South Dakotans ...
Evidently, I am bored. Because I went to Wikipedia and searched the "List of People from South Dakota" category.
The Standards ...
Oscar Howe.
He's an art god both in South Dakota and among Native American painters. He developed a revolutionary style of depicting the Lakota experience. Strong in geometry at an early age, this is reflected in his work and is slightly reminiscent of star quilt work in its patterns. He did an amazing depiction of The White Buffalo Calf Woman that strongly ties my adopted Catholic faith and my traditional Lakota faith. He wasn't a particularly controversial figure. Aside from completely debunking the Bambi School of Native art that he learned in Santa Fe, he only did one painting depicting the Wounded Knee Massacre that is fairly Goya-esque.
Also, he had his own, special mixture for his caesin paint, hXc.
George McGovern.
Former Democratic presidential candidate who lost to Richard Nixon and current U.N. global ambassador for hunger.
The two things that stand out to me about McGovern:
1. How in awe Kevin was of him on "The Wonder Years" when Winnie worked for the McGovern campaign and;
2. His having to replace his vice-presidential candidate.
When I was running for student council president of Todd County High School [Home of The Falcons], after I announced my candidacy and my friend Moses as my running-mate, it was discovered that Moses wasn't eligible to run because of his grades, I had to choose Bro Wright as my new running mate. We both had to choose another running mate and lost horribly because we seemed indecisive and flip-floppy. Rock on, George, rock on.
By the way, I have yet to earn my Ph.D. but I'll get there, some day.
Bob Barker.
My favorite "Indian" in the world.
He grew up on my reservation and his mother was a Valandra, a family who were a bit like our own version of the Kennedys.
Also, for my feminista friends, he settled out of court for sexual harassment of a model in the early 90s. Oddly enough, it's not on Wiki ... MM-HMM.
Tom Brokaw.
Respected journalist, paragon of virtue, et cetera, et cetera.
He was also one of the "Farber Boys" at USD. His mentor was the late, great "Doc" Farber who advised Brokaw -- whom, after enjoying the party scene and co-eds at another college -- came to USD and basically gave all his riches to foster the name and reputation of the entirely deserving William O. Farber.
I think of Brokaw as an extremely fortunate person to have had a mentor like Doc Farber because during my entire time at the same place, the best I was coached by my own mentor was that I stunk at journalism.
Floyd Red Crow Westerman.
Country singer-turned-actor. You've probably seen him around, always wise, short-but-eloquent and perpetually stoic. The very model of a traditional Native American man. I was a little weirded out to realize he played a Dine [Navajo] character, since we kind of think of them as "Rabbit-Chokers."
Because of his age and veneration, I will not go into how I feel about his product endorsement deals, a man's gotta eat.
Williams and Ree.
Comic geniuses who made it all the way to Nashville, back when SPIKE TV was "The Nashville Network."
I've seen one of their independent films, as has probably every other South Dakotan who watched South Dakota Public Broadcasting pledge drives from the late-80s to the mid-90s. I don't remember when it was, but I was kind of shocked that Terry Ree was able to get away with saying the N-Word when talking about the Pontiac car acronym. Ford may be Found On Reservation Dump, but jeezus, could we tone down the racism?
Terry Ree also looks like current Democratic presidential candidate, Bill Richardson.
Mamie Van Doren.
Wait, isn't she dead?
Did you know ...
Nicky Katt.
NO WAY! He played one of my favorite characters on "Boston Public," teacher Harry Senate. Oh yeah, I think he drew on his South Dakota rural roots to portray the child-rapist from "A Time To Kill."
Keith Olsen.
Record producer who's worked with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake and Scorpians.
The only reason why I included him was because he shares a name with my favorite bus driver/father of my trombone mentor in high school. I was like, "Nuh-uhh!" and Wikipedia was like, "Nuh-uhh. Wrong guy, his last name is spelled different, jackass."
Weird and Reviled ...
Fakir Musafar.
Born Roland Loomis from Aberdeen, Sadomasochism/sexual fetishist pioneer.
Huh.
Bill Janklow.
Although he wasn't born in South Dakota, he's like our own Machiavelli ... only evil.
Former two-time governor who started his legal career on my reservation. His official misdeeds are as follows: he was on the legal team who basically reduced my tribe's land holdings and according to my mother [who was the RST Clerk of Courts at the time], he literally stunk; and he basically killed a Minnesota motorcyclist and received a manslaughter conviction and 180 days in the Minnehaha County jail. Also, from what I remember from one of the Al Neuharth bull-sessions while I was at USD, he didn't graduate high school and basically talked his way into USD law school. If only those days would come back, I could have a master's degree in two years.
Also, he ALLEGEDLY [in case his eagle-eye catches this on a Google search or something, I am not MAKING an allegation, but it's basically common knowledge back home, so sue them too] fathered an illegitimate child on my reservation. And while I'm not one to buy into gossip unless I can verify it myself, there IS an alleged grandchild who bears a striking resemblence to Janklow. I see him every time I go into Buche's. There was also this anonymous Web site I found back in my junior year of college that alleges he had a Native woman killed in the 70s and dropped her body on an Iowa highway.
But I will say this for him: if he can talk his way into college straight out from the Marines [which, he joined when he 17] and plea bargain his ass on the Twinkie-defense of having low blood sugar the day he splattered a man onto his windshield while going faster than light [his own former press secretary told USD J-school students that he's always driven like a madman] ... the guy has talent straight from the Devil's own forked-tongue.
Leslee Unruh.
For all my feminista/baby-killing friends, this is for you.
Seriously, I had no idea Leslee Unruh even had a Wikipedia entry. Basically, she's a cracked pot who ALLEGEDLY buys babies on the black market in order to save them from the slaughter of the Pro-Abortionists. I kind of like how Wikipedia is entertaining the idea of deleting her entry anyway. If that comes to fruition, here's what I found [for posterity's sake].
"Leslee Unruh is an American pro-life activist and advocate of abstinence-only sex education. Unruh is known for spearheading the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act, a state law which [sic] aimed to ban abortion in South Dakota in 2006, but was ultimately repealed. In 1984, she founded the Alpha Center, a crisis pregnancy center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and in 1997, she founded The Abstinence Clearinghouse, a group which [sic] promotes abstinence-only education. The Alpha Center was involved in a complaint from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on July 26, 2006."