I was raised in the country with Christian standards. I have known little of city life and thank my mother for allowing me the opportunity to grow up near forests and the quietness of rural settings. We had a garden almost every year and she would have us kids help weed it and pick the vegetables that grew there in abundance. At the age of 16 she drove us to a farm in Oklahoma run by a Cheyenne warrior, Lance, and his family. He was a poet, and a complete inspiration to me. He, being Native American, knew of his ancestry and led us in an ancient ceremony called a "Sweat Lodge." This experience...