I am in Hawaii right now and have been spending a lot of time thinking what a different place Montana would be if the many Native nations were the dominant culture of the place. The sense of place and connection to it is SO different from anything I've ever experienced.
The efforts to colonize them are more recent and I hope they can hang on. I wish they'd evict everyone from the island. The stuff I've read about them being overrun by tourists and land-lost-through-purchase and all attendant bullshit particularly since Covid is sickening.
It is, and I have the same hopes. I downloaded an early End of Tourism podcast episode to listen to on the plane that's all about Hawaii and anti-tourism activism. It's making my head all spin about the Flathead Valley and what it would take take to even begin to get the ethos of white people to shift. And what our responsibilities are as denizens of the world as well as of our particular place.
I've just returned from Lewistown (and points between) and this spinning head around "what it would take take to even begin to get the ethos of white people to shift" is something I am really struggling with. I don't even mean just the people who are belligerently ignorant either; I mean well-intentioned white folks utterly blind to their own flexing of privilege and not only what it does to other people, but the message it sends ... "let them eat cake" syndrome and all that.
YES. Exactly all of that. There's the worst of them (you know, I live in the Flathead) and then there's the ones who think they want all the good things but when they realize what, say, a change in lifestyle might mean for the world they profess to want, they start backing away.
I was reminding myself yesterday that in some interview or another Tyson Yunkaporta said that we're at the very beginning of a 1000-year cleanup. I imagine he meant spiritually/psychologically as well as environmentally.
Your kids and the poetry class sound like the best, most real form of active love I can imagine. I love hearing about their work, and how you lead them--it is poetry. I also love the poem--the line: "Do you greet the arriving season, / each and every season, / as you would this long lost friend?" I want to greet each season on earth this way, exactly. Thank you for such a beautiful reminder of spring.
Thanks for the photo of Spring Creek. I wanted to jump thru and walk along its bank. I lived in the Snowy Mtns south of Lewistown 30 years ago. Of course, I never heard of its Metis founding. Glad you're sharing that history now. Hope you're well-received there. Superbloom is so lovely. Obviously written by an Emotional Yeti ;-) Found a great photo of one (actually a Bulgarian Kukeri) at NatGeo. Don't know how to attach it, so here's the link: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/kukeri-survakari-unesco-intangible-cultural-heritage-photos?
My husband is Cree.
So when I read what that editor wrote about the Metis, I wanted to reach through time to find him and punch him in the mouth.
Yes, that hit close to home for me.
That's just a taste of what the newspapers of the day had to say. It's all quite brutal.
Oh, I know.
And there was probably even worse than that.
I am in Hawaii right now and have been spending a lot of time thinking what a different place Montana would be if the many Native nations were the dominant culture of the place. The sense of place and connection to it is SO different from anything I've ever experienced.
The efforts to colonize them are more recent and I hope they can hang on. I wish they'd evict everyone from the island. The stuff I've read about them being overrun by tourists and land-lost-through-purchase and all attendant bullshit particularly since Covid is sickening.
It is, and I have the same hopes. I downloaded an early End of Tourism podcast episode to listen to on the plane that's all about Hawaii and anti-tourism activism. It's making my head all spin about the Flathead Valley and what it would take take to even begin to get the ethos of white people to shift. And what our responsibilities are as denizens of the world as well as of our particular place.
I've just returned from Lewistown (and points between) and this spinning head around "what it would take take to even begin to get the ethos of white people to shift" is something I am really struggling with. I don't even mean just the people who are belligerently ignorant either; I mean well-intentioned white folks utterly blind to their own flexing of privilege and not only what it does to other people, but the message it sends ... "let them eat cake" syndrome and all that.
YES. Exactly all of that. There's the worst of them (you know, I live in the Flathead) and then there's the ones who think they want all the good things but when they realize what, say, a change in lifestyle might mean for the world they profess to want, they start backing away.
I was reminding myself yesterday that in some interview or another Tyson Yunkaporta said that we're at the very beginning of a 1000-year cleanup. I imagine he meant spiritually/psychologically as well as environmentally.
Rock shows? Do tell...
"Superbloom" = beautiful. Thanks.
Thank you, Kathy. I've been playing in loud rock bands since the 80s, and the current one since 2001 or so ... and have all the tinnitus to prove it.
Thanks Chris. As always, you sprinkle a little magic every time you share your thoughts.
Boozhoo! Aaniin!
So I am sad I couldn’t get to Lewistown yesterday to meet and hear you. I’m recovering from a busted shoulder and can’t travel yet -
Soon though
My blinding fast texting skills have gone to hell with only one thumb so I have been using voice to text -
So I say your name and V2T writes:
Chris The Tree. I say ok let’s try again
I say you name Really careful and slow.
It changes to:
Chris Literally
So I stopped arguing with my iPhone.
Good work my Un-met cousin-
I’ll throw some gas money in the can.
Thank you! I'll be back in Lewistown again in May, and then (possibly, probably) again around the time of the Métis celebration around Labor Day.
Your kids and the poetry class sound like the best, most real form of active love I can imagine. I love hearing about their work, and how you lead them--it is poetry. I also love the poem--the line: "Do you greet the arriving season, / each and every season, / as you would this long lost friend?" I want to greet each season on earth this way, exactly. Thank you for such a beautiful reminder of spring.
Thank you, friend.
Thanks for the photo of Spring Creek. I wanted to jump thru and walk along its bank. I lived in the Snowy Mtns south of Lewistown 30 years ago. Of course, I never heard of its Metis founding. Glad you're sharing that history now. Hope you're well-received there. Superbloom is so lovely. Obviously written by an Emotional Yeti ;-) Found a great photo of one (actually a Bulgarian Kukeri) at NatGeo. Don't know how to attach it, so here's the link: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/kukeri-survakari-unesco-intangible-cultural-heritage-photos?
Thank you for the link! I LOVE that stuff.
Hi Chris,
Thankfully, that editor is long gone.
The World Poetry Day artwork is marvelous. I see a great future for the artist.
Have a great time in Lewistown. Talk about a genuine hometown!
Sincerely,
Melissa
We're related I'm a descendant