Tent of Many Voices: 08100401F

maybe uh their education and different things it's up to them the idea is you know it's our opportunity to preserve these things and um uh so that our children may be able to use them in school and identify later on they'll know this is this is my who is my grandfather it's my grandma so we're it's our opportunity to do that so first um I'd like to introduce my brother here Elmer blackberg and then uh my aunt sitting next to him is wife Nancy and my aunt Grace over there and my aunt Isabelle gin and my sister Blan I wanted to uh they'll Pro they'll introduce themselves again but I wanted to say that so but first we're going to start with my brother here again uh I say good morning to each of you from uh what my brother was saying uh uh I really believe in the tradition about Omaha people but this morning I'll be going against the Traditions uh What uh my grandfather used to tell me not to talk about yourself don't brag on yourself people know how you live but just not my brother said to talk a little bit about about our lives Omaha reservation so so I'll will be talking about myself and what I have done during my lifetime I was born the on reservation in 1921 I was born in the hospital which was named after M grad uh Susan LEF pikot Hospital in Wild Hill Nebraska and I uh completed High School in Walt Hill Nebraska from kindergarten to the 12th grade following my graduation from high school I left the reservation here and uh went to California and found employment that was during uh the war time 1941 when I went out there and sometimes when I tell some people that I had gone to California them I tell them I couldn't go any further cuz I wasn't that good a swimmer to uh swim to another country from there but I was out there uh 2 years and uh and then I I went into the service uh some of my high school friends I was um kept in touch with them we wrote letters to each other they wrote to me and said they were going into the service so I quit my job and join the service like they did 1943 to 1946 and all that time when I was in a service I never came back to the reservation I was gone 5 years I was in the service 3 years and following uh my service I returned back to the reserv to visit my parents and my mother asked me one morning what are your plans now since you're out of the service well since I'm out of service now I'm going to go back out to California and probably go to school at uccla and uh after I told her that at night I'd hear her saing so I finally asked her what the problem was she said you've been gone for 5 years and never came home and and uh I don't want you to leave there's uh colleges around here that you can go to so she kind of talked me out of it and I enrolled at the way State College at way Nebraska 1946 and uh I knew I had to go to work and earn a living and so I started in the summer 1946 summer school and I went R stated on through finish my 4 years College in 3 years cuz I know I had to go out and earn a living so following uh my graduation from high College uh I taught in a a public school Northwest of your called L Nebraska I majored in physical education so I coach sou Sports at the high school after 3 years there I went to work with the beer of IND Affairs and education and uh got employment in the southwest uh Colorado on a southern you reservation at ignasio Colorado and I was there four years uh teaching and coaching Sports here after 4 years the school closed as a uh boarding school and Ray Town they Consolidated with a public school and uh so they couldn't find me another job in the physical education so I had enough courses in college and I was qualified as a counselor so I went into guidance and counseling programs in high schools and 1975 I guess 1960 uh I went to Lawrence Kansas to has school IND Junior College there and I was there for 15 years and uh I was a guidance and in a guidance and counseling program there and uh when I retired there I was a director of a that program at that Junior College and retired in 1975 and came back to the reservation uh prior to that I had three more years to be an Indian service to get 30 years in to retire and at that time I planed to retire in Drang of Colorado or Flagstaff Arizona and I talked to uh the tribe offered me a a job back here on a reservation as a director of a program called a action program uh which was a heavy equipment training for our young people and uh so I had opportunity to come back here uh after following my retirement from a Bureau of Indian Affairs I talked to my wife about it and I said you like to move back to Macy so we kind of talked about it at that time I our mother and our mother both mothers were living and they were up in years so we just we kind of determine our returning home again said we said well we might as well move home and be near our mothers so that's what we did so I had uh com back to the reservation I had some good experience again um following my employment Indian Action Program uh well even prior to that uh uh I told the tribal council I don't think I'll would be qualified to be a director of that program cuz uh I don't know not anything about heavy equipment let alone uh Learners in anything about my car I said well you don't have to know anything about it you're going to be a director you'll have instructors that can teach it so I I took a job and came home and uh I was there for 5 years uh directing the program The Ed Action Program then election came up with Tribal Council or tribal government some people asked me to run for travel Council and I told them about think it's too soon for me I've been gone a long time I've been away from here for about uh over 30 years when I left home here so I told him I didn't think I was home long enough to burun for that but uh at that time uh we were having problems on our financial problems among our Omaha people so I thought I'd go ahead and grun for Council maybe I could uh be of some help to my people that was 19 1980 1983 I was a tribal chairman of the Omaha tribe and uh so following that uh my uh term as tribal chairman a kind of quite on temp retirement again and uh uh I was kind of fortunate to be elected as president of the Native American Church of North America the national Church organization in 1985 to 887 and following that again I returned back to work with the Omaha tribe uh with the vocational education program affiliated with Western Iowa Tech in s City Iowa and following that 99 again I ran for Tribal Council again and uh uh I don't know whether that was fortunate or unfortunate but I became a tribal chairman again and uh through 1999 to 2001 so that's uh about my experience I retired and so came back to my retirement and come to work again with Pier thank you talk about yourself where you was born your parents your children you went to school what Macy was like Macy was like when I went to school yeah I'm Nancy Blackbird my maiden name is Miller my parents were Bertha and John Miller both Omaha we were raised on a reservation here I had five brothers one sister and myself but I've lost all of my brothers except one and I've lost my sister and there's just my brother and I left now here on the reservation and I went to school here at Macy at the time when I went to school they used to call it Macy Day School and I started here from kindergarten finished to 12th and after graduation we didn't have any money so I I couldn't go on to school so uh later that summer I I uh got married and I had four children two sons and two daughters we have one adopter daughter and uh I belong to the Thunder Clan my Indian name is that's a name given to me by my parents my Indian name but I have a lot of relatives a lot of cousins and right now I have a lot of grandchildren great grandchildren how many stores were in Macy then see there was one two three at Le and there was uh two or three cafes in ma post office was there a post office in Macy yeah we had post office post office talk a little bit about the hanging if you could well the other night yeah you can talk about the other night well my husband and I are handicapped so we don't hardly go anywhere anymore we stay home and the only time we go is when I go up to get groceries and he sits in the car and waits so I don't get no help from him I have to pick out all my groceries and when I get home I have to hold it all in again so right now he's really retired all he does is sit in front of the TV and watch TV all day and I have to do all the work around the house sometimes I get disgusted Stu with him and I tell him I feel like a slave around here all you do is sit around breakfast you come and sit at the table and wait for your breakfast so I guess he's earned it he's worked all these years and taking care of us taking care of my family even my grandchildren he helped me raise so I'm thankful for that where did you live in Macy we lived uh we lived west of Macy for a while with my grandparents I remember as a little girl and then from there we moved east of Macy my uh folks to took care of an old man his name was Ed Mitchell he had a home out there but there was no one there to take care of him so he had asked my folks to come out there and live and take care of him so that's what they did he lived in a l c and we lived in the house but and my older sister used to wash his clothes and get him and bring him to to the house for breakfast for his meals and then when he passed away well uh for doing all those things for doing his long and going after him and bringing him to the house for his meals he went and left the Native American Church staff to her and later on my parents took over that staff so right now that staff has gone on to my nephew Milton Miller so that's how he uh come in on that staff and that's all my folks got the staff the Native American Church staff then after we moved to uh after moved to Kansas I don't remember how many years we lived down there but like in 75 like he said we moved back to the reservation and uh he worked for the tribe tribe and I also worked for the tribe as a uh sh um from Johnson program getting children off to boarding schools and helping them fill out their applications and and uh when it's time for them to come home I go up there and supervise and chaperon the kids home and after that program ended I work the health center as a activity director and it was too stressing for me to see our elders like they were I keep getting sick so I finally had to quit and I haven't worked since and I've been a hom maker since then thank you you my name is GRA my parents is Harry Walker my mid name's Walker and my mother is from San tribe Del Walker wolf and I lived in Mas born raised in Mason and I went to school and I worked through all my lives since I was 16 old I worked here and there so that's how I made my living I worked at the school I worked all over a senior citizen and at um Health Center I worked through all my life ever since I was 16 years old how I made my living and I was married 56 years my husband passed away May 1st he was sick he couldn't anymore and he worked at uh he working at that one progr they used to work forgot what you call that progr but he worked there that's all I got to say thank you an Grace my name is Isel and mother Je carival hold it closer and is hold it closer to you yes sir yeah my name's is my mother is a j CL and my stepdad is Charlie B rais me then I went on and on so I went to work to me Nebraska then and I got three children to live with me and then could tell us what your children's name are huh what what's your children's name are oh yeah Robert and um Carol and Louise and Harris they don't what said he didn't dance um sh and got I mean and um Carol names uh shag and my girl name is m time and they don't live with me they all live in oh I just got two sons living with me and they take care of me that way I was you live in Macy all your life oh yeah I live in Macy all my life where did you all go to school at me you go to no boarding school it's School in Flo and me and then I went from there on I say thank you to my Isabelle give it to good morning my name is uh blanch Robinson Harvey and I come from the hunga people and my parents were Bice Walker and my dad was Albert Walker I'm Robin and U I had nine sisters and brothers and there's only two of us left and I grew up in Macy west of Macy and I lived in a a big house first time and then I went to school and May see life was hard for us at the time we had no running water we had no inside plumbing and when we missed the school bus we had to walk when we missed the bus at at night we had to walk home and during storms and rainy weathers we had to walk to school now I seen it now nowadays it's so convenient for on these kids because school bus goes right up to their door and pick them up and I was that uh our kids here could see how we lived we Tred to tell them because everything is convenient for them now they have indor plumbing and hot water cold and hot water in the house and I wish they could see how we we lived and how we were they it seem like everything is so convenient for them now I I went to school here in Macy and I got my GED and I went to school in Northeast College in Northfork and I got married and adopted four children two boys and two girls some of them were my relatives and one was Sue and I during my I married a Caucasian and his name was Ron Harvey and we were in construction he worked in construction many years when I traveled with him and during those two in two weeks of the year he pick a he like to travel and he pick a place and that's where he went so I went all over I went to Africa China uh Japan Australia went on cruises so I seen all these people how they live and I wish all our kids here could see how the country is how how it is for them it's it's so big and huge and it's you learn a lot of things when you travel and see different people how they live and all that and I came back here to to Macy to live and my husband's retired and I live uh about 3 miles from here and I teach school now I teach culture I grew up in a home that my parents talked Indian I understood but I married a non-indian and I never talk my language but since I came back and I grew up I I'm trying to learn my language now and I'm trying to teach these young ones here to carry this on because it's dying out because our kids are they learn this language at school but when they go home the kids their mothers and fathers don't speak it so it's just we're trying to teach them now and that's what I do at school I'm going back into teaching and trying to carry our tradition on of our language so it never dies out so thank you to um my relatives here uh there's a lot more that I know that they can share that uh uh I was just thinking myself you know when I was a little boy my sister over there she used to be the boxing coach for a while my sister blanch I never forget that I say and it's real hard it's a difficult thing for uh some of us to talk about or to just get up in front and talk and I really appreciate my elders for coming up and doing the best they can because this is important and I want to say thank you to the uh National Park Service and uh uh for having this and giving us this opportunity the park rangers uh to be able to come to this T many voices and to be able to uh talk and have my elders um uh involved here so that uh uh years to come our children will be able to uh identify with them and they'll know who they are so I wanted to say thank you like that to my elders my brother Elmer my Aunt Nancy my aunt Grace and my aun Isabelle uh I was thinking about that I was going to help her out because I know one of her sons Carol his got Indian name is the same as my dad's shun number I was I always call him that all the time when I see him so um I want to say thank you like that round tips um the way we say uh when we end things talking like this we say HEI in our language it means all my relatives and say thank you I that behalf of Elders um uh we want to have some more Grandpa juicy can you uh we want to have some more Elders come up we're going to set up and uh do the same thing again and ask my sister if she come over and my other sister here if they come up and U share as I said any questions questions yeah if there's any questions for uh any of my relatives here Wanda there will bring them microphone up uh so you can ask questions if you have any questions for our relatives here I really enjoy holidays of Christmas and Easter and 4th of July I was wondering an example of a holiday memories when you were young uh in particular holidays that you Bree maybe oh you cated holidays when you were young well the holidays I usually went with my parents like here on a reservation to social activities and take uh some of you people came here working with this L and Clark experienced one of those the other night uh it's about the only traditional uh social activity we have left to called hand game and uh they have that at different uh holidays and even different celebrations birthdays anniversaries like that and uh sometimes uh uh we have a dance here that uh were given to us by the kaiwa tribe we call it Gord Dan we have that too never doubt then that we some family sponsor a traditional War dancing uh so they have that too some of our social activities thank you anybody else have any questions for the elders we've got up here very opportunity okay well I would like to thank all of you for coming today and for sharing your stories with us I know it's difficult um to do that but we sure appreciate it it's a great opportunity to get this sun film for many many generations to come so thank you so much we go BEC um yeah we kind of he was asking about naming children uh some of our young younger people have forgotten the traditional ways uh when we name them we follow some of our religious ways of uh doing it uh anyway uh we name our children at Daybreak early morning hours we named them and uh uh all the reason uh we were told that uh good spirits around and and they said God we hear your prayers and we use tobacco I mentioned tobacco in our talk about Native American Church the the smoke uh takes the prayers to God so I'll prepare tobacco and use toac when uh I named him and and pray in language and tell God the name that she's going to go by and and try the families and other people know her that name so I do that and then after we name the baby uh the mother brings it to me I hold it my arms and I talk to it in OB language the kind of uh life that we live and is not an easy life difficult time and just he will be facing all those problems and uh going to have to make every effort to uh to be strong and yeah and uh and to be a good person to uh help people respect to Elders I talk to in our overall language and that's one of the ways uh we do that tell them to be good to the parents CU someday I said they're going to depend on you to take care of them and that's what uh and we advise the parents side too uh you take good care of them teach them good things and uh cuz someday you're going to depend on them to take care of you when you get old so and and we want people to respect them so teach them the good ways of life is kind of advice we give them so that's uh one of the ways that uh is our procedure of David children usually the baby smiles to see they say they are understand when when uh we're talking to them and the baby will just lay there smile yeah we uh even like she said the the young people they understand you know uh they even understand when there's lack of security in the home you know the parents don't treat them right they know that even as small as they are they know that and sometimes you think they not paying attention even when they're watching TV or we talk about some things they turn around and ask us a question about what we said or tell us something what we had said so there they listen more than uh we realize you know yeah they're aware of stuff yeah our grandchildren do anyway we think they're not paying attention or listening to what we're talking about but they actually are are listening cuz they all say and what did you say grandma or what did you say grandpa yeah they're turn around and ask yeah now is the if the naming ceremony then is the first ceremony that a child would go through what is like the next stage of life is there like another ceremony like when a young man becomes a man or there used to be a long time ago but but we don't do that anymore what were some of the older ceremonies that you had as you went through different stages of Life do you remember going through some like when you were a young girl or when you got married or no not really uh a long time ago um they uh named them over again and when when the trial is is uh not well there all right we'll try and do it again hopefully it won't be too much Jingles going on oh come some more maybe some more jingle we'll turn it back on we'll see if we can do it maybe it won't be too noisy it doesn't happen very of but once in a while they rename their child you might be having a a discipline problems they renamed it give them a name that somebody has a good reputation and they want it to be that way so a different day and they pray like tell they pray do that and the other one is they may have a health problem they may be having a health problem and uh uh they Chang their name they give somebody's name that's a good house and may God will answer will recover from whatever heal probably they might have that's what all the time they renamed their children do you remember other ceremonies that you went through as a Young Man I mean as you got older did when was like I know this they're getting ready for the Sundance and often like did you go through the Sundance as you were getting older like what was the first time you went to a Sundance well the sun dance uh we don't really fly get involved in the sun dance they come from Another Side just new here now oh okay the uh Su did that subject but some of our people went up there participated and uh uh they were authorized to do that here on our reservation so in recent years they were doing that but uh we go to it go to the subes here any way and maybe one or two away from here because some of our family members were involved in dancing in it and to kind of give them moral support we get involved with it and those have sometimes dance sacrifice for sh die on our beh we get involved with with or maybe you sponsor somebody who's going through the sun dance some people do that was something they did here not did not so it is Sue like the sweat Lou ceremonies has always been here since the beginning of time of the Omaha people and I like my on Native American Church in this early 1900s we start that religion was shared with us by the way of people and uh so that did originate uh here on that reservation how old do you have to be to go into the sweat lunch is it and I do men and women both go to sweat obviously they don't together in the same they take turns yeah they how old do you have to be to the fames can participate in there's there's no uh age uh requirement or no age limit to participate if you believe in that way of worship uh uh you go and uh just like my son uh I was away from here and uh we lived uh away from here uh I was getting involved in our Native American Church on Omaha reservation and uh that's what one of my sons asked Dad how old you have to be to participate in the day American church we have worship and I said there's no age once you want believe in it and want join you can go any time so he start to go with me whenever I go way he got involved in how old were you the first time you went to a sweat do you remember to a sweat mhm I really did U she and I moved back to a reservation in 1975 and uh and the sweat LS was here then and uh and she uh uh start having health problems uh she couldn't walk she was in chair and uh so one family was having a sweat l a sweat ceremony at their home invited us said to might help her so that's not we started to go that must be about what 1976 or 77 we started to go to sweat L ceremonies okay but uh Sunday we start getting involved in it maybe about uh soon after that yeah about 20 years ago cuz we had an adopted son uh in fact he adopted us and his parents and uh he was Su dancing and sacrifice for us so that's how we got involved with sances oh so there's no uh no uh age requirements okay whatever they feel like they want to go and participate I didn't know if they had to go through certain stages or learn certain things before they would be allowed to participate they learn while they're in there ah okay so their participation they learn oh and we teach them what little we know about it you know and we're not fully uh involed in a subance uh some of the rituals that they go through but uh but we're where're Le they too yeah well that's good now when you two got married did you get married in in the church in the Native American church or did you get married out in the white world white man's church or justice of peace I didn't know and following that uh uh we had one of my elders uh in fact uh he's closely related to her as a spiritual leader and we went to him and told him that we got married and we' like to have our marriage blessed in the Native American church with so he did that for us oh okay but some do get married in the Native American Church way and we have a nonan uh he was a Methodist preacher uh asked her and I about it uh the ways of the UN American church prayer service so we shared that with him and uh he uh uh sat in a prayer service with me it's all all night service and uh I explained to him each time they did something uh in the uh uh service T night in the service and then even our prayer songs when they sang those prayer songs I interpret to him the Omaha words that were in there they're comparable to the hymns that you have in your church so that next morning uh when we came out of the TP uh I asked him I said well my friend uh I said what do you think about our uh humble way of worship he said you know uh I can't find words to describe how I really feel spiritually he said I have never felt like this and so my own church he told me so that made me a feel pretty good but God must have showed him something through that alter I was talking about and he believed in it so much that he even got married in a Native American Church way can you tell me something about what the marriage ceremony is like in the Native American church or is are you not allowed to talk about that well we never got married that's just uh what the procedures hard in there uh only I thing that uh I assume the marriages uh in a uh uh sometimes uh after midnight uh they have a special prayer for them they come in front of the altar but like they do around the in the church and uh pray for them and tell God about their marriages and and uh uh uh uh they can bless them in two ways one with a uh Cedar smoke bless up with the cedar smoke or they use water too we use water at at American church too and uh so that's all the way I I know uh uh and they usually read the marriage vows to them too in there oh okay now does somebody else read the vows do you write your own vows know the the one that's marrying you in there he'll read them to you oh okay okay we went to one in Wisconsin one year that was pretty cuz he was dressed in all by bu skin they dressed traditionally yeah Buck get dress bu get l sure it's very nice I think they did that uh hours after cery there we go um now are there other like ceremonies or anything that you do in your home on a daily BAS basis like when you get up in the morning are there certain prayers or rituals that you go through or at the end of the day is there anything that you have from your culture that you do every day in your regular life well we don't do it every day but uh every now and then holidays and uh uh birthdays for our children grandchildren but we say a Grace at the table uh we burn Cedar follows some the native americ churchway burning Cedar and blessing our family with the c and even bless our home with it too when we do that that's about time but we can pray whenever you know like before we go to bed I usually say say a prayer before I fall asleep and then uh in the mornings I used to get up and go out to our fireplace and go out there and pray but I haven't been able to lately so just haven't been doing it right yeah and I've met other people from other tribes that will um every morning we'll do like a purification ceremony or smudge or you know burn something they have sort of different little rituals that they do to keep in touch with you know their culture yeah traditionally too uh I've always heard our elders uh say that uh a long time ago our omahas uh start start today with a prayer but I think so many of our young people we don't do that anymore you know we just get up and go to a breakfast table and give thanks and pray for the day that we're going to enjoy and and the kind of a day that God has given us blessed us with uh I think just like uh the water is real sacred to our Omaha people they say it's life lifegiving has healing powers but uh so many we take it for granted we we don't uh uh think of it that way anymore even if not made it the same way you know right and you said about going out to the fireplace you know to say prayers and stuff is fire or is it smoke that's used more in the ceremony is it more is smoke what's in our teepee they build fire in there and that's what we call fireplace we have a teepe ground out there okay that we take care of and okay I used to go out there in the mornings oh okay just stand out there face East and pray right you know one of the things that my wife and I do too since she talked about that fireplace uh well I go on long trips or vacation or something uh I take tobacco we go out to the fireplace and offer a prayer for safe journey that we might meet our friends and relatives in good health and uh ask God to protect us and reur us in a safe Manner and uh leave a to back over there at the fireplace and that and uh I have a adopted brother in Oklahoma he's a p Indian he's he's about 96 years old now wow I think he's 92 or 93 but he's up in the years and uh uh he honored us to pray for his family uh in the Native American church wayway so we went down there and we did that for him so he tells us not says uh you did that every morning I'll go to the fireplace and offer a prayer he said so oh that's good so he has that much respect for a native amican churchway and a fireplace uh when you review the uh my presentation on the Native American Church uh why we feel that fireplace is real sacred because the fire is sacred we we feel that it's life lifegiving it also has healing powers so uh that's why we uh believe so much that way and the respect that we have for the fire in early years uh uh before they had gas and troped and all that uh people here go to Timber cut wood for their home for fire like lot of people still do today have fireplaces they go cut W for that before he cuts the tree down he prays and tells God what he's going to use that word for for fire light and to prepare food and probably for healing purposes they do that today I don't think a lot of our young people do anything yeah wouldn't they do the same thing like years and years ago when they would go hunting same thing if you were to take another the life of another living thing it was to do the same thing as to have a prayer as to why you were going to kill this Buffalo or this deer or whatever the same thing yeah yeah they they did that uh there might be a few that do that today I don't know but uh ask God for forgiveness to take the life of the animal to they to use it for food food or shelter or whatever they can use it for they tell God about that right now they go deer hunting most of time so I think they I'm sure they pray see before they kill him or when they're going out there while they're sitting out there waiting I'm sure they pray and tell God what they're going to use that for yeah animal now when you were very young did either of you like learn how to ride horses or anything like that did people were people still riding horses out in this area because I'm guessing there were not very good roads or anything like that for automobiles to get around or anything so did you all ride horses around when you were here when you were growing up do you remember riding horses yeah we used to ride horses yeah did you m in fact I don't know how uh my parents did it but uh when I was growing up I had three ponies and uh one was in between a Shipman and a a big horse and I had one of them and I had a pinto it was a black and white pinto and a sorrow Pony and uh and I used to ride along the river up north here uh with uh three other guys and after we moved back to the reservation here uh uh one of still living that I used to ride horses with but I didn't remember him I was little boy about like these kids went they riding horses he used to say well remember El how we used to ride horses up there and they had to spring up there to where we rode our PES and we'd water our pis there W he talk about that too but uh he's gone now it's where the old mission was there that spring was there the Old Mission Old Mission that's where our school used to be when the missionaries came they build a school there teach our well how long ago was this it's like the 1920s or something or before that yeah imagine it was in uh around uh in early 20s probably and where was this this you said there was an Old Mission that's what they called it Old Mission School it's north oh okay is it closer to where the wneo where the Mission School is up there or not that far no not that far it's just out out in the country north of uh Macy there oh okay it's not very far either later years that's when they call it Old Mission people inever uh some of their parents went to school there grandparents went to school there they call it Old Mission uh did they have to go to school there I mean was that you know like a boarding school type of thing or they went there that's what it was a kind of boarding school they had to stay at that mission go to school yeah yeah that was probably the only school at that time on a reservation yeah that was on the reservation yeah other than that how far away would you have to go to go to school well later later years you had these country schools you know different sections like uh prob from here to decater uh I know there was one before you get to deater it's South South near uh near these Indian homes that's where most of them were built did a lot of your friends go to boarding schools or did they mostly go to the the little country schools that were nearby I think most of them went to boarding schools uh our age group most of them went to boarding schools uh real far away I mean it's quite I don't know how far Genoa is maybe 15 miles out yeah they go there and a pipe show in Minnesota used to be a Bard school there yeah and some of our uh uh tribal members went to school there and South Dakota place they called flandro South Dakota and Pier South Dakota they have Bard schools there right and they had a mission schools that a lot of our tribal members went to even up here Wago was Catholic School right they went and so the Mission schools would have been on the reservation and the boarding schools would have been farther away a big town just like just like now a lot of our children go clear to Oklahoma to boarding schools W California yeah now is that by choice I mean that's a good thing to be able to go to the boarding school like that or it's not not that good that's a long way for a young person it is to go but they want to go yeah it's not mandatory they they want to go they put it out applications they accept it uh they go there but uh I think it was uh but middle 1970s uh well I guess during Reagan's Administration guess he he was too much for idiots rean uh while he was a president uh they closed several of federal boarding schools uh some were in towns and they became affiliated with the public school there and uh like in Oklahoma there several Bard schools that were closed by the government there no longer barding schools and uh even at that time uh uh even a uh Public Health budget uh uh President Reagan was having his administration cutting budget did at he programs yeah so difference hang on one second I'm going to change the tape again e for