Submersed in the university's climate of extreme diversity and through exposure to political leaders and activists, like Nobel Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta Menchu Tum and Navajo civil rights leader Jane Biakeddy, Lacy developed a strong interest in the positive and negative conditions for indigenous cultures and immigrants in the regions surrounding southeast Texas. His ability to investigate and produce effective programs using powerful ideas enhanced by visual images and sound led him produce presentations, such as "The Grey-eyed Man of Destiny", "Separation Rapid: The Contradictions of John Wesley Powell" and "Demolition Sound", which have been seen by diverse ideological people, from activists and politicians to naturalists and cultural preservationists.
On a road trip across New Mexico and Arizona with a Navajo elder, Lacy made a simple picture of a sign warning of toxic waste in three languages, English, Spanish and Navajo. On the scene where Zunis and Hopis had walked for centuries, where they survived Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and Kit Carson, and now lived on the modern path of the Santa Fe railroad and Route 66, the Navajo man told Lacy, "We can never walk here again." Lacy noted, "He was so resigned to the predicament. That says a lot about our cultural relationship and our relationship to the environment."
IN THE PHOTO ABOVE Lacy made this image of a reconstructed Caddoan dwelling while studying cultures of the Texas Gulf Coast.
