A lazy Spring evening, after several days of showers splashing the earth; showers which we would welcome near any moment they were offered. As if they hadn’t laid around all day, the dogs take advantage of the quiet to slip in a nap before bedtime. I flip on the television and begin to scan for something which interests me. I come across an old favorite, Dances With Wolves. I’m not sure what it is about that movie which interests me. Its a western, so there’s that. Perhaps its the story of cultures colliding and then blending. Maybe it’s the characters: Kevin Costner’s Lt. John J. Dunbar; the obviously disturbed Major Fambrough; Graham Greene’s Kicking Bird, Rodney Grant’s Wind In His Hair, Mary McDonnell’s Stands With A Fist, or the uncouth behavior and humor of Timmons.
The South Dakota scenery where most of the film took place holds a special place for me. A sea of rolling plains gives way to the rise of the Black HIlls on the Western border which almost seem to burst forth from the grass. The very rock formations which gave birth to Mount Rushmore and continue to reveal the image of the Crazy Horse Memorial from within their heart of stone.
Continue reading “Dance A Little”