The Deluge

Thoughts on Nov 9th at 0230:  Son of a bitch, did that really just happen?  President-elect Trump will take office on January 20, 2017 and here's just one more reason why it maters:  The Dakota Access Pipeline.

On Sunday I returned to Minneapolis after spending 3 days in Standing Rock, ND as a part of the water protection movement.  I'm hesitant to write about my experience because it was so brief, but to be blunt things are happening too quickly for me to bite my tongue.

The media is providing little coverage.  Politicians feel that their hands are tied due to the election, and hopefully sweeping action will occur during this political liminal space.  Oh, and DAPL is encroaching on the Missouri River without proper permits, and installing their drill pad on Army Corps land, which they have not recieved an easement for yet.  Construction is not slowing down.  Fellow human beings are being brutalized by the police with rubber bullets, light grenades, tear gas, mace, batons, military vehicles, and LRADs (long-range acoustic devices), which are the most frightening in my opinion.

While waiting on line for dinner at one of the kitchens, I struck up a conversation with a Native American from Spokane, WA who had just returned to camp for the third time.  While he was away these two things happened (Oct 28, and Nov 2).  After dinner we continued to talk and I met the other men at his camp, one who jokingly intrdocued himself as Wounded Tent because of the irreparable damage done to his winter tent by the police on Oct 28th during the eviction of the North Camp.  My friend and I continued to talk, and I listened as he told me of how an elder was forcibly removed from a sweat lodge during the North Camp eviction, which in my mind struck parallels to Oscar Romero's martyrdom while celebrating Mass.  This shit is a big deal, and the call to remain peaceful and prayerful during this movement is still being ordered by the elders.  My friend from Spokane expressed his frustrations saying, "If this were a boxing match, it would be much easier.  Peaceful, civil disobedience is fucking hard."     

Standing Rock needs assistance and partnership in varying ways.  Use your voice and contact President Obama demanding action.  Use your presence on Nov 15th to demand DAPL is denied by demonstrating at the Army Corps of Engingeers.  If you're feeling called to journey to Standing Rock to serve the indigenous as they continue to protect the water, please go and follow their lead.  If you're nervous about the harsh winter (no shame), please donate to Standing Rock so that they can continue their protection movement and the winterization process of the camp. Speak with your wallet and pull your money out of the 17 big banks that have been identified as DAPL investors and put them in a credit union.

Making the case against the Dakota Access Pipeline is quick and dirty.  Building infrastructure to continue our national dependece on fossil fuels perpetuates the complacency felt by the government.  It provides space to delay investment in alternative energy sources.  Pipelines may be "safer" than the existing method of transport, but they leak, and that has a significant effect on the environment as it infiltrates groundwater and is swept downstream.  The carbon dioxide levels in the atmostphere are now averaging above 400ppm.  Climate scientists have proposed as 350ppm as the safe threshold, and 400ppm has been considered "doomsday" by many reserachers.  Finally, how this relates to humans on the plant:  climate refugees.  The poor will be first to feel the effects of climate change, and it is already being felt in America, and across the globe.  The marginalized have always acted as canaries in our society, and the early effects they are feeling are bound to creep into the lives of the comfortable.

If this election has revealed anything it's that America is deeply fractured.  That fracture shouldn't be a deterrent for fighting to improve the country we live in.  A presidency shouldn't be rooted in reversing critical policies that were implemented to protect the environment, and the most vulnerable people in our world, which is why this is the opportune moment to tune in, stand up, and act boldly as citizens.

Becoming my Mother

One of the earliest memories I have with my mom is an anatomy lesson.  I can't remember what I asked, but it must have been about babies.  I remember her saying:

"Hold out your fist.  You have a uterus, and it's about the size of your fist.  That's where a baby grows."

 

Completely enamored by this thing called a uterus, I did not think of a follow up question as to how a baby would find its way into a uterus.  My lack of critical thinking skills at 4 is not the point though.  My mom tells the truth, and as I grew up I learned to live in my own truth, and grew to appreciate the transparency my mom encouraged. 

I don't remember the exact moment I learned about suicide, but I grew up knowing what it was.  My maternal grandmother committed suicide the year before I was born.  This was a fact of life as I grew up, and is a piece of my history too.  I grew up with a mom who encouraged us to take an emotional inventory regularly, and to distinguish between the typical fleeting sadness and hopelessness. 

My mom is a badass, and the thing I admire most about her is her honesty, even when I don't want to hear it.  She is a badass bitch, and a solid human being who is filled with wisdom, rationality, while also serving as huge source of encouragement for all of the life decisions I seem to make on a whim.

I'm getting to the point in life where little things I do (typically things that drove me insane growing up) make me realize I'm becoming my mother.  One time in a cleaning frenzy I recycled the registration for our community car in JVC, and had to ask my program coordinator to go to the DMV to get another one.  I'm becoming my mother.  Whenever I turn on my headlights while driving when it's daytime I think of my mother.  All of the times I lose my phone in the giant bag of food I carry around with me to work and school, and assume it's lost for good--I am my mother.  When I let out a long line of expletives because I'm excited, I think of her then too. 

My maternal grandmother used to say to my mom, "you inherited all of my bad qualities, cholera!"  I will happily take what I have previously rolled my eyes about, as long as I get to continue growing in a similar way, into the person she is becoming. 

Also, my mom (and whole family) pretended to like me when this was how I acted on vacation regularly.  Me being 15 was hard for everybody.*  So, yeah, I think they're pretty great.

*please note my black nailpolish