Collected Item: “Stacy Laravie Oral History, 2022/02/14”
Title
Interview with Stacy Laravie
Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.
Kit Heintzman
Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.
Stacy Laravie
Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#anxiety, #artist, #asthma, #bereavement, #cancer, #ceremony, #colonization, #COVID+, #cruiseship, #dancing, #death, #depression, #family, #father, #funerals, #gardening, #genocide, #grandfather, #guilt, #handsanitizer, #humility, #IHS, #Indigenous, #introvert, #kindness, #land, #love, #medicine, #mother, #NativeAmerican, #Nebraska, #pipecarrier, #plantmedicines, #Ponca, #prayer, #resiliency, #spirituality, #therapy, #trauma, #tribalgovernment, #Tribe, #vaccination, #war, #warrior
What is the format of your recording?
Video
In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.
Niobrara, Nebraska
What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*
Female
What is the age of the interviewee?
35 to 44
How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*
Native American
Describe the oral history.
Self description:
“I introduced myself traditionally. I am a Ponca member, as well as I work for my Tribe. I am the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer. And I am also the museum curator, and many many other hats. I am also a direct descendent of Chief Standing Bear. And I’m a mom.”
Some of the things we spoke about included:
Indigenous family oriented culture
Death of Tribal members, from COVID directly or aftereffects
Lost language speakers/keepers, story tellers, medicine men and women; the pandemic taking away knowledge
Father in assisted living; losing visitation access
The negative health impacts of isolation
An outbreak of COVID at the nursing home in Fall 2020; father caught COVID; father, Andrew Laravie (Ponca name Walking Strength) died in 23 April 2021; lost grandmother to COVID
Not being able to have a traditional pipe ceremony for father’s death, he was a pipe carrier
The Ponca Tribe’s loss of federal recognition in the 1960s, father’s activism for federal recognition
Raised by great grandfather; learning how to live off the land, learning language and culture from father
Touch as a love language and giving up physical contact when visiting father, slow normalization of physical distance and no/minimal physical contact
Rushed vaccination distribution; vaccine mandates; deciding to get vaccinated
Easy access to vaccination, masks, cleaning supplies, tests, and other outreach from the Ponca Tribal government; getting kits and care packages together for people isolating; COVID pay; vaccine distribution at Ponca run clinics
Indian Health Services
Being unable to perform funerals and ceremonies; being in charge of ~11 funerals in 2021
The shutting down of their museum and cultural center
Different circumstances on large reservations and poor reservations in contrast to personal experiences in Ponca service areas
War metaphors
Being a caretaker for family; mental health in the pandemic; plant medicines and pharmaceuticals; disabling grief, being low functioning as a single mother; appearing high functioning and learning to reach out for help; guilt
Land as church; stopping gardening in a state of grief, preparing to plant again
Being a busy person pre-pandemic, but one who was balanced and with routine; feeling busier now that projects postponed by the pandemic are coming back up
Comparing Ponca Tribe, Nebraska State, and USA Federal governments’ COVID response
Becoming more introverted
Having children with medical conditions, asthma, learning disabilities
Caught COVID twice, once pre-testing
Contradictions in the federal government’s handling of the pandemic, eg. masking
Boarding schools striping children of cultural knowledge and connection; history repeating itself in the theft of religious and cultural identity for indigenous peoples during this pandemic; resonances with those children in boarding schools who could only perform ceremony in secret; spiritual safety
The federal government had no advisement on cultural awareness for spiritual protections; patriarchal and colonial governance
Colonization as a mental status, not defined by demographics
That the expansion of mental health care digital infrastructure isn’t enough without spiritual support
Survival mode and making art
Children watching a parent learn to cope in a healthy way
The pandemic as a genocide of the generation
Worries that histories will forget many of this moment’s failings
Marginalized people losing more during the pandemic
Other cultural references include: NAGPRA, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Zoom, memes
See also:
https://www.poncatribe-ne.org/culture/historic-preservation/
https://www.wowt.com/2021/10/08/standing-bear-high-school-breaks-ground-with-descendants-attendance/
https://nativeamericacalling.com/friday-february-18-2022-the-worst-date-ever/
https://www.ashburnfh.com/obituaries/print?o_id=7453898
“I introduced myself traditionally. I am a Ponca member, as well as I work for my Tribe. I am the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer. And I am also the museum curator, and many many other hats. I am also a direct descendent of Chief Standing Bear. And I’m a mom.”
Some of the things we spoke about included:
Indigenous family oriented culture
Death of Tribal members, from COVID directly or aftereffects
Lost language speakers/keepers, story tellers, medicine men and women; the pandemic taking away knowledge
Father in assisted living; losing visitation access
The negative health impacts of isolation
An outbreak of COVID at the nursing home in Fall 2020; father caught COVID; father, Andrew Laravie (Ponca name Walking Strength) died in 23 April 2021; lost grandmother to COVID
Not being able to have a traditional pipe ceremony for father’s death, he was a pipe carrier
The Ponca Tribe’s loss of federal recognition in the 1960s, father’s activism for federal recognition
Raised by great grandfather; learning how to live off the land, learning language and culture from father
Touch as a love language and giving up physical contact when visiting father, slow normalization of physical distance and no/minimal physical contact
Rushed vaccination distribution; vaccine mandates; deciding to get vaccinated
Easy access to vaccination, masks, cleaning supplies, tests, and other outreach from the Ponca Tribal government; getting kits and care packages together for people isolating; COVID pay; vaccine distribution at Ponca run clinics
Indian Health Services
Being unable to perform funerals and ceremonies; being in charge of ~11 funerals in 2021
The shutting down of their museum and cultural center
Different circumstances on large reservations and poor reservations in contrast to personal experiences in Ponca service areas
War metaphors
Being a caretaker for family; mental health in the pandemic; plant medicines and pharmaceuticals; disabling grief, being low functioning as a single mother; appearing high functioning and learning to reach out for help; guilt
Land as church; stopping gardening in a state of grief, preparing to plant again
Being a busy person pre-pandemic, but one who was balanced and with routine; feeling busier now that projects postponed by the pandemic are coming back up
Comparing Ponca Tribe, Nebraska State, and USA Federal governments’ COVID response
Becoming more introverted
Having children with medical conditions, asthma, learning disabilities
Caught COVID twice, once pre-testing
Contradictions in the federal government’s handling of the pandemic, eg. masking
Boarding schools striping children of cultural knowledge and connection; history repeating itself in the theft of religious and cultural identity for indigenous peoples during this pandemic; resonances with those children in boarding schools who could only perform ceremony in secret; spiritual safety
The federal government had no advisement on cultural awareness for spiritual protections; patriarchal and colonial governance
Colonization as a mental status, not defined by demographics
That the expansion of mental health care digital infrastructure isn’t enough without spiritual support
Survival mode and making art
Children watching a parent learn to cope in a healthy way
The pandemic as a genocide of the generation
Worries that histories will forget many of this moment’s failings
Marginalized people losing more during the pandemic
Other cultural references include: NAGPRA, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Zoom, memes
See also:
https://www.poncatribe-ne.org/culture/historic-preservation/
https://www.wowt.com/2021/10/08/standing-bear-high-school-breaks-ground-with-descendants-attendance/
https://nativeamericacalling.com/friday-february-18-2022-the-worst-date-ever/
https://www.ashburnfh.com/obituaries/print?o_id=7453898
On what date did you record this oral history?
2022-02-14T10:33