2 of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

I had the honor of talking to 2 of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers this evening. They were on their way to a conference in Aspen about Peace and Prayer.  I met sisters Rita and Beatrice Log-Visitor Holy Dance and their son/nephew Nathaniel Blindman when they missed their connection on a flight to Aspen that I was working. Since I was also working the next flight to Aspen I had a chance to chat with them in the boarding area. They are Lakota from PineRidge in South Dakota. Daughter Becca has friends in PineRidge that she made last year as a councilor at the Building Bridges for Peace camp. Talking to the grandmothers was very inspiring and learning about their program was wonderful. They told about some of the trips they have made in their quest for World Peace. This was indeed a "Close Encounter" of the best kind.
Check out the web site http://grandmotherscouncil.com

Yes We Can!

It is 11pm on Election night. I spent the day at precinct 927 in Denver, Colorado. This was a voting place in a Town-Home club house. Most of the 500 some odd voters had already voted either by mail-in-ballot or at Early Voting. We had 64 voters (one lady was 97!); 5 poll watchers including a former Colorado first lady, Dottie Lamb; several Denver Election workers; the city councilwoman who brought us sweet rolls; a couple of UCD students doing a survey; a couple of other young people troubleshooting the election and 6 poll workers. The Election Commission is paying us for our time (a little better than minimum wage) and even gave us lunch this time. I spent the last two weeks working at an early voting center. I am very tired because I traded shifts and worked a number of doubles so that I wouldn't go 'under hours' during these two weeks. But it was worth it. I like working during the elections, I have done it for years. Even though there are always some problems, it is an American institution.
Tonite Senator McCain gave a very gracious speach when he conceeded the election. Senator (President-Elect!) Obama's speach was very inspiring. I sent a text to my daughter Becca who is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania. She texted back that she was watching the speech as we were. Rachael, her sister here in Colorado also called us and woke up Ismaat, our 10 year old Granddaughter, to hear President-elect Obama speak. Ismaat has been excited to watch the election. As she says, "This is a historic election." I will sleep well tonight.