Gerald Vizenor

The idea of victimage is a dreadful thing, a product of a safe middle-class perspective. What people who are not safe develop is a tragic wisdom, a wisdom that embraces contradiction and seeks a sense of balance rather than going to extremes.

I started working in the oilfield upon graduating high school. I was on the service end of it, driving tank trucks for Johnny Geer for a couple years and learning about oil and gas production. I had a whole cadre of mentors.

Over the past decade... while many businesses have pursued what I call 'business as usual,' I have been part of a different, smaller business movement, one that tried to put idealism back on the agenda.