Ojib-what?

"Would you like to say your thoughts and prayers over the tobacco?"

Not a phrase you hear every day. But today at the Fond-du-Lac Indian reservation in Cloquet, Minnesota, that's exactly what the spiritual woman with the long gray hair and suede moccasins said as she walked in front of me and the rest of the KOTG team, brandishing a small plastic bag of pungent, shredded tobacco leaves. Most of us took pinches and were instructed to hold them in our left hands, which are closer to our hearts. After awhile the woman collected them all in a bowl and stuffed the tobacco in her pipe, which she smoked while singing prayers in the native language and turning to face the North, South, East and West separately.

Today we took Big Pink to the reservation (or "rez" as the natives call it) to take part in a ceremony honoring the tribe's recent partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure and their newly active mission of cancer education and prevention, and to exhibit at their tribal community center. We learned that the mortality rate for the Ojibwe tribe is so low, members are considered elders at 52. Cancer is the leading cause of death, followed by diabetes.

Yikes, right? The craziest thing is, after this big ceremony highlighting all the reasons why women NEEDED to come through our trailer, needed to educate themselves about breast cancer- we had a very dismal turnout. And the weather was gray and often rainy; most of the day we scurried around covering or uncovering computers with tarps, rather than interacting with locals. Big Pink was almost empty for hours on end.

But it wasn't all bad. Everyone who did stop in and all the people who worked to arrange our stop on the rez were extremely warm and expressed profuse gratitude that we visited. They even presented us with gifts, including a long sleeved t-shirt that says "NO METH ON MY REZ!" on the back. Ha?