That time we went to South Dakota

I never mean to take as much time off as I end up doing when I get busy with life and school and other things. I had every intention of making a nice, curated travel guide for visiting South Dakota. Instead please accept these unedited photos from our travels. I'll make a short list of things to do as well. One thing I do want to say is the mark of white colonizers on what was once indigenous land runs deep in this state. Anywhere we travel in the U.S., it's important to know the often damaging history and impacts of white folks on the land, and even more important to understand who the original custodians are and were.

Any trip you take I would strongly encourage you to visit native-land.ca to learn more about the original tribes of indigenous peoples who originally occupied these spaces. During our time, we spent time on Sicangu Lakota Oyate land as well as on the land of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. You can find more information about the 18 tribal nations of South Dakota here.

We spent most of our times on the plains as I was working at a small hospital there, but we spent a couple of weekends in the Black Hills and it was gorgeous. We only did a few short hikes with the little one (Silver Lake trail and Cathedral Spires were both fantastic) and really enjoyed some scenic drives in the area. We used an Osprey Poco carrier my parents generously gifted to us and it worked great. Next time we go we also plan to stay in a traditional tipi like this one, which helps raise funds for local Lakota Youth Programming. 

Johnny Cash actually visited Lakota country at one point in his life. This guitar on display at a museum was part of a local performance.

One thing I fell in love with in South Dakota was the beading art. Pieces like the ones above are incredibly intricate and would have taken hours for the maker to complete. It wasn't uncommon at the hospital to see the clerk working on beading baby moccasins in her down time, and a local youth development programs often teach beading to teenage tribal members as a meditative and calming practice. I was lucky enough to have the stethoscope below made by an incredibly talented member of the local Lakota tribe. This museum shop carries some pieces of his and other local makers.

One of my favorite days was this one, when I had the chance to teach kids from a Lakota language immersion school about health and doctors' visits! Kindergarten is such an awesome age. Loved working with these kids.

We spent one of our last weekends visiting Wounded Knee, the site of one of the worst massacres in our country's history. 150 Native Americans were killed here in 1890. It was later the site of a protest against mistreatment of indigenous peoples by the U.S. government in the 1970s. 

As I mentioned above, our trip was related to my work and while I wasn't expecting much, we were blown away by the natural beauty and history of South Dakota. We're looking forward to heading back when we can, and hopefully doing some of the stuff we didn't get the chance to see on this trip. If you want to learn more about the Lakota people and this part of the country, I've listed a few resources below: 

An Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer (Ojibwe)
The Rider film by Chloe Zhao

Lakota Youth Stay Cultural Tourism Opportunities 

If you have more please share! And please- support indigenous writers, artists and makers. There is a ton of work out there that plagiarizes, manipulates and capitalizes on Native American traditions for mainstream/fast fashion, which is not ok. 

Checking In

Hello! Breaking out of my sleep deprived phase to check into this space. My brain feels like I'm back in intern year mode again- the overall hours are WAY better but switching between 3 pm- midnight and 10pm-8 am shifts is really putting my circadian rhythm through the ringer. LOL. Oh well. Here's a mix of things I've been reading about/thinking about lately.

Upsetting piece from Vice on coerced sterilization of indigenous women in the U.S. and Canada. If you think mistreatment of Native peoples of North America is in the past, this article is a sad reminder that this is simply not true.

On the positive side, stories like this one remind me that it's not all bad news out there. Amy Yeung is doing amazing work both on the sustainability front and keeping children from going hungry in Navajo reservations. You can shop her store- a mix of upcycled pieces, unique vintage and hand-crafted Native American jewelry and arts- online here.

Interested in working towards a more planet-healthy diet and don't know where to start? Tania from joyfelicityjane.com recently published a guide on her experiences. Her instagram is full of great recipe stories and some favorite vegan restaurants around London and beyond. Even if you don't feel like you're up for the challenge of going completely vegan, have a look around- swapping out even a couple of meat-based meals per week for beans, pulses or other veggie options can make a huge difference in your health and the health of the planet. P and I recently tried her chickpea curry and loved it.

On a similar note, this study has been making rounds in the news, and it seems like most outlets are focusing on the observations of increased stroke risk in vegans and vegetarians. Reading through it, it looks like the risk of stroke could be as little as 1.02 times greater to as high as 1.4 times greater risk, or roughly 3 more strokes per 1000 people. While they did adjust for fruit and vegetable intake, to me it wasn't totally clear if they were able to control for proportion of calories coming from processed foods (such as nut cheeses or veggie meats.) It will be interesting to see what subsequent studies show...

Unless you've been living under a rock, you are probably at least aware that Taylor Swift released a new album recently. Since 1989 came out I never know what to expect when she says an album is going to be different from her prior work, but this one is pretty great. Rolling Stone put out this article ranking all her songs up through Reputation, if you're interested in a deep dive (I completely agree with their choice for number one track.) And you know you've got musical street cred when Pitchfork reviews not only your new album but 5 of your prior works (they also clearly recognize the lyrical genius that is Red, haha.)

And for anyone still hating on popular music (I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's pretty much nobody, haha), this meme dissection says everything I could possibly want to say on that as someone who grew up with a love for folk rock, classic rock, country and blues and zero interest in boy bands or Britney Spears. Music can move us in so many ways. We're not in high school any more, so you're not a sell out for loving different types of music. Neil Young's Ragged Glory and Harvest albums are just as genius as Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 and Iron and Wine's EP with Calexico. Its more fun that way anyways...

This is getting long and rambly! I'll blame the weird work/sleep hours. Happy hump day! I'm going to try and post a few more travel posts and a couple more personal ones in the next couple weeks. All depends on how my work/school schedule goes. :)