Lone Pine

Graduation is approaching quickly and senior year is coming to a close. Now is the time to be thinking about college and formulating a plan for a successful future. Both Oklahoma State University and Abilene Christian University are fantastic schools that offer many amazing opportunities. Choosing a college is a big decision that can have a huge impact on your life and it’s important to make an informed decision. Looking into the history of a college can help in the decision making process.…

Leonard Peltier is an imprisoned Native American. He lived on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and was arrested after an incident on the property. May events lead up to his arrest. The first incident happened on February 27, 1973. Members of the American Indian Movement, or AIM, staged a seventy-two-day occupation of land called, Wounded Knee. Their mission was to protest injustices against their tribes, such as violations of the many treaties. The United States government responded with a…

The Badlands is in the Southeastern corner of South Dakota, located to the East of the Black Hills. It was declared a national monument in 1929, and then was declared a national park though an act of congress in 1978. (Stoffer 2) The park is most known for its rugged, desolate appearance, with jagged rocks and interesting formations. The core of the “badlands” (meaning the “badlands” associated with Badlands National Park) is part of a dissected plateau region bounded by the Cheyenne River (to…

driven by a suspect of a stolen pair of cowboy boots. The agents followed this red pick-up truck onto the hostile Pine Ridge Reservation, Jumping Bull Ranch, where the shootout began when several Indians identified the agents in an unidentified vehicle. There was already internal dispute occurring inside the reservation between the two groups of Indians- full blood Indian and half-Indian. Pine Ridge had more deaths on the reservation than the entire state of South Dakota within just a year.…

Across North America, the use of guns and firearms were very controversial and still are till this day. Many Canadian politicians and citizens have looked down on the United States their gun control laws. On December 6th, 1989, an eye-opening tragedy for occurred. Twenty-five year old Marc Lepine walked into the University of Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique, murdered 13 female engineering students, a woman staff member and killed himself. The massacre left the victims’ family in devastation and…

stereotypical “Plains Indian”, which I come to think of as a member of the Lakota, Nakota, or Dakota. Images could be shown in class to show students the “stereotype” versus an actual Native resident of South Dakota. The scenes with Russell Means, a native of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, and John Trudell, a native of the Santee Dakota, show an interesting perspective into how the extreme poverty and corrupt politics still factor into daily South Dakota Native American life today (Diamond,…

While in the process of writing, authors often mirror themes in each of their publications. Sherman Alexie, author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and co-producer of Smoke Signals, demonstrates this technique through the aforementioned works by introducing topics such as family relationships, identity crises, the power of friendships, alcoholism, and the inevitability of death in both storylines. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian reveals the story of a young…

Smoke Signals: The Importance of Story Telling Most of us are familiar with storytelling, being told stories throughout our lives. Story telling plays a huge role in Native American culture. Stories are told within households and communities to richen the relations and bonds between people. In Sherman Alexie’s film Smoke Signals, stories are used to show relationships between Suzy Song, Victor Builds-The-Fire, and Thomas Joseph which is illustrated in the stories shared between them. In the…

Often at times, movies intend to mirror themes presented in a novel of similar context. Sherman Alexie, award-winning author and filmmaker, implements this technique and displays commonalities between his auto-fictional novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and his co-production of Smoke Signals. Both selections incorporate the stereotypical Indian lifestyle and culture such as chronic alcoholism and devastating poverty. However, there are also slight differences between the…

the battle of gallopoli began. During the early days of the campaign, the allies tried to break through the Turkish lines and the Turks tried to drive the allied troops off the peninsula. There were many unsucceful events including the attack on lone pines and the attack on the neck. The attack…