On air on 104.5, the Metropolitan Public Radio. On today’s show we are going to be talking about the feelings that come out of living of one of the Indian reservations here in the US. The Native American Spokane Reservation here in Washington is a small place with crumbling small houses next to an ever green pine forest 22 miles from any white community; silence and desperation linger in the air, or maybe its just the smell of alcohol. Houses that could only have room for 3 people are crowded with at least 6 people, kids playing on the ground with what looks like third handed toys that probably belonged to their grandparents. Just putting our feet on the reservation, we can hear the loud laughs and music coming from the rez bar, this doesn’t seem to bother the kids playing outside that seem used to this, on their everyday life.
The history of Native American Reservations extends back to the early colonial times, but the systematic establishment of reserves for defeated or displaced Indian tribes has only been happening in the 19th century. On the US there are more than 310 reservations, with over 2.5 million Indians living in reservations. Reservations started in 1851 by the United States Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. American Indian natives live there, with the purpose of protection form the encroachment of whites. Sadly, the people there are extremely poor and with a low education level.

We will be interviewing Mr. Arnold Spirit as one of the average Native Americans that lives on a reservation, and he will tell us about how it is to live in poverty and with alcoholism, and how it helps numb the feelings of disappointment and desperation. 

Arnold’s dad interview




DAD: Hello, hello.

Valeria: how are you Mr. Arnold?

Dad: good, good and how are you?

Valeria: good. How do you feel living in the reservation and we also want to know if that affects your alcohol problems.
 
Dad: No, I have no problem with the alcohol.

Valeria: So why do you drink?

Dad: because I like to drink.

Valeria: really?

Dad: No! (Crying), many years ago I also had big dreams, just like my son. But the difference is that I wasn’t given the chance to accomplish them.
 
Dad: well, it’s actually something I’ve never shared before.  But I guess it time to take it out, the story starts like this, when I was a child I wanted to be an engineer, or a businessman. But my education was really bad, and my friends and some people in of my family were saying that I was crazy and stupid because of wanting that.
 
Dad: I think that I’m trying to put all my bad feelings, and memories in the alcohol.

Mary, Mr. Arnold Spirit’s daughter, also has been trapped in the reservation, locking herself from the world by living 7 years in the basement.
Marie, Arnold’s sister

Interviewer: hello Marie! How are you? 

Marie: hi, I’m ok.

Interviewer: Marie tell us how you feel about living your whole life in this reservation?
 
Marie: well, this reservation is the place where the people I love live but it’s also the place where all my dreams have been destroyed, or not destroyed but let down. Since I was a small girl I’ve always loved fairytales and love novels, I like them because they give me the freedom of imagining someone who loves me and someone who I can have amazing moments with. But that someone is not someone from the rez oohh absolutely noo, I want someone who comes from the outside world, and wants to explore the world with me.  

Interviewer: so in 7 year no one has come yet? 

Marie: No, actually many people have come but I just don’t feel like the right one has came yet.

Interviewer: are you just going to wait? 

Marie: mmm…that’s what I had planed to do 7 years ago, when I first decided to lock myself and wait for someone. But I’m no longer waiting, I told myself: if someone doesn’t come in the next year, I will leave.” 

Interviewer: But why haven’t you left? It’s been 7 years now, 7 years wasted.

Marie: Not actually wasted, in the past few years I have written novels and short romance stories, like drafts for my final book, which I hope to finish soon.
Interviewer: Now last question, if you were to leave the rez, where would you go and why?

Marie: If I were to leave, well…I think I would go somewhere far away, to the beach, because that’s were summer loves occur, and that’s the most important and interesting type of love and that I’ve always wanted to write about. 


As we interview Mary Spirit, an important topic comes to the conversation: 

Alcoholism, it apparently is a contagious decease in the rez since we can see almost every man of the reservation on the popular bar “Dirty Red.” We will interview, last but not least, Sophie, a bartender living on the reservation that has to serve glasses and glasses of vodka and whiskey to every man. She will tell us about how and why the men that go there, GO THERE. 
Sophie Interview.

Interviewer: Hello, good afternoon, today we are going to interview Sophie from the Bar in the rez. Hello Sophie, how are you?
Sophie: good and how are you?
Interviewer: good thank you, how do you feel about living in the rez and the experiences in your job as a bar tender?
Sophie: ok, it’s kind of easy to tell.
Sophie: In my job I see anything, like drunk Indians, fights, people doing everything to get a little bit of money.
Sophie: Most of them forget about their problems when they get drunk, and others get Melancholic and start talking about their problems, and their childhood dreams.       
Sophie: Yes, and some of them talk about how proud they are about their children.
Interviewer: ok, now we are going to the commercial and then we’ll be back with Mary.
 
COMERCIAL: bananananananananananana bat maaaaaann
 
Interviewer: ok, now we are back and know we want you to tell us how you feel about living in this rez your whole life and why haven’t you left?
Sophie: I feel like if it is a dream catcher that catches all my goals and dreams.
Interviewer: ok, thanks for sharing all these with us. 

It might seem like the life on reservations are not always good, but now, on this new decade incomes from Casino’s has increased causing other problems. Since the income from Casino’s has increased, the idea of leaving college to own a Casino has become more tempting than ever. Children caught in a cycle of generational poverty, who have few educational role models and job opportunities, are at great risk. This might not seem like it has to do with the future of life quality in reservations, but if they drop out of school and make no money but they spend it, then what will happen to the economy inside the rez? Reservations have been ignored and let down many years now, but if there are more people willing to study and learn and have a decent job, well then life at the rez will become better and less problems will over helm people living there. 


 












Jail or Home

On air on 104.5, the Metropolitan Public Radio. On today’s show we are going to be talking about the feelings that come out of living of one of the Indian reservations here in the US. The Native American Spokane Reservation here in Washington is a small place with crumbling small houses next to an ever green pine forest 22 miles from any white community; silence and desperation linger in the air, or maybe its just the smell of alcohol. Houses that could only have room for 3 people are crowded with at least 6 people, kids playing on the ground with what looks like third handed toys that probably belonged to their grandparents. Just putting our feet on the reservation, we can hear the loud laughs and music coming from the rez bar, this doesn’t seem to bother the kids playing outside that seem used to this, on their everyday life.
The history of Native American Reservations extends back to the early colonial times, but the systematic establishment of reserves for defeated or displaced Indian tribes has only been happening in the 19th century. On the US there are more than 310 reservations, with over 2.5 million Indians living in reservations. Reservations started in 1851 by the United States Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. American Indian natives live there, with the purpose of protection form the encroachment of whites. Sadly, the people there are extremely poor and with a low education level.

We will be interviewing Mr. Arnold Spirit as one of the average Native Americans that lives on a reservation, and he will tell us about how it is to live in poverty and with alcoholism, and how it helps numb the feelings of disappointment and desperation.

Arnold’s dad interview

DAD: Hello, hello.

Valeria: how are you Mr. Arnold?

Dad: good, good and how are you?

Valeria: good. How do you feel living in the reservation and we also want to know if that affects your alcohol problems.

Dad: No, I have no problem with the alcohol.

Valeria: So why do you drink?

Dad: because I like to drink.

Valeria: really?

Dad: No! (Crying), many years ago I also had big dreams, just like my son. But the difference is that I wasn’t given the chance to accomplish them.

Dad: well, it’s actually something I’ve never shared before. But I guess it time to take it out, the story starts like this, when I was a child I wanted to be an engineer, or a businessman. But my education was really bad, and my friends and some people in of my family were saying that I was crazy and stupid because of wanting that.

Dad: I think that I’m trying to put all my bad feelings, and memories in the alcohol.

Mary, Mr. Arnold Spirit’s daughter, also has been trapped in the reservation, locking herself from the world by living 7 years in the basement.
Marie, Arnold’s sister

Interviewer: hello Marie! How are you?

Marie: hi, I’m ok.

Interviewer: Marie tell us how you feel about living your whole life in this reservation?

Marie: well, this reservation is the place where the people I love live but it’s also the place where all my dreams have been destroyed, or not destroyed but let down. Since I was a small girl I’ve always loved fairytales and love novels, I like them because they give me the freedom of imagining someone who loves me and someone who I can have amazing moments with. But that someone is not someone from the rez oohh absolutely noo, I want someone who comes from the outside world, and wants to explore the world with me.

Interviewer: so in 7 year no one has come yet?

Marie: No, actually many people have come but I just don’t feel like the right one has came yet.

Interviewer: are you just going to wait?

Marie: mmm…that’s what I had planed to do 7 years ago, when I first decided to lock myself and wait for someone. But I’m no longer waiting, I told myself: if someone doesn’t come in the next year, I will leave.”

Interviewer: But why haven’t you left? It’s been 7 years now, 7 years wasted.

Marie: Not actually wasted, in the past few years I have written novels and short romance stories, like drafts for my final book, which I hope to finish soon.
Interviewer: Now last question, if you were to leave the rez, where would you go and why?

Marie: If I were to leave, well…I think I would go somewhere far away, to the beach, because that’s were summer loves occur, and that’s the most important and interesting type of love and that I’ve always wanted to write about.

As we interview Mary Spirit, an important topic comes to the conversation:

Alcoholism, it apparently is a contagious decease in the rez since we can see almost every man of the reservation on the popular bar “Dirty Red.” We will interview, last but not least, Sophie, a bartender living on the reservation that has to serve glasses and glasses of vodka and whiskey to every man. She will tell us about how and why the men that go there, GO THERE. 
Sophie Interview.

Interviewer: Hello, good afternoon, today we are going to interview Sophie from the Bar in the rez. Hello Sophie, how are you?
Sophie: good and how are you?
Interviewer: good thank you, how do you feel about living in the rez and the experiences in your job as a bar tender?
Sophie: ok, it’s kind of easy to tell.
Sophie: In my job I see anything, like drunk Indians, fights, people doing everything to get a little bit of money.
Sophie: Most of them forget about their problems when they get drunk, and others get Melancholic and start talking about their problems, and their childhood dreams. 
Sophie: Yes, and some of them talk about how proud they are about their children.
Interviewer: ok, now we are going to the commercial and then we’ll be back with Mary.

COMERCIAL: bananananananananananana bat maaaaaann

Interviewer: ok, now we are back and know we want you to tell us how you feel about living in this rez your whole life and why haven’t you left?
Sophie: I feel like if it is a dream catcher that catches all my goals and dreams.
Interviewer: ok, thanks for sharing all these with us.

It might seem like the life on reservations are not always good, but now, on this new decade incomes from Casino’s has increased causing other problems. Since the income from Casino’s has increased, the idea of leaving college to own a Casino has become more tempting than ever. Children caught in a cycle of generational poverty, who have few educational role models and job opportunities, are at great risk. This might not seem like it has to do with the future of life quality in reservations, but if they drop out of school and make no money but they spend it, then what will happen to the economy inside the rez? Reservations have been ignored and let down many years now, but if there are more people willing to study and learn and have a decent job, well then life at the rez will become better and less problems will over helm people living there.

carlosarroyorock14