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June 1977 Conversations
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

Sandy Siegel
3 days ago39 min read


June 1977 Employment, Education, Community
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

Sandy Siegel
Jan 328 min read


June 1977 Family and Glacier Park
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

Sandy Siegel
Nov 22, 20252 min read


June 1977 St. Paul’s Mission
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

Sandy Siegel
Nov 8, 202511 min read


May 1977: The Old Times and Memorial Day Pow Wow
5-2-77 I went to visit Irma and Ray. Irma, Ruth and Shannon and I sat around the kitchen table and talked. Irma said that she remembered really well when TB was a big problem here. It's not as big a problem as it used to be. We used to take a tablespoon of cod liver oil every day. It was supposed to prevent TB. At first I hated it but my mother would make us take it. After a while I actually didn't mind the taste. It didn't taste so bad. I got used to it. And it was suppose

Sandy Siegel
Oct 25, 202535 min read


May 1977: Gros Ventre Treaty Committee
And Tongue River Canyon, Wyoming I am going to present the entire treaty committee meeting because it offers an important reflection of...

Sandy Siegel
Oct 11, 202553 min read


May 1977: Al Chandler
May his memory be a blessing The following information covers the general time period during which I was doing my fieldwork research...

Sandy Siegel
Oct 4, 202519 min read


May 1977: Frosty and Tiny Wedding
5-7-77 Father Retzel returned from Spokane this morning in time to say mass at the chapel at the mission entrance. Father will say mass...

Sandy Siegel
Sep 27, 202510 min read


May 1977: Animals and Food
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...

Sandy Siegel
Sep 20, 202528 min read


May 1977: Community, Education, Employment
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...

Sandy Siegel
Sep 13, 202553 min read


May 1977 St. Paul’s Mission and School
During the two years that Susie and I worked at the mission, Beatrice Stiffarm and Mary Jones were the cooks in the school. Jim Stiffarm...

Sandy Siegel
Sep 8, 202557 min read


April 1977: St. Paul's Mission, Education, Community, Traditions - Feed and Giveaway for Wade Doney; Hand game for Jim Stiffarm, Jr.
In early April, Ray, Irma, Gordon and Edith were up at the trailer visiting with Susie and me. Irma said that Ray was reading a book and...

Sandy Siegel
Jul 12, 202582 min read


March 1977: Life, Death, Vacation, Passover
Wake and Funeral for Mary Gone Talks Different 3-1-77 The wake for Mary was held at Caroline and Bobby’s at the Agency. Ray, Irma,...

Sandy Siegel
Jun 1, 202536 min read


The Mission, Education and Recreation
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...

Sandy Siegel
Apr 5, 202532 min read


December 1976: Christmas
There are a lot of Christmas parties being planned all around the reservation. All the different agencies in the tribal government and in...

Sandy Siegel
Mar 15, 202524 min read


Continuing a Centuries-Long Tradition of Screwing our Indigenous Peoples
Dear Senators Moreno and Husted: We are generally admonished not to compare every government wrongdoing to Nazi’s and Hitler. As a Jew,...

Sandy Siegel
Mar 11, 202521 min read


December 1976: More Life
Anthropology I was speaking to an older woman about previous anthropological research on the Gros Ventre. She said, You should be...

Sandy Siegel
Mar 9, 202540 min read


December 1976: Life
Family Complicated. Families are really complicated. I’m going to begin with this observation. The only people who really know and...

Sandy Siegel
Mar 1, 202534 min read


November 1976: Wakes, Funerals and Mourning
Paul Doney died between Friday night and Saturday. He was the brother of Chinky and Bates. Chinky came up to the mission Saturday...

Sandy Siegel
Feb 8, 202522 min read


November 1976: Life
We had such remarkable friendships while we lived in Hays and those relationships lasted after we left the reservation. Edith once made a...

Sandy Siegel
Feb 1, 202566 min read
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