Celebrating Bob's 25 years of Service
I had a marvelous opportunity this week to celebrate the service of Bob Pickle who retired from LCSNW after 25 years of service leading the Klamath Falls district. Bob was the first recipient of our Buffalo Award, which recognizes bold leadership. The award takes its name from the unique way buffalo respond to storms. Instead of running away from inclement weather, they run directly at it. By running straight through the storm, buffalo minimize the amount of pain, time, and frustration they experience from that storm.
Garret Jackson helped us celebrate Bob with an indigenous people's blanket ritual, which recognized Bob's transition and accomplishments. It was a meaningful Ceremony.
Four buffalo in Red, Yello, White and Black gather around a medicine wheel, pointing in the sacred Four Directions. The Lakota people depended on Pte, the bison for food, clothing, and shelter, and honored them as "The Buffalo People." In this design, artist Jim Yellowhawk embraces Mitakuye Oyasin ("We are all related"), a Lokota belief that all living creatures are family, and can live in harmony and peace.
About the artist: Jim Yellowhawk is an enrolled member of the Itazipco Band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, with Onodoga/Iroquois heritage through his mother. He graduated from Marion College, Indiana, and also studied at Columbus School of Art and Design in Ohio. His work encompasses many different media, including dance. "Traditional spirituality is woven into my daily life, work, practices, and way of being," he says.
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