A man sitting on his front step notices me walking through
Stand Off on a dusty, hot afternoon.
"Are you a priest?" he asks.
"No, just a photographer," I reply. Clergy and cops are
the only whites expected around here.
He is Frank Small Face. We talk for a while and discover we have a
mutual friend, a basketball coach in Calgary. Like many in the
community, Frank, his wife Randa Weasel Head and their daughter
Kayleen have been touched by tragedy. Four months earlier, Randa's
teenage daughter Gina was killed when the truck in which she was a
passenger crashed near Stand Off. Recently, Randa says, Gina began
to appear in her dreams, searching for clothing. A year later,
Randa buries clothes and dances for her daughter in a memorial
ceremony.
Hanging around the base of an enormous water tower that
dominates the town, a group of children stops playing and stares
at me as I approach. "Do you want to take our picture?"
one asks. I take some but soon stop.
Children aged 5 to 14 make up a quarter of the
reserve's
population, almost twice the provincial average, and education is
a high priority. The Blackfoot language and traditional beliefs
and customs are integral to the curriculum in the reserve's
schools, and the community boasts its own newspaper, the Blood
Tribe and Kainai News, a radio station and the Ninastako Cultural
Center.
Elizabeth Eagle Speakerstands alone as I pull over at the
St. Catherine's
Cemetery. She is awaiting the funeral service
of her 21-year-old grandson Roland, who was killed in a car
accident. A friend joins her a while later, and the two wait in my
truck (LEFT) until the hearse and funeral attendees arrive. During
the burial, Elizabeth cries out, "My grandson, my
grandson!" then sobs quietly. Later, we drive to St.
Catherine's Church, where a simple meal has been laid out for the
mourners.
Along a steep, sharp bank above the Belly River one
evening, I meet up with Horace Shouting and his son Stormy. As we
talk, Horace describes some of the times of turmoil and
unhappiness in his life. He then tells of having a vision of an
eagle, which appeared to the east of his house one day, to the
west the next. He took it as a sign that he must change the
direction of his life.
Three years later, Horace invites me to attend his first sun dance
(RIGHT), one of the most dramatic of the Plains peoples' dance
ceremonies. Traditionally, it involves fasting, prayers, dancing
and ceremonial piercing, where dancers have sharp wooden skewers
forced into their backs and chests. The dance brings emotional and
physical suffering but also the promise of great spiritual growth.
Heritage Community Foundation Presents
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