Reflections from November 2025 Beyond the Clock with Kyle Mesteth
Beyond the Clock Resident Artist Reflection, Written by Eliza Blue
What a year! Looking back at all that has happened, it is hard to really comprehend, even in retrospect, all the craziness that 2025 held–especially for those of us working at the intersection of rural advocacy and the arts…
As is often the case, there were blessings embedded in the curses, and the chaos made the Beyond the Clock conversations even more valuable and timely for me personally. Each conversation arrived like a roadmap through hardship to resilience and renewal, and what healing and hope look like in embodied practice. What a gift!
This was especially true in our conversation with Kyle Mesteth, whose work building an indoor skate park (and creating many other associated gatherings and creative opportunities) is inspiring, first and foremost, because it is so FUN. Go check out any of the videos he posts on social media, and you will feel immediately lighter, I promise.
Like all of our artists this year, Kyle’s joy does not exist ‘in spite of,’ or even ‘because of,’ but in tandem with pain, loss, and significant challenges. He shows us how to embody deep joy and deep sadness by doing it first himself. We all can contain multitudes. We all can be broken and healed, lost and found, born and reborn into belonging. We are our own unique beings, and we are also part of a collective that inhales and exhales across millennia. We sometimes forget that we are all members of one another, and while we do the difficult work of remembering, Kyle encourages us to keep laughing, keep loving, keep reaching for joy.
Kyle is also a hip-hop artist, and one of his songs, ‘Promised Land,’ beautifully encapsulates so many of the ideas he shared during the live event and podcast. I really wanted to incorporate a sample of that song as part of my reflections for the end-of-the-year album, but it was WAY out of my comfort zone and skill set! (I am a self-proclaimed folkie and techno-phobe, for gosh sake..) Well, I went ahead and did it anyway, and I honestly wonder if I would have had the courage to try something so aspirational had I not seen so much courage exemplified during 2025 by my fellow artists and rural culture workers.
The resulting song is thus a collaboration with Kyle, aka KDAWG, and I am so proud of how it turned out, even while I hear my growth edge so clearly. But what better way to end a year that has required us all to grow past what we thought was possible?
So thank you to everyone involved with making this year of conversation and community possible. Thank you for helping me grow. Thank you for welcoming me into a beloved community. It has been a blessing, start to finish, and I was grateful to be a part of it!
Kyle’s Song
We are the ones
We are the ones
Who blossom where we’re planted
All the flowers in the field will bloom
All the blossoms in the field will bloom
All the blossoms in the field will bloom
When there’s nothing
Anything is possible
When there’s nothing
Everything is possible
(sample from ‘Promised Land’ by KDAWG)
It’s all about the hardships
And getting past pain
Heading to the promised land in the fast lane
You need to stay awake
With eyes open to the fake
You can change your ways
Cuz it’s never too late
I seen death
I seen life
I seen things I don't care to see twice
I fell down
And I’ve seen pain
And it’s all stuck in my head
Just like a freeze frame.
If I had a chance
I wouldn’t stop my heartache
Because it made me who I am
Going down this hard way
Now I can’t be stopped
Go ahead and take your cheap shot
I’d rather be thankful for everything that we’ve got
Flowers in the field
Blossom where you’re planted
Eliza Blue is an author, folk-singer, and accidental rancher on the wild, wild western prairie. Visit her website here, and subscribe to her weekly newsletter here.
Kyle Mesteth is a Lakota artist and skateboarder, and founder of Ground Control, a skate park and community center in Pine Ridge, SD. Their mission is to provide a space where skateboarders, artists, and creators come together to dream, collaborate, and bring their visions to life. Ground Control works to inspire self-expression, fuel innovation, and build a community that pushes boundaries in art and movement.
Listen to Kyle’s Beyond the Clock Podcast Episode!
In this final episode of the 2025 season, Ash Hanson and Anna Claussen dive deep in conversation with Kyle Mesteth. Kyle is the founder of Ground Control, a skate park and community center in Pine Ridge, SD, whose mission is to provide a space where skateboarders, artists, and creators come together to dream, collaborate, and bring their visions to life. Ground Control works to inspire self-expression, fuel innovation, and build a community that pushes boundaries in art and movement, and Kyle shares how he creates a collaborative leadership environment that supports everyone to "bloom where they are planted."