This is Long Dog's Winter Count. It tells the story of a particular year in the life of a tribe, in this case the Nakota people. I was thinking that this week could almost be my year, so many things have happened. The year is just beginning and I have to commit to doing my Winter Count. Thursday was a particularly hard day. Students had a video about the racial tension on campus and many professors felt shocked and horrified. As is the case among the 'good liberal white professors,' some cried tears of guilt. I have been told many a times that I am not 'white,' and now my 'whiteness' has been qualified as Hispanic.  I am not sure what I feel about all of this, I just know that this is not going to get fixed by tears. And after the meeting I had a chat with a professor going for tenure. He was stressed out of his mind and remembered what a professor told him: "Just remember, you can give them an F, but they can get you FIRED!" There is something so very wrong about that, and yet it will not change. Teaching has become a war zone, but maybe it always was. So here I begin my Winter Count and I commit to tell whatever story this year has to give.

Melissa tuvo que sacrificar a su perra Rosemary hoy. Rosie llegó a tener 20 años y días. La vi unos días antes de navidad y aunque se movía con dificultad, tenía tanta vida. Es difícil enfrentar la muerte de cualquier ser querido, y creo que poca gente entiende por que te va a afectar perder a un animal querido, pero Rosie tenía presencia, tenía alegría, tenía vida y la voy a extrañar un montón. Pensando en el blog de Cande que habla de "dejar ir". La muerte te obliga a aprender este dejar ir, pero la voy a extrañar just the same, as much as I miss Jessie. They are done for this life, and they did well being ... you feel the absence, you feel the world as when the lights go down just that bit, just that much. So sad!