And Oh, yeah. Well, I'm glad to watch day. My name is Mabel Peacott, chair woman of Oak Lake Writers Society, and it's my honor and my great pleasure to introduce our next speaker, Lydia Whirlin

Soldier.

Just a little bit about her background.

Lydia is a chungu Lakota born at Bad Nation, a community on the

Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Lydia, a whirlwind soldier, has worked as an instructor in the education department of

Sinte Gleska University and as an elementary teacher and Indian Studies Coordinator for Todd County School District in Mission, South Dakota.

She has just finished a K-12 cultural curriculum for RST education, which is at the publishing house now, and she is currently working on some

language curriculum as well.

In 1999, Lydia became the first society member to publish a full-length book.

In memory songs, she reimagined the oral tradition as poetry to express what it means to have

Lacole Wechon, the Lakota Way of Being. Lydia's book paved the way for other society members to publish.

And welcome Lydia. Good morning. Can you all hear me? I'm not a loud speaker so I have to have a mic.

I don't know where to start here, but I guess I'm going to read you a poem that I wrote.

And as a, I called the speaker, and not, I haven't really studied English because of my background. I took the minimum of English that I felt like I was being forced to take so that is the reason that the reason for that was because when I first entered school I was just a Lakota speaker and I went into a boarding school and you know how Bakota speakers were treated in those days.

So I was full of resentment and rebelled and took a minimum of English that I had to.

And when English that I had to. And one time when I went home, I told my grandfather the way that we were being treated.

And he said,

Niga Kota, do any echirchilin.

Don't ever forget at your kota.

And so I've always lived by that.

And I didn't. So I've always lived by that.

And I didn't think I was a poet.

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