It is good to be home after spending several days in Bismarck attending the Tribal Summit's workshops and watching the powwow and the festivities surrounding it. As I said in my previous blog, I enjoy attending the Tribal Summit, the powwow, and other activities.
This year, there were several great speakers on the agenda: Cecilia Fire Thunder for Great Plains Women's Society; Ernie Stevens Jr. for the National Indian Gaming Association; the luncheon keynote speaker, Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs - U.S. Department of the Interior; and Coach Dale Brown who gave a rousing speech on Self Determination. Two presiding chairs that I thought did an excellent job were: Ron His Horse Is Thunder, Chairman - Standing Rock, and our very own Myra Pearson, Chairwoman - Spirit Lake Tribe.
I was particularly impressed by the speeches Larry Echo Hawk and Coach Dale Brown gave. Echo Hawk's speech was about civic responsibility. He talked about how hard it was for him to accept the position of Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs due to the time it would take away from raising his grandchildren. He reminded us of how the historical legacy of the position toward Indian people was never very good, another reason why he was undecided to take the job. He worried that he would not be able to do the job justice. However, what it came down to was he could not refuse the call to public service, and the chance to have a positive impact on the nation's First Americans. It was a great speech; touching, emotional, exposing the inner turmoil he went through when deciding whether or not to accept the position. I am sure he will do a great job as Assistant Secretary.
Coach Dale Brown gave a great speech also (I have to admit I wondered why a famous coach would agree to speak at a little old Tribal Summit. Little did I realize, he is originally from Minot, ND). He talked about my favorite subject, Indian Self-Determination by practicing the value of honesty and courage. When he finished with his speech, I went out in the hall and waited for him to come out. Lucky for me, I had a chance to meet him. I asked him for a copy of his speech, and he told me he only had notes. He then handed me his card and promised to send them to me if I contacted him. I sent him an email this morning, and sure enough a couple of hours later, I received several emails from him containing information on speeches he had made. Boy, talk about keeping his word.
As usual, the Summit ran on Indian time, but I was pleasantly surprised to observe that most of the participants who showed up on time and stayed until the end were tribal members from Spirit Lake. It was great to see our tribal representatives attending all the sessions, also.
Although I enjoyed myself, as usual, I am pretty sure this will be the last Tribal Summit I will attend as long as I am self-employed. The sessions are great, but the down time, or wasted time between the sessions is time that I could spend working for my company. In addition, the summit started on Wednesday, which means spending five days in Bismarck, something I no longer want to do. Of course, I could attend the summit and leave Friday, but that would mean I would not be able to attend the powwow. Maybe, I will attend the powwow and not worry about attending the Summit.
Running a company, even a one-man company such as mine, takes all my time.
