VISTA volunteers are typically kids, right out of college. They sign up for a year of service to offset college loans. I had 20 years on them, so I rightfully gained the title of Tribal Elder to my little tribe of 18 volunteers. I fell into the role easily and the mom gene never goes away.
None of us had a good idea of what exactly we would be doing in Blanding Utah. We knew we would be living there for a year, but no housing was availble to us right away. We knew we would be working with the Navajo and White Mesa Ute on education, health and economic development. Otherwise, we all arrived blindly and hopefully, ready to save the world, or a child, or ourselves.
As Tribal Elder, I felt compelled to look out for these guys and set a standard. One of the standards I set was with cow touching.
Cow touching was a game the VISTAs came up with. As a VISTA we are poor, in the middle of nowhere and easily amused. SE Utah is considered "open range". This means that cattle are allowed to wander wherever they damn well please. Very few fences. Should you run into a cow with your car, not only are you screwed because the car is probably totalled, but you have to reimburse the owner of the cow. Caution at dawn and dusk was taken very seriously. That's when I learned if their head is up (deer or cattle) you better slow your ass down. If their heads are down, they haven't seen you yet.
Coming out of a road trip to Comb Wash one day, one of the VISTAs came up with the game of cow touching. The concept was if a cow is on the road, not behind a fence, the first person to touch the cow was bought dinner by the rest of the group. Food is always a good incentive. Add the fact that most, if not all of the VISTAs were vegan or vegetarian, the comedy/irony potential of the game is huge.
A few weeks later, I met a guy who was an ice climber. We became friends, primarily because we were about the same age, and he invited me and my friend Kelly, another VISTA to ride to Telluride so that he could take some climbing pictures. As you make your way from Blanding to Telluride Colorado, you go through Dolores Colorado, a lovely place with more German restaurants in one place than most of the state. A lot of Germans in Dolores.
So we are on the road, and have to stop because by gosh here come a herd of cattle, with cowboys on horseback. Herding cattle down the middle of the road. And this wasn't unusual. As the Tribal Elder, I saw an opportunity for a free meal and being the first to touch a cow. The three of us get out of the car, and I walk into the middle of the road, in the middle of this herd of cattle, to touch one. It's a lot harder than it sounds. I'd never been that close to a cow before in my life. There I am, surrounded by cattle, and cowboys shouting "LADY, get out of the road!", but I cleaned that up a bit. Needless to say, my friends back at the truck were rolling on the ground laughing at me. I pissed off a few cowboys that day and never did touch a cow. Those suckers are HUGE. I did get a free dinner and my status as Tribal Elder was confirmed.
As volunteers, we were spread out among 18 sites, over 70 square miles. Four VISTAs were working in health at the hospital in Monument Valley on the Reservation. A couple were in Bluff working in education. Four more were working in education on the White Mesa Ute Reservation, living in the Last Pink House on Cowboy Street and one was in Montezuma Creek, on the Reservation, living in a hogan, by herself. She had no car, poor phone access and the powers that be running the program had put her in a dangerous situation. She loved living there, until she got assualted and robbed. Even after that she loved living there. As Tribal Elder though, I was astounded that they would put a young person's safety in jeopardy by allowing her to live alone in a place like Montezuma Creek. When I found out she had been assualted, I called the FBI. The Reservation is federal land, and the FBI, not a sheriff or police, are the ones involved. Talk about jacking the volume up.
She was furious at me for getting involved. I was furious at the program manager that allowed her to live in a situation like that. The program was fortunate that she did not file charges against them. Talk about bad press. During my send year, I recruited new VISTAs and made sure that volunteers weren't placed in places on the Reservation unless there were 2 of them. Being a Tribal Elder has its perks.
I lived and worked in Blanding, which is not on the Reservation(s), but 98% Anglo and Morman. Kids were shipped for a 25 mile bus ride from White Mesa to go to school every day in Blanding. I was able to score a bunch of free computers for the community center on White Mesa so the kids could learn how to use computers. The only problem was they had no internet access.
The Ute celebrate the Bear Dance in August and again in the Spring. The Bear Dance is meant to guide the bear into hibernation for the winter and again to bring him out in the spring, along with good harvests. The VISTAs attended the Bear Dance on White Mesa shortly after we arrived. The ground is dust, all the ladies are wearing beautiful shawls and everyone sits in a circle. The women would dance in the middle of the circle and use their shawls to point at the man they want to dance with. You don't point at Native Americans-its rude. The Dance is really a stomping on the ground to drums. Everyone danced, including myself. The most embarrassing thing I've ever done. I pointed my shawl at an elder and everyone laughed at me. I mean come on, I'm 40 years old here, and dancing with a young guy frankly scared me. Guess I missed a pretty good opportunity to find me an Indian and go native! I'm pretty sure friends and family back east were waiting for that.
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