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. So far, so good. Most […]
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 getting his health in gear […]
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 will be my second rodeo: […]
Thyroid + 12 Years of No (Real) Bread
Stacy Leeds (Cherokee Nation) | Age 50 | Tahlequah | Part Two ᏔᎵ | I launched IndigenousWell one year ago this month and laid out my (un)healthy story for the world to see. It was a doozy. Since then, 24 of my friends/colleagues have generously shared their own health journeys along with their wisdom and […]
Robbie Vann: Being Change, Breaking Cycles
Robbie Vann (Cherokee Nation) | Age 34 | Tahlequah I met Robbie Vann when we both worked at the Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission several years ago. She’s one of the many Indigenous women who I keep tabs on, even from afar when we have very little day-to-day personal connection. And now, there’s a lawyer in […]
Alison Black: Genome of Community + Blood Memory
Alison Black (Cheyenne, Ponca, Osage, Prairie Band Potawatomi) | Age 41 | Red Rock Indian country is small, especially in Oklahoma. Really small. There are people you kinda know, even if you don’t really “know” them. That was me and Alison before we “actually” met each other in a basketball tournament last month. Alison is […]
Auntie Ballers and How Natives “Discovered” Basketball
Basketball holds a special place in Indian country. In fact, Natives “discovered” basketball and now claim it as their own. True. It’s ours. If you are skeptical of this “discovery” assertion, you should have been in Norman, Oklahoma this weekend for the Annual “Oklahoma’s Best” All Indian State Tournament. Or check out any state championship […]
Mae Dean Erb: “I’m Nothing Special”
Mae Dean Erb (Cherokee Nation) | Age 77 | Blackgum, OK Shortly after creating this blog, I reached out to Mae Dean Erb to see if she’d be willing to share her story. From the beginning of this endeavor, she has been on my mind of the people I hoped to share with you. I […]
Lynn McCulley: We Really Are Made of Dirt!
Lynn McCulley (Cherokee Nation)| Age 63 | Sequoyah County Back in 2007, I placed my name, my whole heart, my ideas and a bit of my ego on a public ballot for the first time, as a candidate for Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. As far as vote tallies go, I predictably lost to […]
Mariah Black Bird: Find Your Target Feeling
M The best part about being a law professor? You get to be around bright young people and the positive energy they bring to most things. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship: you teach and mentor them, and if you do it right, some of them will be your life long friends. Mariah was a student […]