Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

COVID-19 Message of Reason: Medicine Wheel in Wichita Mountains

By Dan Bigbee, Buffalo’s Fire Correspondent

The Wichita mountains in southwest Oklahoma have been revered by the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes for centuries. Tribal people have come to camp here longer than anyone can remember. One secluded location has a medicine wheel possibly constructed in the 12th century for worship and prayer. This report tells the story of one Comanche who found strength at the medicine wheel as he battled the corona virus.

Dan Bigbee is a Comanche documentary producer for BIG Productions.

Medicine Wheel in Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma
Medicine Wheel in Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma
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Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.