I know there's a lot in here, but oof, the cattle truck right after McDonald's, that's a tough one. I listened to an interview yesterday where the woman talked about individual choices that we fail to make aligning with our professed values. It's all so true, and yet at the same time I feel like I'm in a small minority of people who even have the luxury to probe into those questions -- like, if my life were like my parents' life when I was growing up, barely able to feed my kids, I would find it hard to put a smidge of energy into the things I angst about giving up like, say, single-use plastic. Or almonds. And yet it's not like giving those things up isn't important. All our dollars perform political acts. But the system bears down on us hard from many different directions.
Thank you for hammering this home, Chris. What I think, when I read your truth, is of the timeless tragedy of living daily with existential PTSD. This is what European invaders have done to indigenous and enslaved people. The progeny of those Europeans have grown up in their sanitized bubbles, (myself included). They/we need constant reminders to set our minds right. Like a smoking, alcohol, or drug habit, the aquisition of the habit is seamlessly easy. Breaking the habit takes real work and minute-by-minute reminders. I hope we are up to rectifying our continued destructiveness.
That last paragraph reminds me of a Chief Earl Old Person quote that made it into a lot of tributes to him earlier this month: "Help one another out. Uplift each other and if you can protect someone, do it." Feels similar to say that if you can stand up for someone, do it. Who else will? You do it so consistently in what you share and I really admire you for it, Chris. It has really influenced how I show up in my own life, and made me more conscious about who I have a responsibility to stand up for even if I know I'm going to come off as prickly. :)
Heard and acknowledged. You're not wrong. The cow and the hamburger -- ouch. Guns -- agree so much! Mascots? Disgusting. Here in CA Gold Country, our high school mascot is the "Miners," aka the 1849ers who genocided the Nisenan, Maidu, Washoe, Konkow et al, and then fucked up the land beyond belief. But tiny change is coming. The mascot name is up for debate now. We managed to flip this very red county blue, even if we didn't dislodge the GOP shit stain that is Rep. Doug LaMalfa (yet). I do think progress is happening. Younger generations won't tolerate the bullshit we thought was normal. It's happening. I can see it. I can't believe I, bleakest half-empty person you ever met, am saying "have faith," but I do have faith in the next generations. They are way smarter than we are, and much less interested in our collective bullshit.
i'm vegan 27 years now. of course, there are many ways i do not will not (cannot?) live up to the kindness i supposedly espouse and learn from my spiritual teachers. for instance i am filled w/rage and hate towards the unvaccinated--who someone has also called the "uneducable"--and who keep this goddam pandemic going. the hamburger animal cruelty crops for meat agri-industry thing is a major part of the cis/white/bullshit culture's brutality, too. years ago, i taught in a small rural high school w/"indians" as their "mascot." supposedly a decade or so ago the school entered a "relationship" w/a tribe to turn this "mascot" name into an opportunity for "learning" about native peoples. the school got to keep the name, despite a state law, due to the tribe's "approval." however, i recently left a facebook group of the school alumni and former teachers because of virulent racist posts and comments related to the "controversy" about the name. clearly the educational "program" has been a failure.
Hi Chris - you not only spoke your truth, but the absolute truth so many white people refuse to acknowledge. I’ve got a few stories about the author of “Counting Coup”, but that’s for a different day. Some Mom’s Demand Action (against gun violence) are reading the Gunfight book. To me, it’s seems like cognitive dissonance, but that’s their choice. There was a thread on Twitter today about movies that are in the white savior genre. So many people were perplexed by that term and genre.
Thank you for the clarity and immediacy of your writing. I am feeling and hearing your words within my almost half-Norwegian DNA on behalf of my great and great great grandfathers and their families who came from Norway in the 1800s to farm in Iowa and Minnesota and have wondered what they knew and didn't know about the land they built their farms on. I can't "not know" who the land belongs to. It's impossible. I ask for courage daily.
Talk about peanut butter sandwiches makes me feel even more related! I appreciate the way in which you bring your living thread of way you have been spun so that others can understand the validation of their identity. I too have discovered much after my mother passed and it makes this part of the journey a different kind of trail of tears. It feels so good to find birds of the same feather!
I know there's a lot in here, but oof, the cattle truck right after McDonald's, that's a tough one. I listened to an interview yesterday where the woman talked about individual choices that we fail to make aligning with our professed values. It's all so true, and yet at the same time I feel like I'm in a small minority of people who even have the luxury to probe into those questions -- like, if my life were like my parents' life when I was growing up, barely able to feed my kids, I would find it hard to put a smidge of energy into the things I angst about giving up like, say, single-use plastic. Or almonds. And yet it's not like giving those things up isn't important. All our dollars perform political acts. But the system bears down on us hard from many different directions.
Thank you for hammering this home, Chris. What I think, when I read your truth, is of the timeless tragedy of living daily with existential PTSD. This is what European invaders have done to indigenous and enslaved people. The progeny of those Europeans have grown up in their sanitized bubbles, (myself included). They/we need constant reminders to set our minds right. Like a smoking, alcohol, or drug habit, the aquisition of the habit is seamlessly easy. Breaking the habit takes real work and minute-by-minute reminders. I hope we are up to rectifying our continued destructiveness.
That last paragraph reminds me of a Chief Earl Old Person quote that made it into a lot of tributes to him earlier this month: "Help one another out. Uplift each other and if you can protect someone, do it." Feels similar to say that if you can stand up for someone, do it. Who else will? You do it so consistently in what you share and I really admire you for it, Chris. It has really influenced how I show up in my own life, and made me more conscious about who I have a responsibility to stand up for even if I know I'm going to come off as prickly. :)
God damn, man. Stand up straight and speak your mind. I'm here for it.
Heard and acknowledged. You're not wrong. The cow and the hamburger -- ouch. Guns -- agree so much! Mascots? Disgusting. Here in CA Gold Country, our high school mascot is the "Miners," aka the 1849ers who genocided the Nisenan, Maidu, Washoe, Konkow et al, and then fucked up the land beyond belief. But tiny change is coming. The mascot name is up for debate now. We managed to flip this very red county blue, even if we didn't dislodge the GOP shit stain that is Rep. Doug LaMalfa (yet). I do think progress is happening. Younger generations won't tolerate the bullshit we thought was normal. It's happening. I can see it. I can't believe I, bleakest half-empty person you ever met, am saying "have faith," but I do have faith in the next generations. They are way smarter than we are, and much less interested in our collective bullshit.
Always grateful that you voice things the way that you do, and that we - a scattered band of fellow outsiders - get to listen in.
Here’s a relatively simple way to take action. Public comment is being accepted until Oct 29th on the creation of the second house district for MT. Two options are being considered- one of which will virtually guarantee that the new district’s race is not competitive and favors the GOP. Western Native Voice is gathering signatures in favor of the option which will produce a more competitive race, Map #11. You can sign on here- especially if you’re an MT resident. You can also email the redistricting committee directly at redistricting@mt.gov and voice support for Map #11. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSetXzUNU4jjo6gmdy4pB8RkLKBwRnHPzuvDpmROjsu2jDcMIg/viewform?fbclid=IwAR3S6JlcfhGnRQFyfB-O9yfv475C7_Y1ovKkeknbGbYIldHu09ezAtot2ZY
i'm vegan 27 years now. of course, there are many ways i do not will not (cannot?) live up to the kindness i supposedly espouse and learn from my spiritual teachers. for instance i am filled w/rage and hate towards the unvaccinated--who someone has also called the "uneducable"--and who keep this goddam pandemic going. the hamburger animal cruelty crops for meat agri-industry thing is a major part of the cis/white/bullshit culture's brutality, too. years ago, i taught in a small rural high school w/"indians" as their "mascot." supposedly a decade or so ago the school entered a "relationship" w/a tribe to turn this "mascot" name into an opportunity for "learning" about native peoples. the school got to keep the name, despite a state law, due to the tribe's "approval." however, i recently left a facebook group of the school alumni and former teachers because of virulent racist posts and comments related to the "controversy" about the name. clearly the educational "program" has been a failure.
I appreciate your work always brother.
Hi Chris - you not only spoke your truth, but the absolute truth so many white people refuse to acknowledge. I’ve got a few stories about the author of “Counting Coup”, but that’s for a different day. Some Mom’s Demand Action (against gun violence) are reading the Gunfight book. To me, it’s seems like cognitive dissonance, but that’s their choice. There was a thread on Twitter today about movies that are in the white savior genre. So many people were perplexed by that term and genre.
💕 The other comments say it better than I can. I hear you and fight my fight against the system.
Thank you for the clarity and immediacy of your writing. I am feeling and hearing your words within my almost half-Norwegian DNA on behalf of my great and great great grandfathers and their families who came from Norway in the 1800s to farm in Iowa and Minnesota and have wondered what they knew and didn't know about the land they built their farms on. I can't "not know" who the land belongs to. It's impossible. I ask for courage daily.
Talk about peanut butter sandwiches makes me feel even more related! I appreciate the way in which you bring your living thread of way you have been spun so that others can understand the validation of their identity. I too have discovered much after my mother passed and it makes this part of the journey a different kind of trail of tears. It feels so good to find birds of the same feather!