Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

Buffalo’s Fire: A revamped look for blog and more changes to come

An exhibit including a display of the tribal flags from the Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Oglala, Rosebud, Sisseton Wahpeton, Standing Rock and Yankton Sioux Tribes. (Rapid City Journal File photo)
Jodi Rave
Jodi Rave

Dear Readers:

Thanks for reading the Buffalos’ Fire blog over the last few months. Readership has been tremendous since I created this site and developed it over the summer. I thank all the loyal readers who are looking for an authentic voice from Indian Country. So far, my postings have been fairly light, consisting of language spots, some press releases and other breaking news. I’ve mainly spent my time getting the blog up and running. In addition, I’ve spent some time working with a graphic artist  — Nakota Designs in Colorado — to design a logo for the Buffalo’s Fire. A reminder: I named the blog in memory of my mother, the late G. Janet Spotted Bear Gunderson, who loved tiger lilies. The Mandan translation for tiger lily is “the buffalo’s fire.” I can imagine what my ancestors saw when they looked across the Northern Plains to an expansive view of buffalo standing amidst a prairie filled with bright orange tiger lilies. I love the name. I thank Walt and for their tremendous talent and for designing a logo that captures the spirit of the buffalo’s fire. The  logo was just posted Tuesday.

The new look coincides with new content I expect to be posting. I expect to draw much of the upcoming material  from campus life at the University of Montanawhere I’m now a full-time graduate student. I am doing the coursework as part of a my research for a book on Elouise Cobell and the management of American Indian land.  

I also expect to be posting regularly video pieces to You Tube. I will add a link to the blog. Keep reading as I’ve recently agreed to blog and cross-blog with High Country News. I’ll be writing about environmental issues of the West for the HCN’s blog, the Grange.

More importantly, I invite readers to continue the conversation with me at the Buffalo’s Fire. If you have news to post or views to share, you can do so here on the blog, or e-mail me at Jodi.Rave@buffalosfire.com.

That’s it for now folks.

Jodi Rave

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

3 Comments

  • Heidi

    Thanks for the updates Jodi. Best wishes in grad school! Sorely do miss your articles. Ever think about coming back!?

  • Lori Grannis

    Blog looks great Jodi! How is everything going?

  • Richard

    Time Is running Out
    Obama invites Tribal Leaders to Washington on November 5th.

    The SSCRA of 1940 stated Native American Indians serving in the military will be taxed according to their tribal laws and not the laws of the state in which the tribe is located in,.
    This law was not enforced and Indian Military members were ilegally taxed up until 2001. This question should be asked by tribal leaders and president obama should enact legislation to repay and compensate all these veterans or their next of kin.. Miigwetch

Comments are closed.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227,