Miles City Bucking Horse Sale

Deer Medicine Rocks

In January, 1876, President Grant ordered the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux to report to their reservations or face war with the Army. In June 1876, Sitting Bull made camp on the Tongue River and deliberated on whether to surrender his people or lead them into battle. Seeking guidance, he held a Sundance. Tucked away on a private ranch 25 miles from Ashland, etched in the Deer Medicine Rocks, is Sitting Bull's vision of conquered cavalrymen riding their horses upside down. Shortly after this Sundance, Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapahoe warriors met the 7th cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Richard Tall Bull invited us on a tour, with himself, Felipe (the beading teacher) and John Bailey (the ranch-owner) as guides. I thought we were going to see some rock formations; with every new petroglyph, I was more astonished that such a marvel was sitting quietly on our doorstep. We spent two hours inspecting four separate sights, culminating with the depiction of the vision.

The Baileys' unassuming ranch-house doubles as a museum, complete with brochures, artifacts and plaques from the US Army joint command and British military. As we walked, the unassuming Mr. Bailey kept dropping references to "the lady from the Smithsonian" or when we were on the History Channel." People are full of surprises!

We found that the Indians weren't the only ones to leave their mark. When the army passed through in 1877, en route to the Battle of Rosebud, an F Company private named JD Clarke, whose record shows serving detention for minor offenses (like neglecting patrol to graffiti?) left his name. And we got to ride in Richard's truck.

Easter

For Easter, we headed to Hays, MT to visit the four JVs working on the Fort Belknap Reservation. After driving four hours north from Billings, two hours out of cell phone range and seeing one sign for "<-- HAYS" and another for "CANADA -->", I reconsidered calling Ashland "isolated." Situated at the foot of the "Little Rockies," we found Hays a beautiful town and a good place to explore. Half a mile from the "Mission," the road runs through a canyon with a natural stone bridge. Daniel, Allison, Margaret and Marissa teach kindergarten, first and second grades, manage the school library, run a weekly game night and volleyball league for the community and essentially organized the Easter Vigil I attended. Looking for jvcULTRA? Hays is for you! I also had my first experience with commodity food at Easter brunch. Allison's secret family recipe for ham casserole was worth the drive.

It was great to see the Hays girls, since they missed Winter retreat because of snow, and fun to spend some time with Joe, Steph and Sus (the "day crew".) Turns out Joe has a stellar falsetto. Check it out.

Egg Hunt!

Easter started for us on Palm Saturday, with the Youth and Family Services Egg hunt, headed by our own Cassie McHugh. For the week preceding, Cass stuffed 800 eggs and 200 baskets with YFS volunteers, coordinated logistics to welcome, entertain and feed 300 people and designated responsibilities for each JV. (She delegated well, according to our strengths – Sus, Steph and I received page-long schedules of organizational details, while the boys’ joint task-list read “Set up grills. Cook! Cook! Cook!”) And it was a success. The day dawned cold and brilliant and the community turned out in unprecedented numbers. The highlight of my morning was officiating the three-legged race, which was so popular that the adults demanded their own heat. (Sorry Joe & Cass, you know what they say about “almost.”)

Thanks to the cafeteria, the Clothing Room, and YFS, everyone left having eaten, every kid left with an Easter basket, and eight grand-prize winners went home with new bikes. It was a fun event and a chance for the six of us, usually split by our work schedules, to spend the day together.

JVC Winter Retreat and Glacier National Park

Since our winter retreat was scheduled for Flathead Lake, thirty minutes south of Glacier, we decided to make a trip out of it. We left on Wednesday morning at 7 AM and arrived in Kalispell, at the apartment of Stephanie’s college roomate, Angie, 13 hours and one white-out-snow-storm later. (Thankfully Steph was driving -- no problem for an Idahoan.) With six JVS, four pairs of skis, food for three days and clothes for six, the van was riding low. On Thursday, Cassie hit the slopes of Big Mountain, Susan explored the coffee shops of Whitefish, and Matt, Joe and I went cross country skiing on a local golf course. It was Joe's first time and we enjoyed a couple stellar wipe-outs. Thursday evening, thanks to Mrs. Pung and her winnings from a Super Bowl bet, we went out for some Valentine's dinner and dancing.
On Friday, we headed north into Glacier. We drove the first ten miles of Going-to-the-Sun Road (the rest is closed for the winter) and spent the afternoon hiking, skiing and snow-shoeing around McDonald Lake. After run-hiking for an hour and a half in the trees (novel after eastern MT) the vistas and the expansive quiet, things were pretty good in my world. From Glacier we headed south again, passed through Kalispell and continued down to our retreat center in Lakeside. There, we reunited with the JVs from Billings, Omak and Spokane for a weekend of Ignatian Spiritual Excercises led by a fascinating, elderly Jesuit called Father Bob. Though he now serves on the Colville reservation, along with the Omak JVs, Father Bob spent the majority of his priesthood living in solidarity with the homeless and in protest communities surrounding nuclear and weapons-manufacturing sights. Guided by his humor, simplicity and vibrant spirituality, we all (Ashland-kids at least) left the weekend changed. The place wasn't so bad either -- below is the view from our meeting room window.
It was an awesome weekend for our community. Seeing Glacier, going dancing, working with Father Bob and hanging out with the other JVs gave us a boost of energy to bring back to Ashland.

Dorm Council: A Work in Progress

Years ago, St. Labre had a Dorm Council. This fall, as Matt and I watched the kids come home from school and plop in front of the TV, as we watched them struggle – on their own – with the same subjects, we decided the dorm needed social and academic leadership. As JVs, sometimes our ideas are cool, and other times, well, we're the JVs. Leadership and ownership has to come from the kids and so, with Roger's backing, we set about resurrecting Dorm Council.

We had each student nominate two classmates, and then asked each nominee to submit a paragraph explaining his or her ideas for the dorm and why he or she would be a good Dorm Councilor. The responses were impressive, instructive and hilarious.

They responded to “Why you?” with devotion and sentiment – “I will do whatever it takes to make this dorm a better place;” “I got nothing here but friends and family” – and honesty interspersed with poetry – “I want to be on Dorm Council because the dorm is so boring and there is nothing to do in this boring place. Plus, this dorm is empty just like an empty heart with no love and care.” Initiatives included pool and ping pong tournaments, game nights, hikes, dances, water fights, peer tutoring, subject quizzes for candy and, one of my favorites, “seeing who could make the best thing and getting a prize for it.”

From 30+ nominations, we received statements from eight students, seven boys and one girl. The process of writing their statements self-selected devoted, active individuals, and we were excited to accept all eight. Since every one of them wrote of being bored, Dorm Council has focused its first month on social programs.

In January, the Council ran a successful pool tournament and a great game night in which 23 of 35 dormies participated. (The activity was thought up, planned and executed by two Dorm Councilors.) The girls met the boys in a heated game of Charades with a free pass from study hour at stake. An hour into it, in the final minute before prayer, the girls pulled it out by one, with a successful depiction of the movie Juneau. The boys’ shouts of “pregnant igloo!” and “Donny is an Eskimo!” proved too little too late.

Indepent of Dorm Council but encouraged by their enthusiasm, Matt and I set up a hike and a sledding adventure, and continued with weekly flag football, pictured above. We have the Valentines Dance coming up on February 11th (oohhaah) but we hope to loose the Council on some academic and community service initiatives in the future.

A Christmas Miracle

"JVs plan and hold an advent service.” That was the assignment Michelle and I were given for December 19 in the dorm calendar. Frightened by the prospect of forced prayer with kids already anxious for break and hyped up by classroom parties with too many candy canes, we decided on the only alternative: a pageant. When we got down to writing the script, we realized we had a great opportunity to let the kids work with scripture. So, after Michelle did the dirty work of consolidating the gospel accounts of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, we opened up the draft to the students. Many of them had pretty insightful and fun responses when they were asked to improvise for their characters. When asked how Mary would have felt when the angel Gabriel told her she would be pregnant, one girl responded “My parents are never going to believe this. What am I going to tell them?” When the innkeeper was asked to improvise his rejection of Joseph, one student offered bluntly “There’s a haystack around the corner.” These emendations, along with others, made the final script.

Then, on the Tuesday before break, we herded the newly-discovered Thespians into the living room of the dorm for a final rehearsal. Disaster seemed to be looming throughout the practice. To start, one of the three wise men nearly knocked Michelle over as she tried to direct from atop a chair. He was rolling around on the floor in a hysterical fit of laughter. Then, when she was asked to open the play by flirting with Joseph, Mary argued that “I’ve tried, but he’s unresponsive.” As those two got over the inevitable awkwardness, others were distracted by their costumes, and a shifty narrator ran off with the doll who would be Jesus. She and the baby made it back just in time for the miracle to begin.

And it was a miracle. With the exception of the one wise guy who laughed uncontrollably at the Holy Family, the play went off without a hitch. Students, teachers, and staff looked on with excitement as they discovered previously unknown talents. And, after their final bows, the actors and actresses were supported with surprised acclamations like “that was actually really, really good.” And, in the greatest endorsement of the night, Joseph Witiw proudly stated that he hadn’t fallen asleep even once during the whole play!