Another Day

So there isnt much to report from today. We were in the classroom all day, learning so much information. In the morning sessions we heard from Dr. Brewer, a recent graduate from ASU PhD program. His background is actually in American Indian Law and tribal resource management, just like I am interested in, so it was good to meet him.

After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon in the classroom with Dr. Woodard, a long time faculty member of SDSU, discussing Native American Literature. He is actually good friends with N Scott Momaday and has co-written a book with him that I would love to read soon. We learned a lot from him as well.

Its cool because even though there are specific subjects we discuss with each of our teachers there are always greater life lessons we gain from all of them, and much other stuff we discuss as well. Soon I will post some of the poems prof Woodard gave us.

One interesting thing we did discuss was that there is a great deal of racial seperation in South Dakota between Native and Non-Native people. There are a lot of misconceptions still today and its evident in the way society works and people interact (or don't interact). I would like to learn more about this.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Sissiton, about 3 hours away, and visiting a Boys and Girls Club and meeting Carly's host family. In the afternoon we are learning to cook a traditional Lakota / Dakota meal. This weekend we are volunteering to help make food for and set up for the annual Pow-Wow put on by the Native American Club at SDSU, so I am looking forward to that

It is supposed to snow over 8 inches starting tonight, so that should be interesting! There is much reading and work to do, so I am off to get started on that. Keep reading!