Off the Rez Ramblings pod cast

https://anchor.fm/leon-matthews/episodes/Beginnings-of-Off-the-Rez-Ramblings-e5cjte

I hope you enjoy!!  Feel free to share and ask question.

The Sky Is The Limit

                          

Some days I feel like I would just like to walk around with my camera and take pictures but most days I forget I have a phone with a camera.  One day we were driving home and I decided to walk to the front of the house. I looked up and saw this photo in my mind but I needed the correct angle.  It was the giant oak standing above the house tops in the neighborhood. I have been trying to get back into my writing and it is going well.  

I started a new job where I am running the coffee house at a huge pharmaceutical company.  The campus has about ten thousand people working there. It is a nice place and I have fun practicing my craft.  I have been working on the East Coast working my way through some kitchens. I have met some great people along the way but I also met some people with issues.  I have my own issues and seek to not bring them into work. I had one chef who would try to bully me and I did not like that and walked out. The owner called me back and said the chef was gone or let go.  He apparently did this before and they had enough of his bullying. I would suggest you take notes to protect yourself because people who act out to others believe they can get away with their actions. Another cook was always throwing dishes around and I finally slapped shot the dish back at him and then verbally assaulted him.  I tried to get him to stop and the supervisor heard everything. I eventually left that kitchen, we will talk about them more in a book. 

I have felt that I have had a plan for my life and the plan came from God.  I know coffee and now I am better able to cook in an industrial environment.  I believe I was accomplished in my previous life as a pastor and cafe/bistro owner.  I have been experimenting and perfecting my food. I was beaten down because I was made to feel I should not be a minister of the Gospel and I believe I was being attacked.  I was able to fall and I landed on my feet just like a cat. My name means “Lion Like“. I was born in August and my sign is Leo. More than that, I am follower of Jesus. He paid for all of my sin and I do not have to be good enough because he was sinless and died for me.  He is my resume!

So my plan and the title of this is The Sky Is The Limit.  My desire is to follow what God has for my life and build a training center for our Native people.  I want to help them to achieve their dreams as I continue to build mine. I know some people will say things like, “Who does he think he is?”  My answer is I am an Oglala Lakota/Sioux Man with many skills, chef, barista, theologian, writer, author, photographer, and philosopher. But the one thing that I am fully is a Son of The Most High and my savior and Lord is Jesus.  If you have issues with me talk to God about them because I will be about building the Kingdom of God! Wopila or Thank You

Oranges and White Supremacists

I took this photo around ten years ago on the Pine Ridge Reservation and thought I would use it again because it shows the state of the United States.  I have been listening to my soul mate and she says, life is different for each of us depending on where we get our news. I get most of my news from CNN.  At one time I would watch Fox News but that changed with time. I stopped watching Fox after Obama became President. I watched hosts on Fox cry when we elected our first African American President.  It was a difficult time for the Make America Great Again or as the Speaker of the House says today, “Make America White Again!” Yes we are in more of a cultural war. we are in a Race War. Some would have you believe the Orange President is not a racist but he has called Mexicans rapists and killers.  He wanted the central park five killed for a crime they did not commit. He actually got sued for housing issues because he would not rent to African Americans in the seventies. He said the Connecticut Natives were not American Indians because his failing Taj Mahal was going broke and the tribes were doing better.  Ironic fix for Atlantic City was the Casino was sold for pennies on the dollar. Hard Rock owned by the Seminole and their investors bought the casino for fifty million, Trump built it with 1.5 billion dollars. He was fighting against the New England tribes and their casinos while he has failed in the gambling capital of the East Coast, Atlantic City, NJ.  He led the birther movement against Obama and when he took office he actually banned citizens from Muslim Countries. So yes, he does have a problem with minorities of our country.  

President Trump has fooled the Republican party into believing he is the one that will save our economy.  The housing balloon almost destroyed the markets but Obama came in and started rebuilding the markets during his eight years and now Trump is claiming the results of the Obama policies.  Now I know people will argue but our Nation is being attacked from the inside and I wanted to be clear that we must not re-elect Donald J. Trump. He says his ratings for the Republicans is 94% but he is barely over the 40% mark for the country.  That means 60% do not like him and he said he did not believe in the Polls. I live in the Rust Belt State of Pennsylvania and I rarely see MAGA hats. I think in my time here since they started making them I have seen one here and the guy looked like a jerk anyway.  

So this flag has seen its days I believe America will come together and out vote Trump in 2020.  He will destroy this country and the blind will follow. So just in case you do not remember there was a group of Nazis chanting in Virginia saying, Jews will not Replace us. Trump said there were good people on both sides.  Look Nazis are not good and White Nationalists or the KKK are white supremacists. When they are marching it is not good for the United States of America. So I found this photo of a beaten down flag but I know we can heal the land but we must come to reality and not be afraid of the America we can become.  Oh and yes Jesus took my sins and died for me and he was a JEW

More about Rez Rambling a lifetime ago

THE MOON FROM A LAKOTA VIEW

Today is the day, fifty years ago when the first man landed on the Moon.  I honestly do not get all excited about being an American when it comes to a moon race.  I was three years old soon to be four at the time.  I think my mom was more into the Beatles at the time and of course people were worried about the Cold War.  Students were practicing by hiding under the desks in case of nuclear war.  I feel that I should be happier with the idea of humans reaching the moon.  Nevertheless, I feel proud we made it to the moon. So begins my story, I heard while living and working on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation... After the moon landing the astronauts brought back some rocks.  They of course could not bring many rocks, but they picked out the best ones they could find.  After returning to earth they showed the scientists what they brought back.  After viewing the rocks the scientists found a rock that seemed noteworthy.  They started tests on the rock, and as they further studied the rock, they could not crack it open.  They used all of the technology they had at the time and were dumbfounded by this rock.  There was a man who had an idea after nothing worked.  

The young scientist was from South Dakota, and he told the others about this tribe who seemed to have a way with nature.  He told them about the time he visited the Pine Ridge one summer during his under grad work at the school of mines in Rapid City where he studied geology.  He spoke of a Lakota Holy Man who took him into the country and told him they would be doing ceremony to cleanse the spirit.  It was officially called the Inipi, and we know it as a sweat lodge. The young scientist would come to find that it was a powerful experience.  He would remember it for the rest of his life. So back to the moon rock... As the other scientists were struggling, the young one from South Dakota told the others he would like call the Lakota Holy Man or as the Lakota say, Wicasa Wankan.  So he called the professor and got the number to talk the granddaughter of the old shaman.  They agreed to bring the old man and his granddaughter to their lab, and then he (holy man) would go in and try to figure out this mysterious stone.
After five minutes the old man came out of the room and said, "It is Finished."  They looked into the room and there on the table was the rock. It was split open.  The scientists were AMAZED and asked the holy man what he did to get the rock opened.  The Holy Man told them he prayed and asked the spirit of the rock to reveal itself.  Now the scientists were amazed even more.  So they asked the old man what kind of spirit was it?  The old man said it was a calf spirit.  Now the excitement was fully in the air. They asked the old man how did the calf spirit get to the moon and into the ROCK?   The Holy Man shrugged and said, "I don't know, maybe when the 'cow jumped over the moon'!"

I wish I knew or maybe I do know the man who first told this story. It is one of the best Lakota humor stories I have heard.  I heard it from Chris Eagle Hawk who was my mentor and friend.  Chris is an Eyapaha which translates as "a speaker of the people". Today he can be found at the Pow Wows where our tribes dance and celebrate our Indigenous Cultures.

Racist

Ok,  I am starting a new blog on my old blog because I have a few people from the Old Rez Ramblings.  I have been watching Trump tell people to go back to where they are from.  I was a boy in the inner -city and it was a racist thing to tell people when I was a boy in the seventies.  I am from the Oglala Sioux Tribe from the middle of the United States.  I do not know where Orange People come from but Trump was wrong because he was not liking our country during the Obama years(I long for those years).  Trump is a bad person and his words have proven that he is a Racist.  I would never in my mind would ever think a President of the USA would be confronted with Racism.  I have seen some Republicans with their Head in the Sand.  I want to be clear I am a Democrat since Trump was elected.  He is pure evil and full of issues.  So this is where I start my off the Rez Ramblings, I am living on the East Coast.  I work with lots of great people.  Not all European or white people are bad.  I will stop here but I wanted to say Trump is a Racist.  So it begins talking about or writing about my experiences of being in an American Cultural Context.  I hope to be among my family and friends.  I believe I have been on a sabbatical of sorts.   I will be building most of my posts to develop my next book!