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“Being Born Under The Star of a Leader, Does Not Make One Shine”

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Nelson1

Leadership & Candidate Archambault

There are many variables that can work together to make a good leader.  A primary and constant indicator in looking at any candidate for leadership is to review the family unit that the candidate has created, because this is the foundation for everything else, such as daily interaction and deeds.  Another indicator is to look at experience.  What kind of work has been acquired or produced.  Even schooling is experience or a form of work that allows a person to be more knowledgeable and how to apply learning to practical work experience.  Another important variable is the values that a person demonstrates.  This can be easily seen by simply asking, “What does the potential leader do with their non-work time ?”  What a person does with their spare time visibly shows their Values.

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The Garden

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As for the gardening, I learned what we do today from John Thunder Hawk. We till the ground around our plants and I hear sometimes that isn’t the best practice. I also sell pickles at our store – I buy them in 5 gallon pails. Last year, I cut the bottom off of 90 buckets and covered all my plants except for the ones with vines (melons, cucs, squash, etc.). I thought this would be an easier way to garden, less tilling and less weeding, less work. I didn’t till, I mowed and I only weeded inside the buckets. I got the veggies but they weren’t as lush and I got a lot of stickers, probably the most stickers ever. I am still getting stuck this year. I went back to tilling up the garden. We grow everything; radish, onions, beats, tomatoes, corn, watermelon, muskmelon, all the squash, potatoes, celery, green beans, peas, rutabaga, cabbage, herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc… My wife Nicole (John’s daughter) likes to can tomatoes and beats so we try to put a lot in. I like to pickle cucumbers but everyone eats them before I can harvest enough. I like to make potato, green bean, and salt pork soup. I only like planting the vegetables – I don’t care or want to plant flower or grass gardens. My wife enjoys the flower/grass stuff.

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My Experience

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Dave Archambault II formerly served as a tribal council person for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe located in Fort Yates, North Dakota. While on Tribal Council, he focused on economic development, renewable energy, and government reform. Dave attended NDSU and the University of Mary. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in management. Dave has owned and operated a small convenience store in his community since 2002. Archambault has served on various boards as an elected official and is currently the board chair for Sitting Bull College. Today, Dave works at United Tribes Technical College as the Director of an ETA/DOL TAACCCT Grant – “Tribal College Consortium for Developing Montana and North Dakota Workforce (TCC DeMaND Workforce),” a project that focuses on developing the workforce in Indian Country through Tribal College trainings and industry partnerships. Continue reading →

Story By: Edward Iron Cloud

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a-fine-sioux-war-bonnet-sewn-with-twenty-nine-eagle-feathers

This story was told to my dad by Edward Iron Cloud, Sr. in the mid-1960s, Ed was almost 100 years old at the time and he
died about 1977, so he lived back in the day.

One winter, a village of Lakota’s were near starvation from unending
blizzard conditions.  Their food supplies were almost completely
depleted.  Everyone was suffering, especially the small crying
children in each lodge. The situation was desperate, so a council of
the camps headmen was held.  As usual, everyone was expected to bare suggestions.  Some said let’s get all the food in camp and give it to
the children.  Others were in favor of feeding the elder. Since there
was some lodges without food for almost a week, most were many in
favor of just sharing any scant food available.  One of the camp
leaders said his wife and some of the other women, felt if more food
was not gotten soon, everyone would be dead.  So he suggested that all
the food available be gathered up and it would be used to feed the
camps best hunters.  Make them strong as possible because the future
of the camp rested in their ability to travel and hunt by foot in
deep, deep snow, then somehow bring whatever could be taken back to camp.

Without nourishment this task was impossible but the survival of the
people was at stake.  Without hesitation the eldest headman who had
not yet spoken, saw the affirmative shaking of heads.  He stood up and
told the council to go and bring all camp food back.  We must prepare
the best meal and papa for traveling as soon as possible.

Everyone rose up and quickly went out to gather the food.

Stories of the past have many lessons. This particular story demonstrates how hard the times were for our ancestors and how they came together to make decisions for the future of the people. Today, we still face hard times and we still need to make decisions.