Voices of the
BIG BEND
Jim Glendinning The Galloping Scot, Author, World Traveler and sometime tour operator.
Story and photographs by Jim Glendinning
CHEYENNE RONDEAUX
Cheyenne Rondeaux placidly
observes me as we sit in an office at
Alpine Middle School, after being
introduced. She was born in Los
Angeles on February 22, 2004, and has
an older sister, Janae, whom she
describes as a “small-time actress,”
who is married and lives in New
Mexico.
Her father, Rodney Rondeaux, is a
full-bloodied member of the Crow
Nation. He is a movie actor and some-
time movie stunt man. Right now he
has a lead role in a movie called
Mekko. Cheyenne and her mother,
Rachel, moved to Alpine around 2009
to be near Rachel’s mother, Georgia
Waller, who previously was married to
author Robert James Waller.
From her mother Cheyenne has
inherited a strong love of horses. “I will
have horses all my life,” she tells me
forcefully, “Horses make you feel bet-
ter about yourself, and happier.” Later
I asked her, since she was discreetely
concealing yawns behind her hand,
what she had been doing the day
before. She had been working late at
home with 10 of the herd of horses
which were hers.
On arrival in Alpine, Cheyenne first
attended the Montessori School, where
she made good, lasting friends. She has
now been two years in Alpine Middle
School, likes it fine but is still adjusting
to the differences between the two
schools. Her favorite subjects are
Industrial Arts, Science and History.
In Science, she is interested in rocks
and minerals and had enjoyed Alpine’s
recent Gem & Mineral show. What’s
important about history? I asked her.
She became more animated, and stat-
ed how she felt the treatment of
women in Saudi Arabia was wrong,
particularly arranged marriages and
the beating of women.
In 2013 she took a road trip with her
father to the Crow reservation near
16
Cenizo
CHEYENNE RONDEAUX
Alpine
Billings, Montana, to visit his mother.
They spent two weeks there, and she
marveled at the green countryside. She
enjoyed life on the reservation and was
given a Crow ID card. She loved the
wild horses, and particularly the leader
of the herd, a magnificent big horse
called “Cloud.” She loves riding, not
formal English-saddle dressage, but
freestyle, western-saddle including pole
bending and barrel racing.
For the History Fair project, she
chose The American Indian
Movement, under the title “Rights and
Responsibilities.” She constructed a
wooden display board and added pic-
tures, a 3-D pop-out and a tomahawk.
She also wrote a text. Her conclusion
was that the American Indian
Movement has come a long way, but
has still further to travel, particularly
with regard to diet. She is a careful
eater and prefers organic food. She
was proud of her effort at the History
Fair, which earned her fourth place in
Third Quarter 2014
SHADIX WETZEL
Fort Davis
the exhibit category and an award of
$75.
Her plan for the future is clear: to
proceed to Alpine High School, then
Sul Ross’s Range Animal Science
Department, and finally to Texas A &
M University for four years to achieve
a degree in Veterinary Medicine. With
that clear statement, the interview was
over.
SHADIX WETZEL
Shadix Wetzel was born on 4th
August, 2001 in an El Paso hospital.
His mother, Teresa Todd, was then
County Attorney of Presidio County,
and the family lived in Marfa. His dad,
Marc Wetzel, was education coordina-
tor at McDonald Observatory.
His first school was Marfa
Montessori, where he enrolled in 2004.
“It was pretty cool”, he recollects, nod-
ding his mop of blond hair. He liked
the teachers, and got to grips with
adding and subtraction, and starting to
TAYLOR LUTTRELL-
WILLIAMS
Terlingua
read. The same year, his brother
Haden was born and the family moved
to Jeff Davis County, where his moth-
er is now the county attorney. Today,
they live in the McDonald
Observatory residential area; Shadix
and Hayden travel daily by bus to
school in Fort Davis.
School in Fort Davis was good,
Shadix explains, but later the school
system ran short of money and all sorts
of programs were cancelled. Still, he
continues, he loves Fort Davis, particu-
larly on Thursday, when the Mountain
Dispatch comes out and he can read it
while eating his cereal. He has lots of
friends at school, and it is not hard to
see why: he talks easily and with enthu-
siasm and has an outgoing nature.
He has an aptitude for music and
has played alto-sax since fifth grade - a
“really cool” instrument that he loves
to play. But now there is no more band
(one of the many cuts, despite the band
having won 23 competitions).