Peace, Love, and Lutefisk: Adventures i Norge

Thursday I talked to Larry who is in charge of the SD Lutheran Church's ministry at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Western SD. We talked about how I was interested in researching foreign aid and he ideas of need, etc, etc and eventually we talked about the idea of visiting the reservation to get an idea of what is going on. i thought sometime in august would be great, but he told me that the only time that would work would be Monday. So, after spending the weekend with a high school friend in Iowa, I drove 735 miles today (1182km)to arrive in Pine Ridge. It was a great drive across the southern swaths of SD with massive landscapes devoid of movement. the highlight of the drive was in wagner, sd where i had to stop for 10 min at a construction spot. i had to wait for a car to come and lead me through the construction and while i was waiting i chatted with the guy working the flags. it was 104 degrees farenheit (40 C) at 5 pm and we just chatted with the window down the whole time. a really nice guy, and i think he was happy to have someone to talk to.

My first evening here has been great. we had a speaker tonight (we being the church group from detroit lakes I lopped on with) and he was very powerful. an electric speaker who spoke very passionately about a number of issues...the one the sticks out the most to me was his passionate discussion about women. it was inspiring to hear a leader in the community talk aboutrespecting women and the importance of women. It was the first feminist speak i had heard in a while and it reminded me how rare it is for that discussion to enterinto dialogue in my world. I also got to "interview him". I say that with quotes b/c i'm not supposed to record people here, so I talk to peopleand as soon as we're done talking, i run into another room and record myself saying everything i can remember. i also talked to the pastor and guy working here and they had interesting things to say on both ends of the spectrum. Tomorrow morning i'm going to talk to a guy who runs a coffee shop downthe street who supposedly has a negative view and i'm going to check out the tribal council meeting tomorrow. then we're going to a school at red cloud and having an after school program here in pine ridge later in the afternoon. busy stuff, which is good b/c i'm only here four days.

sorry about the bad space key. off to sleep off miles.