7-11-77 trailer   At noon Chuck came to our trailer. We were surprised to see him. This was the first time he had come to see us. He’s a friend of ours from Billings. We met him through Susie’s father. Long story. He is an Oneida Indian. The tribe is from New York, but the government moved them to Wisconsin. He was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation. His father worked for the BIA for years. When he was very young, his family moved to Riverside, California where his father was

Education and Employment   7-4-77 trailer     I asked Gordon how I would go about getting either SPEDY or YCC workers to help me in the potato garden. He said that I would have to ask SPEDY kids, and that I wouldn’t be able to get YCC.   People have been asking me for the YCC kids to help them around their homes, so I had to find out if they could go to do this kind of work. They told me that YCC does things that are permanent, like building structures and doing work that wil

7-7-77 Gordon and Edith’s   Gordon said that now was the time to go out to pick juneberries. There were a lot of them next to the road going up to the canyon, but the kids have already picked out all of those. Mary said that there were some up on the hill behind the McMeel’s. Edith said that they would come and get us and we could go out and pick juneberries together. “Then I wash them good to get the leaves and stems off and then freeze them. We pick choke cherries at the en

7-2-77 Ray and Irma’s   We told Ray and Irma that we were going to the July 4 th celebration in Zortman, and we invited them to go with us. Irma said that she wanted to go to Rocky Boy for the Sundance on Sunday and maybe stay over until Monday. Ray said that he hadn’t decided whether to go to Rocky Boy or not. Irma said that the Sundance is really not a fun time – it is a very religious occasion. “But I like to go there because I get a chance to visit with old friends and I

7-1-77 trailer   I asked Mike if he’d seen Frank. Frank went to Wyoming with a committee and he’s been there for the last few days. He’s meeting with the Arapaho. He went with a delegation to talk to an Arapaho medicine man about moving the Gros Ventre sacred pipes. It was discussed at the last treaty committee meeting. Mike said that Frank has still not had the time to go to North Dakota to sell his books.   7-2-77 Ray and Irma’s   Susie and I went over to visit Ray and Irma

Matt and Carletta   6-1-77 mission     I was talking to Matt. He was visiting us at the mission. He invited me to go repelling with them. They go up into the canyon to the top of the cliffs. Matt has a 160 foot nylon rope that he ties to a tree. They repel down the cliff. Matt learned how to do this in the army.   6-3-77 Chinook and Hays      Matt and Carletta lived in a house in Chinook. They rented the house while both of them were going to school in Havre at Northern Monta

Community   6-2-77   Charles and Matt had a meeting with Gerald and organized a slow pitch softball league for the summer. Gerald put up money for balls, bats and bases. Matt and Charles have put a lot of time into fixing up the mission fields and with supplies from the tribal recreation department, they built a field and backstop in Whitecow Canyon. The games will be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays on these two fields. It is a mixed league and three of the members of the te

I have often thought of my life as being divided into many different worlds. I have my family world. My growing up world in Cleveland Heights, Ohio (you know, the place where Taylor Swift’s fiancé grew up), my college world, my graduate student world, my reservation world, my working world, and my Siegel Rare Neuroimmune Association world. All these worlds are neurotically organized, like my desk. Each world is loaded to the gills with many life experiences and with different

6-1-77     Bill was going to be leaving the mission after volunteering there for two years. Susie and I became very close friends with Bill and were sorry to see him leave. Bill made a very positive difference for the mission and for the community during his time in Hays. He was really loved by many of the families in the community. I don’t have good notes about this day in June and there’s no counting on my memory for much. Bill and I must have decided to head into the Littl

Almost every family in Hays has a pet or pets. Every family has a dog. Most of the dogs run loose. Only a couple are ever chained, ours...

When Susie returned to Montana after being with her mother, she took a bus from Billings to the DY Junction. 5-2-77   Socksy got a red...

Gordon and Edith Lodge   2-1-77     I was at Gordon’s. They (Community Council) were talking about a cement dam on Big Fork. With this...

St. Paul’s Mission   2-1-77   I had lunch with Sister Giswalda. She told me that she and Sister Claire went to the University of Montana...

December 31 – January 1 Lodge Pole New Year’s Eve   There was a New Year’s Eve pow wow at the Lodge Pole Community Hall. The dance was...

There are a lot of Christmas parties being planned all around the reservation. All the different agencies in the tribal government and in...

Dear Senators Moreno and Husted:   We are generally admonished not to compare every government wrongdoing to Nazi’s and Hitler. As a Jew,...

Anthropology   I was speaking to an older woman about previous anthropological research on the Gros Ventre. She said,   You should be...

Family   Complicated. Families are really complicated.   I’m going to begin with this observation. The only people who really know and...

Paul Doney died between Friday night and Saturday.  He was the brother of Chinky and Bates.  Chinky came up to the mission Saturday...

We had such remarkable friendships while we lived in Hays and those relationships lasted after we left the reservation. Edith once made a...