Jennifer Lehmann:
CLASS OF 1973
Escanaba Area High SchoolClass of 1973
Escanaba, MI
Oglala Lakota Community CollegeClass of 2013
Kyle, SD
SUNY at BuffaloClass of 1989
Buffalo, NY
William James CollegeClass of 1980
Allendale, MI
Michigan State UniversityClass of 1978
East lansing, MI
Jennifer's Story
School
Well, I am BACK in school - after college, grad school, and working as a university professor, I have returned to college, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, for an AA in Indian Law (to work on TREATY ENFORCEMENT) part of a BA in Lakota Studies, in which I am interested passionately, having discovered my Indian ancestry, and become part of the Lakota People.
I don't think I need, want, can, or should write about my funniest, happiest, and craziest school memories. Chuck Dedic (English and Journalism) was and continues to be a tremendous inspiration in my life. Peter Adamini (Drama) was also influential, providing, in addition to Chuck Dedic, very advanced and sophisticated material for hungry minds. I didn't attend school much, including skipping classes to read good, challenging books in the "Girl's Room". I worked hard on the school newspaper. I was voted "Most Radical" in my class. I won the National Honor Society Award, but it was taken away for "bad behavior". One person I would like to thank very much is a classmate, a Young Republican, named Peter I believe, who said I could get a Ph.D. if I wanted. As opposed to the dismal, abysmal "counseling" that young man changed my life - I did get my Ph.D.
College
I went to college for so many years I can't do much revisiting here. Again, the "counseling" at Escanaba Area Public High School failed me so miserably - not even discussing college with me, much less informing me about things like the difference in quality of various schools - and why that matters. At any rate, supporting myself, I went one year to Michigan State - when I could have/would have/should have gone to the University of Michigan, which my adoptive father's family had all attended. I left school after that year, ...Expand for more
to return to Grand Valley State Colleges - at that time a radical, alternative school - for my BA. After that I went to the State University of New York at Buffalo for my MA and PhD - and eventually commuted between New York City and Buffalo, falling in love with New York City in the process.
Workplace
I am a professor at the University of Nebraska - a far cry and a HARD move from New York City, but it is a Research I school, and it was a job - so here I am. And it is here that I began to discover my "degree of Indian blood" - and, far more importantly - my Native cultural, traditional heritage. Nebraska is a good place from which to travel to other places - and I have travelled all over the world. Mainly, now, I travel to my own and other Reservations in South Dakota, and Native activities in Colorado. I do my research and teaching in the area of social theory; social inequality - gender studies, ethnic studies (especially Native Studies, of course), economic inequality; and cultural studies, especially media studies. I love research and writing, as well as editing journals and books. I love teaching when the classes are small - almost never - and I find it increasingly difficult to teach as class sizes have gone from 35 to 50 to 100 to 200 to over 200 students. Easy for those who use text books & multiple choice tests; most difficult for those few of us who use real books, and require writing of students. In addition, due to tax cuts, professors are expected to fund themselves, with grants from corporations and the government. My work will never be paid for by corporations or the government because it is highly critical of these systems, and because it is words, not numbers. So, I love my work, but I have become increasingly unable to do it.
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