A more than perfect illusion/illusionary allusion of a response . Easter back when we had rabbits 1994-2020, Easters were more fun and the Holy Lands this year nothing but fresh chaos. Sharing a BunnytownUSA local TV story.
Lots of things here I have tried as newbie to do have blown up. Will see if this legitimate link works.
I like your comment below, Sherman, about Custer and Springsteen. I am half native and half honky, and try to be more Springsteen than Custer on that side.
I’m reading your poem. I listened to it yesterday with my wife, Cinny. We were touched. As I read it at this ridiculous hour my mind runs crazy. Yes, it is the wild salmon, it’s Juan Crow of the early 1900s in the Southwest, it’s two Black Justins being thrown out of elected office in TN.
I am stuck with being white!! I am sorrowful and ashamed.
I don’t care about Jesus and the tomb. I don’t know how to respond when someone says, “Have a nice Easter.” What the hell does that mean?
I have progressed from having been an ordained Christian minister to the study of Stoicism. Like the serenity prayer, we Stoics are to know what
Is not in our control. So what do I do with racism that eliminates salmon, hangs Mexicans, expels young Black leaders and festers with trumpism?
I understand, empathize with, and share your anger! But I could list here so many white people, white Americans, who have done so many amazing things for people, things that benefit us on a daily basis. I only know a little about stocism so I don't know what it says about opposing ideas—that two things can be true at the same time. I like to joke that, sure, white people brought us General George Armstrong Custer but they also brought us Bruce Springsteen; I happily make that trade!
Hmmm... But could you figure out which stage name would be worse?... Bruce Custer or George Armstrong Springsteen? No doubt a regrettable choice in either case.
Now that is bad to the bone! Here’s a story idea… two kids, budding musicians, play a game on their phones called Band Name! Where every time they think of a funny or weird conjunction of words or ideas they make it into a band name and text it to the other guy… thinking at some point they’ll hit on the thing they’ll become famous for… hard to have a band without a good band name, right? And of course, a kind of comic poetry of obsession, misinterpretation, and stupidity ensues. (That’s the latest from my random bad idea generator). Cheers!
My grandfather worked on the Grand Coulee dam. He used to tell stories about the work and I loved listening to them. Some were pretty gruesome regarding people who died during the construction. He had movies of the construction work but the US government confiscated them during WWII because he was born in Italy and considered an enemy alien.
When I was young, I was so impressed with the engineering feat that was the dam, but then I leaned about all the displacement of people and drowning sacred places and it broke my heart. Now, on top of all that, after working with orca research, conservation, and education, I see the even larger ecosystem disruption caused be the Grand Coulee dam. Since part of my DNA contributed to that devastation, I need to be part of the remedy.
The Grand Coulee Dam is an epic feat of construction. And the people who worked to build it were brave, strong, and talented. That's one of the dichotomies we need to hold, I think. And it has also helped irrigate the lands that grow our food. And it provides the electricity that powers our stuff and helps shelter us. And...it's an environmental disaster.
Yes, those dichotomies. I see the dams as temporary steps in our collective evolution. There are other, less destructive, ways to generate electricity and to provide water. As I start to write this, I see a very long discussion developing in my mind and words are backing up behind my dammed fingers. I'll stop for now with this... Finding and enacting solutions to these problems is my motivation for having just sold my business and spending the next 16 months trying to make the WorldPOP Festival happen, so people worldwide will be motivated and empowered to take actions to help restore their local ecosystems.
One of the most bizarre things happening for me, a kid who grew up with two uranium mines on his reservation, is that I'm slowly beginning to think that...nuclear...might...be...the...way. Did I just say that?
Prior to my past 30 years of building hydrophones for cetacean research, I worked doing energy conservation research, and before that I worked at the UW's Nuclear Physics Lab (NPL). If it weren't for the extremely rare but also extremely dangerous, disasters with nuclear fission (and the waste that remains dangerous for eon), I would support nuclear reactors. I was working at the NPL when Chernobyl melted down and we were measuring the radioactive cesium raining down on us here in Seattle. It was those measurements that led to milk being dumped for a few weeks afterward.
Work continues to progress on fusion reactors, and once they can reliably produce net positive energy I'll be all over them!
The son of God pounding on the walls of his stone prison and can't get out. Salmon pounding against the walls of the dam that they can't surmount to create new life.
= death with no resurrection at all. Magnificent poem.
Thanks for your poem. Here in South Dakota we have seven dams on the MIssouri River that flooded the rich bottomlands once inhabited and hunted by the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota peoples. You look at lakes differently when you realized how much they cover that has been taken.
Also if others haven't already done this, I would recommend listening to the voiceover as well as reading on the screen. Hearing the poem aloud made me feel the structural choices as opposed to thinking about them.
Powerful stuff! As a kid, I didn't understand the 2nd order effects that damning the Columbia, Snake, etc. would create. It wasn't until several years later, that I understood.
A more than perfect illusion/illusionary allusion of a response . Easter back when we had rabbits 1994-2020, Easters were more fun and the Holy Lands this year nothing but fresh chaos. Sharing a BunnytownUSA local TV story.
Lots of things here I have tried as newbie to do have blown up. Will see if this legitimate link works.
https://youtu.be/Y0jPK43x75s
I like your comment below, Sherman, about Custer and Springsteen. I am half native and half honky, and try to be more Springsteen than Custer on that side.
"More Springsteen than Custer" is a great title!
distressing documentation of the Grand Coulee Dam in this book https://www.amazon.com/Native-American-Testimony-Chronicle-Indian-White/dp/0140281592
Powerful and thank you.
Thank you, Gael.
I’m reading your poem. I listened to it yesterday with my wife, Cinny. We were touched. As I read it at this ridiculous hour my mind runs crazy. Yes, it is the wild salmon, it’s Juan Crow of the early 1900s in the Southwest, it’s two Black Justins being thrown out of elected office in TN.
I am stuck with being white!! I am sorrowful and ashamed.
I don’t care about Jesus and the tomb. I don’t know how to respond when someone says, “Have a nice Easter.” What the hell does that mean?
I have progressed from having been an ordained Christian minister to the study of Stoicism. Like the serenity prayer, we Stoics are to know what
Is not in our control. So what do I do with racism that eliminates salmon, hangs Mexicans, expels young Black leaders and festers with trumpism?
Stoics are taught to work for the common good.
But I am so weary.
Guess I’ll just go back to bed.
Roger Golden
I understand, empathize with, and share your anger! But I could list here so many white people, white Americans, who have done so many amazing things for people, things that benefit us on a daily basis. I only know a little about stocism so I don't know what it says about opposing ideas—that two things can be true at the same time. I like to joke that, sure, white people brought us General George Armstrong Custer but they also brought us Bruce Springsteen; I happily make that trade!
Hmmm... But could you figure out which stage name would be worse?... Bruce Custer or George Armstrong Springsteen? No doubt a regrettable choice in either case.
Hahahahahahahhaha. I think George Armstrong Nugent works!
Flaming arrows and everything… there is something about epic stupidity that’s just exhilarating! Awesome, dude!
Now that is bad to the bone! Here’s a story idea… two kids, budding musicians, play a game on their phones called Band Name! Where every time they think of a funny or weird conjunction of words or ideas they make it into a band name and text it to the other guy… thinking at some point they’ll hit on the thing they’ll become famous for… hard to have a band without a good band name, right? And of course, a kind of comic poetry of obsession, misinterpretation, and stupidity ensues. (That’s the latest from my random bad idea generator). Cheers!
Hahahaha
Your response and the rising sun here in Virginia have given me a new day. Thanks for your good work.
This is powerful and a great one to share, Sherman. Who is the artist?
Thank you, Kim. The artists is...Substack's new AI machine.
My grandfather worked on the Grand Coulee dam. He used to tell stories about the work and I loved listening to them. Some were pretty gruesome regarding people who died during the construction. He had movies of the construction work but the US government confiscated them during WWII because he was born in Italy and considered an enemy alien.
When I was young, I was so impressed with the engineering feat that was the dam, but then I leaned about all the displacement of people and drowning sacred places and it broke my heart. Now, on top of all that, after working with orca research, conservation, and education, I see the even larger ecosystem disruption caused be the Grand Coulee dam. Since part of my DNA contributed to that devastation, I need to be part of the remedy.
The Grand Coulee Dam is an epic feat of construction. And the people who worked to build it were brave, strong, and talented. That's one of the dichotomies we need to hold, I think. And it has also helped irrigate the lands that grow our food. And it provides the electricity that powers our stuff and helps shelter us. And...it's an environmental disaster.
Yes, those dichotomies. I see the dams as temporary steps in our collective evolution. There are other, less destructive, ways to generate electricity and to provide water. As I start to write this, I see a very long discussion developing in my mind and words are backing up behind my dammed fingers. I'll stop for now with this... Finding and enacting solutions to these problems is my motivation for having just sold my business and spending the next 16 months trying to make the WorldPOP Festival happen, so people worldwide will be motivated and empowered to take actions to help restore their local ecosystems.
One of the most bizarre things happening for me, a kid who grew up with two uranium mines on his reservation, is that I'm slowly beginning to think that...nuclear...might...be...the...way. Did I just say that?
Prior to my past 30 years of building hydrophones for cetacean research, I worked doing energy conservation research, and before that I worked at the UW's Nuclear Physics Lab (NPL). If it weren't for the extremely rare but also extremely dangerous, disasters with nuclear fission (and the waste that remains dangerous for eon), I would support nuclear reactors. I was working at the NPL when Chernobyl melted down and we were measuring the radioactive cesium raining down on us here in Seattle. It was those measurements that led to milk being dumped for a few weeks afterward.
Work continues to progress on fusion reactors, and once they can reliably produce net positive energy I'll be all over them!
Yes, I feel all of those emotions—all the doubt and hope and more doubt.
Joe, I just read your words after writing my rant. Deeply touched by your grandfather’s story and your life direction. So good.
Can’t say anything there are just no words that can express how I feel reading this poem. Thank you!
Thank you, Molly.
Though I don't truly consider myself a Christian, your analogy is powerful. Thank you.
Thank you, Steve.
The son of God pounding on the walls of his stone prison and can't get out. Salmon pounding against the walls of the dam that they can't surmount to create new life.
= death with no resurrection at all. Magnificent poem.
Thank you, Kate.
Nothing to add to this gem. Perfect in its simplicity. And true for so many more.
Thank you, Joshua.
Jesus Saves. Salmon Saves ....what have we done? Always grateful for your words and the thoughts.
Thank you. Salmon are Jesus Fish.
Fuck. Really powerful. Really impressed with the simplicity and finality of it.
Thank you!
Thanks for your poem. Here in South Dakota we have seven dams on the MIssouri River that flooded the rich bottomlands once inhabited and hunted by the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota peoples. You look at lakes differently when you realized how much they cover that has been taken.
My wife is Hidatsa. Garrison Dam flooded so much land of the Three Affiliated Tribes—Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara.
Too much taking.
Beautiful poem! Thanks for sharing!
Also if others haven't already done this, I would recommend listening to the voiceover as well as reading on the screen. Hearing the poem aloud made me feel the structural choices as opposed to thinking about them.
Thank you, Spencer!
Powerful stuff! As a kid, I didn't understand the 2nd order effects that damning the Columbia, Snake, etc. would create. It wasn't until several years later, that I understood.
Yeah, to paraphrase Ms. Mitchell, they paved over our paradise and put up a hydroelectric dam.