Food, Fitness, Wellness + Indigenous Voices

Throughout Cherokee Nation, well sites and spring houses once served as community gathering places. These sites provided a water source, but were also cool places to store foods. This is a modest attempt to recreate such a space. A gathering place to experiment and share thoughts on life in Indian country, particularly health, wellness and sometimes politics. Listen to stories, tell stories, build each other up, laugh, love and lead. Built with other Indigenous women in mind, this is a place to share ideas and life hacks to help each other be stronger, healthier, more active, and reclaim/evolve Indigenous wellness in a realistic way. Many things about Indian country make it hard to sustain a healthy lifestyle and we won’t shy away from talking about that, and every thing else.

Recent Posts

Worth the Money: Three

Worth the Money: Three

This blog contains a series of posts entitled “Worth the Money.” For those of us who grew up without a bunch of money, we sometimes have to convince ourselves to buy something that initially makes us bristle. I get it. Sometimes, you have to spend some money on your health,…

Can’t Eclipse Optimism

Can’t Eclipse Optimism

Yesterday was the big eclipse. I’ve been reading with great interest the various stories and responses to this event from tribal communities. I always remind folks just how diverse tribes are in their languages, cultures, lifeways, histories and in personality traits that grow from both nurture and nature. The eclipse,…

Hiding Stuff in Food: For Adults

Hiding Stuff in Food: For Adults

Many of us moms have tried to sneak something healthy into our kid’s food. Sneak the “yucky” or less glamorous into their favorite foods. This mom venture is met with varying degrees of success. I failed pretty miserably at this scheme once my son reached age 6 or 7.  But…

Here We Go Again . . .

Here We Go Again . . .

Stacy Leeds (Cherokee Nation) | Age 52 | Downtown Phoenix + Tahlequah | Part Three ᏦᎢ Last month marked the third anniversary of this blog AND the one year anniversary of my re-entry into the law dean world. Last year,  I chronicled my health hesitancy with the post: Dean 2.0. Spoiler alert.…

Pete Coser, Jr: Apeyvkes! (Let’s Go!)

Pete Coser, Jr: Apeyvkes! (Let’s Go!)

Pete Coser, Jr. | Age: 42 | Jenks, OK (Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation)Muscogee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Marathon Runner Pete’s dad is an educator and that was my tie to the Coser family. Over the last few years, I’ve been watching Pete Coser, Jr. as he had made remarkable strides in…

High on the Hill

High on the Hill

Earlier this month, Judge Sara Hill started her new job. She is a new federal district court judge. United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.  I’m on the way to the American Bar Association’s Midyear meeting where, amoung other events, I’ll attend the ABA’s Spirit of Excellence…

The Final Frontier

The Final Frontier

I did the unthinkable. I removed the coffee pot from the kitchen counter and put it away in THAT cabinet. The place of kitchen exile that rarely sees the light of day. The home of the instapot and the waffle iron. No man’s land. Why would an otherwise sane person…

Happy Campers

Happy Campers

Growing up, we weren’t the kind of people that went to summer camps. I learned about those “city-kids-off-in-the-woods-near-some-lake-for-three-weeks-and-get-your-first-kiss” kind of camps from 1980s coming of age movies. And, despite being a christian family in the bible belt, my dad was not keen on us going to most of the Vacation…

Sigh

Sigh

I’m typing this with my lesser hand because yesterday, I got my dominant shoulder scoped and the block hasn’t fully worn off. Ouchy. When they got in there to clean out a little calcium, a more detailed rotator cuff repair followed. The ghosts of many basketball games and tennis matches…

Famous Last Words, Dean 2.0

Famous Last Words, Dean 2.0

Last week, most of you heard that I’ll be starting a new gig soon. In the latest episode of “the 20 year old Stacy never saw this coming,” I’ll pick up as dean of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University effective February 1, 2023. This…

Here We Go Again . . .

Here We Go Again . . .

Stacy Leeds (Cherokee Nation) | Age 52 | Downtown Phoenix + Tahlequah | Part Three ᏦᎢ Last month marked the third anniversary of this blog…