successful group of people needs to do and have to be a tribe (notice how I did not say "company" or "organization". Those are very different things). And while this book is so overwhelmingly scary in it's concepts about "if you don't like what you're doing, stop and do something else" or "don't be afraid to get fired", it is also a book that gets me thinking. It's so blunt. Do what you like, because that is probably what you're best at. Lead others by not following the status quo. Be willing to struggle to find that place where you can change things.

One of the things I noticed from reading this book about myself is that I am so scared of change. Mostly just the permanent changes. Like a change in jobs (getting fired and being homeless), change in atmosphere (aka global warming), and change in my relationships (friends and family). Most people are probably just like me. But the book says change is good, and that we can't get the things we want unless we are willing to change the things that already have. If it's right, then I've got a lot of changing to do.

I want to end up somewhere where I am excited to go to work every day. Where I love what I am doing so much that it isn't even like a job, but a hobby. Somewhere where I am leading and creating and inspiring and making a difference. Somewhere where I'm "doing something I believe in".

Just a little something to consider before going to bed.

Spring Break Series: The Sites

Whilst on my spring break in South Dakota, my fellow breakers and I performed service for an impoverished Native American reservation. But this was not all that we did out there.


We had one day off during the week to go site seeing; some of which we had already done on Sunday. On Sunday we went to see the Badlands, which are basically gigantic rock mountain-like formations in red and tan. As soon as we saw them we were amazed, all hoping out of the car simultaneously to climb up and down and all around the natural playground. I felt a bit like Indiana Jones, scaling intense cliff sides and standing on what I took to be the edge of the world. We did this for hours, and it never got old. It seemed the longer we were out there, the more mystical the moments became. At sunset, we took one last look out over the lands, green plateaus housing buffalo herds and a fiery red sky looking back at us. It was an all new experience for me.

And that was only the beginning!

On our day off, we went to see: Wounded Knee, the Wind Caves, Crazy Horse Monument, Prairie's Edge, and Bear Butte, in that order. Wounded Knee was our first stop, and it must have been about 6:45 when we got there, because the sun was just rising in the sky and the morning frost was fresh on the graves. It was freezing, silent, and most of all, sobering. The gravesite was completely still, the kind of stillness that only comes from eternal sleep. The mass grave that stood above the rest was covered with colorful, battered cloth pieces waving in the breeze. These cloth pieces are like prayers from people who had come to the site beforehand to pray for the deceased. I saw graves of children there, and babies, and who knows how many young people were buried in the unmarked, mass grave. It was a sad sight to behold, but one of great historical significance.

Next, we went to the Wind Caves, which were much less tragic yet just as significant. The Lakota people believe that the first humans crawled out of those caves at the dawn of time. The only natural entrance to the caves are the size of a man's hat, which is why we went in the manmade entrance. Down in the caves, there are passageways and tunnels leading every which way deeper and deeper into the Earth's core. All of the passageways have not yet been explored, but of the thousands that have been, we only got to go down one. The walls of the cave were amazing; molded and shaped from thousands (millions?) of years of decay and erosion. At one point, our tour guide had us all be completely silent, and he turned off all of the lights. I have never experienced such darkness. Not a sound but our breath and a little drip of water every now and then. Not a sight at all. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. Imagine what it would be like to live in such nothingness. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip, having a feeling so foreign as being completely and utterly empty. Something I will never forget.

The Crazy Horse Monument was our next stop. I could see it for miles away, even before we pulled into the parking lot! That is just how big it was. The entirety of Mount Rushmore can fit inside his head. Wow. Sadly I think it will be a while until it is done, but it was fantastic to behold anyway. And while we were there we stopped at a restaurant that overlooked the monument, which was where I got to have my first taste of fry bread and a buffalo burger, both of which I would highly recommend to those of you who aren't vegetarians. Really, it's that good.

Prairie's Edge was basically just a gift shop where tourists could go to get hand-crafted American Indian art, wood carvings, bead work, grasses and herbs, etc. But it was pretty cool.

And our final stop was at Bear Butte; a large hill where the Lakota send men on their vision quests for four day and nights with no food or water. It is a sacred place to the Lakota people, said to be made on a giant bear's back. We were there at night, when the stars came out, and spirits floated around us, watching us. Ernie LaPoint and his wife Sonja (Ernie is the last genetically traceable great-grandson of the famous Sitting Bull) came and talked to us a bit about Lakota spirituality, and vision quests, and how if you were not prepared properly, the hill could do strange things to you. Some people had completely disappeared on their quests. More colorful cloth pieces were tied on the trees all around the hill as people began to prepare for the spring ceremonies. It felt like a strange place, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. But anyone who goes there can see and feel why it is so sacred to the Lakota people.


All of these places are places I will never forget: breath-taking and historical and sobering and spiritual. I'd like to experience more things like this before I die. And if I do, you will be the first to know.

Spring Break Series: The Crew

Here is the next post in my series about my Alternative Spring Break trip to a Native American reservation in South Dakota! Last time I talked about the issues the people out their confronted every day. Today I would like to talk about a lighter subject, something that I am becoming more thankful for as time goes by: the crew.

11 other people, complete strangers that I had only met two or three times before the trip started, ventured with me out into the plains. I barely knew any of them. It's not like I had any previously existing grudges towards them or anything, I just didn't know them at all. There is something invigorating about meeting a new person. They are like a blank canvas, and as they reveal things about themselves, whether on purpose or not, their picture begins to take form. And most of the time, it ends up being a masterpiece.

I got to know 5 of the 11 very quickly in our shared 17 hour car ride to South Dakota. We split the group into two vans of 6, and when I got the list of who was going to be in my van, I was nervous. These were 5 of the people I was the most unfamiliar with going out. But it doesn't take long to get to know someone when you are all crammed shoulder to shoulder in a mini van stuffed with millions of bags of snacks and blankets. We just needed to break the ice. And it all started with THE BATMAN.

Having things in common brings people together. And we all just so happened to have a bit of an obsession with this winged vertebrate-impersonating hero. We watched all of the movies, and one of the members in our van began mimicking Batman's voice in everything he said. I don't think you realize how freaking hilarious this is, especially when everyone is sleep deprived. We must've laughed for hours. After that, everything escalated rather quickly. We even named our van "The Batmobile" to honor the moment.

Some of my favorite moments from the trip are things that couldn't be planned: like lying on the floor laughing our butts off because of the "Sick Cat", and the "Chris Dance". Or playing the gummy bear taste-testing game (where yellow is the color of deception). Or clinging on for dear life as one of the only guys on our trip tried to kill us by driving 90 miles an hour around the sharp twists and turns of the Badlands. Or wondering how our tour guide, Ted, ate with his small cat-sized beard. Or having a bowl of popcorn shoved in my sweatshirt hood. Or watching the other van being pulled over by a cop for sticking their torsos out of the windows. Or being pulled over yourself for speeding at 3am. Or adopting a dog from the reservation and driving him the entire 17 hour drive home in a car with 6 people. Or watching another member impersonate an atom. Or any of the countless other unscripted moments that I shared with these 11 strangers.

These 11 strangers that quickly became my close friends.

It is amazing what 1 week of close contact and shared interests can do to 11 people. I never expected to love them all as much as I do: I'm not generally one to quickly make friends. But when someone is that real with you, when someone is that genuine and 100% comfortable being themselves around you...you can't help but return the favor. And that is something that I highly value in my friendships. We aren't afraid to be goofy and to laugh, and to do stupid things. We aren't afraid to be ourselves.

I couldn't have asked for a better group to travel with into South Dakota. I couldn't have asked for better friends. Love my crew. Love ASB. Love my life.

Spring Break Series: The Issues

Last October, I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my spring break. I knew I didn't want to just go home and sit around, but I couldn't think of what else to do with one week of my time. I knew I wanted to go somewhere and do something new that I had never done before.

Which was when my roommate told me about Alternative Spartan (Spring) Breaks at my school. 

Basically, ASB is a student organization that sends out groups of 12 people to different locations all around the US (and some to other countries) to perform acts of service for causes in need. I applied and was accepted to the trip to South Dakota to work on the issue of Indigenous Rights. 

Now when I first heard about it, I wasn't completely sure what this issue was. But after speaking to many elders and leaders at the reservation, and learning from my fellow breakers, I have a pretty good idea of what the issue is. It is just what it says it is: rights for indigenous peoples, pertaining to North Americans on my trip specifically. 

My group was sent to work on the Rosebud Reservation with the Lakota tribe. I wanted to share a bit of what I had experienced on tyhe trip, and then I realized I cannot express everything in one blog post. So I'm going to split it up into a few posts, each with a different topic relating to the trip. For this post, I would like to talk about the issue, and about awareness. 

Each person I talked to on the reservation had a different story: about overcoming alcoholism at the age of 43, having 2 babies at the age of 17 and having to drop out of high school when you are 6 credits away from graduating, having your only son pass away from suffocation on a living room rug...all of these, amongst others were ones I heard from the mouths of people I met on the reservation.  

Everyone had a story to tell, and these combined stories made me realize what a big issue indigenous rights is. 90% of the people on the reservation I went to suffer from alcoholism, and 65% are addicted to drugs. The reason for these problems (amongst others) partially comes from the deplorable conditions these people have to suffer through every day. Poverty is obvious on the reservation, as well as ill health. Most people cannot afford to buy fruits and vegetables, which are some of the most expensive things in the local grocery stores. A lot of people don't have jobs. The schools the children attend are not preparing the kids for further education. To top it all off, the government is planning on cutting back the budget for this reservation and others like it even further. 

But poverty is not the only reason for the struggles of these and other Native peoples. There is also a deep, burning sadness that resonates from long ago. From the loss of their land. From the banishment of their culture. Natives were not legally allowed to practice their religions until 1978; only 35 years ago. And it was banned in the late 1800's. Imagine the damage that over a century of not being allowed to practice your culture can provoke. Languages were lost. Ceremonies were forgotten. The only reason that any part of the culture at all survived was because of the perseverance that a select group of individuals showed by performing underground ceremonies and secretly keeping the culture alive. Talking to the people of the tribe showed me how sad it is, that their way of life is dwindling. In another 2 generations, there may not even be any more Native speakers...

However, amongst the tragedy of these lost peoples, their are glimmers of hope. I have seen the faith and the strength that shines in the eyes of the people every day. There is no reason that this loss of tradition cannot be regained, no reason that the poverty cannot be diminished and that these people cannot accomplish a better life. There is no reason that young people and young Natives canot take an interest in the culture and bother to become active with their past. One of the best ways that I can help with the restoration effort is merely through knowing that these things do exits, and that they are a problem. 

Many people choose to ignore the issues. I am choosing to spread the knowledge to address them. And a lot of people will read this and not care, or think it is interesting but forget about it in a week. I'm not asking you to get up and go to a reservation and start building houses. I am merely asking you to remember. Be aware. Know that the issue is there, and it is important. Know that you can help, and if you get the chance, please do. Know that you aren't the only person on this planet who has problems. 

There is so much else about the trip that I want to talk about: the sites, the friends I made, the dog we picked up, the Batmobile and it's slow but sure destruction...but I will save these for another time. Anyways, thanks for reading, and thanks for remembering. 

Until next time!