Way Out There

(This is from April 27th)

Lower Brule is a new reservation to me. When I think of South Dakota reservations, I think of Pine Ridge and Rose Bud. But tonight a woman who lived on Lower Brule came on the tour. "There are a lot of stories out there," she said. Not a surprise, but not something I'd heard much about. Though I must confess, I feel I've met a lot more people from reservations out west then your average New Orleans guide. And then again I might be diluting myself. She didn't have any personal stories. But she did say that she worked in an alternative school out there, and she had one student who never got enough sleep. Hard to believe that she only had one student short on rest. But this girl seemed even more exhausted than her peers. The woman told her "Look, you need to get some more sleep at night." The girl closed her eyes and shook her head. "I try. Really I try. But in the middle of the night a boy comes and wakes me up. He spends all night dribbling his basketball and I can't sleep."