UIAD GOES TO WYOMING AGAIN in 2019

Today, just these few photos to get  a glimpse of The Badlands .  I'll let the group share their photos with you when we return.   So beautiful . We can add  a little Lakota music  to have beautiful sounds with beautiful sights.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_afgeTAopc    Lakota  Healing Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbH1kXZJYTI   Lakota  Lullaby My best, Jane __________________________________________ --healing song = une chanson de guérison --lullaby = a quiet song that is sung to babies/children to help them go to sleep

First, Dan O'Brien's site if you are interested...in English of course.   https://wildideabuffalo.com/pages/meet-our-founders _____________________________________________________ WARNING :  This text here about The Badlands is beautiful, but  difficult .  I would hate to simplify it. It's taken from a Lakota and Cheyenne tour guides site.  Let's see if we can learn some new vocabulary.  If it's too difficult for you, go to the second part. MACO SICA – THE BADLANDS The Badlands are a geologist’s heaven. This land was  seventy-five million years  in the making (now eroding at the  rate  of  an inch -- 2.5 cm -- per year ) and  amid  the  multi-hued   pinnacles   and  buttes  you will explore a  barren  moonscape,  seemingly impervious to life ,  yet as inhospitable as the corrugated terrain sounds , the Badlands brutality is  deceiving .  Look with native eyes  and you will see  prairie dogs   twitch and chatte r by their  burrows  like nervous  commuters  w

The Great Plains.  The American buffalo.  Dan O'Brien's Wild Idea. First a video for you. It's very easy; you'll understand everything. PLEASE WATCH IT.  It's only 1 minute and 35 seconds.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTsl9SSClH0 And now a special gift for you today.  Here's an article from  L'Express !  Rancher et homme de lettres, Dan O'Brien a refait sa vie dans les Black Hills, sur les terres des Sioux. Ecrivain  et  cow-boy. Eleveur de bisons  et  romancier. Cavalier des grandes plaines du Dakota  et  membre de l'écurie du prestigieux éditeur new-yorkais Random House. Il faut bien l'avouer, vu de France, on a un peu de mal à saisir le profil de Dan O'Brien. Imagine-t-on Le Clézio régnant sur son troupeau de charolais ou Philippe Sollers rassemblant d'un cri strident son cheptel de chèvres? Pas vraiment. Du côté de Rapid City, Dakota du Sud, le mariage du lasso et de la plume n'étonne guère. «J'écris le matin de 5 à 1

Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore, two visits while staying in Rapid City.  It is the  second-largest city in South Dakota  (after Sioux Falls).  Population: 67,956 (2016); 80% white, 12% American Indian. It's named after the  Rapid Creek, a tributary of the Cheyenne River,  on which the city is established. I found it interesting that Wikipedia in English also gives its name in  Lakota  (Mni Luzahan Othunwahe, meaning  Swift Water City ) but Wikipedia in French gives its  Cheyenne  name, Haeohe-mahpe, mahpe meaning water... haeohe? We'll be returning to the Cheyenne people on the blog after we leave South Dakota. Two more reasons to include this stop on our trip: 1)  The Badlands  to the east which we'll visit on our fifth day, September 11, and 2) A very interesting  American writer  who lives here,  Dan O'Brien .   Dan O'Brien  is an owner of the  Cheyenne River Ranch  just west of the Badlands National Park and north of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservati

From Native Americans to American Presidents. I'll let W ikipedia do the job for me again in Simple English. Mount Rushmore   is a famous mountain   and memorial  near  Keystone, South Dakota . It has the heads of four of America's  presidents  carved on it.   Do you know which presidents?  That's your job.   And can you find out why  these  four presidents were chosen? Before the memorial was carved, the native Lakota Indian Tribes called the mountain "Six Grandfathers".  Later, the mountain was named after  Charles E. Rushmore,  the  New York lawyer  who traveled to the Black Hills in  1884  to inspect mining claims in the region. The memorial was carved  to help tourism in the Black Hills , where the mountain was.  Doane Robinson first got the idea in 1923.  Robinson convinced many influential people in the United States government to build the memorial.  Congress soon allowed construction to begin.  After getting Congress's approval,  Gutzon Borglum, a

Day 20 (D-43) Famous Lakota leaders and a painter (for later on the blog) The faces of famous Lakota leaders Crazy Horse  (c.1830-1877), a  symbol of Lakota resistance .   There is no photograph of Crazy Horse, just this sketch done by a Mormon.  His Memorial under construction. Sitting Bull  (c.1831-1890) He was killed at Standing Rock Indian Reservation by Indian Agency Police. A symbol of Lakota accommodation. Spotted Elk (Bigfoot)  (c.1826 - 1890)  Sitting Bull's  half-brother, killed at Wounded Knee   Red Cloud  (1822 -1909),  a symbol of  Lakota spiritualism. "They made us many promises, more than I can remember. But they kept but one--They promised to take  our land...and they took it." Touch the Clouds,  (c.1838-1905) perhaps a cousin to  Crazy Horse. American Horse  (1840-1908),  son-in-law of Red Cloud Lone Horn  (1790-1877) His sons were Spotted Elk  (later known as Bigfoot) and Touch the C

Day 19 (D-44) Crazy Horse Memorial Crazy Horse.   From yesterday's biography.com to today's VOA English (Voice Of America).   Easy slow English: http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/a-23-2006-11-12-voa1-83128737/125758.html   As usual, I suggest that you look at the transcript after having listened first. You should be able to listen to the text here: https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/crazyhorse.mp3 We'll be visiting the   Crazy Horse Memorial  during our stay in Rapid City. It's about a 50-minute drive from Rapid City and about a half-hour drive from Mount Rushmore. The Memorial is not finished yet.  From Wikipedia, Simple English:  The  Crazy Horse Memorial  is the world's largest mountain sculpture in progress. It is in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. The statue depicts  Crazy Horse , a famous Lakota  warrior.    Korczak Ziolkowski  started the project in 1948 at the  request  of Chief Henry Standing Bear and other   Native Amer

Day 18 (D-45) Crazy Horse Crazy Horse, a legendary Oglala Dakota warrior (1840-1877). Lakota Chief Crazy Horse  fought to preserve his people's way of life by protesting the  takeover  of Lakota lands and the forced movement of Lakota Indians to reservations. No work for me today.  Take a look at this site.  http://www.biography.com/people/crazy-horse-9261082 There are four short videos.  I suggest that you watch and listen (sorry, no subtitles, but the Native Americans speak slowly and the two historians also speak slowly.)  Then read the text.  So interesting, and good practice to improve your English, even if you don't understand everything.   My best,  Jane ____________________________________________ --takeover =  here a phrasal verb "to take over" becomes a noun =  an action or an act of taking control

Here are a few videos for you to watch on youtube.  I've given you these three; there are many more. Do some surfing yourself, if you have time.  But keep in mind that the  Little Bighorn Battlefield is in Montana ,  to the north of the  Wyoming  state line....and that's not too far from where Craig Johnson lives.  You haven't forgotten the American writer, author of the Walt Longmire books, who came to Grenoble in April, 2016, have you? First, go to youtube and search Little Big Man .   You can find the full movie, but sorry, no subtitles, so just watch the introduction, or shorter extracts.  Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman, 121 years old) speaks slowly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL-Ona9u4W8    The Battle of Little Big Horn from the film  Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee    (1 minute, 10 seconds) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r_32ZRIP4E     (7 minutes and 42 seconds, with subtitles, but they are not always very good.) And VOA English is always i

Day 16 (D-47) Custer, the city / Custer, the man Custer the State Park ;  Custer, the town ;  Custer, the man . We visit Custer State Park on our third day. The town of  Custer is thought  to be the oldest town established by European Americans in the Black Hills  of South Dakota and Wyoming. Gold was found there during the 1874 Black Hills Expedition ,  a discovery which initiated the Black Hills Gold Rush.  Population for 2016 -->  2,067 The name of the park and name of the town come from the name of the man: George Armstrong Custer  (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army  officer and cavalry  commander in the American Civil War  and the Indian Wars. Certainly you have seen the 1970 film with Dustin Hoffman,  Little Big Man.    Here's the trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NiMmpf31QY&list=PLLMFf-IXN4eU3a-IoAHhjS3Rg1xFGH_DO     (2 minutes and 32 seconds) Little Bighorn Following the American Civil War, as the still-yo