// menu

---

»	DWP at Spirit Mound
»	DWP Spirit Mound Registration Form
»	DWP Home

---

Contact Information:

Dakota Writing Project
Dakota 212, 414 E. Clark St.
University of South Dakota
Vermillion, SD 57069-2390
phone: 605 677-5229
fax: 605 677-5298
dwp@usd.edu

---

Last Modified: 06/21/08

Writing the Sacred into the Real: (Re)visiting Spirit Mound
Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Old Main 212, University of South Dakota, Vermillon

Experience Spirit Mound, a site of spiritual and historical significance, through multiple viewpoints--through Lewis and Clark’s journal entries, through the eyes of an educator with a strong American Indian viewpoint, and through your own hands-on experience and reflections in writing. Dakota Writing Project leader Lil Manthei, in a session entitled “Writing the Sacred Into the Real: (Re)visiting Spirit Mound,” will guide us as we discuss readings, visit Spirit Mound, and let this important place inspire our own thinking and writing.

The session begins in Old Main 212 on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 25, and will include a trip to Spirit Mound (located six miles north of Vermillion) where we will write together. The event will end at 12:30 p.m. Participants are advised to bring writing tools (paper and pencil or pen and/or laptop), comfortable walking shoes (for those who wish to walk to the top of Spirit Mound), bug spray, appropriate clothing for the weather, and an umbrella. Bottled water will be provided. You may wish to bring your own vehicle for driving, although we will also encourage individuals to carpool between Old Main and Spirit Mound.

Please, if possible, read these documents before attending the Spirit Mound session:

• Journal entry by Captain Clark, about Spirit Mound (pdf)
• Reflective piece by Lil Manthei, including a discussion of Spirit Mound (pdf)

Copies of these documents will also be available at the session Wednesday morning.

Lil Manthei is a teacher-consultant for the Dakota Writing Project and has served on the DWP Board of Directors for several years. She is the lead English teacher at Takini School on the Cheyenne River Reservation and has also taught at Oglala Lakota College, Kilian Community College, Little Wound School on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and the Crow Creek Tribal Schools. Areas of specialization include South Dakota Indian studies, literature, history, and writing. She has a Masters of Arts degree in Secondary Education from the University of South Dakota and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education from Black Hills State University.

This event is open to the general public. To register for this event, fill out the registration form (pdf) and send the form with a check or money order (no cash), postmarked by June 20, for $10, made out to the Dakota Writing Project , Dakota Hall 212, University of South Dakota, 414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069-2390. (If registering after June 20, bring the registration form with a $15 fee to the event on June 25. If possible, please e-mail us at dwp@usd.edu let us know that you are planning to attend.)

This event is co-sponsored by the Dakota Writing Project and the South Dakota Humanities Council. The Dakota Writing Project is a non-profit teachers’ organization that focuses on strengthening the teaching of writing in South Dakota, in and out of the classroom. For more information, visit http://www.usd.edu/dwp.

---