23rd Annual Southern Plains Conference A Success:
This year's Southern Plains Conference took place on Feb.8th and 9th in Muleshoe, Texas. Over 100 people of all ages attended the two day event. Here are a few words from those who came:
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| A student from Whiteface Elementary inspects a spring | at MNWR |
Every element of the Conference was outstanding; the Wildlife Refuge tour, the sausage/buffalo stew/venison chili dinner (oh boy, that warm, buttered homemade bread was out of this world) and program at Pep, the meaningful presentations on Thursday, all the people and the group of college kids, the inspiring tour of the Heritage Center,….the conference was one of the most enriching I’ve ever attended.Tuda Libby Crews, Bueyeros, NM
Thanks so much for organizing such an informative and enjoyable conference in Muleshoe. For those of us usually confined to hotel meeting rooms for conferences, this was literally a breath of fresh air!Barbara Brannon, Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, TX
Nita Padaphony and Harry Mithlo speak at the Conference.
Bill and I are still talking about the conference. Pulled out our notes and went over with friends in late night discussions already. A great example of doing things right.Jan & Bill Nieman, Native American Seeds, Junction, TX
In addition to these comments, OC Community Intern Laura Zak wrote this short piece to sum up her experience...
What if our fingers were tape recorders? What if knuckles had buttons and our chapped skin was a red light clicked on to say you’re recording? We could remember every word. Our hands would tell each other stories and we wouldn’t have to retell or recreate what people said.My hands would say this: two weeks ago, at the Southern Plains Conference, women and men told their stories about water. Water in the Ogallala Aquifer under our feet. Water that moves beneath us and sometimes we don’t even know. And then. All the water we pull from the aquifer at rates it can’t recharge so that one day, sometime soon, the water’ll be gone and the Ogallala will be a story we can only remember. A farmer raised his hand because he didn’t want it to be a story we can only remember. He grows potatoes in Muleshoe. He said he felt like Darth Vadar because he's trying really hard to cut back on water use— he’s done research, bought new equipment and has managed to grow the same amount of potatoes with half the amount of water as he did decades before. But he knows. He knows he's draining the Ogallala, and sometimes you hear these reports and think "well just stop pumping it for agriculture" but that answer is so simple and the issue is so complex.And then. After the conference, people shook his hand. I like to think that in the moment their hands touched, they were saying you aren’t Darth Vadar. They were saying this isn’t just your fault. No one person is to blame, and we are all part of the problem.I like to think they shook hands and in their shaking, told each other: we can use our hands to listen. I will listen to your story and you can listen to mine. And in the space where they meet, maybe we’ll find something like understanding. We’ve never gotten anywhere far without understanding. So maybe through this understanding, through the stories we hold in our hands, we can find a way to help.
Spring
Internship Profile: Rebecca Hopp
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| OC Community Intern, Rebecca Hopp |
Youth of all ages are
invited to use their camera as a tool to explore agriculture in their
community. Exploring the Future of Agriculture Through Photography is a program
developed by Texas Tech University student Rebecca J. Hopp, and will be the
main project of Rebecca’s Ogallala Commons Community Internship Program, with
funding from CHS Foundation.
The goal of this project is to begin a
dialogue through photography that addresses why local agriculture is important
for the future of our nation and how agriculture based communities are
changing.
While it is impossible to know what the
future holds for the entire nation, this project will look at the direction of
agriculture in four specific communities:
Brownfield, Texas
Nazareth, Texas,
Campo, Colorado
Larned, Kansas
Atwood, Kansas
The youth involved in this project will not
only gain photography skills, but also will learn about their community and
specific career options in agriculture. Local speakers will help pique interest
in specific careers; provide possible mentorship, and present additional
community resources.
This collaborative project
will result in a collection of unique images that will add to each of the
community’s conversations about the future of agriculture. Selected student
work will be displayed at local and national exhibitions as well as in a
self-published book about the project.
Rebecca currently works as a freelance photographer and is
pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography at Texas Tech University.
She ultimately plans to pursue a career in education. Rebecca’s goals as an
educator revolve around service learning through art. Rebecca is currently a
Graduate Part-Time Instructor at the Texas Tech University School of Art, a
fellow in the Teaching Effectiveness And Career enHancement (TEACH) Program at
Texas Tech University, member of the Society for Photographic Education and a
nationally exhibiting artist. She is currently a community intern for the
Ogallala Commons. Her work and project blogs can be viewed at www.rebeccajhopp.com.
OC Community Intern and Partner Recruitment Underway
The spring is busy for OC Staff as they work through the process of recruiting both interns and communities for the internship program. If you are interested in learning more about the Community Internship Program, visit our Intern Webpage at: http://www.ogallalacommons.org/communityinterns.html or our Community Internship Blog at http://www.ogallalaintern.blogspot.com/.
If you are a student (High School, Undergraduate, or Graduate) looking for an internship opportunity or if your community or organization would like to host an internship, email Julie Hodges at juliehodges@prairieworkshop.com.
OC Community Intern and Partner Recruitment Underway
The spring is busy for OC Staff as they work through the process of recruiting both interns and communities for the internship program. If you are interested in learning more about the Community Internship Program, visit our Intern Webpage at: http://www.ogallalacommons.org/communityinterns.html or our Community Internship Blog at http://www.ogallalaintern.blogspot.com/. If you are a student (High School, Undergraduate, or Graduate) looking for an internship opportunity or if your community or organization would like to host an internship, email Julie Hodges at juliehodges@prairieworkshop.com.
