“Rachael Youngman, Part 1, The Choctaw Girl from Hog Creek”

WELCOME to Season 2 of Native Choctalk, A Podcast by Natives For All!

I’d like to thank each and every one of you who listened in Season 1 and supported this effort to preserve our American Indian stories, history, culture and traditions. I’m grateful and thankful for you and for my incredible guests!

And, in order to take my own advice about preserving stories, today’s episode is in 2 parts and it’s about my own story as well as that of my ancestors. And at the beginning of next season in the fall of 2022, I’ll go into parts 3 and 4 of this series.

Since I thought interviewing myself would be a little strange, my Producer, Bee is going to do the honors. I can’t imagine a world without Bee – she’s not just the gal who edits and posts the episodes to the podcast platforms, she’s my dear friend. So, I’m excited to introduce you to her and I think you’ll be inspired to hear some of her story too while we’re at it.

Bee and I enjoyed working together to recording these episodes - we can’t seem to get together without laughing and carrying on. However, although we may occasionally burst into friendship mode and a laugh or two, we do care deeply about and honor the people we’re talking about, and we take the issues at hand very seriously.

In this first of 2 parts in this series, Bee interviews me about growing up as 1 of 3 “feral” children in the country way out in Hog Creek, miles outside of Anadarko, Oklahoma.

You’ll hear about our making our clothes, growing our food and homeschooling (and why the Wal-Mart was a crucial part of our social life), and how squishy potato bugs, bull nettles, tornadoes and guinea birds were out to kill us.

And I’ll share the raw truth about the challenges that came later as I navigated life as a divorced, single mom, how giving up wasn’t an option, why it took 11 years for me to finish my degree, the inspiration I found in my favorite Bible verse and how it prompted this Okie girl to pull herself up by her bootstraps.

And listeners, be sure to keep an eye out for “Rachael Youngman, Part 2, 1896 – A Year to Forget”, coming up next!

Yakoke (thanks) to Chihowa (God) and to my chukka achvffa (family) for loving and supporting me. (And mamma, thanks for putting up with us feral children – you deserve an award!)

Chahta sia hoke!

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