Episode 6 – Lakota Summer Institute ektá Wóiȟake Oyákapi (Jokes Told at LSI)

This past June of 2023, we held the Lakota Summer Institute (LSI) in our beautiful Ȟesápa in Rapid City, SD. We partnered with Rural America Initiatives to hold two weeks of intensive Lakota language learning and teacher training. Bringing people together who are passionate about learning, teaching, speaking and advocating for the language is always a beautiful experience. This year, we were so fortunate to have a number of fluent speakers and elders amongst us. During one of the sessions, Rick Two Dogs and Ben Black Bear Jr took turns relaying funny jokes and stories in Lakota. In the room you could see learners and teachers together sharing the medicine of laughter. Amidst the busy summer, the co-hosts for Wičháho Blihélya have not been able to meet to record an episode, however, we wanted to share this glimpse into the joke session that occurred at LSI this year.

Speakers in this episode include: Rick Two Dogs (Oglála), Ben Black Bear JR (Sičháŋǧu), and Alex FireThunder (Oglála).