Hey - if you're here looking for new stuff, you're likely going to be disappointed. Check here instead.
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Porcupine. It's been a full month of May. First and most importantly, we have exciting news: We are posting two service worker positions, and we are counting on all of you to help spread the word so that we can get some really great applicants! We have included information about the positions at the end of this e-mail. Please take the time to look at them and think if you know someone who might be a good candidate.
This spring we've smoothly transitioned from snow storms to tornadoes. Several touched down just forty or so miles from here the other weekend, along with straight-line winds of up to 75 miles per hour. Good times in the little mobile home on the hill. You'd have found us hiding in our neighbor's basement that night - but we returned and found our home still upright, thankfully.
KILI Radio is still off the air. We really miss it, especially when there are tornadoes on the horizon and I'm frantic for some local weather information.
Wow! I just looked out the window and it's an awesome sight. There are storm clouds hanging in the evening sky, but the horizon is clear, and the setting sun is a deep orange and is lighting up the underside of the storm. I'm headed outside with my camera to document this for you all...Well, the sun was mostly down by the time I got out there, but it was probably better for my eyes that way, and still made a lovely picture. Now where was I....
This past weekend, I took minutes for the Defenders of the Black Hills May meeting. The primary topic of discussion there was water quality in western South Dakota, specifically contamination from abandoned uranium mines in the NW and SW corners of the state. There are also many uranium mining sites in Wyoming, and many of the rivers there flow through western South Dakota and empty into the Missouri River. They have already done a few water tests on the Standing Rock Reservation (downstream from the Cave Hills mines) which showed dangerous levels of radioactivity. There are high rates of cancer in the communities in that watershed. These rivers flow into the Missouri, which flows into the Mississippi. Scary, scary stuff. Scarier that no one knows about it, or seems to care. You may also be hearing more about this from us in the future, since Defenders is not the only partner organization that's started talking about this issue....
At the Defenders of the Black Hills meeting, I also heard that the planned "Divine Strake" bomb detonation on Shoshone land in Nevada has been postponed from June 2nd until June 23rd (it has now been postponed indefinitely). The US government has been using Shoshone lands for military testing for decades now. The military had planned to detonate an experimental "bunker buster" bomb at the same Nevada Test Site where nuclear bombs were tested fifty years ago. The nuclear fall-out at that time affected the entire mid-west, but the real effects are only now becoming apparent with people who were growing up during that time period now experiencing higher rates of cancer. The Shoshone and environmentalists are concerned that radioactive contamination left in the soil from previous nuclear tests would be dispersed into the air again by this explosion . Please pray that this can be stopped permanently, and that the US government will stop using Shoshone lands as a bombing range.
The Shoshone successfully took the issue to the United Nations, which declared US military activity there illegal and ordered them to stop all activity on Shoshone land.
In more happy news, our garden is springing up, despite the violent weather conditions (the 75 mph winds shredded our lettuce a bit, but it still tastes good). The strawberries are now coming ripe, and our garlic is standing tall and proud. Sunday we finished mulching what seemed like acres, pounded stakes and transplanted all our tomato and pepper plants.
We will be taking our vacation for the year this June, leaving on my birthday (the 9th) for Europe. Crazy! I've never been out of the Americas before. We are traveling with Carl's dad's entire family - grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, and all. They are planning to visit sites of family importance since many of them have lived in France and Switzerland before, and it's also where their family traces their lineage to. Should be an interesting trip.
Soon after we return, we will be hosting several members of Christian Peacemaker Teams for orientation. They have agreed to keep a presence at the Gathering of Nations at Bear Butte this summer from July 4th through August 15th. We're really pleased that they'll be coming. Then our supervisor (Leia Lawrence) will arrive for a visit in early July. We'll be talking with her more about the interview process for the positions we've posted, and she'll be attending a three day Indigenous Issues Forums Circle facilitation training in Rapid City. Hopefully one or both of us will also be able to attend.
Well, that should be plenty of reading for one sitting. Promises to be an exciting summer, from the looks of it. Hope all of you are enjoying life, wherever you are out there in the big wide world.
Not many photos this time. See if you can tell which of these doesn't belong.
Lots of love to you all,
Karissa & Carl
PS. Remember those job descriptions I was talking about? Take a look - you might turn out to be our greatest recruiter, or maybe our top candidate!
1.) Co-Program Coordinator: The Oglala Lakota Nation service unit's Program Coordinators are responsible for the overall direction and supervision of MCC's work in the Oglala Lakota Nation and serve as the connection between the OLN unit and the rest of MCC and MCC constituents. This position includes general administrative duties such as bookkeeping, performance evaluations, budget planning and program development. All of MCC's work at the Oglala Lakota Nation is evaluated based on its contributions to dismantling racism, respecting Lakota sovereignty, & restorative justice.
(This is the same position that we both have, and we are staying until January 2008. But when we fill this position, one of us will step down as program coordinator and the other will work along side the new person so that there will be at least a year's overlap and a smooth transition in the community.)
2.) The MCC Oglala Lakota Nation Unit is looking for dedicated staff to work in cooperation with our partners in addressing issues of racism, historical oppression, and decolonization. If the position is filled by a person of color (Decolonization Organizer), particularly a Native person, they will work to develop and support anti-oppression trainings and youth leadership development activities on the reservation. The trainings are intended to help Lakota young people deal with the effects of racism and colonization in their lives and become liberators and agents of social change in their communities. If the position is filled by a white person (Dismantling Racism Organizer), they will support MCC's partners in building a broader base of support in off-reservation communities and churches. In addition to networking and relationship-building in those communities, this will include working with MCC partners and the MCC US Anti-Racism Program to develop dismantling racism curriculum and trainings.
If you know anyone who would be a good fit for either position, please
encourage them to apply. We are asking people to submit a resume and letter
of intent by July 14, 2006. Please have potential applicants contact Leia
Lawrence (316) 283-2720
