Winter 2011 Rez Kid Apparel Advertisement

An Honest Attempt At "Illustrastion" for a Rez Kid Design

Rez Kid Apparel - Winter 2011 Series

20/20: Children of the Plains - 10.14.11

Pine Ridge Skatepark A Promise For The Future

When Walt Pourier was growing up in Pine Ridge, he would skateboard around Baker's Hill next to the baseball diamond.

Pourier is now 46. And thanks to his efforts, the next generation of skateboarders in Pine Ridge will have more than a hill to ride.

On a gusty day last week, a handful of skate-park builders from Seattle-based Grindline Skateparks were hard at work in between the baseball field and a new children's playground. They are turning a broken bottle-littered patch of dirt into a skate park that will be one of the largest in South Dakota.

Pourier described the new park as a clover with three bowls ranging from 6 to 13 feet across.

Pourier estimated his organization, the Stronghold Society, raised about $55,000 for the park. Because workers are donating their time and living in campers (one has a mattress under the half-finished halfpipe), the finished skating area will look like it cost closer to $200,000, he said. People around Pine Ridge have been helping build the park and feeding workers, Pourier said.

"The community's so stoked on this that everybody's been doing their part," he said. "It's a grand idea, and you feed that grand idea - that's part of the strategy of this."

Park funding came from several skating aficionados. Jeff Ament, bass guitarist for Pearl Jam, got involved, as did Steve Van Doren, son of Paul Van Doren, founder of Vans brand shoes. Ament and a representative from Vans will be at the park's opening from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Pourier said.

The Pine Ridge skate park plan caught the attention of the Tony Hawk Foundation, a non-profit group that funds skate parks in low-income communities, enough that two board members each made $5,000 personal donations on top of the foundation's $10,000 grant. That is a first for the organization, said Peter Whitley, programs director for the foundation.

The foundation typically looks at risk factors like arrest rate, drug use, high school dropout and suicide rate when deciding where to give grants, Whitley said. From October 2008 to August 2009, there were nearly 100 suicide attempts on the reservation, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Theresa Two Bulls told the Rapid City Journal in 2009.

"(By) just about any of those metrics, it was so far above and beyond what we're usually looking at," Whitley said. "So there was no question that it was a community that needed our help."

The park should give children and teens something positive to think about, Pourier said.

"We really don't say, ‘suicide,' ‘suicide,' ‘suicide,' we say, ‘live life,' ‘live life,' ‘live life.' And that's how we want to inspire these kids," he said. "It's kind of changing a mindset. It's bigger than just building skate parks."

This is the second grant the Tony Hawk foundation has given the Pine Ridge reservation. The first grant, in 2003, went to build a skate park at the Boys and Girls Club in Pine Ridge, near the Nebraska border. That park is in good condition and children skate on it all the time, said Chick Big Crow, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club.

The skate park under construction right now replaces some old wooden structures that would fall apart every year, Big Crow said.

Twenty-four-year-old Jordan Big Crow, Chick's grandson, said the new skate park will be "amazing." He teaches skateboarding at the Boys and Girls Club.

"It's the safest place to skate. We have rules to go by, and it's just out of gang reach - it's not even graffitied," he said. "All the skaters here, not one of them is in a gang. And you can't say that about any other activity that's around here."

The park will officially be the "Wounded Knee Four Directions Toby Eagle Bull Memorial Skate Park," named in honor of Toby Eagle Bull, a 20-year-old Pine Ridge resident who died in a car collision in 2002. Eagle Bull was Jordan Big Crow's skateboarding role model and started the skateboarding interest in Pine Ridge, Big Crow said.

This is the first of a series of skate parks Pourier has planned for the reservation. He wants to build at Wounded Knee, Kyle and Thunder Valley. After that, his organization plans to expand to other reservations, using skate parks to encourage children and teenagers to think creatively with skateboards.

"People tend to paint them as dark, but that's a stereotype. These kids are the opposite of that," he said. "These movements are the call to humanity of today. We want to create movements like this. We want them to be kind of rebellious of these stereotypes. We want them to show people who they are." - Rapid City Journal, 10.14.11

W-4 Skate Park - Toby Eagle Bull Memorial, Pine Ridge, South Dakota

Basketball T-Shirts for Lakota Nation Invitational 2011 *Limited Edition*

Nake Nula Waun Winner of Best Hip Hop 2011 NAMMY's

Nake Nula Waun (Nah-Kay ,Noo-Lah, Wah- OOn) is a Rap/Hip-Hop Group from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Central South Dakota. The name Nake Nula Waun (NNW) is a traditional Lakota phrase which means “I am always ready, at all times, for anything.” This phrase was used to describe warriors before they went into battle. This is more than just a name for the band members, it’s a way a life. Growing up on the Rez or city, you have to be “always ready, for anything, at all times.”

Nake Nula Waun has been together for three years with each members having years of prior experience in recording. Nake Nula Waun consists of Thomas Schmidt, Frank Waln, Andre Easter and Kodi DeNoyer. Thomas Schmidt AKA JS is currently serving our country in the Marines and has displayed a deep love for music since he was three years old...  Click Here For More

*Native Series* T-Shirts for Rez Kid Apparel Mid Winter 2012

We are not trying to brand "Native" by any intentions with our 1st Series of T-shirts.  What we are offering is a new approach to the market by offering hand drawn font/text for each of Tees.  We wanted to introduce our designs with a familiar theme and that would "Native" ... we are Universal!  Our Online availability date is January 1, 2012 via webstore.  There are retail store that will be carrying these Tees through out the U.S., we do have a map of places you can purchase them on the www.rezkid.com site, and we will have these T-shirts available at our Rez Kid booth at the Lakota Nation Invitational in Rapid City, South Dakota - 2011!

Mini Bubble Mural On The Main Street Of Eagle Butte, South Dakota - 10.1.11

Here I am doing a Mini Mural for a local business spot here in Eagle Butte, South Dakota (On Main Street!).  Personally, I think its awesome that a local business would support graffiti since alot of kids tag up randoms words on local businesses.  There are other types of murals in my town, but they are more Traditional Native American Art and the client wanted something different.  I believe that Native Artists have more to offer in the Art world, instead of painting a mystical picture of what someone else's idea of how we should be defined.   In one of the pictures I have one of my daughters Adrianne with me, keep and eye out for her work in about 5-10 years.  This little girl has skills!  *Native Artists Please Stand Up!*

Updated Rez Kid Website

We have updated the format of the Rez Kid website and will continue to work on it until we launch our 1st Series of T-shirt designs this Winter. If you have "Like" our Facebook page, you know that we are working hard on keeping our supporters (you :D) updated daily on our progress with this Rez Kid T-Shirt project.  Welcome to the Rez Kid blog!

 www.rezkid.com