As happens too often with your essays, I feel like I want to have a day-long conversation about every thread within. The snowstorm (hi from Missoula!), that horrible guy with his sign (I want to take a photo *every single time* and never do--also he has a Gadsden flag above his entrance), the meaning and relationship of wolves, the recording of the hunt, and death in general, and also other people's lives and stories; and also the responsibility that the Christian churches have to start taking in all of this. The more I think about it, the more I think they do -- I am often reminded that Jesus was never a Christian; he didn't have the opportunity to be one.
My daughter has a passion for wolves that seems inborn. To make her look at wolves differently I would have to crack her soul, she feels so much a part of them. I can't explain it, it's just there and therefore I feel obligated to do what I can to care for them, for their sake as well as hers.
"The more I think about how so many of us are living in occupied territory, the more uncomfortable these associations make me."
Man, you got that right! Occupied territory is an 'on the money' description of what it's like living amongst these Dark Age zombies. I have an expression I use, but not in polite company, trust me, it ain't 'Big Sky Country'.
As soon as I hear the name Fielder, there's a vein in my forehead that pops out and my teeth start grinding. I'll hazard a guess and say Chris knows what I mean.
One thing's for sure, on Darwin's tree branches there's something way-way lower than a wolf and that's a wolf hater.
One of my fondest memories from almost twenty years ago: I helped wrangle on a trip into the Bob Marshall with Rick and Susie Graetz so they could photograph the Chinese Wall for a Montana Wilderness Association poster commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, and to take some updated photos for Rick's second edition of his book "Montana's Bob Marshall Country". The last morning of our trip was at Gates Park; we were up at 4am saddling the horses and mules and watching the spectacular shooting stars and fireballs of the Perseid meteor shower, all the while listening to the Red Shale Butte wolf pack howling their approval.
Several times in my life I've been granted the privilege of seeing and or hearing these remarkable and necessary animals.
Falling asleep to the sound of wolves in the wild … may it forever be.
This is THE thing I have never understood about Christianity, and not just as exemplified by believers in the modern era (this shit has been going on for 2,000 years): Jesus himself wouldn't align himself with Christians. I'm not a Christian, nor do I belong to any other religion or faith community, but it seems to me, from the outside, that at least some Christians take everything Jesus taught and do and say the exact opposite. I don't get it.
And: "I support our vets too, but I’m not down with the machine that chews them up and spits them out." Amen. I come from a military family. My 101yo grandmother was the first woman in her county here in Wisconsin to enlist; every branch of my family tree is full of veterans, including my husband, who served in Iraq and has a disabling level of PTSD, among other injuries (none so grave as the emotional ones). I can't turn my back on the sacrifices of the people that I love and at the same time, the machine and especially the chewing up and spitting out is real, and the rage I feel is ferocious.
I deleted my copy of the YNP wolf video. Though I don’t have the words to say it as eloquently as you, I also felt it wasn’t mine. I would have been thrilled to witness it, sitting alone on that wall of rock. I’ve watched them hunt. I’ve watched them play. Those holy moments are my own. But not this one. Thanks for the stories today.
Do you know about the world famous pianist Helene Grimaud who has founded a wolf sanctuary in upstate New York? She saw a wolf in northern Florida and was so moved that she decided to protect them on her property. Presently, she has 51 wolves in the sanctuary which she supports with her music. You have not heard Beethoven’s Choral Rhapsody or the Liszt Sonata until you have heard her play them. I saw a wolf a few years ago and thought he was the most majestic animal I had ever seen. I shared my home with nearest canine relative to wolves, 2 Samoyed dogs. They would gather at the hill in my back yard whenever there was a full moon and howl at it. What a wonderful sight and sound. Listen to her talk about her wolves on the web and listen to her play the piano. I don’t know if you like Beethoven or Liszt but her music and her love of wolves are magical and compensate for the killers you know in the West.
Decades ago, on likely my last trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), after the rain let up in the night we heard the wolves. It was not scary--it was sacred. Fast forward to Montana, 2020, a church basement. I heard a wonderful storyteller (who lives about a mile north of the taxidermist's estate) describe the wolves she'd seen behind her place. They looked her in the eyes and she wasn't afraid.
Tonight, I watched Garry Kasparov's April 2022 TED talk. He reminded me that the naming of the intolerable is itself the hope. He reminded me that... "We choose." Like Putin, the Republican Party offers only "tyranny, hatred and death." We must choose freedom, love and humility, the kind of humility, as Chris La Tray reminds us, that comes when when you know... when you KNOW... "that you are a sacred part of creation." /// Two weeks ago, in The Washington Post reader-comment forum, in the wake of the thinly-veiled racist taunts and utter disrespect leveled at Ketanji Brown Jackson by Confederate senators, I wrote the following... "Lindsey Graham (SC), Ted Cruz (TX), Josh Hawley (MO), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Tom Cotton (AR), John L. Kennedy (LA), Rand Paul (KY) and the rest of the southern-fried brat pack have no choice but to play to their base, the belligerent, dumbed-down MAGA racists. To put it succinctly... White Christian nationalism = Southern evangelicals = Ku Klux Klan." [274 Recommend] /// We choose freedom, love and humility. The Republicans choose evil. The Right Is Wrong.
I have loved wolves since I was about 11 when I read Farley Mowat’s Never cry wolf. I adored the story of the wolves and their kin and playfulness and love for each other. I recently finished Charlotte McConnaghey’s Once there were wolves, a fictionalised story about returning wolves to Scotland. They are majestic.
Two books came to mind when you discussed evangelical churchiness & the political right:
Jesus & John Wayne by Kristen Du Mez (Explores the roots of toxic masculinity in church. Kind of an insider book in that it makes a ton of sense if you grew up in that sludge, but it’s palatable for the non-churchy, too.) and Anthea Butler’s White Evangelical Racism.
Thanks so much for giving context to the recent mass killing of wolves. I was going to mention the same article Tom Pluck did -- the one from the New Yorker -- because one thing that absolutely shocked me from it was how few wolves there were to begin with, even before the laws changed. A *goal* of 150 wolves? Feeling like there are too many wolves when there are only ~800 of them? I feel like that & the terrible billboard you describe says so much about the (deeply misguided) expectations people have about what it means to share the land and co-exist with other predators.
I believe the Grandmother’s teachings are beautiful. We are a highly confused people now. It is so easy to engage in misunderstandings and hatred. Trusting the part of the world which sustained the Great Plains and the vast land of the Americas is real intelligence. But there is so little left and the vast web of life of wild Buffalo, of wolf. Elk, coyote, prairie dogs, hawk, owl, eagle, trout, frog, toad, salamander is broken. I don’t seen how we can heal when the circle of the world is broken. I have music, poetry, broken words. They can be beautiful. My daughter’s first word.
1. Lol that bumper sticker!! “Get real” 😄 2. Wanking off to TR!!! Hahahaha 3. This: “As I sit now in reflection I don't believe I should have it. I haven't earned it because I wasn't there.” re: footage of the sacred act of sacrifice and kill. I feel this way about SO many things, good and bad. “Wtf does this have to do with me??” Finally 4: I am (almost) always moved by vets and beyond apoplectic at the military industrial complex. It’s weird, honoring someone while disapproving deeply of who signs their paychecks…
Saw a pickup here in Boise with one of those confederate flag stickers with an automatic weapon on it. And the one with a silhouette cowboy and his horse kneeling in front of the cross right next to it.
As happens too often with your essays, I feel like I want to have a day-long conversation about every thread within. The snowstorm (hi from Missoula!), that horrible guy with his sign (I want to take a photo *every single time* and never do--also he has a Gadsden flag above his entrance), the meaning and relationship of wolves, the recording of the hunt, and death in general, and also other people's lives and stories; and also the responsibility that the Christian churches have to start taking in all of this. The more I think about it, the more I think they do -- I am often reminded that Jesus was never a Christian; he didn't have the opportunity to be one.
My daughter has a passion for wolves that seems inborn. To make her look at wolves differently I would have to crack her soul, she feels so much a part of them. I can't explain it, it's just there and therefore I feel obligated to do what I can to care for them, for their sake as well as hers.
"The more I think about how so many of us are living in occupied territory, the more uncomfortable these associations make me."
Man, you got that right! Occupied territory is an 'on the money' description of what it's like living amongst these Dark Age zombies. I have an expression I use, but not in polite company, trust me, it ain't 'Big Sky Country'.
As soon as I hear the name Fielder, there's a vein in my forehead that pops out and my teeth start grinding. I'll hazard a guess and say Chris knows what I mean.
One thing's for sure, on Darwin's tree branches there's something way-way lower than a wolf and that's a wolf hater.
One of my fondest memories from almost twenty years ago: I helped wrangle on a trip into the Bob Marshall with Rick and Susie Graetz so they could photograph the Chinese Wall for a Montana Wilderness Association poster commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, and to take some updated photos for Rick's second edition of his book "Montana's Bob Marshall Country". The last morning of our trip was at Gates Park; we were up at 4am saddling the horses and mules and watching the spectacular shooting stars and fireballs of the Perseid meteor shower, all the while listening to the Red Shale Butte wolf pack howling their approval.
Several times in my life I've been granted the privilege of seeing and or hearing these remarkable and necessary animals.
Falling asleep to the sound of wolves in the wild … may it forever be.
This is THE thing I have never understood about Christianity, and not just as exemplified by believers in the modern era (this shit has been going on for 2,000 years): Jesus himself wouldn't align himself with Christians. I'm not a Christian, nor do I belong to any other religion or faith community, but it seems to me, from the outside, that at least some Christians take everything Jesus taught and do and say the exact opposite. I don't get it.
And: "I support our vets too, but I’m not down with the machine that chews them up and spits them out." Amen. I come from a military family. My 101yo grandmother was the first woman in her county here in Wisconsin to enlist; every branch of my family tree is full of veterans, including my husband, who served in Iraq and has a disabling level of PTSD, among other injuries (none so grave as the emotional ones). I can't turn my back on the sacrifices of the people that I love and at the same time, the machine and especially the chewing up and spitting out is real, and the rage I feel is ferocious.
I deleted my copy of the YNP wolf video. Though I don’t have the words to say it as eloquently as you, I also felt it wasn’t mine. I would have been thrilled to witness it, sitting alone on that wall of rock. I’ve watched them hunt. I’ve watched them play. Those holy moments are my own. But not this one. Thanks for the stories today.
I read a piece in the New Yorker entitled, “Killing Wolves to Own the Libs?” and it unfortunately explains so much. They cosplay as caricatures, and live as the embodiment of hurting those they hate. The article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/04/killing-wolves-to-own-the-libs-idaho
Do you know about the world famous pianist Helene Grimaud who has founded a wolf sanctuary in upstate New York? She saw a wolf in northern Florida and was so moved that she decided to protect them on her property. Presently, she has 51 wolves in the sanctuary which she supports with her music. You have not heard Beethoven’s Choral Rhapsody or the Liszt Sonata until you have heard her play them. I saw a wolf a few years ago and thought he was the most majestic animal I had ever seen. I shared my home with nearest canine relative to wolves, 2 Samoyed dogs. They would gather at the hill in my back yard whenever there was a full moon and howl at it. What a wonderful sight and sound. Listen to her talk about her wolves on the web and listen to her play the piano. I don’t know if you like Beethoven or Liszt but her music and her love of wolves are magical and compensate for the killers you know in the West.
Decades ago, on likely my last trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), after the rain let up in the night we heard the wolves. It was not scary--it was sacred. Fast forward to Montana, 2020, a church basement. I heard a wonderful storyteller (who lives about a mile north of the taxidermist's estate) describe the wolves she'd seen behind her place. They looked her in the eyes and she wasn't afraid.
Tonight, I watched Garry Kasparov's April 2022 TED talk. He reminded me that the naming of the intolerable is itself the hope. He reminded me that... "We choose." Like Putin, the Republican Party offers only "tyranny, hatred and death." We must choose freedom, love and humility, the kind of humility, as Chris La Tray reminds us, that comes when when you know... when you KNOW... "that you are a sacred part of creation." /// Two weeks ago, in The Washington Post reader-comment forum, in the wake of the thinly-veiled racist taunts and utter disrespect leveled at Ketanji Brown Jackson by Confederate senators, I wrote the following... "Lindsey Graham (SC), Ted Cruz (TX), Josh Hawley (MO), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Tom Cotton (AR), John L. Kennedy (LA), Rand Paul (KY) and the rest of the southern-fried brat pack have no choice but to play to their base, the belligerent, dumbed-down MAGA racists. To put it succinctly... White Christian nationalism = Southern evangelicals = Ku Klux Klan." [274 Recommend] /// We choose freedom, love and humility. The Republicans choose evil. The Right Is Wrong.
I have loved wolves since I was about 11 when I read Farley Mowat’s Never cry wolf. I adored the story of the wolves and their kin and playfulness and love for each other. I recently finished Charlotte McConnaghey’s Once there were wolves, a fictionalised story about returning wolves to Scotland. They are majestic.
Greetings from Southern Oregon.
Two books came to mind when you discussed evangelical churchiness & the political right:
Jesus & John Wayne by Kristen Du Mez (Explores the roots of toxic masculinity in church. Kind of an insider book in that it makes a ton of sense if you grew up in that sludge, but it’s palatable for the non-churchy, too.) and Anthea Butler’s White Evangelical Racism.
Safe travels,
-Nigel
Thanks so much for giving context to the recent mass killing of wolves. I was going to mention the same article Tom Pluck did -- the one from the New Yorker -- because one thing that absolutely shocked me from it was how few wolves there were to begin with, even before the laws changed. A *goal* of 150 wolves? Feeling like there are too many wolves when there are only ~800 of them? I feel like that & the terrible billboard you describe says so much about the (deeply misguided) expectations people have about what it means to share the land and co-exist with other predators.
As always, love your insights. ❤️❤️❤️
My thoughts exactly. I wonder if we are related?
I believe the Grandmother’s teachings are beautiful. We are a highly confused people now. It is so easy to engage in misunderstandings and hatred. Trusting the part of the world which sustained the Great Plains and the vast land of the Americas is real intelligence. But there is so little left and the vast web of life of wild Buffalo, of wolf. Elk, coyote, prairie dogs, hawk, owl, eagle, trout, frog, toad, salamander is broken. I don’t seen how we can heal when the circle of the world is broken. I have music, poetry, broken words. They can be beautiful. My daughter’s first word.
1. Lol that bumper sticker!! “Get real” 😄 2. Wanking off to TR!!! Hahahaha 3. This: “As I sit now in reflection I don't believe I should have it. I haven't earned it because I wasn't there.” re: footage of the sacred act of sacrifice and kill. I feel this way about SO many things, good and bad. “Wtf does this have to do with me??” Finally 4: I am (almost) always moved by vets and beyond apoplectic at the military industrial complex. It’s weird, honoring someone while disapproving deeply of who signs their paychecks…
Saw a pickup here in Boise with one of those confederate flag stickers with an automatic weapon on it. And the one with a silhouette cowboy and his horse kneeling in front of the cross right next to it.