I went to my first rodeo Sunday, June 13th! I was super excited to be at such a culturally significant event in the west. It was very impressive to watch and see how difficult it is to be in the rodeo. At the same time, I had a hard time watching people use animals for sport. I understand that this is the work that goes into ranch life in the west, but I have trouble watching the way the animals are treated. Many of my classmates felt the same way because this isn’t something that we’re exposed to in Pittsburgh. Additionally, the rodeo was opened with a very “patriotic” prayer which I had trouble participating in because of our current administration. The prayer imposed Christianity on everyone in the crowd (many of which were tourists). The rodeo really opened my eyes to the prevailing culture of the WY area. I really appreciated the chance to be in/observe the culture, which we hadn’t been exposed to much during our field study, but I didn’t participate in it.