Rez dogs

"Don't pet the rez dogs."

They have fleas, ticks and mange. Mange causes patches of hair to fall out, leaving the dog looking mottled and rough.

The old, blue van has 170,000 miles on it. The steering is loose, the A.C. is questionable, you can write your name in the dash dust.

And patches of paint are gone, leaving it looking mottled and rough. The staff of Re-member affectionately call it, The Rez Dog.

RE-MEMBER

Re-member: to put back together that which is broken

Two weeks ago I spent six days at the Re-member organization on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Statistics for the rez are glum:per capita income, life expetancy, employment rate, graduation percentages...all among the lowest in the nation.

Teenage suicide, alcoholism, violence, diabetes, inadequate housing...all among the highest in the nation.

So, we, and volunteers from around the country spend six days learning history, seeing with our own eyes, offering some work and doing a little bit to re-member the relationship between two cultures.

I could write volumes. Due to time and energy constraints I'll just offer a few glimpes, odds and ends.