I grew up on the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, Montana and I lived there for the first 17 years of my life. The first chance I got I moved away, which was right after graduating highschool and going to college where I currently am still in school. From what I can remember my family was pretty well off seeing as both my parent and siblings worked multiple jobs to help support our family. But, I can remember times where we would have to boil our water to drink and cook with. And pretty frequently the electricity would go out and we would be sitting around with candles and flashlights. There was definitely alot of drugs and alcohol abuse within our family as well as within the community but it was sort of a norm for us. There is also alot of crime that I had witnessed while living there as well as alot of death by car accidents that were mainly the result of drunk driving. But, as bad as it may seem it was full of people with a sense of community and in my experience tradition that is still being kept alive by those who still believe in it. I personally was a sheltered child and grew up with the Internet as my pass time but beyond that I loved where the reservation is located, we lived next to the mountains and it was always the most beautiful sight I would see and when I travel back home I always try to take in the sights around me and appreciate the beauty it has to offer. There are literally people who would travel across the country and possibly the world to see the things we would see everyday. There is alot of sadness and depression there as well as very badly broken families and it's hard to comprehend sometimes. But, there are those who want change and those who don't see the point in it. I just hope that with the incoming youth, they will take that chance and use it to help better our people and there community.

Hope this gives you a bit of insight!