Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! While I am delighted by the progress that has been made, dividing the concept of infrastructure between hard and soft makes me chuckle. Why bother to have one -- roads and bridges -- without the other -- supporting the people who need to be able to use them. Just MHO.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! While I am delighted by the progress that has been made, dividing the concept of infrastructure between hard and soft makes me chuckle. Why bother to have one -- roads and bridges -- without the other -- supporting the people who need to be able to use them. Just MHO.
Meanwhile, back to January 6 with the DOJ "clearing a path" towards accountability:
As well, today, July 29, a 25-ft 5,000-pound totem pole carved by the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation will conclude its cross-country journey in Washington, DC. The totem pole will be on view July 29–31, 2021, near the Smithsonian"s National Museum of the American Indian entrance. Their journey started on July 14 in Washington State, with stops at sacred sites in Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan. Their purpose is to highlight the need for awareness about Indigenous "struggles to protect water, land, sacred sites, and [Indigenous People's] collective future."
Click on this link for a map of their journey. Then watch the 2+ minute video about the Red Road to DC Totem Pole Journey:
Wow, what a journey for the beautiful totem pole winding its way across the country!
Also on the move...Rev. William Barber and the Poor People's Campaign marching to Austin, Texas to rally support for voting rights, raising the minimum wage, and protections for undocumented immigrants:
Lynell! I’ve been waiting to hear an update about the saga of the totem pole that you have chronicled on the forum. What timing. My heart just soars. What sacred inspiration for our earth and all its living creatures.
I watched the blessing ceremony online when it passed through Minnesota and stopped at the line 3 encampment. Enbridge Oil company is seeking permits from Minnesota’s Public Utility to build a pipeline across Minnesota including crossing native lands- an obvious treaty violation. Part of the proposed route includes placing the pipeline underneath the Mississippi River.
Just imagine an oil spill’s effect in that river: the Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. How many millions of people along its journey from northern Minnesota to New Orleans , LA rely on it for drinking water or irrigation? How many millions of waterfowl winter along it south of the ice line that covers the river here? What happens when oil sludge kills off fish, frogs, and bugs that call it home, not to mention the crayfish so famous in Southern cuisine? How much of this country’s commerce relies on healthy Mississippi River?
Every Wednesday I go to a friend’s house to see a group of five very creative women. We knit, crochet , bead or some other creative task, have dinner together and catch up. We often make hats or blankets to give away. Last night, we watched the blessings of the Totem online, and, as a group, added our own prayers for the journey. We also undertook a new assignment to make items for kids on the White Earth Indian reservation near the pipeline’s route. My neighbor grew up on White Earth and has been collecting items to helps children who lost parents/guardians/grandparents to COVID. No brainer to help. But imagine what happens to their ability to feed themselves if the waters are fouled with oil and they can no longer gather wild rice or walleye or grow food on their lands?
The Waters Protectors’ commitment is inspiring but has become death defying. The future of the river and the planet are at stake. Please find a way to add your voice and support. Many thanks Lynell for posting!
So glad to hear from you, Sheila. I knew there were very in-the-know folks on this page who could expand the narrative in sharp image. So thank you! By your writing, we are in such disrepair. I have been using my limited skills by giving support and signing petitions re Enbridge Lines 3 and 5, Bears Ears, The Snake River, The Tongass, Black Hills and more.
On the contrary, Lynell, thank you! The infrastructure package includes electrifying transportation across this country - a critical piece of switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, while creating great jobs and lowering carbon emissions. Lots of moving pieces and ALL efforts are needed. Appreciate the nod to the Red Road journey. Mni wiconi - water is life.
Yes, we must continue to protect Mother Earth. We are still fighting Enbridge in Michigan, the pipeline lwas placed on the floor of Lake Michigan by the Mackinac Bridge 72 years ago, and now they plan to dig a tunnel for it, despite our Governor ordering it closed in May (they ignored the orders). Like the Mississipi, the Great Lake encompass a huge, sensitive and important ecosystem. Our Water Protectors inspire us all. But it is a terrible fight. Latest news is a 15,000 pound anchor came loose, somewhere...
That pipeline is, in some way, almost worse than Line 3. That Enbridge is defying Governor Whitmer's order to cease construction is almost beyond belief. An oil spill in one of the Great Lakes would be utterly catastrophic. Gads, there is a lot to do. Stay well and safe - hope your air quality is OK (worst air quality measurements ever recorded in MN today - Canadian wildfires are within 1 mile of the Minnesota border and we have a cold front coming in from Canada. Some days, ya just can't win....)
Morning Lynnel. I've been following this for a while...a really fabulous, epic voyage and symbol for the future. I'm in Beaune currenly stopping of in an extremely pleasant place on my way wn to the house in Provence for the rest of the summer. Ducks swimming in the stream in front of the hotel and a great meal in Volnay last night. Life is hard.
Thank you for sharing this post complete with sites to visit. My spouse has Lakota Sioux ancestry. His cousins have taught us much about the history and current problem of indigenous peoples. I love the plan to visit sacred sites and emphasize that they are indeed sacred. Here in Oregon some parcels of land have been returned to indigenous peoples finally. We live in Salem very close to Chemawa, a boarding school and I know its grounds contain a cemetery. In southern Oregon where is a severe drought there is now a water shortage and the latest iteration of the problems between the indigenous people there and the farmers and ranchers. I do not know where this will go and some followers of the notorious Ammun Bundy are present. The Bootleg fire is not too far away for these people as well. We also have R obstruction and pot stirrers like Timber Unity financed by out of state sources. Finally, like many other places, cases of COVID are growing again, so we will put on our masks to go grocery shopping and return to takeout only for our favorite restaurant.
(Waves from Eugene) I am constantly stunned at the "Timber Unity" people. I have been following (not closely) the stories out of Chemawa and some of the horrors there.
Waving back and hoping to be in Eugene for women's basketball games at the UO. When we had the fires up the Santiam Canyon last fall, hay trucks delivered a lot of bales to people for their animals, but they had Timber Unity signs plastered all over them and also political signs for Kim Thatcher, a local R obstructionist, from Keizer. Maybe this happened up the McKenzie in your area as well. I was glad to see the hay, but I think donations should be made without trying to make political hay, so to speak. After the initial articles, there has been nothing about Chemawa in the local rag.
Actually it's Gannett and they have reduced the SJ to practically nothing. We do it online and the RG as well. We have our season tickets and hopefully can attend although the cases are going in the wrong direction because people will not get vaccinated. Sigh.
Thank you for sharing your story, Michele! How wonderful that you have cousins (by marriage) who have continued the history of the Lakota Sioux to your husband and you. Imagine how different life would be if all the treaties our government signed never had been broken.
Yes, very different. I have started to read a book called Unworthy Republic which is about moving indigenous people out of the eastern half of the country and across the Mississippi. I have had to lay it down because it was making me so angry. I did enjoy a history of the Lakota and learned a great deal that I didn't know. It is written by someone at Oxford which did surprise me a little. When I look at climate change, the results of which are upon us in Oregon, I think we could use the outlook of indigenous peoples about our treatment of the planet. This is one of the reasons that the obstruction of the Rs makes me want to weep and also makes me very angry.
Thank you for sharing this, I had no idea! Maybe this is a good place to say I just finished reading an amazing YA novel (at almost 60, I still love a good YA book and there's plenty out there!) about a strong young Ojibwe woman who becomes involved in an undercover investigation of meth distribution in her community in Michigan's UP. It's called Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. It was recommended by the NYT book review and rightly so.
I'll look for it at my library - thanks for the recommendation. I have been reading a lot of YA myself as my daughter enters her teen years. A good one I'm reading now is All Boys Aren't Blue by George Johnson - his journey through childhood and now as a LGBTQIA+ activist.
excellent point Lynell..'Why bother...'! Repubs agree because some of this $$$ will go to their "favored" contractors who will then refill the campaign coffers! Repubs do not care about the commonweal of Mom and Pop citizens!
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! While I am delighted by the progress that has been made, dividing the concept of infrastructure between hard and soft makes me chuckle. Why bother to have one -- roads and bridges -- without the other -- supporting the people who need to be able to use them. Just MHO.
Meanwhile, back to January 6 with the DOJ "clearing a path" towards accountability:
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/27/1021144336/justice-department-clears-way-for-trump-officials-to-testify-about-jan-6th
As well, today, July 29, a 25-ft 5,000-pound totem pole carved by the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation will conclude its cross-country journey in Washington, DC. The totem pole will be on view July 29–31, 2021, near the Smithsonian"s National Museum of the American Indian entrance. Their journey started on July 14 in Washington State, with stops at sacred sites in Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan. Their purpose is to highlight the need for awareness about Indigenous "struggles to protect water, land, sacred sites, and [Indigenous People's] collective future."
Click on this link for a map of their journey. Then watch the 2+ minute video about the Red Road to DC Totem Pole Journey:
https://redroadtodc.org/?fbclid=IwAR2X8UtmmOiyII02zif9APkpZiFc5qxFNXI31rj5ihWSexvWc65agU6eghw
Here is a Sierra Club "postcard" about the journey:
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/postcard-red-road-dc?utm_source=insider&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
And this from the Smithsonian:
https://americanindian.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/item?id=984
Wow, what a journey for the beautiful totem pole winding its way across the country!
Also on the move...Rev. William Barber and the Poor People's Campaign marching to Austin, Texas to rally support for voting rights, raising the minimum wage, and protections for undocumented immigrants:
https://actionnetwork.org/events/georgetown-to-austin-march-for-democracy
(At least one HCR Substacker is participating!)
Morning, Ellie!! Thank you...Thank you! In my zeal to follow Red Road, I lost sight of the Poor People's agenda.
People on the streets standing up for their beliefs and values in all possible non-violent ways is what is needed to protect democracy.
😊
Thanks for sharing!
Lynell! I’ve been waiting to hear an update about the saga of the totem pole that you have chronicled on the forum. What timing. My heart just soars. What sacred inspiration for our earth and all its living creatures.
Thank you!
Morning, Christine!! You're welcome🙂
I watched the blessing ceremony online when it passed through Minnesota and stopped at the line 3 encampment. Enbridge Oil company is seeking permits from Minnesota’s Public Utility to build a pipeline across Minnesota including crossing native lands- an obvious treaty violation. Part of the proposed route includes placing the pipeline underneath the Mississippi River.
Just imagine an oil spill’s effect in that river: the Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. How many millions of people along its journey from northern Minnesota to New Orleans , LA rely on it for drinking water or irrigation? How many millions of waterfowl winter along it south of the ice line that covers the river here? What happens when oil sludge kills off fish, frogs, and bugs that call it home, not to mention the crayfish so famous in Southern cuisine? How much of this country’s commerce relies on healthy Mississippi River?
Every Wednesday I go to a friend’s house to see a group of five very creative women. We knit, crochet , bead or some other creative task, have dinner together and catch up. We often make hats or blankets to give away. Last night, we watched the blessings of the Totem online, and, as a group, added our own prayers for the journey. We also undertook a new assignment to make items for kids on the White Earth Indian reservation near the pipeline’s route. My neighbor grew up on White Earth and has been collecting items to helps children who lost parents/guardians/grandparents to COVID. No brainer to help. But imagine what happens to their ability to feed themselves if the waters are fouled with oil and they can no longer gather wild rice or walleye or grow food on their lands?
The Waters Protectors’ commitment is inspiring but has become death defying. The future of the river and the planet are at stake. Please find a way to add your voice and support. Many thanks Lynell for posting!
So glad to hear from you, Sheila. I knew there were very in-the-know folks on this page who could expand the narrative in sharp image. So thank you! By your writing, we are in such disrepair. I have been using my limited skills by giving support and signing petitions re Enbridge Lines 3 and 5, Bears Ears, The Snake River, The Tongass, Black Hills and more.
On the contrary, Lynell, thank you! The infrastructure package includes electrifying transportation across this country - a critical piece of switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, while creating great jobs and lowering carbon emissions. Lots of moving pieces and ALL efforts are needed. Appreciate the nod to the Red Road journey. Mni wiconi - water is life.
So thrilled to have Pete Buttigieg in charge of infrastructure!
🙂
Yes, we must continue to protect Mother Earth. We are still fighting Enbridge in Michigan, the pipeline lwas placed on the floor of Lake Michigan by the Mackinac Bridge 72 years ago, and now they plan to dig a tunnel for it, despite our Governor ordering it closed in May (they ignored the orders). Like the Mississipi, the Great Lake encompass a huge, sensitive and important ecosystem. Our Water Protectors inspire us all. But it is a terrible fight. Latest news is a 15,000 pound anchor came loose, somewhere...
That pipeline is, in some way, almost worse than Line 3. That Enbridge is defying Governor Whitmer's order to cease construction is almost beyond belief. An oil spill in one of the Great Lakes would be utterly catastrophic. Gads, there is a lot to do. Stay well and safe - hope your air quality is OK (worst air quality measurements ever recorded in MN today - Canadian wildfires are within 1 mile of the Minnesota border and we have a cold front coming in from Canada. Some days, ya just can't win....)
😔
Isn't Enbridge a Canadian company? How can they defy Whitmer's order?
$64 billion dollar question.
Morning Lynnel. I've been following this for a while...a really fabulous, epic voyage and symbol for the future. I'm in Beaune currenly stopping of in an extremely pleasant place on my way wn to the house in Provence for the rest of the summer. Ducks swimming in the stream in front of the hotel and a great meal in Volnay last night. Life is hard.
Morning, Stuart!! Nice to know you have been following this journey. Enjoy the rest of your summer. You, dear sir, deserve it.
Fabulous, Stuart! Keep on painting a summer visual picture.
Thank you for sharing this post complete with sites to visit. My spouse has Lakota Sioux ancestry. His cousins have taught us much about the history and current problem of indigenous peoples. I love the plan to visit sacred sites and emphasize that they are indeed sacred. Here in Oregon some parcels of land have been returned to indigenous peoples finally. We live in Salem very close to Chemawa, a boarding school and I know its grounds contain a cemetery. In southern Oregon where is a severe drought there is now a water shortage and the latest iteration of the problems between the indigenous people there and the farmers and ranchers. I do not know where this will go and some followers of the notorious Ammun Bundy are present. The Bootleg fire is not too far away for these people as well. We also have R obstruction and pot stirrers like Timber Unity financed by out of state sources. Finally, like many other places, cases of COVID are growing again, so we will put on our masks to go grocery shopping and return to takeout only for our favorite restaurant.
(Waves from Eugene) I am constantly stunned at the "Timber Unity" people. I have been following (not closely) the stories out of Chemawa and some of the horrors there.
Waving back and hoping to be in Eugene for women's basketball games at the UO. When we had the fires up the Santiam Canyon last fall, hay trucks delivered a lot of bales to people for their animals, but they had Timber Unity signs plastered all over them and also political signs for Kim Thatcher, a local R obstructionist, from Keizer. Maybe this happened up the McKenzie in your area as well. I was glad to see the hay, but I think donations should be made without trying to make political hay, so to speak. After the initial articles, there has been nothing about Chemawa in the local rag.
I believe the Statesman-Journal and the Register Guard are both Gatehouse publications. Need I say more?
Hope you get down to watch some basketball. I got to watch the 209-20 team play once. Ionescu is amazing.
Actually it's Gannett and they have reduced the SJ to practically nothing. We do it online and the RG as well. We have our season tickets and hopefully can attend although the cases are going in the wrong direction because people will not get vaccinated. Sigh.
Thank you for sharing your story, Michele! How wonderful that you have cousins (by marriage) who have continued the history of the Lakota Sioux to your husband and you. Imagine how different life would be if all the treaties our government signed never had been broken.
Yes, very different. I have started to read a book called Unworthy Republic which is about moving indigenous people out of the eastern half of the country and across the Mississippi. I have had to lay it down because it was making me so angry. I did enjoy a history of the Lakota and learned a great deal that I didn't know. It is written by someone at Oxford which did surprise me a little. When I look at climate change, the results of which are upon us in Oregon, I think we could use the outlook of indigenous peoples about our treatment of the planet. This is one of the reasons that the obstruction of the Rs makes me want to weep and also makes me very angry.
Thank you—adding Unworthy Republic to Mount Books.
Angry and sad at the same time. I think many of us could learn a thing or two from these good people.
Thank you for sharing this, I had no idea! Maybe this is a good place to say I just finished reading an amazing YA novel (at almost 60, I still love a good YA book and there's plenty out there!) about a strong young Ojibwe woman who becomes involved in an undercover investigation of meth distribution in her community in Michigan's UP. It's called Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. It was recommended by the NYT book review and rightly so.
I'll look for it at my library - thanks for the recommendation. I have been reading a lot of YA myself as my daughter enters her teen years. A good one I'm reading now is All Boys Aren't Blue by George Johnson - his journey through childhood and now as a LGBTQIA+ activist.
Thank you for the book review! Will order it! My husband's Ojibway family is from northeast of The Soo.
Good for you, Beth! A good YA book is just my speed.
Thx, on my reading list.
Thanks for sharing. This is wonderful and I am now a follower.
Yay, Margaret!
Cool!
excellent point Lynell..'Why bother...'! Repubs agree because some of this $$$ will go to their "favored" contractors who will then refill the campaign coffers! Repubs do not care about the commonweal of Mom and Pop citizens!
Exactly true, Louis!
Morning, Lynell! Thanks for this update!
Morning, Ally!! They traveled through Oregon but didn't stop there. I think that counts.
Thank you so very much for lifting our hearts with this.