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June 2007
Dear friends and family,
So, I suppose it's been a little too long since we last wrote to all of you, nine months ago. A lot can happen in nine months - and in this case, it did! On April 5th I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Emory David Meyer Loewen. He's been filling up our days with happiness, dirty diapers, and all the other joys a new baby brings. Welcome to the world, Emory!
Another focus of our energy this past fall, winter, and spring has been the search and hiring process for our posted service worker positions. The good news is that our replacements have been hired! Erica Littlewolf and Scott Clifford will start as Program Coordinators in mid-August - we'll have several months of overlap time before our term ends in December. We are very excited to have the Program Coordinator positions filled. We're still working to fill the Decolonization Organizer/Dismantling Racism Organizer positions -- keep your eyes and ears peeled for any good candidates. Job descriptions are available at the OLN unit website.[1]
You all may not be interested in talk about the weather, but I am thrilled to report a rainy spring - it's beautifully green outside! Our landlord is happy his cattle have plenty to eat - I'm thrilled to know that our garden will look less tempting to them this year.
This summer we are taking a partial late home leave. We'll be gone for all of July and early August, first to the Northwest and then to Indiana, introducing Emory to friends and family. Hopefully we'll be seeing some of you!
A few other notable happenings from the past fall, winter, and spring...
Bear Butte:
In October, PBS' "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" interviewed Carl for a segment on Bear Butte. He felt good about the quote they chose to air (although he wouldn't have chosen to be introduced as a missionary!). We have a couple of copies on DVD if anyone is dying to see it. We also attended a debriefing session in October with some folks who were involved in planning the spiritual camp at Bear Butte this past summer. It was good to hear people talking about what was accomplished and what they learned through the process. Our partners here continue to work on the Bear Butte issue, although the energy has moved away from large marches for the time being. A bill to protect Bear Butte was introduced again this year in the state legislature, but still not with enough support to make it out of committee. On June 5th (next week), the Meade County Commissioners will be considering renewals for beer and liquor licenses, which will affect quite a few establishments around Bear Butte including Jay Allen's place. If you'd like to send a fax or email to the Commissioners in the next couple days, details are available here[2].
Circle of One Book:
In October, December, and February we facilitated Circle of One Book Forum discussions with groups in eastern South Dakota. Two groups (one in Freeman and one from the Sermon on the Mount Mennonite Church in Sioux Falls) completed the full set of 2006 books -- thanks to both of those groups for inviting us to join them! We really enjoyed it. If any of you are interested in the books or study guides we've been using for that process, let us know.
Sovereignty Resolution:
In November, we flew to the MCC US board meetings in Ft. Lauderdale to help lead a discussion on the Sovereignty Resolution passed by the MCC Central States board in early 2006. Two Central States board members came with us to help present and lead the process. We felt very good about how the discussion went - the board affirmed the parts of the resolution recognizing the Lakota Nation as a sovereign nation. They plan to have further discussion on the implications for MCC structure at their upcoming board meeting this month.
Boys & Girls Club:
From late November through February, I spent several days a week volunteering at the SuAnne Big Crow Boys and Girls Club in Pine Ridge, mostly in the Arts & Crafts room. I worked there until I was too pregnant to be on my feet herding kids around, and then in March did a little computer work for them from home.
Return to the Earth:
At the end of January, we facilitated a discussion with a group from Hutterthal Mennonite Church (Freeman, SD) after they visited a local museum display of Native artwork, historical objects, articles, and photographs. The museum visit was part of the church's participation in the Return to the Earth project, through which "culturally unidentifiable" human remains held by museums are being repatriated for burial. (For many years scientists and museums actively collected Native human remains from all across the country for study and display, partly in an atttempt to "scientifically" demonstrate white racial superiority through skull size and shape comparisons. Most remains of known origin have already been repatriated as mandated by federal law. The Return to the Earth project is working to rebury remains whose tribe or origin is no longer known. If you or your congregation are interested in participating in this project, visit their website[3] or email us and we can help you get a copy of the study guide.
Decolonization Consultant:
From March through May, we hired Erica Littlewolf to help with some of the decolonization work we've been asked to support. "Decolonization" is a term our partners often use to describe their work against lateral or internalized oppression in the community resulting from the generational trauma of colonization. Erica collected curriculum for possible workshops and helped coordinate meetings with a few of our partners about how they want to continue working at decolonization. She will likely continue with some similar work when she and Scott begin as Program Coordinators next fall.
Warning - geek at work:
Carl has been helping with website projects for partners off and on throughout the last nine months. He's currently hard at work on a site for Indigenous Issues Forums and Circle of One Book with gracious help from a friend and one of his brothers back in Goshen.
If you've read this far, consider yourself updated on the latest at the MCC Oglala Lakota Nation Unit! We probably won't bother to update you on our summer vacation, but you will hopefully hear from us again this fall.
(Photos and previous updates, as usual, at http://www.meyerloewen.net)
Love and best wishes to all of you!
Karissa, Carl, and Emory
[1] http://mcc.org/centralstates/program.html
[2] http://meyerloewen.net/i/updates/update19_action
[3] http://www.rfpusa.org/returntotheearth/
