People who grow up in a strong family that’s grounded in tradition are doubly fortunate, and Solomon Vargas Jr. knows how lucky he is. “I am blessed to come from a big family who take part in our traditional ways,” he says. He grew up in Canton, a small community — population 464 — in northwestern Oklahoma, where his family owns three houses next to each other on their tribal land. “My late great-grandmother Ida Lena Nibbs Williams and the late Kenneth Williams raised 13 kids and held many ceremonial sweats and peyote meetings at our family homeplace for many years,” Vargas explains.