I live where winter just "kisses" the city most years, but I remember spending four winters on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota back when we were MUCH younger -- and the one word that comes to mind is: "Brrrrrrrrrr"!!
I am not Lakota, or as most "anglos" call that ethnic group, "Sioux." (Sioux was given to the three main branches of this ethic group by French explorers. They preferred the terms "Lakota," "Dakota" and "Nakota." The name "Lakota" seems to have become the preferred generic name for all three groups.) I lived on the Rosebud Reservation doing volunteer church work and making a living pumping gas at a local service station in Mission, South Dakota, the largest town and commercial center of the Rosebud.
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I'm sitting in a comfortable recliner right now in Springfield, Missouri, thinking back to the four winters I spent in Mission, and remembering the tremendous amounts of snow and sub-zero temps we had during each of those winters. Around here, we suffer a lot from freezing rain and ice. Up there, we suffered less from freezing rain and ice and more from just good old large amounts of snow.
When I think back on those years (1972-76), I remember the hardships many of the good Lakota people endured at the hands of prejudiced "anglo" neighbors, and often the hardships they endured from corrupt and/or poor Lakota tribal leadership. Then, of course, there was the still present hardships caused by U.S. federal bureaucracy, which had gone on since the 1800s and probably hasn't changed much since 1976. By hardships, I mean rampant unemployment, poverty, health care issues, alcoholism, and other societal dysfunctions that most of us anglos really can't comprehend.
Winter was always harder on the Reservation, for both Lakotas and many anglos, because the geography, climatology, and isolation of the area is amazing. We aren't talking about just "rural" areas; we're talking about geological/geographical isolation.
But we loved the people we met on the Rosebud Reservation. Many of the Lakota people we got to know were extremely friendly, gentle folks, though it took some effort to get past their timidity and get them to really "open up" with strangers. How sad what has happened to Lakota culture, as to many Native American/ethnic cultures similar to the Lakota.
Yet there always was, and I assume still is, hope. The people and communities on the Rosebud are working hard to improve the quality of life, from health care to education, and I have no doubt a return trip to the Rosebud would demonstrate many good things, many exciting things happening. At least, I hope and pray that is so.
Any of you from South Dakota? Anyone reading this from the Rosebud or Pine Ridge Indian Reservations? Leave us a comment and say "Hi," please!
