In the winter of 1995 I began living with the Dineh people resisting relocation from their homeland at Big Mountain, in the heart of Navajo country. I had expected to stay a few months at most, but to my surprise I ended up staying 5 years. The way of life, the people, and especially the land itself, connected with my spirit in many ways.

My initial reason for heading to Big Mountain was to help a resistance organization get on-line, and to teach them how to use computers. This didn't take long at all, and after a couple of months I moved in with an elderly couple, primarily to help with herding their sheep. Grandma & Grandpa didn't speak any english, and we lived in a very isolated spot, with few visitors. Maybe every 6 weeks someone would come by that spoke english. In this way I became immersed in the life on Big Mountain, picked up some of the language, and began to truly understand how the relocation affected the people. After a year their son returned home, so as they did not need my help so much I moved in with Roberta Blackgoat. Roberta was the Chairperson of Sovereign Dineh Nation, and spent a lot of time away from the land speaking about the relocation and resistance, so she needed an experienced sheepherder to look after her place for . There are no words to truly explain what my time with Roberta was like. The things I learned will stay with me forever, and in the end she became my adopted mother.

As well as the sheepherding and general life maintenance activities ( chopping firewood, planting, cooking, shearing etc) I started to spend more of my time explaining to visitors about the situation at Big Mountain, the history of the resistance, and also teaching supporters the ways of the people, how to herd sheep, how to maintain respect with the Elders etc.

Around this time I decided that what was needed was more communication between Big Mountain and the outside world. Many of the people do not speak english, telephones were few and far between, and the area is isolated by dirt roads that are impassable many times in winter and summer. In more than one way Big Mountain might as well have been a different planet. A secondary reason for starting VFH was that there was an individual with a major internet presence who was claiming to represent the resisters. While it may be true that at various points she did in fact represent a few of the resisters, she was also responsible for a lot of mis- and dis-information, as well as the diversion of much needed support away from the actual resisters.

I chose to write VFH with the pseudonym Bo Peep. The main reason was simply to protect myself. The resisters and their supporters were monitored and harassed by various agencies, and I did not wish to become a target. This is also why I sometimes " fudged" details of my actual location , I wanted to protect Roberta as well.

Though I in no way tried to give the impression, many readers presumed I was in fact Dineh. More than a few presumed I was female. I actually was pleased with this reaction as it meant that what I was writing was being perceived as coming from a "human" rather than a particular gender or race.

It was most important to me that what I wrote was the truth. This meant I limited myself to events I was actually witness to, and while I made no attempt to speak FOR the resisters, I did pass on messages from people on the land when they asked me to. I continued to read up on the history of the Big Mountain issue, both in books and in Robertas extensive collection of files, and as I learned new things I passed it on. I also wrote about day to day life on the land, as it was very different from the way of life in the dominant society, many people actually being unaware that anything like traditional indigenous lifeways were still practisedextensively on Turtle Island.

The practicalities of getting VFH out were quite difficult. It helped when a friend and good supporter gave me a laptop computer. Other supporters had repaired a small solar power system for our emergency cell phone. Actually connecting to the internet was far more problematic. The closest place with easy internet access was Flagstaff, 150 miles away, and while I had the use of an old pick-up truck, finding the time or the $20 gas money was not so easy. We were really broke. Sometimes I would sell a few necklaces and have $20, sometimes a visitor would give me the gas money. Sometimes I would catch a ride with a visitor and hitch-hike back. On more than a few occasions I left the hogan at midnight, walked 18 miles to arrive at the trading post at dawn, then hitch into Flag, connect to the net, then hitch back. Sometimes it would take 2 days to finish the trip.

The response to VFH was more than I had imagined. It seemed that many people were hungry for news about what was going on. Pretty soon VFH was being emailed out to more than 500 people, and many of these people forwarded it on. We started to receive upwards of 400 emails a month, and while finding the time to answer all this mail was problematic, the sense of support I received was overwhelming.

At the end of 2000 it was time for me to leave the land, therefore new VFH's have ceased. I still have a few issues half finished, and a bunch of stories that I want to tell, so hopefully more will be released in the future, but they will by necessity not be eyewitnress accounts.

To everyone who helped me, I extend my deepest thanks, and to all those who took the time to read my wordss I also extend my thanks, and also my apologies that my skills as a writer were so limited.

For all our relations

Bo Peep