Presentation photographic book voices of south dakota tatanka

On the road... to so many little stories in the huge green immensities of the noble

“Tatanka”

Voices of

South Dakota

If words are images and I can connect the images from the words spoken by others... listen with me to the voices of South Dakota..... ... to the thunder of hooves as hundreds and hundreds of buffalo stampede across the prairie every fall during the Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park page 9 ... to the cowboy-poet-preacher Charlie Hunt

page 42

... to the Lakota Sioux Indians

page 43

... to one of the fiercest warriors of the Sioux Nation, Crazy Horse... and “Great Faces”... page 49 ... to the legendary Wall Drug on the edge of the Badlands... it’s an American dream come true page 66 ... to Dayton O. Hyde and his wild, wild horses.“There's nothing more beautiful than a wild horse, running in the distance, manes and tails flying in the wind. It represents freedom. I see 'em and I want to run with them...” page 72 ... to the “Great Faces” from Hill City, aboard the “1880 Train” to Keystone and a “look” at the Sturgis Rally page 82 ... to the “Great Faces” at Mount Rushmore... and the words of sculptor Gutzon Borglum for whom “Beauty is as undefinable as spirit, and yet it is the dominating force in civilization... the measure of its revelation depends on the measure of our own soul-consciousness, the boundaries of our own spirit...” page 90

“We, here in America, hold in our hands the hopes of the world, the fate of the coming years and shame and disgrace will be ours, if in our eyes, the light of high resolve is

dimmed, if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.�

Theodore Roosevelt in his address at Carnegie Hall on March 30, 1912 Particular of mural (left) on view at Mount Rushmore

Yelping cowboys on horseback, choreographed into patriotic red, blue and white teams, and park rangers in pickups, just like Rick’s - all with radios and walkie-talkies and each assigned an area within the 73,000 acre Park - begin racing up and over the undulating hills around Lame Johnny Creek.

As our pickup heads north... I can see the Creek below

stretching out with the warm rays of the

autumn sun and the

gentle prairie wind creating

waves of golden yellows, coppers... deep browns, the color of the noble “Tatanka”.

It’s so intoxicating... inciting hundreds and hundreds of buffalo down to Lame Johnny Creek... then up the hill to where the crowd is waiting and past the viewing areas... and into the corrals... never mind if it takes me almost the entire roundup to get my bearings straight... it’s like being on a twister at the county fair... impossible to know in which direction I’m moving.

Rick says he wouldn’t have minded riding a horse this time...

“if I had the right horse! But then, the

horse’s gotta get the scent of the buffalo. They’ve got a different scent... it excites the horse. They’ll get use to it this morning. If one’s really acting up because he’s nervous about the buffalo, the cowboy will ease ‘em into it... although some of the horses are pretty high spirited.”

The Buffalo Roundup

The Buffalo Roundup - protagonists... more than 1,500 bison, cowboys on horseback, park rangers in pickups, and a whole lot of people at an authentic happening that culminates in foot-stompin' Western music and elbow knocking at the “Chuckwagon Cookout”.

It's a real “people connecting” event. At first it seems as if I know everyone. But that's the way people make you feel in South Dakota... it's “home”. It's a place where I feel comfortably intimate with myself.

In the faint light of daybreak, it's “hi there” or “how 'ya doing?” with the “locals”. The sky, still heavy with stars, acts as a backdrop on this crisp fall morning as I head down to the general store of the Game Lodge... the air already thick with excitement as the morning mists begin rising. In front of the store bighorn sheep are too busy breakfasting to take note of my arrival.

Inside, there's always hot coffee... and as it's too early for everyone to gather around the front porch of the Lodge to head out at 7 for the buffalo corrals, I hang around the festival grounds. Out from under the big tent the air begins to fill with the scent of hot pancakes and sausage... as people set up their booths for the fair: there are a lot of local crafts to be seen and useful items like handmade wool mittens and sheepskin ear warmers from Montana, leather jackets, dream catchers from Wyoming.

The roundup ... the cowboy-poet... recollections of long lost memories.“ My lands are where my dead lie buried,” said Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse Monument dominates these immensities... with his chiseled face coming alive out of the mountain... challenging the “ancient forefathers” sculpted in nearby Mount Rushmore.

Crazy Horse Monument is different... it’s a family dream... a dream of Korczak Ziolkowski, the sculptor of Crazy Horse...

And a dream of the Lakota Sioux Indians of the Great Plains.

Crazy Horse is their hero. “Those that have gone before us. Can you feel that? You hear it in the wind, the rustling of the trees... the stillness. And you just revive yourselves spiritually,” says the modern-day Lakota hero, Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills.

“Crazy Horse represented, in a sense, the dreams of the people. And now he represents the dreams of our children.

There’s no better place to honor the past and celebrate the present and dream the future, than right here...

You know there’s an old saying: When legends die...

If words are images and I can connect the images from the words spoken by others... listen with me to the voices of South Dakota...... to the cowboy-poet-preacher Charlie Hunt.

Cowboy poetry is just story-telling. It’s all true... it has happened or it probably will...,” Charlie says. I look at this tall, strapping figure... at the book resting on his knee, his long lanky leg on the chair, the spurs on his boots, the gun in his holster... he enjoys reading his poems...

“The prairie grass is long and brown The weather is growing cold There’s fire in the tepees now It’s a story centuries old The buffalo once roamed these plains As far as I could see These seven now are all that’s left The buffalo that made us free.

Our tepees are made with their hide, Their meat, our bellies would fill.

The white man then came hunting hides And others shot just for the thrill.

Our food supply was quickly gone Our tepees soon wore out A reservation took their place We couldn’t hear a shout.

You steal from us our way of life We are not free to roam Our freedom like the buffalo was traded for a home The white man stole the buffalo And still the greater death was when our freedom disappeared And just seven buffalo are left.”

If words are images and I can connect the images from the words spoken by others... listen with me to the voices of South Dakota....... to the Lakota Sioux Indians.

“We are all related” Sculpture by DC Lamphere

Original drawing by Richard Under Baggage

This sculpture represents hope for reconciliation, dignity, and respect for all the human race. The earth itself is in the shape of a hoop or circle of life. The crossed pipes

represent world peace. The eagle symbolizes all flying creatures, and communication with Tunka Sila. Wisdom and the healing arts are represented by the grizzly bear, and a long and productive life is symbolized by the turtle. The bison reminds us of our ancestor’s healthy lifestyles, free from famine, and also of the White Buffalo Calf Woman who brought us the pipe.

If words are images and I can connect the images from the words spoken by others... listen with me to the voices of South Dakota....... to the Great Faces from Hill City, aboard the “1880 Train”, to Keystone at the foot of Mount Rushmore.

Great faces there in Hill City! The town’s gourmet mayor Peter Stach, who voluntarily tastes the Italian truffled olive oil I just happen to have in my bag... State Senator Drue Vitter...

Mike Verchio now president of the Chamber of Commerce, Cliff Osmond and his great kitchen at the Mt. Rushmore Brewing Co.... the black and beautiful Harley Davidson that leads me to the black and beautifully dressed guy at the bar down the street. And Meg at the railroad depot... she’s getting married on Saturday... in a sense, the “1880 Train”, otherwise known as the Black Hills Central Railroad, is her dowry. Gotta go! “All aboard!”…

It happened two months ago... but they’re still talking about motorcycles and Sturgis... it ought to be a unique experience, after rounding up thundering, stampeding buffalo, to hear the rumble of motorcycles... as anywhere between 350,000 and 500,000 people on motorcycles stampede across the country every August for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally... right here in the Black Hills.

So instead of putting a string around my finger to remind me of Sturgis, I buy myself a great t-shirt to keep the spirit ever alive... mine says “The Legend Lives On” Black Hills Rally - 61st Annual Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles.

DAILY NEWS TRAVEL email: nicocilenti@gmail.com Rome Italy

Joan Nickles, Journalist Domenico Cilenti, Photoreporter

If words are images and I can connect the images from the words spoken by others... listen with me to the voices of South Dakota....... to the Great Faces at Mount Rushmore... and the words of sculptor Gutzon Borglum for whom “Beauty is as undefinable as spirit, and yet it is the dominating force in civilization...

The measure of its revelation depends on the measure of our own soul-consciousness, the boundaries of our own spirit...”

During a very special trip to South Dakota, we created a book of superb photographic images and interesting copy focusing, in particular, on “real” people and the living reality during the Buffalo Roundup held annually at Custer State Park (see examples of images and text in preceding pages).

Technical characteristics of “Voices of South Dakota”:

Dimensions of book - 13,6 inches high by 11 inches wide (34x28 cm.)

Number of pages – 96 plus plastic-coated cover with a total of more than 178 photos Weight of inside pages – 7,05 ounces (approx. 200 grams)

Weight of cover – 10,6 ounces (approx. 300 grams) Binding – machine-stitched with cover glued to the backbone measuring approx. ½ inch (1 cm.)

Finished product – each copy is wrapped separately in plastic and shipped in boxes of 50 or 100 copies.