ABSTRACT
Our journeys together began in a movement space. We each came to this work from different places, experiences, both within and beyond what is known as education. Alayna is a Lakȟóta/Dakȟóta/Sáhniš (Arikara) educator and cultural worker from Standing Rock; Teresa is a White poet and educator; Steve is a Lakȟóta artists and educator; Jose is an Indigenous Kichwa healer and educator; and Blaze is a Lakȟóta language and culture educator. You will meet each of us in what follows. As we continue to move forward in all ways through life’s paths since the time our spirits were able to experience the beauty of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ camp in the fall of 2016, we write this chapter about our stories. As the aunties and uncles of the Mní Wičhóni Nakíčižiŋ Owáyawa (Defenders of the Water School) and educators in other spaces in our lives, we each take space here to share our relations and our connections to the school and to Standing Rock. We then share our experiences as we remember them with the goal to always hold these memories and extend them to people and spaces beyond ourselves, beyond the moment, always keeping land, water, and children at the center.
