Reznet

I'm a Native who works at a Native-owned and operated smoke shop in a city with a Native presence and a lot of smokers. But strangely enough, most of my customers aren't Native. They come in all shapes, but some customers don't come in the pleasant variety. Anyone who's worked retail can tell you, some times you have to bite your lip.

It was when my lip started to get bloody that I decided to start talking back.

Death is no stranger to Natives. We always have a cousin, aunt or uncle who passes seemingly every year. And then, on a day you don't quite expect it, death comes into your own home, unannounced and uninvited.

SPARKS, Nev. - Even now, recalling these events of my last days in San Antonio, I have the same apprehension and worry. Did we contact enough voters? Did we train our volunteers on everything? Do we have a presence in every precinct? These things haunted me the night before the big day.

An opening for all my Lakota kin:

An old Sioux couple go to the doctor. Lala had stomach pains since eating Unci's chicken. Unci and Lala are sitting in the office, waiting for the doctor to return with the news. The Indian doctor returns and says, "Unci, I'm sorry, Lala has som'nella."

Unci starts hitting Lala with her purse, "I told you to take a bath before we came!" 

Congratulations for those of you who got the joke.

SPARKS, Nev. - Day Three of San Antonio continued the momentum of Sen. Barack Obama's (D - Ill.) campaign and, for me, had highlights like meeting Ray's wife, Ryan from The O.C. and training volunteers for the essential work of the campaign.

SPARKS, Nev. — By the end of Day Two in San Antonio, my brain was fried, but the good kind of fried.

My task at the "Stand for Change" rally was to supervise the ticket-takers. They never tell you about the logistics of a candidate event in campaign school; it's more along the lines of on-the-job training. Estimates put the crowd of people expected to hear Sen. Barack Obama (D - Ill.) speak anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000. That meant two things: a long line of people and various personality types with which, to deal.

SPARKS, Nev. — Over the past week, I've had the amazing opportunity to join up with the Obama for America campaign for an encore performance in San Antonio, Texas as a deputy field organizer.

While my Internet access was intermittent, at best, I had my trusty notebook with me and took notes at the end of each day to document everything that happened to one, big Indian in the Lone Star State while organizing precincts and coordinating Get Out The Vote/Get Out The Caucus activities.

Day One:

SPARKS, Nev.—You would not believe the number of people who remarked on my last name at the Washoe County Democratic party convention on Saturday.

I've sort of become used to it. In my travels, many people who weren't prepared to interact with a Native were taken aback by my last name. A lot usually said something like, "So is Walking your middle name?" or "But what's your real name?" or the general favorite, "Did you earn your name?

Of course, the respective answers are, no, it is and no.

SPARKS, Nev - Because of personal schedule conflicts, I was unable to watch the Democrat debate hosted by CNN/Univision that aired on Friday night. Right now, I am watching the edited, rebroadcast. And I am outraged.