Suggested Reading (and some personal notes on the subject)

Winter is my season for reading.  My sources always come through for me...primarily Henry's Books in Spearfish and Again Used Books in Rapid City. I haven't been to the library in awhile, only because I've had a good supply already on hand. In addition to my newer acquisitions I always have my favorites that I re-read at least once a year. Those include Lost Horizon (I identify with Conway for some reason), Trout Fishing in America (it's not about trout fishing) and The Dharma Bums ("Let the mind beware, that though the flesh be bugged, the circumstances of existence are pretty glorious."). The one I want to talk about, though, is the one I just finished - On The Rez by Ian Frazier. 

It was written twenty years ago, but based on my recent experiences, not much has changed between then and now. The author shares his insights, thoughts and descriptions of the times he spent on the Pine Ridge Reservation and surrounding area. He writes frankly and honestly, as evidenced in this passage (edited for length) - "There are windblown figures crossing the road in the distance who might be drunk, and a scattering of window glass fragments in the weeds that might be from a car accident, and a baby playing in a bare dirt yard, and an acrid smell of burning trash --- all the elements that usually evoke the description "bleak." But there is greatness here, too, and an ancient glory endures in the dust and the weeds."

Then there's this (speaking about the Sun Dance ceremonies that continue to this day) - "A hundred years ago Oglala who continued to practice their traditional ceremonies despite the governments's ban did so in secret, for fear of white people finding out and shutting them down; today the fear is of white people finding out and wanting to join." 

He writes extensively about SueAnne Big Crow and her legacy. If you don't know who that is, look her up. She deserves to be remembered and celebrated. I saw her play basketball and still admire her now as I did then for her talent...and her attitude. 

There are also vivid descriptions of locations, many familiar to me, that were once significant and important in different ways to different people, but are now just nondescript places on a hilltop or lone remains of what used to be. 

The church at Wounded Knee (occupied by members of the American Indian Movement in the 1970s) is long gone. But the gravesite memorial for the massacre of 1890 can still be visited. 

The grave of Lost Bird is located there. Another story I suggest you become familiar with if you are not already. 

I believe this chimney is all that remains of a once popular trading post -

And of course, there are mentions of the legendary reservation dogs that roam the streets and countryside. I tried to make friends with this one but he seemed a little suspicious of me, probably wondering what I was doing on his turf...a perfectly legitimate concern in my opinion.

I enjoyed the book. It has inspired me to go back for a visit. And I will when the weather warms up. I have use for a hand made medicine bag. I'm sure someone could hook me up with one. I would like to have a sandwich at Big Bat's. I would like to stop in at the SueAnne Big Crow Youth Center and see if Happy Town is still operating. And I plan on visiting SueAnne's gravesite to pay my respects. It's the least I can do.

Oh, and I'll try to remember to bring some milk bones for my four-legged friends.

Roger O'Dea     1/14/2025

It's Just A Number (But It's A Big Number)

"How Terribly Strange To Be 70" (from the song Old Friends by Paul Simon)

I was probably fourteen or fifteen years old when I first heard that song. Nice tune, but I don't recall it having any impact on me. And I certainly would not in my wildest dreams have been able to imagine myself being that age. And yet...here I am. Next week begins my 70th year on this planet. Sometimes I wonder how I even made it this far. Especially when you consider nearly forty years of bad habits along with the fact that my heart attacked me when I was 50, requiring quintuple by-pass surgery. Twenty years ago and no complications...so far. And, when you add in a touch of asthma and high blood pressure, as well as some ill advised risk taking ... as in this little adventure, https://whatsyourroadblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-early-bird-gets-wet-back-to-devils.html,  I should consider myself very fortunate to have made it this far. 

I hope I continue to enjoy relatively good health for my next trip around the sun. And beyond. Because...I  have plans. Some of them are rather aggressive. Others fairly tame. Here are some examples:

I've been invited to attend Burning Man in the Nevada desert next summer. I'm going to do it.  

Kayaking is something I took up this past summer. I plan to do a lot more of it next summer.

Although I now ride an e-bike, it's a mountain bike model and I'll be hitting the trails more often. Not just the Mickelson trail. I see some single track also in my future.

Road Trips. Do more and go farther.  "We lean forward to the next crazy adventure beneath the skies."       - Jack Kerouac, On The Road

This is where you come in. I trust you'll welcome me when I come through your town. I'll try to give you some advance notice, but don't count on it. It may be me just showing up at your door unannounced. I hope you'll be home. But if you're out enjoying some adventure of your own, I'll leave a note.

Roger O'Dea     12/10/2024

The Day After

To everyone wringing their hands and crying “woe is me” today, I suggest you take long hard look at what caused this result. If you don’t know Mark Halperin, I suggest you seek him out. Here’s what he said this morning: 

"The Dominant Media won’t come close to taking responsibility for their role in helping Trump win, won’t fire those whose bias and incompetence has been on display for as long as a decade, won’t take the steps necessary to understand the Trump movement, and won’t reorient for the next four years in any meaningful way.

None of the Democrats who some pined for in 2024 to be their presidential nominee will play a significant role in trying to shape the party or the nation.

When honest political scientists study the dimensions of Trump’s win, they will realize that Trump’s remaking of the Republican Party in 2016 (turning it into a white working-class party) was nothing compared to what happened this time – turning it into a Black, Hispanic, white, young, independent working-class party.

The Lincoln Project leaders will do even less soul searching than the newsroom denizens of the Washington Post and New York Times.

The stories of how Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, the pasts of Harris and Doug Emhoff, the coverup of Joe Biden’s loss of mental acuity, and how the attempts to keep Trump off the ballot, lawfare, and other anti-democratic efforts aimed at stopping Trump ironically backfired will only be told if the right people get the right book deals."  --- Mark Halperin. November 6, 2024

   Posted by Roger O'Dea    11/6/2024

Diversity Day - Pride, A Pow Wow, and Live Music

Have you ever had a day where, by the end of it, you were almost experiencing sensory overload?  I have. It was Saturday. A day filled with color, sights and sounds. It started at the Pride Festival at Memorial Park in Rapid City. I felt a little bit like an outsider, and I suppose that's what I was. But I also felt welcome. Everyone seemed friendly and happy. Probably because they were. I also met up with a good friend there, whose company I enjoy very much. Sort of like icing on the cake.

  

As I was leaving I noticed some brightly adorned Natives going into the Monument building next door. Curious, I walked over to see what was going on and saw a sign that read "Pow Wow" with an arrow pointing inside. So I went in. The dancers represented all ages and they were amazing. I enjoyed watching them.

                     

                

On my way out of town I pulled into a nearby skate park to see if I could grab a few shots. I did a photo shoot there previously and, if I do say so myself, they turned out pretty good. Only one person skating this time so I grabbed a couple of quick snaps and headed home. It was time to get ready for the final event of the day -

             

The Matthews Opera House Theatre was an excellent venue for this intimate performance featuring music by Eliza Blue and Jon Bakken, reading by Eliza of select passages from her new book, and Nicholas Trandahl reading selections of his poetry. Making it even better was being able to share it all with a few special friends. More cake. More icing.

Eliza even signed a copy of her new book for me -

I'm sure she meant to write "Roger - to my BFF and biggest fan in the whole wide world!" But this is okay. Because I believe she really meant it. It was great to see her, too.

I needed a day like this. I'm happy it all happened just the way it did.

Roger O'Dea     06/30/2024

                      

Losing Our Cool (Thanks A Lot Apple)

Allow me to begin by stating I am not just another old guy who is anti-technology. I embrace it. Use it every day. In fact, I am quite profieceint with my MacBook Pro. I use it for editing my photography and creating advertising and marketing ideas and promotions for the business I work for in specifically that capacity...part time (I'm still retired the rest of the time). I also know how to use an iPad and iPhone. We have Apple TV and subscribe to Apple+. I've been an Apple person since the Commodore 64. But now, well, now they've gone too far. Not necessarily with the product, but with the way they are promoting it. This is a link to the commercial they're running to promote the new iPad Pro. 

https://youtu.be/ntjkwIXWtrc?si=vgHMHzKC39C5XcSK

In it they show how it can do digitally, and by using AI, everything we used to do "hands on" by crushing everything that can now be created-written-composed-illustrated-taught manually or by using simpler technology. I looked closely at what is crushed...cameras (including a Polaroid), vinyl record albums and a turntable to play them, paint and paint brushes (art can now be created by key strokes instead of brush strokes), a clay sculpture, musical instruments (now you don't actually need to know how to play piano to be able to play piano), and even books! It appeared they were journals that were flattened and destroyed, but they had pages so they were still books.

I'm sure the benefit to this newest Apple product is intended to be a more efficient and faster way to do business...including your personal business. But it eliminates the need for all those cool things that, in the video, have been smashed flat as a pancake. Or should I say flat as an iPad Pro? 

I guess my point in all this is that we are losing our cool. Is it cool to make a photograph entirely by using artificial intelligence? Or to to create a watercolor style "painting" without actually using paint? Or to keep a journal without pen and paper? I understand all of those things may not be considered cool by someone under the age of 40. And those are the ones creating all this new technology. But, please, for the love of all things holy, can you just take a single solitary moment to dig yourself?

  Roger O'Dea    5/16/2024

Non Fiction (Adventures In Street Photography)

Click on image to see larger version.

      

        

       

Roger O'Dea     5/14/2024

       

 

    

Life Is A Highway

Life is a highway

I want to ride it all night long

If you're going my way   

I want to drive it all night long

(Song by Tom Cochrane)

Road trip season is nearly here. I have some ideas. They involve all of these highways -

But first, some facts. Highway 34 is the shortest of these three, but also the longest state highway in South Dakota at 419 miles.  Beginning at the western border where Wyoming Highway 24 ends, it continues all the way across the state to the eastern border where it becomes Minnesota Highway 30. It is also the most boring of the three shown above. The state capitol of Pierre is along the route, but as far state capitols go, Pierre has to be ranked near the bottom on a scale of most interesting. There are some towns with cool names...White Owl, Woonsocket, and Fedora to name a few...although Fedora isn't actually a town, and I don't believe the few residents remaining are prone to wearing the classic style hat on a regular basis. (Be a lot cooler if they did, though). Otherwise, not much going on with Highway 34.

U.S. Highway 85, on the other hand, is pretty awesome. Technically, it stretches 1,479 miles from Canada to our southern border with Mexico. Once you're headed south out of Denver, however, it becomes 285 for the rest of the way. Or, 385 if you join up to it a little further to the east. So for the purpose of this story I'll concentrate on the North and South Dakota section of the highway. I've driven most of it, but have missed a few points of interest along the way. That is something I intend to correct this year. I'll probably start with a day trip to the Cave Hills. I've been up in that country before but I'd like to find Ludlow Cave and the Cave Hills Church, two places I haven't been. Maybe I'll make it as far north as Fortuna. That would be an overnighter. Even though I've never been there I'm extremely curious about that place and its history. Depending on what I find, and how I'm accepted by the locals, it might turn into two overnights.

Then there is good old 212. It starts near the east entrance to Yellowstone Park and continues east through Montana, cuts a corner in Wyoming, then across South Dakota, ending just outside of Minneapolis. I have personal experience concerning strange things that have been known to occur along that road. I won't take the time to recount them here, but ask me sometime about the legend of the owl on the mailbox or driving through the same town twice...without turning around.  

This summer my Highway 212 focus will be on where it enters Custer National Forest between Broadus and Ashland Montana. I've driven that section many times but have never turned off the highway and gone in deeper to see what that part of the forest may have to offer. This will be the year to do it.

So, those are the plans for my summer road trips. So far. There are many other possibilities and many more miles to consider. Who knows...I might even end up out on Highway 61.

Georgia Sam asked Poor Howard where can I go

Howard said there's only one place I know

Sam said tell me quick man I got to run

Ol' Howard just pointed with his gun

And said that way down on Highway 61

(Song by Bob Dylan)

Roger O'Dea     4/9/2024