I got an email from our new leadership, asking what I envision for our country. I have to admit, that's pretty cool to be asked. save the cynicism, there is no time for that anymore. Here's what I wrote:
I had a thought on all the crazy news attention paid to the motivational speaker after the deaths of people in his sweat lodge. In all the press, I never once saw an interview with a Native American person. It brings up so many important conversations, but mostly how much we Westerners need to un-learn. I had an amazing talk with a wise woman today that was somewhat liberating, and centred on the positive skills of the Colonists. Now, I have a gut/knee-jerk reaction to the word, "colonization", so this one was hard for me. It's just as hard as knowing that people of Indigenous descent are capable of being just regular human beings with base and mundane foibles and feelings. So with my paradigms shaken up, I find myself at a unique place, and exactly where I should be. It's part of the unlearning. But it's also part of the Four Nations coming back together. There are rifts deeper than my imagining and historical trauma pervasive in Indigenous co...
When I originally started this program (PhD Weightloss), I was going to put it online, but I just couldn't bring myself to put it out there right away: 1. What if I fail (again!)? 2. What if the hater-trolls come out? 3. What if I actually don't believe in the program and feel like a fraud. There's probably more, but it doesn't matter, because here's the surprise part: I actually started this program 8 weeks ago!!!!!!! What's funny is that one of the reason's I could never seem to stick to anything is I had this crazy Montage Fantasy where somehow I would only have to: 1. Have a great idea. 2. Have a great soundtrack. 3. Really, really want to just be thin and healthy and somehow- POOF- I would be at the end of the movie, having learned all the lessons and be a size 6 with self-effacing modesty and a great wardrobe, with only three or four 2-minute sessions at the gym (looking very determined of course). So, I'm going to stack ...
After 36 hours of traveling (three planes and lots of layovers) we have arrived at Uluru. The tiny Ayers Rock airport was the last vestige of air conditioning before stepping out into the 98 degree heat. The stillness of the landscape is juxtaposed with a palpable vitality and living history, and our first stop from the airport was Anangu homelands of Uncle Bob Randall and his family. Driving along the red track Uncle Bob was telling us the hopes and dreams for his family's land. "The marker starts here, and then goes for as far as your eye can see." We then arrive at the spot where I learned how to cook a kangaroo tail three years ago, and now they've added to toilets and a little shelter for Grandmother Barbara to use when she comes out to teach. Johnny, Uncle Bob's son, has been clearing insidious non-native grass and the place looks amazing. This is the spot where hopefully more groups will have the chance to experience the Anangu stori...
Comments