The Hills is where the Heart is.

It looks like only one person read the last blog post, and I know it was my Dad.  (Love you, Popsie.) Perhaps the rest of you have given up on me, and I don't blame you.  But I will keep writing in case some of you find your way back!

So, after Faulkton, we drove across the state toward the Black Hills area.  We were staying in Rapid City, but our residency was actually in Red Shirt, marked with a yellow star on the below map.

Red Shirt is a small Oglala Lakota village on the Pine Ridge Reservation, about 20 miles Southeast of Hermosa.  The school is small, (only about 80 students, pre-K through 8th grade), but the kids are wonderful and the teachers and principal are doing really great work there.

Every school has its own challenges.  Culturally, we experienced a whole new set of challenges.  We were working with kids who were very new to the concept of theater.  Most had never even seen a play, much less been in one.  So, we had to develop a new approach in order to get the students to buy into the process and conceptualize the end product.  Thankfully, the kids are very smart and came along for the ride.  We worked very, very hard and all week, and had a big payoff when we performed the show.  The parents were very proud, commenting that they never realized their children were capable of something like that and how they couldn't wait for the next one.

Also, they had a Reading Tepee in their common area.  (Did I mention this school was neat?)  I have decided this should be required in all schools.

 

 

Less than 10 minutes further down the road from Red Shirt Elementary, you come to the Red Shirt Table, a table mountain with a killer view of the Badlands.  We drove out one day to check it out.

 



So cool.

 

Just warning you - Harrison LOVES making me jump like this, so you may be seeing a lot more photos like this one...

 

 

Of course, we were very happy to be back in the Hills, our old stomping grounds.  Going back to our favorite places - from the sites of our very first dates to the church where we got married.  It doesn't get much better than being there together.  One such place of importance is the Black Hills Playhouse - where we were both working when we first met!  They were closed for the season, but we stopped by anyway.

 

 

 

As we were exploring the grounds, we ran into a Job Corps group that was finishing up re-modeling the interior of the new costume shop.  Harrison and I worked at the playhouse in the Summer of 2006.  This was the last year we were able to use the original CCC buildings.  They were very special and historical and full of memories, but they were basically in shambles.  Soon after we left, they were torn down, which was sad, but clearly for the best.  Some temporary buildings have been constructed for the seasons between then and now, and they are slowly but surely building and finishing newer permanent buildings.  The young men were kind enough to give us a tour of what they were working on when we were there.  It was like a castle.  It looked so good.  

 

Honestly.  I can still remember when we first drove up to camp in 2006.  My mom, sister, and good friend, Laura, walked into the building in which I was going to live for the summer, and it was a total wreck.  I literally burst into tears, and said - "You canNOT leave me here."  Looking back, I am ever so glad they did.  It is exciting that the employees of the BHP have access to these new facilities, and although it is a very different experience, I am sure it is nice to live and work in buildings that are actually fit for occupancy. 

 

There is perhaps no place dearer to our hearts and it always feels good to come home.

 

I will be back soon with more adventures from the Black Hills!

xoxo,

C&H