“Amongst the Winnebagos” (Alice Stone-Collins)
Back in September 2021, Alice and I traveled to Wyoming to see her installation work at Sheridan College. On Friday afternoon of our trip, as we walked the grounds at Little Bighorn in southern Montana, senior defense officials in Washington held a press conference to apologize for the final shot in our longest war.
A drone strike in Kabul had slaughtered ten members of the Ahamdi family, including seven children. Zemari Ahmadi, the father and target, worked at an American NGO, to provide food for refugees across Afghanistan. His plan and his hope was to become a refugee himself. The family’s bags were packed for America.
My thoughts that September, in light of the American withdrawl, had been with my former students. From 2016 to 2021, I taught refugee students in Atlanta. Memories of my students and the final shot in our longest war, left me with questions on the world we have made.
Way Up There in Blue takes this trip West to Little Bighorn and traces the forces that set this shot in motion.
“Spirit Warriors,” by Colleen Cutschall (Oglala-Sioux) at Little Bighorn