ecesis factor

Sweet, Sweet Birding

2012-02-06T07:15:00.001-08:00

Back in my chilly Eugene, Oregon kitchen listening to the snores of dogs, I reflect on the awesomeness that was my weekend. Having no class on Friday is divine. I just spent nearly four days in Jackson County, Oregon trekking around with my best-birder buddy X and our rag-tag assortment of optics.

We set out on two well-defined missions 1. find a short-eared owl 2. find a lewis's woodpecker

SUCCESS! x2

After an unsuccessful attempt to find the owls at Meadowlark Prairie we tried to find those that have been repeatedly reported at the Medford Airport. When we arrived, there were RTHA everywhere it seemed, but not an owl in sight. We returned to the truck feeling a bit deflated, and pondered whether or not we were in the right field at all.

At this point I figured why not try dancing for the owls? Perhaps if i provided them with a show they would come look at me, rather than the one way street of me gawking at them. A little unattractive and vigorous motion later BOOM 2 lovely owls appeared. One of them flew very close to our truck. Delightful!

The next day we headed out to Agate Lake in hopes of seeing some waterfowl. Those hopes were quickly dashed by an exuberant lot of fisherpeople zooming around the lake in motor-driven rowboats. The oak savanna hillsides however seemed a perfect place for woodpeckers.

The mud was formidable. No amount of scraping seemed to free our boots, and each step was heavier than the last.

There were gangs of sparrows and titmice, abundant acorn woodpeckers and western scrub-jays, enormous elk tracks.

We walked, we looked, we laughed. We decided to work on one of my many side projects, creating and gathering images of queer environmentalists. We rested in the sun, drank beer, ate tortilla chips, went back to birding, but found no lewis's.

Then as we drove home we saw a bird along the highway flying toward and then away from a telephone pole. An acorn woodpecker? NO! Screeeeeech. We pulled over for a better look, and there he was in all his shiny sexiness. LEWIS'S! We watched him for a little while until he disappeared into some distant oaks. He was my first ever Lewis's and I was giddy.

Great birding all weekend. Good weather, good company.

I hope I can stay focused on my work now that I'm back in class. It's the dreaded Week 5... onward to victory!

Species of 2012: 102

Sparks

2012-01-23T21:16:00.000-08:00

Today I felt my blood pressure spike during a one hour discussion of Indigenous rights which consumed the later half of my Environmental Justice class. It's just one of those topics that really gets me going, especially when people who know absolutely nothing about native people start going off about "special rights" or "native american culture".

I wasn't the only one bursting with angst, and I hope that the things I said were instructive rather than hurtful, but it's hard for me to hold my tongue sometimes. I know that I'm not enrolled, and that my blood quantum is low, but for me, indigenous relationships, rights and struggle are deep at the core of my life, my thinking, my heart. I was getting pretty riled up, and was so grateful for one sister who suggested that all people, especially Euros need to remember their indigenous ways. That's a point that is overlooked entirely too often.

After it was over I was feeling unsettled, but I walked home, got my mind right and headed out to the Winnemem Support Group of Oregon meeting. It was a productive and lively conversation, and I left there feeling recharged and ready to do all I can in solidarity with the Winnemem and their goals to protect the water, the salmon and their ways.

It's easy to get worked up, but it's so much better to simply work.

Pacific Loons and Race Formation

2012-01-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I took what can only be described as an ill-conceived voyage to the Pacific Coast. Despite the obvious winter conditions, we were also challenged by a super-sized Siuslaw river which was seeking to reclaim Hwy 126.

With caution, we made it to the Oregon Dunes, yet quickly realized that the dunes and the ocean had conspired to swallow the beach. As we came over the rise (which should lead to a wide sandy swath between us and the ocean) we were met by white pounding surf. It was incredible and awesome in the most fear-stricken sense of the word.

Down at the south jetty, it was impossible to tell where the ocean, marshes, and river ended/began. There was a mass of deep brown water ebbing and flowing in cross-currents. As for birds, most of them were wisely hunkered down somewhere out of sight, but a mass of gulls (mostly Thayer's and ring-billed) were hanging out as a few pelagic cormorants flew past. The ultimate sight of the day occurred in a little "still" (stiller than churning anyhow) pool between the massive rocks of the jetty and the rocky river bank. Along with a few coots, I was lucky enough to spy two Pacific Loons. Granted they were wearing their winter grays and not their summer sexiness, but they were beautiful!

Now, I'm trying to catch up on the school work I let slide. Reading Cultivating Food Justice: Race Class and Sustainability, I come upon a passage indicating that current race theory presents "institutional racism... as a function of disproportionate access to social resources... leaving aside the role of access to environmental resources" (Norgaard, Reed, Van Horn 2011). As I read this I'm thinking, of course we do. In our system, environmental resources are like any other commodity. We wouldn't say institutional racism deprives people of access to BMW's and this system configures land/water as essentially the same thing (something to be bought, sold, used). There are of course deeper connections between racism and environment, but I think it's not so surprising that mainstream race theory was slow in advancing those links.

species of 2012: 64

Birding the Morning After

2012-01-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

After the amazing event of getting seriously drunk on three beers... I woke with a banging hangover. Not to be deterred, I got out to two of my favorite local birding spots and imbibed in the delight of drizzly wandering and watching. Hopefully a little coastal birding tomorrow to round out week 2 of Winter term 2012.

species of 2012: 60

Wings and Indecision

2012-01-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

The skies outside of my office are still dark with unremitting winter night. Finally the rains are falling in the valley. This year has felt so dry and though it's fun to run around in the cool sunshine, we need rain. Alone in the dark, I'm having one of those episodes where I doubt everything including my own memories and ideas. A crisis of sorts, but indecision is typically painless, just slow and grinding. I get nothing done. Now's not a good time to get nothing done... Week two is on. There are meetings, classes, readings, events. Fill every moment with something / anything.

There's still no word on my course plan. Maybe the whole idea of it was misguided.

What I know, is that I saw red crossbills for the first time. Fifteen of them in the top of a ponderosa pine. Fifteen of them flitting and chirping in a cold golden sunlight at the Grass Lake rest area between Dorris and Weed.

.I saw countless swans. I saw eagle after eagle

I saw the place where Captain Jack and his people boldly tried to fight off the invading US. From there I watched the sun turn the world pink, orange, and deep night blue.

species 2012: 54

To the Birds

2012-01-13T17:35:00.000-08:00

Our first week of winter term is over. My schedule has finally crystalized in a configuration that should allow for ample socio-political involvement between my many readings and meetings. I'm also lucky enough to have three day weekends which will hopefully keep me happy, productive, and outside.

This weekend I'm heading down to Klamath Falls for a few days of hiking and birding. Hopefully there'll be lots to share when I return.

2012 species: 35

Beginning Again : Winter 2012

2012-01-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

The new term is under way, and as usual I'm already up to my chinny-chin-chin in partially finished readings and projects. I'm trying to cobble together a syllabus for a class I may never get to teach while simultaneously teaching freshman composition, taking a handful of disparate courses, and trying to change my scholarly stars.

Other parts of my brain whirl away to less academic plans and prospects which are no less gripping and time-munching.

But my first birds of 2012 were a pair of bald eagles, so I'm feeling confident. It's going to be an awesome year!

# species of 2012: 28

Beauties Not to be Believed : 2011

2011-12-31T11:54:00.000-08:00

Another year down, and what to show for it? Often it feels there's not much to say, but when I think about it, this year was full of greatness.

Best and brightest to my mind is all of the travel that transpired:
Rouge River Trail
Montana
Idaho
The Columbia Gorge
Yellowstone NP
Crater Lake NP
Malheur NWR
Belknap Crater
Hood River
Snoqualmie Falls
Seattle
and countless coastal rambles

Then there were the birds!! My god, the birds! Five states and 175 species (I know that's not much for some, but for me woot!).
Trumpeter Swan, Snowy Owl, and Vaux Swifts for miles... oh 2011!

In the realm of art, it's true I was remiss. I painted nearly nothing, but I did get involved in theater and got beck into the darkroom which was excellent!

As poems go, it was abundance with out amazement, save for the volcano scroll, which to my mind might be the best thing I've yet committed to paper.

I met a herd of new people, nearly all of them gems!

I saw Winona LaDuke speak, helped feed over 100 people, protested against Keystone XL, spoke at PowerShift West, made a film, moved twice, completed year one of the PhD, taught four different subjects (to over 200 students), fell in love with sociology, read all of Harry Potter, saw a wild wolf, read Othello aloud, re-read Piedra de Sol, gardened like a nut job, backpacked...

2011, brought me adventure, joy, sorrow,fighting, fucking, birds, booze, blood and tears, what more could I want?

Let's do it all again only better! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

X-mas Magic

2011-12-25T16:09:00.000-08:00

Went for my usual holiday birding spree. This year it consisted mostly of the Fern Ridge Dam and surrounding natural areas. The highlight of the day was a pair of egrets fishing just below the spillway. I managed yo get a few pics from a distance, but the whole thing really illustrated how awesome a spotting scope would be. Maybe next year... I also got to see an immature bald eagle in flying over the dam.

Overall, nice mellow birding day with some real gems.

Poetic Venture and the Coming Term

2011-12-21T09:59:00.001-08:00

Spent the past few days writing and wandering with the intent to write. Filled up at least thirty pages with various haiku, free-verse, and choka snippets. Nothing of any real genius, but the raw material of poems to come.

There's much to be said for drifting about with no real plan.

Discovered new mountains, new beers, a renewed love of heights.

Hopefully this break will bring more rambling, more words... not that the coming term will leave much opportunity for the crafting of poems, but hope springs eternal I suppose, and after all I have retained my one credit poetics colloquium despite the fact that it serves no "functional purpose in my course plan".

Still no official word on my focal department transfer from English to Sociology, but unofficial talks seemed to suggest success.

Next term it's:

Composition Theory

Environmental Sociology with John Bellamy Foster (woot!)

Theater Ecocriticism: Animal Performance with Theresa May

and Poetics

Of these classes one is required for my teaching position, one is related to my degree, one is being taught by some one I adore yet has only vague relationship to my work, and the other is for pure amusement.

I have obviously never gotten over my tendency to drift.

Just a Draft: Queer Justice, Climate Justice: Contemplating the Invisible Dimensions of Disaster in Hurricane Katrina

2011-12-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

Despite numerous advances in the development of climate justice discourse (CJD), little attention has been given to transgendered and queer (1 see comments for footnotes) experiences of climate change (TQCJ)2. Until these issues have been more deeply addressed, a glaring blind spot will continue to exist in CJD, and policy and practice will continue to place TQ people at increased risk.
One area of climate justice analysis where the lack of TQCJ research seems especially surprising is in studies regarding Hurricane Katrina3. While most sociological research on Katrina understandably focuses on mechanisms through which race and socioeconomic status resulted in disproportionate risk, the absence of attention to TQCJ appears notable for a number of grounds. Some reasons, in no particular order, include: New Orleans’s (NOLA) status as a “gay-friendly” city, the religious-right’s immediate and lasting homophobic response to Katrina, and the politico-legal status of TQ people before during and after the storm.

While the common understanding of the south as an unfriendly place for TQ people may hold true, it is impossible to deny that pre-Katrina NOLA was a major TQ vacation destination, especially for white gay men. The city was home to a variety of TQ business and neighborhoods, which existed both autonomously and in correlation with TQ tourism. One of the most widely attended and economically productive events in NOLA, Southern Decadence, is a queer festival. Reports produced by Southern Decadence organizers and published in AMBUSH Mag (a local gay news outlet) indicate that the 2003 festival drew “125,000 revelers” and generated “$100 million” while the 2006 event was attended by “100,000 revelers,” and produced “$125 million” in revenue (2011). Additionally important, Hurricane Katrina struck only days before the 2005 Southern Decadence was set to begin.

The proximity between events was not overlooked by the religious-right, who wasted no time in declaring that Hurricane Katrina as God’s wrath over homosexuality. For example, the group Repent America published an August 31, 2005 document detailing the relationship between homosexuality and the destruction of NOLA. Their document stated:

"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarter section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars. Last year, a local pastor sent video footage of sex acts being performed in front of police to the mayor, city council, and the media. City officials simply ignored the footage and continued to welcome and praise the weeklong celebration as being an "exciting event." However, Hurricane Katrina has put an end to the annual celebration of sin (2005).

Association between homosexuals and the destruction caused by Katrina has lingered in the rhetoric of popular religious zealots. In 2006, Pastor John Hagee, in an NPR interview said: “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” He went on to claim, “New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God…there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came” (Gross 2006). As recently as summer of 2011, Rick Joyner, founder and minister of MorningStar Ministries claimed that:

When a U.S. Senator called me and asked me if Hurricane Katrina was judgment from God, I said yes, this is judgment from God, and it was…One of the things He was saying, He’s not gonna put up with this perversion anymore. Katrina hit New Orleans the day before they were supposed to have that Day of Decadence, Katrina that same stormed hit Key West on the same day they were gonna have their gay pride parade. There is a message here, that us something the Lord is not gonna put up with” (2011).

The continuity of these assertions is suggestive of the wider anti-queer sentiment pervasive in the United States.

Given the high proportion of fundamentalists in the south and the considerable presence of TQ people in NOLA alone, not to mention in other affected areas, it seems unlikely that discrimination did not impact transgendered and queer people in the wake of Katrina. This is exacerbated by the fact that laws in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi already tacitly sanction TQ discrimination through a complete lack of protections for TQ citizens4. Perhaps legal and cultural norms of Katrina-impacted states contribute to why so little TQCJ work has been done. Under such conditions, reports of discrimination may not have been made, or made only sparingly, because TQ citizens in the Gulf knew they had no avenue for legal redress. Given the legal status of TQ people in Katrina impacted states, it seems safe to say that Katrina exposed TQ people not only to the same physical and emotional distress as other residents, but left them increasingly at the mercy of an already corrupt system which in the event of disaster would continue to perpetuate discrimination.

In order to examine more fully how sexuality and gender variance (a gender identity that does not conform with particular socio-cultural standards linking gender performance with biological sex) influence access to justice in the event of climate change, one might examine pre-existing studies of gender and climate. For example, in her pivotal work “No climate justice without gender justice,” Geraldine Terry (2009) explores important linkages between gender and socio-economic status. She notes that women often have less access to capital and employment opportunities putting them at higher risk in the event of a disaster—climate related or otherwise (2009: 13). This fact, which sadly holds true in varying degrees for women worldwide, could be transferable to an analysis of TQCJ. Lesbian women would likely suffer from this same decreased access and since no employment protection exists for TQ people in Katrina impacted areas many TQ people in those states would have likely experienced higher levels of poverty and been disproportionately at risk during the hurricane.

The role of class in determining storm impacts was readily apparent in the case of Hurricane Katrina. Especially in New Orleans, where those with access to cars were able to flee the city, while those without were left behind, and affluent neighborhoods were spared the worst flooding, while poor neighborhoods were inundated. One of the few studies specifically addressing the experiences of queer people during Hurricane Katrina, focuses on how the storm effected people in “areas with a traditionally high proportion of lesbians and queer people of color, notably Mid-City” (D’Ooge 2008: 22). The Mid-City area was badly flooded and D’Ooge contends that “[a]lthough lesbians, transwomen, and queer women of color were disparately affected by the flooding, this fact is often ignored as New Orleans tries to reclaim its gay tourist industry” (2008: 23). This problematically indicates that even pro-queer or queer-directed post-Katrina events may be “rendering invisible the suffering of LGBT” citizens outside of the French Quarter (2008: 23).

Another complicating factor for TQCJ is the concept of “social capital” raised by Hunter and David (2009: 2). Being outside of traditional hetero-normative structures of relationship, many but not all, TQ people experience alienation from blood-relatives and isolation within the general population. This may be especially true for TQ homeless youth who would be further marginalized by their age and likely lack of economic and political resources.

Furthermore, TQ people would be exposed to additional risks during migration events. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, nearly 770,000 people were “temporarily displaced” (Hunter and David 2009: 13). As studies prove, “within this event, social structures linked to the intersection of race/ethnicity, class, gender, and age created conditions that put some groups at more risk than others” (2009:19). Studies have yet to indicate to what extent intersections of gender variance and sexuality also exposed people to greater levels of hazard, but anecdotal evidence suggests that this was certainly the case. One primary example is the case of transwoman Sharli’e Dominique, who was arrested after showering in a woman’s bathroom while staying at a shelter in Texas (D’Ooge 2008: 23).

In later years, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) developed a “Hurricane Preparedness” fact sheet for transgendered people. The publication reminds readers that, “during the wake of Hurricane Katrina many transgender people were victims of harassment based on their gender identity and/or expression” and that:

[i]n light of these negative experiences, and considering the often problematic treatment of transgender people within homeless and other emergency shelters, NCTE encourages community members in hurricane-prone regions to prepare in advance…by developing a Disaster Plan, building a Hurricane Preparedness Kit, gathering transgender medical, documentation items, making sure important legal and advocacy contact information is easily accessible, and cosmetic items as needed (2008).

This fact sheet suggests the likelihood of numerous uncollected and unexamined reports of transphobia and harassment during and after Katrina. In addition to the NCTE response, Lambda Legal also set up hotlines and fact sheets for Katrina victims experiencing discrimination due to “sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status” (2005). The group also published one Katrina related inquiry from a lesbian couple having housing assistance revoked by a religious relief agency (2005: 2). Hunter and David assert that “migration is a social process embedded within a variety of other social processes” and in the case of TQ migrants these additional processes unfortunately include a myriad of legal and cultural prejudices (2009: 1).

Given these additional challenges it seems likely that TQ people experienced significant emotional and mental distress during and after Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, one of the only studies analyzing the Hurricane’s psychological effects failed to include information about TQ people. While it is probable that some TQ individuals were interviewed in the Picou and Hudson (2010) study, information regarding gender identity and sexual orientation are not offered in their analysis. Nevertheless, the study reveals that, “social structural vulnerability continues to maintain negative mental health impacts almost 3 years after Katrina’s landfall” (2010:521). If this is true based on race, class and gender it seems feasible that the “structural vulnerability” of TQ people would place them at higher risk for long-term mental health impacts.

The extent of discrimination experienced by TQ people in the aftermath of Katrina remains unknown. Except for rare cases too public to be ignored, the lives of TQ Katrina survivors and victims, remain unseen and their stories untold. As scholars assert, climate justice demands equity and “at a policy level equity would require that those groups that are affected by global environmental change have a voice in debates about policies and responses, including a voice in decisions about the processes that are causing global environmental change” (O’Brien and Leichenko 2005: 6). As of yet, such equity has been denied TQ people and even their experiences, contributions, and risks have remained invisible throughout CJD.

Today's Work..... Representing Outlaws: A Comparison of Two Post-Verité Documentaries

2011-12-06T09:09:00.000-08:00

At one level, Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning and Stacey Peralta’s Dogtown and Z-boys, have a good deal in common. Both use the openly subjective postvérité style, both explore the cultural expressions of under-represented groups (Harlem ball culture and urban skate culture), and share a common focus on the how social and economic pressures can inspire creativity and an aggressive will to succeed. Furthermore, both films contend that they are sharing something forbidden or secret with viewers, a glimpse into a world of “outlaws”. However, in this regard, Livingston’s work lives up to its claim, granting entrance into a thriving under-ground culture during one of its most dynamic moments, while Peralta’s work remains a highly-crafted and nostalgic bit of self-mythology.

Significantly, a dramatic difference exists between Peralta’s and Livingston’s relationships to their “outlaw” subjects. In the case of Dogtown and Z-Boys, Stacey Peralta belongs to the group he documents. On the other hand, Livingston is a Yale educated white woman whose work focuses on economically disenfranchised black and Latino transgendered and gay male expressive culture. Despite the fact that Livingston identifies as lesbian, her subject position differs sharply from those people she films.

Although it may seem like Peralta’s position as part of the “outlaw” group he films would lend strength to his capacity for sharing the “forbidden”, time is a confounding factor. Dogtown and Z-Boys focuses on the history of those being interviewed. For the Zephyr team, the experiences they describe are deep in the past. While poverty and struggle shaped their lives, they are no longer the same people they were during the 1970’s. Wealth and the attendant privileges of money have dictated the last 30 years of their existence, a fact patently visible especially at the end of the film. In contrast, the moment of interest in Paris is Burning is immediate. Livingston’s subjects live their experiences as they talk about them. While some reflect back on their youth and how they became involved in ball-culture, they still participate in the balls and gay life in NYC. They are embedded in the experiences of which they speak. Furthermore with regard to time, the two films were produced approximately a decade apart, which may partially account for certain stylistic differences.

But these differences only add to the nostalgic self-mythologizing tendency present in Dogtown. For example, soundtrack selection is an area where nostalgia reigns supreme in Dogtown. Throughout the film, Peralta’s musical selections keep the viewer tuned into the prime Z-boy era, the 1970’s or earlier. This musical fiction conveys a sort of endless summer where the Z-boys maintain eternal youth and aggressive prowess. Conversely, the Paris is Burning soundtrack is made up of pop and disco songs generally no older than five years. The notable exception being Cheryl Lynn’s 1978 hit, “Got to be Real” which plays several times throughout the documentary in clear relationship to the film’s prominent focus on the concept of “realness”.

Perhaps it is the focus on realness and the interrogation of that idea that shapes the visual language of Livingston’s work. Although both directors employ the montage style the end effect is profoundly different in these two films. Livingston relies on straight cut edits, but generally maintains the continuity of a scene for a minute or two, allowing the camera to move around the space. For example, in the first interview with Dorian Corey, the camera moves around the entire room, even to a position behind Corey granting the viewer access to a maximum number of visual angles (“Part 2” 0:30 ). Peralta’s work on the other hand stylistically borders on the Vertovian, with his ample use of old footage, still photos, and print media. Nevertheless, these materials highlight the nostalgic leanings of the film, however quickly and forcefully Peralta displays them.

Unlike Peralta, Livingston’s film conveys a gritty “realism”. She introduces each main speaker only once although they reappear throughout the film. Furthermore, there are numerous speakers who are never named or introduced although they appear as interviewees and performers. In Livingston’s work people come and go. Some become famous. Some die violently and alone. Others speak and perform and participate but their names are never known. This movement between known and unknown reflects the uncertainty and often the danger associated with the lives being documented.

Livingston’s film captures a dangerous and dynamic moment in queer New York. Although the film doesn’t focus on the AIDS crisis which is at a peak during the time of filming, the fact is painfully clear considering that most of the film’s stars are now dead of AIDS-related complications. Furthermore, as queer people of color, each day also posed additional particular threats which shape the film. For example, Dorian Corey describes the dangers of transgendered living when she talks about the concept of “realness”. First defined as “to be able to blend”, Corey later explains how much higher the stakes are for those dressing as women. She says, “when [they’re] undetectable. When they can walk out of that ballroom into the sunlight, and on to the subway, and get home, and still have all of their clothes and no blood running off their bodies, those are the femme realness queens” (“Part 3” 1:23-1:40). As Corey speaks, the film rolls footage of Venus Xtravaganza fixing her hair. This portion of the film initially seems to suggest the perfection of Venus’s “illusion”, but before the film ends viewers learn that Venus is murdered and her body discovered “under a bed in a sleazy hotel” (“Part 7” 8:15). Her house mother Angie Xtravaganza talks on film about Venus’s murder, and conveys a deep sadness about the loss of her favorite daughter, yet says, “but that’s part of life as far as being a transsexual in New York City and surviving” (8:43).

Livingston’s somber ending could not contrast more powerfully with Peralta’s light-hearted “where are they now?” wrap up. While Peralta’s film constantly asserts its “edginess” through punk music and lightning fast transitions, the people interviewed are for the most part well-off. They haven’t been near the edge in a very long time. In this regard, Peralta’s film displays the after effects of fame and the possibility of transition from infamy to respectability.

In the closing of Dogtown and Z-Boys it seems that thirteen out of fifteen people featured in the film are very comfortable. Most of them are living the lives that people like Venus Xtravaganza dreamed of yet could never attain. Finally, as traditional surf music plays, Peralta completes his nostalgic blitz with a classic 1950’s cursive graphic announcing “The End”. Alternatively, Livingston’s credits are consistently interspersed with footage from the balls and the streets of NYC, ending finally with the two young un-named boys who say, “So this is NYC, and this is what the gay life is about. Right?” (“Part 8 5:40). To the very last frame, even in the rolling of the credits, these two postvérité documentaries maintain their particular interpretations of outlaw subjects, one a barrage of accomplishment and nostalgia, the other constantly asserting and interrogating what is real.

Holy Hedwig!

2011-12-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

It seems fortuitous that my reading of Harry Potter should coincide with an irruption year of snowy owls.

I've never seen a snowy before and I am elated just thinking that it might happen. So far, I've heard no reports of sightings in Oregon, though I've heard that in the past they've been seen in Astoria.

This year there have been a number of sightings in Washington. It's even getting some news coverage.

Needless to say, I want to go on an owl quest in a bad way.

**also needless to say, that image is borrowed from the interwebs.

Blessed are the Kinglet and Darkroom

2011-12-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

Today -- the final day of week 10-- finds me feverishly completing two papers, conferencing a few reticent students, and generally walking about muttering at my overly flush date book. I'm not sure if it's anxiety, illness, or just the slow course of time, but all of my body aches.

One joy is a ruby-crowned kinglet taking pleasure in the leafless branches outside of my office window, the other joy is taking a break in the darkroom to print up a few images.

Next week promises to be a barrage of difficulty. Monday: a paper and a presentation, Tuesday: a paper and a panel presentation, Wednesday: a teaching portfolio, Thursday yet another paper...

I am so eager for break. Eager to travel, draw, go birding, photograph, wander the woods, paint, write, read books for fun and do nothing as i see fit.

Sociology of Climate Change Film Fait Accompli

2011-12-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

Making a film has been a lifelong ambition yet I had never really imagined making a documentary about climate change. Even when my Prof suggested a creative final project, a film wasn't the first idea we came up with. Our initial plan had been to interview people, photograph them, and then write a few poems using the language of their responses.

Unable to secure a digital voice recorder, my compañera La Catalana and I, began conducting our interviews using a borrowed digital camera. We shot some video of the interviews primarily as a way to preserve the verbal responses(thus the unsteady camera work) of those we spoke with (the three Power Shift activists outside on a sunny day).

Later as we reviewed the material, we felt very attached to the experience of watching the people as they responded and decoded to conduct more interviews, this time with film in mind. We secured better digital cameras (though still not video cameras per se) and conducted 8 more interviews with people from the Eugene area who consider themselves knowledgeable about, and interested in climate change and climate justice.

We retained the plan to generate poetry through the responses, and a poem at the end of the film draws on the language used by interviewees.

We hope that the film will reveal how thoughts about climate change are shaping the lives of this group of young people actively engaged in the struggle for a healthy planet (which i suppose is to say this is about a specific set of human responses more than it is about Climate Change scientifically).

This was our first time filming and editing and I am delighted by the final product.

Cannot wait to start working on another.

Please feel free to check it out:

Massive thanks to Interviewees:
Nick, Adam, Chelsea, Louisa, Shane, Keats, Carson, Chithira, Bridget, Hannah, and Janet

Also thanks to:
Kory for photo assistance

Environmental Skeptics and Climate Change

2011-11-30T09:24:00.000-08:00

Week 10 is moving right along. I've been working on that same old paper about climate change and modernity. Here's a little paragraph from that.

The American political system not only endorses policies that contribute to climate change, but the very structure of political discourse surrounding environmental and public health issues seemingly paralyzes democracy at this stage in late modernity. Stemming from multiple sources, this paralysis deeply factionalizes the American people who as a whole remain unable or unwilling to productively engage climate change through democratic means. The highly organized skeptic movement contributes to this political paralysis. Peter Jaques (2006), in his analysis of the skeptic movement, suggests, science does not drive policy of any kind. Consequently, the accuracy of the science undergirding skepticism is not the point the point is that the skepticism itself creates a politically powerful counter-discourse capable of stopping or delaying environmental policy action. The skeptic movement, although not entirely conservative, primarily deploys its rhetoric as part of conservative anti-reflexivity which seeks to preserve the “the industrial capitalist order” (McCright and Dunlap 2010: 103). The point of the skeptic then, is not to offer accurate counter science, or suggest some new mode of being and thinking to enhance humanity, but rather, “the environmental skeptical movement guards against paradigmatic changes to world dominant social values and institutions that guide the global accumulation and concentration of power” (Jacques 2006:78). McCright and Dunlap (2010) refer to these values and institutions as the Dominant Social paradigm (DPS), which they describe as the “core elements of conservative ideology…faith in science and technology, support for economic growth, and faith in material abundance and future prosperity” (107).

It's slow going, but there is progress.

In other news, the collaborative climate change film I've been working on with La Catalana is nearly finished. Nearly 15 minutes long, that film delights me in the extreme. I'll post it here as soon as it is complete.

Poem in Passing : Draft 1

2011-11-29T10:38:00.000-08:00

Work: Beyond, Beneath, and Between

2011-11-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

The reality of the past 10-weeks finally begins to set in. I have participated vaguely in two classes that I find no use for and have no interest in. As a result I've acted out by ignoring and avoiding much of the prescribed work. I don't tolerate bureaucracy well, and this fact seems to be a life-long condition. Now I must face the consequences, which could be dire. Or at least temporarily dire.

I'll know on Wednesday if I've lost my job, not because I can't teach, not because I shirked my duties, but because I have a difficult time putting energy into an intro to teaching class I have no reason to take (aside from "requirements"). I'd hate to lose the position, not only because I don't want to hunt for another job, but because I really enjoy teaching. But there's no point in worrying about it. I made my choices and will take the repercussions.

On other fronts, I have three more classes each with their own final projects, papers and presentations. The workload is really overwhelming when I think about it. I suppose taking four classes and teaching was an idiotic choice. Nevertheless, I have been able to make a dent in the work. Yesterday was especially productive. I managed to crank out a rough draft of my paper on climate change and modernity. The intro goes a little something like this:

One of the primary challenges posed to late modernity by climate change is the fact that old ways of political, economic and social functioning may well be fundamentally unsuited to meet the needs of the global climate crisis. While some posit that economic or political systems represent the types and scales of organizations required to handle a problem of such magnitude, it seems clear that current systems (particularly in the US) remain so deeply enmeshed in –perhaps even representative of -- the roots of climate crisis that they are unable to address the needs of the world.

For those engaged in social movements, the likelihood of pressuring the current power system to change –as has been the precedent in social movements like civil rights—may no longer be a viable option because the very nature of the system cannot change adequately without undermining its own power. Furthermore, without a precedent to show people what a successful model of social action might look like, social movements will need to be increasingly creative, potentially having to construct entire new modes of political and economic structure. Sadly, the structure of neoliberalism has in some ways worked to dismantle or co-opt creativity even in dissident movements. If climate change is a challenge to modernity, so too is modernity a challenge to those hoping to productively face the issue of climate change.

It's not awesome, but it's not too shabby. My final project partner and I also managed to record three more interviews and I have several more lined up for today. Hopefully by the end of this afternoon I'll have a draft of my gender and climate change paper done as well.

Basically, I'm eager for this week to play itself out, and even more eager for the winter break to arrive. It has been a tumultuous term...

On the bright side though... what lovely skies we've seen these past few days...

Coffee Gurgle and Climate Hurdles

2011-11-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

Sitting around the house at 7:21 listening to the coffee perk. What a luxury for someone who is usually at their office by 6:20. Yep, it's the beginning of sweet Thanksgiving Break. Five days with almost no scheduled events! Outside, a reasonably thick-dropped rain is beating down, but even so the temperature is nearing mid-50's. More than any New Englander or drifter could hope for (if indeed I am still a New Englander (or drifter) at all). It feels sometimes as if I've taken root here. There is a melancholy in that, but why not save it for another day? It's vacation time after all, a time for delight. In fact, today is the only day I am required to be studious. A meeting with my Comparative Lit mentee at noon and then a few hours of working on a project for Sociology of Climate Change.

This class, has been both a serious inspiration and a major hurdle. Honestly, what could be more depressing than 10-weeks spent exploring both the reasons why some people (mostly very wealthy) deny climate change and how terribly other people (mostly very poor) are being displaced and endangered by the very same changes? It's frustrating because it brings up all of the usual subjects: classism, racism, sexism.... you know the list. Then of course there are the biotic damages which this class scarcely touches on, but are embedded in my brain.

On the up side, systems of power and how they interact make intuitive sense to me. The logic of the material requires little serious work on my part because my way of seeing the world already lines up. Also, I love my professor Kari Norgaard. She is an expert in the field and has done excellent work with the Karuk people of Northern California. More than that, she is just a caring person and that comes across in her interactions with students.

So, after 1PM I'll be out with my project partner walking around Eugene looking for people to interview and photograph about climate change and how it is impacting their thoughts about the future. I hope the rain has toned down a little by then, but even if it hasn't I think we'll still manage to find folks to chat with and have a good time. The final project consists of portraits and poetry developed from the interviews. Lots of work yet to be done.

Also.... today is my last day dealing with the old apartment in Springfield (still got to scrub the place down). As of midnight I will officially be 100% living in Eugene.

Observation and Opinion

2011-11-17T20:18:00.001-08:00

It was another long day at school. A day spent mostly inside buildings and sitting down. I grow weary of it sometimes, but benefits abound. Today, an observer came to watch me teach freshman composition. While some might find that nerve-wracking, I took pleasure in having another experienced teacher in the room. She joined one of my groups while they worked on their project and offered them insights which undoubtedly helped them along in their process.

I love teaching. I often wish teaching were my full-time gig, but classes are fun too.

Today I watched Paris is Burning while in a room full of mostly straight folklore students. What a tremendous film. I'd never seen it from start to finish before and I really delighted in it. The odd thing was how no one really talked much about gender in the conversation that followed. I'm not sure how one could avoid that topic, but these folks managed to do it. I thought to interject, but it entertained me to see the topic so assiduously avoided.

The film also caused me to reflect on my youth, and my understanding of what gay culture was like at that time. Things change... some for the better...

But that's another topic for another time.

Later in the evening I was interviewed by a journalism student regarding my intellectual and emotional responses to climate change. I realized as I spoke how alien my ideas must have seemed to her. Then again, it's an odd moment for me to be understood.

Beautiful Film Rambling + Rant

2011-11-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

If you've been watching documentaries for sometime, this is not news to you, but: Jorge Prelorán is amazing. Anyone who likes documentaries should look up this Argentinian film maker. IMDB credits him with 34 titles, but I've been told the real count is closer to 70 (astounding!).

Several of his shorter works can be seen at the Smithsonian's Prelorán Collection Screening Room. But I strongly recommend watching Hermógenes Cayo (Imaginero).

The Spanish version is available in full on YouTube. If someone finds the translated version let me know... The film is old, and faded, but the shots are amazing and the subject matter quite interesting.

In other news, WTF is wrong with people? Honestly. I read this morning that some farmer in the midwest plead guilty to destroying 1000 nests worth of American White Pelicans. What is he getting for punishment? Something like six months jail and a fine (I think this is the max, so he likely won't even get that).

I saw these birds for the first time this past summer at the Minidoka NWR and they are just so cool to watch. And even if they weren't so cool, what makes a person want to kill 1000's of birds (or anything) for no reason? It is a level of individual violence against nature that is not uncommon yet boggles my mind.

*borrowed image

Beer, Books, and the Birds

2011-11-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

Living in the PNW and going to UO has been mostly a tale of beer and books. The longer I'm here the stronger my urge to brew. That's all well and good, but this week I'm taking a break from my buddy beer in order to press through the chaos of impending final projects: film proposal, film review, a creative collaboration on sociology and climate change, and a teaching portfolio.

I've also been able to establish a sweet schedule for next term:
~Poetry and Poetics
~Early Modern Stage
~Environmental Sociology
~Ecocriticism and Animal Performance

It's probably more classes than I ought to be taking, but they all sound delightful. We shall see. I'm especially stoked for the Animal Studies class which is being taught by Theresa May (writer/director of Salmon is Everything) and for Environmental Sociology which is being taught by John Bellamy Foster (UO's resident radical genius).

Honestly though, I am most most most excited about winter break and the free time to bird, start brewing, travel (hopefully with wonderful friends), play piano (without knowledge or skill), and read books of my own choosing.

Cheers to the scholar's life!

Versification Episode One: Oh Chiral I

2011-11-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a rough draft of a poem I intend to develop over the next few weeks. I figured it might be amusing to chart its progress here. I feel ok about it as a first draft, but I know there's more to it than I'm currently conveying. Anyway, there will be updates.

Oh Chiral I

So alike, yet which way would you
turn? Double-back on it and smile
as if laughing? As if nothing
in you wished to hold? So alike,
your face and mine, which way would you
so jauntily go? Light stepping,
how freely would you move away?

Oh chiral I in the dark glass
of winter morning,
I cannot sleep now.
You counsel me in mirrors yet

I cannot muster your coolness,
cannot move with your springing gait
which gaily shrugs off everything.
The longer I look, the less I
know you, though your face is mine. Oh
chiral I, I am alone, and
your likeness leaves me shivering.

Ph upDate

2011-11-13T08:17:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow will be the start of week 8 in my second year of stumbling toward a doctorate. This term has been over-filled with work and madness and I'll be happy just to get out with my teaching appointment and sanity intact.

For those who don't know, my program is a wildly interdisciplinary gumdrop of delight that comes with a healthy dose of bureaucratic complications, I suppose this is to be expected when one crosses departmental lines. Add to this the fact that I am way too interested in too many things and boom! My plan is more of a sandy hillside shifting under each move I make.

The basic format looks like this: apply to Environmental Studies and one other department, get accepted by both. I applied to English, since I already had an MA it seemed logical enough. Now English is my focal department which means I must complete all of their PhD requirements.

Additionally, a person in my program then selects two other departments to take a minimum of 16 credits in each. For me this is looking like Ethnic Studies and Sociology. I've completed all of my Ethnic Studies work and was so enthusiastic about it because I had intended to write my dissertation on a particular topic (most readers can probably guess which one). Sadly, a peer of mine appears to have publicly latched on to my dissertation plan...

This term I've turned my attention elsewhere, and in part because of my inspiring/chaotic personal life I've delved deeper into my versifying past than ever before. As a result I've been persuaded to try out the concentration in poetics that English offers. I can't see how this will help me in the long run, but I know that I love poetry, and the study of poetry might offset the sorrow that comes with the rest of my intellectual pursuits.

Aside from all that, I'm also teaching Freshman Composition again which is a pure delight. It's sort of depressing to see how low the reading and writing skills of the average freshman are, but I suppose it's to be expected.

Tomorrow it's week 8...

2011-11-11T11:26:00.000-08:00

perhaps everything is a matter of scale.

Ghost-time

2011-10-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how this project escaped my attention until know, but I am fascinated by the Ghosts of Gone Birds. This group describes themselves as a "creative army for conservation" and their work is dedicated to creative productions inspired by extinct bird species.

I've just started working my way through their site, but so far this image is my fave:

Cost of Living

2011-10-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

While I was initially pleased to see the headline: Oil Company Agrees to Plead Guilty, I was let down by the fine imposed on a ND company whose waste pits contributed to the deaths of numerous birds.

Idk, maybe it's "progress" that these folks get fined at all, but it just doesn't seem like enough to me.

Read for yourself... Oil company agrees to plead guilty in deaths of birds in North Dakota waste ponds

Film, Folklore, For Real: The Trouble with Inspiration

2011-10-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

In Folk-tales from Mississippi an old musician gives the viewer a talk about how to get the blues. First is slavery, the hard work and misery of that system, and then the continuation of that suffering in the post-Civil War eras. Next, women.

I guess that's the thing about inspiration.

Occupying Occupied Land

2011-10-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

The occupy movement (starting with Occupy Wall Street) has simultaneously fascinated and irked me. Something about the language of occupation just rankles when you consider the history of this land. Finally, one of the protests has declared themselves a Decolonization project... which I hope will spread like wildfire and remain central to these protests.

Thanks Decolonize Boston!

Their statement really made my day.

Happy Indigenous Solidarity Day!

Black Wolf Alone

2011-09-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

While driving south in Yellowstone early one morning, x and I saw a huge elk being hassled by a lone black wolf who stood no chance of winning.

It suddenly reminds me of a story I was writing in 2000... one of the main characters (a young girl) thought of herself as Black Wolf Alone.

Maybe all of my stories will come back to me in unrelated flashes until everything I've thought of has happened in some alternative format.

This photo has only the elk... his wolf lost in the fog of morning...

Inspired

2011-09-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

The trip to Yellowstone has intensified my love of geothermal features...

Something is truly awesome about the idea of a fire within.

The Blame Game

2011-09-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Salmon are dying and it's all the fault of the Caspian terns.... no wait, it's all the fault of the double-crested cormorants... no wait....

I get so tired of this kind of rhetoric and the thinking that goes with it. This recent article in the Miami Herald is a prime example of how many humans conveniently ignore their role in the creation of ecological turmoil.

What next? We move the cormorants? Kill them? Kill the eagles for killing the terns?

The destruction of salmon fisheries is largely the result of human activity. How about we make major shifts in our land and water use practices before we relocate, vilify, and eradicate other species?

Hawks Along the Highway

2011-09-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

A Swainson's, my first above the hot expanse of eastern Washington. Circling, hunting, in the unforgiving sun. The dark trailing edge of wing slicing though the cloudless blue.

The car moved on.

Miles and miles on. Eating road, and petrol, and spirit. The hawks add up. Each one a little gasp, a muttered question and response:
Red-tail? Yes.
Was that a Ferruginous? I couldn't tell... too quick...too back-lit.
Cooper's! How could you tell so fast?

One so skilled, and one dim-sighted.

There is a lull now. No voices, no identities questioned.

1800 miles.

83 avian species

- four called hawk

Teaching Moments: Midway

2011-08-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

Spent a little time today sharing Chris Jordan's photos of Midway:Messages from the Gyre... depressing, yet excellent photos.

Teaching Moments

2011-07-28T07:01:00.001-07:00

For the past 2 weeks (and for the next two) I'm teaching an intensive summer course in the Environmental Humanities at the University of Oregon. I'm reminded how much I love teaching. This past year as a GTF has not been very inspiring, but this time spent planning, reading, instructing has been really great. Lucky me!

Band Tails

2011-07-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

Saw some band tails, one of my favorite birds. perched in a snag over the house of my favorite person... the memory should make me smile. It doesn't. Life is funny that way.

Golden Days: The Early Start Toward 100 Birds of Summer

2011-05-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not much for competition... even setting goals seems silly much of the time, but 100 birds of summer has a nice ring to it, and I'm excited about all of the adventures I will be able to plan in the name of citizen science.

What I hope to achieve is simple enough, record 100 new species. The only rule is that I must see them, and they must be something I've never recorded before. So far, I'm off to a great start. My most recent adventure with x at the Schreiner's Iris Garden yielded an orange crowned warbler, a black headed grosbeak, and a bullocks oriole .

Beautiful birding... even as the last few weeks of Spring term kick my ass...

Beltane Bright and Beautiful

2011-05-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

This Beltane weekend I was finally able to get away from my books and get out to see some birds. My Sunday morning at Meadowlark Prairie was full of bright sun, cool breezes and birds, birds, birds....

In all, 8 new species were added to my list including #100, a remarkable Sage Sparrow. Truth be told, I never would have spotted him but X worked extensively with this species in Boardman Oregon, and recognized his song immediately. After a long while of standing still and waiting for him to appear, he popped up and showed himself.

Also making their first appearances of the year were the Common Yellowthroat, American Goldfinch, Dunlin, Cliff Swallow, and Northern Rough-Winged Swallow.

Ahh cannot wait for summer...

Still Alive: Theory, Atrophy, and Rain

2011-04-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

Just to let everyone in blog land know, I am very much still alive. My brain has been consumed by a series of very difficult classes. The most obnoxious is my required Theory class which consumes each of my Thursday mornings. Currently I'm wading through Deleuze's A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia.

While I still don't understand the text really, I have found some amuzing visual representations of what the guy is trying to say.

Images such as this keep the school-imprisoned birder sane. As for birding, I feel like there is a whole new world outside of my door. So many new friends have flown back into the Willamette Valley and I can only hope that I won't be totally rusty and sad at id-ing them when I finally do get to go back outside.

My only outside time recently was spent directing foot trafic for the Winnemem Wild Salmon Run. A great event, despite the tremendous volume of rain that fell unremmitingly on us all.

Some lovely photos of the even can be found on Lemuel Charley's flickr account.

It's Like This...

2011-04-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

Week 2 of the spring term begins and already I am up to my eyes in stuff... readings, papers, classes... all that PhD tomfoolery.

The first weekend of the term was bird-licious despite the workload. I checked out two new birding locations suggested by the Willamette Valley Birding Trail Guide.

The first site, Jasper Meadows, was a let down. If there was ever a wetland there, it appears to now be a subdivision with an awesome playground. The second spot, Walterville Canal, was a 70 acre pond/wetland area with tons of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Coots, and assorted waterfowl. About 7 miles out of town, it was well worth the drive.

Extermination: Trigger happy wildlife management

2011-03-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

White Headed Duck

Ruddy Duck

Not too long ago I was blogging my concern bout the plan to kill Barred Owls in order to "save" Spotted Owls. Now, I lean that the UK is optimistic that they will be able to eradicate the Ruddy Duck from their lands and waters in order to prevent continued Ruddy Duck hybridization with the White Headed Duck.

While some sites claim that the biggest threat to the White Headed Duck is the Ruddy Duck, the fact remains that the Ruddys only breed with some populations of White Headed Duck (those in Spain particularly). Nevertheless, the worldwide trend for White headed Duck is in decline. Bigger problems than the Ruddy are at the root of this trend (Ruddy Ducks were introduced circa 1940).

Changes in management have seen some improvement in Spanish populations, but IUCN's assesment of the situation seems to suggest that human caused environmental stress is the main source of population decline. They state "Approximately 50% of breeding habitat has been drained during the 20th century. Remaining sites are vulnerable to pollution ". In short, killing the Ruddy (even if it is invasive) to save its European cousin dosn't make much sense without major changes in our treatment of wetlands.

I am not sure why extermination continues to be our first resort in situations like this. Perhaps it is because we know something about how to destroy species. After all, we've done a good job of that thus far.

Sovereignty, Stories, and Salmon: The Use of Media in Contemporary Winnemem Wintu Environmentalism (final part)

2011-03-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Documentary Storytelling and Indigenous Resistance

Storytelling occupies a powerful place in indigenous communities. Contemporary academic interest in what diverse scholars refer to as “Traditional Ecological Knowledge” confirms that even cultural outsiders have come to partially understand storytelling’s centrality. Many indigenous scholars carefully build this storytelling-focus into their writings about TEK, often acknowledging their complicated position as they wield two ways of knowing.

Deborah McGregor points to this centrality early in her 2004 article “Coming Full Circle.” McGregor aptly asserts that:"[t]here is a major dichotomy in the realm of TEK that needs to be understood: there is the Aboriginal view of TEK, which reflects an Indigenous understanding of relationships to Creation, and there is the dominant Eurocentric view of TEK, which reflects colonial attitudes toward Aboriginal people and their knowledge. In my view, to understand where TEK comes from one must start with Indigenous people and our own understanding of the world. Therefore, every year when I teach this course I start with Creation stories or those conceptual frameworks that provide an Indigenous understanding of our own relationship to all of Creation" (385). McGregor goes on to illustrate how stories help orient the class to an Aboriginal way of understanding the relationships between people and creation.

In another work about TEK, Dr. Samantha Chisholm Hatfield, drawing on the works of Berkes and Cajete, explains the importance of stories and storytelling in indigenous cultures, stating:
"Storytellers themselves are highly respected individuals, with gifted techniques that bring forth the information, culture, and value that stories carry within Native societal norms. Some stories are considered sacred, a cultural icon of what being Native means. Within stories lie longstanding wisdom, knowledge, power, and teaching techniques. Stories are used in situations or circumstances to illustrate, educate, and maintain societal expectations and norms. To a much lesser degree, stories are used to entertain in the midst of teaching, informing and transferring knowledge" (33).

She then addresses several major differences between western and indigenous views of entertainment, stories, and education. Perhaps most significantly relevant to my work, she contends that entertainment need not interfere with the serious educational capacity of a story to transmit knowledge.

As the dominant culture moves increasingly away from print media, some academics have expressed concern that this shift signals the end of, or at least a decline in, intellectual thought and development. Of course, such concern likely stems not only from rigid and elite conceptions of what constitutes proper educational and intellectual protocol, but may also derive from and reflect the linear thinking of the Western progress narrative, which charts human history and social change as a progression of improvement. The supposed “deplorability” of a move away from print-exclusivity or print-dominance, illustrates the prevailing sense that the current mode of information and knowledge transfer is the best possible and all others are by definition inferior.

While difficult, challenging the academic print-exclusive paradigm may prove to be a vital part of decolonization. I am not suggesting screen-media as a panacea, but rather as a way of loosening the intellectual grip colonial institutions have held. Screen-media, particularly with regard to environmental issues and traditional knowledge, presents a number of unique challenges and problems, but as a vehicle for broadening the horizons of what “counts” as knowledge screen-media may open a way for storytelling to transcend colonial misperceptions/limitations.

As Dr. Chisolm Hatfield points out, "[i]n American mainstream society, the very word “story” carries with it a connotation of make-believe and falsehood. “Story” has come to mean something that conjures the idea of sub-par entertainment. The word “story” also carries with it the aspect of entertainment, which is directed at fictionalized accounts, most often depicted by the increasingly popular entertainment business" (32)

This is precisely the misperception I hope screen-media may play a role in reversing. This change may progress slowly, relying first on documentary film, but later expanding to include more creative envisioning of the real.

In her book Decolonizing the Lens of Power, Kerstin Knopf states that Indigenous filmmaking began as a “cinema of duty”, primarily “employing the documentary mode”. This is certainly true for the state of Winnemem filmmaking. In the case of Winnemem films, production has largely been part of cooperative efforts with non-Winnemem parties such as the Sacred Land Film Project and Moving Images Productions.

While tribal goals and objectives appear to be driving the films, funding and technology appear to come from outside sources. It would be interesting to learn if and how Winnemem artists are working to develop more complete control over Winnemem identity on film (or if this is something that they see as necessary). Certainly, the Winnemem are taking charge of their social media identity, and film seems the next logical step. Either way, the creation of a body of documentary films regarding Winnemem social, political and environmental struggles signals an important development in those struggles. Under the initial guidance of Florence Curl Jones and the sustaining guidance of Caleen Sisk-Franco, the nation has embarked on a path that has productively shared its stories and hopes for the future with a wide audience across the globe.

The Winnemem are continuing the tradition of storytelling as a means to cultural survival and in doing so have helped to create international alliances for the defense of water and the restoration of sovereignty and salmon. In addition to this, these new modes of storytelling may advance the inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge and joint control in future environmental planning and management schemes.

Print sources
Cummings, Claire Hope. 2005. Hu'p Chonas (War Dance). News from Native California. 18, no. 3: 4-9.
Garrett, BL. 2010. Drowned Memories: The Submerged Places of the Winnemem Wintu. Archaeologies-journal of the World Archaeological Congress. 6, no. 2: 346-371.
Hatfield, Samantha Chisholm. Traditional ecological knowledge of Siletz tribal members . Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University, 2009. Print.
Knopf, Kerstin. Decolonizing the lens of power: indigenous films in North America. Amsterdam [Netherlands: Rodopi, 2008. Print.
Leslie, Jacques. 2006. Six Hundred Feet and Rising. On Earth: Environmental Politics People. 28, no. 2: 22-27.
McLeod, Christopher. 2005. Sacred Land Film Project. Earth Island Journal. 20, no. 2: 20-21.
McGregor, Deborah. 2004. "Coming Full Circle: Indigenous Knowledge, Environment, and Our Future". American Indian Quarterly. 28, no. 3-4: 385-410.
McKinley, Jesse, “California Tribe Hopes to Woo Salmon Home from New Zealand,” New York Times, March 21, 2010.
Murphy Dean E. “At War Against Dam, Tribe Turns to Old Ways,” New York Times, Sep 14. 2004
Slagle, Allogan. 1989. Unfinished Justice: Completing the Restoration and Acknowledgement of California Indian Tribes. American Indian Quarterly. 13, no. 4: 325-345.
Sturman, Jan. 2006. Winnemem Wintu Puberty Ceremony. News from Native California. 20, no. 2: 4-7.
Vlahos, James. 2005. THE INCREDIBLE Oneness of SHASTA. Skiing. 57, no. 7: 74-95.
Wagner, Angie. “Despite Bloodlines, government says some tribes don’t exist,” North California Times, May 23, 2004.
Yoshiyama, Ronald M. and Fisher, Frank W.(2001) 'Long Time Past: Baird Station and the McCloud Wintu', Fisheries, 26: 3, 6 — 22

Sovereignty, Stories, and Salmon: The Use of Media in Contemporary Winnemem Wintu Environmentalism (pt. 5)

2011-03-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

continued from part 4

Restoring the McCloud River Salmon with Stories, Prayer, and Cooperation

According to the project’s website, Dancing Salmon Home is to be a 60-minute documentary slated for completion in early 2012 (Dancing Salmon Home) . Yet even incomplete, this story has become a force in many ecological restoration and tribal restoration circles. Perhaps it is because the story of the McCloud River salmon is so amazing.

The story begins at Creation, when the Salmon gave their voice to people with the instruction that people should then use that voice to speak for Salmon. The relationship between the Winnemem and the Salmon was a productive one for many years until colonial violence toward land, water and people.

In August of 1872, the US Fish Commission began making plans to take salmon eggs from California to two eastern rivers that no longer supported Atlantic salmon. This mission was headed by fish culturist Livingston Stone, who, upon discovering a rich Winnemem fishing site, determined that the same site should be converted to the Baird Station fish hatchery (Yoshiyama 6).

The presence of the fisheries men at the McCloud fishing site deeply disturbed the Winnemem. Stone describes their distress in his journal: “They assembled in force, with their bows and arrows, on the opposite bank of the river, and spent the whole day in resentful demonstrations… Had they thought they could succeed in driving us off with impunity to themselves, they undoubtedly would have done so” (Yoshiyama 9). Stone’s description of the Winnemem response to his presence is believed to be a description of the last Winnemem Hu’p Chonas prior to 2004.

The Baird Station fishery operated until 1935, and was submerged under Lake Shasta in 1943. The loss of such fertile spawning grounds was hardly made up for by the mitigation attempts of the Coleman National Fish Hatchery. In 1989, the Sacramento winter Chinook run was listed as endangered by the state of California and threatened under the US Endangered Species Act. In 1994, the federal listing was changed to endangered. In 1999, the spring run Chinook were also federally listed as threatened (Yoshiyama 8).

While the Baird Station hatchery propagated fish in numerous locations, most were unable to naturally sustain populations. Populations of McCloud River salmon have survived however in the Rakaia River of New Zealand. In 2010, a group of Winnemem people traveled to New Zealand to meet with and pray for their salmon relatives. The film Dancing Salmon Home tells the story of that journey, and of the Winnemem’s desire to return the McCloud River salmon to their home range.

Currently, a fifteen-minute promotional excerpt of the film is available on the Moving Images Vimeo page. The film shows the coalition building between the Maori and the Winnemem. The Maori welcome the Winnemem in a traditional way and it is clear from the interviews with people from both nations that there are deep feelings of mutual respect and cooperation.

According to the film, the Winnemem feel it is their duty to work to return the McCloud River salmon their home range. Their webpage details their plan for salmon reintroduction. They intend to import eggs from New Zealand, a plan that is supported by New Zealand Fish and Game. They would then raise the fish in open-air hatcheries. To help the fish make it around the dam, they intend to use two traditional spawning creeks.

"Water from the McCloud River would be channeled to these creeks and flow down to the Sacramento, below the dam. Returning salmon would be able to catch these creeks and spill out in the reservoir near the mouth of the McCloud River. Once there, they would be able to catch the scent of their birth waters and find their way home." (Salmon Return) The tribe has conducted meetings with Fish and Game and NOAA and want to play a significant part as planners and managers in the restoration of the McCloud River salmon.

Currently, Winnemem leaders have been touring all across the Pacific states speaking about salmon and about the role of the Winnemem in the restoration of their relatives to the McCloud River. The promotional clips of the documentary have been shared at numerous community and university events in an effort to raise awareness, support and funding for the project.

Sovereignty, Stories, and Salmon: The Use of Media in Contemporary Winnemem Wintu Environmentalism (pt. 4)

2011-03-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

continued from part 3

Public Identity and Recognition
Years have passed since the Hu’p Chonas, and although the dam has not yet been raised, plans to do so are still in the works. While a new sponsor could pick up the senate bill 2879 initiated by Sen. Campbell and push for the issue to be re-addressed, it is important to note the likelihood that most Californians and certainly most Americans continue to have no idea who the Winnemem are or what role the Shasta Dam has played in their lives. Without public understanding and support it seems unlikely that any senator will add this issue to their roster of concerns.

Indeed, actively seeking to find information about the Winnemem Wintu is a challenge even for someone with an advanced degree, and access to an amazing array of information packed databases. This is especially true if one wants to know more about the period of Winnemem history since the 1920’s. Perhaps this is why the Winnemem have produced a number of short informative documentaries outlining their history, and their sense of purpose in this world. Two particularly informative films, The Winnemem Way of Life – Water and Restoration - The Time Has Come are published on the Winnemem Wintu channel on YouTube.

The Winnemem Way of Life – Water, is the original video posted on the Winnemem channel. The video primarily explains who the Winnemem are. In the fist minute of the film Mark Franco explains, “We are the people who pray and sing for the water… that’s our job. We were put on the earth to do that. We are the water people, Winnemem means middle water.” The film also reasserts Winnemem traditional claims to the land beside and beneath Shasta Lake. Caleen Sisk-Franco stands at the edge of the lake and explains to viewers how the Winnemem were removed from their allotments during WWII and promised “like land to live on” a promise that has yet to be fulfilled by the US government.

To the visual back-drop of the 2006 Balas Chonas, tribal members describe how the loss of the land and the loss of recognition have impacted the people. The message is hopeful, and speaks of the people as returning to their old ways just as the salmon return to their homes despite tremendous odds. As the film closes with footage of the people singing at Panther Meadows, Mark Franco states, “Our struggle is your struggle. We pray for everybody, whether you’re Winnemem Wintu or you’re not. We’re trying to save you in the greater population. To save what you need for your generations too”.

This film ends with a message encouraging viewers to contact their congress people in support of Winnemem restoration. Perhaps it is no surprise then that the next film added to the Winnemem channel is a two part series called Restoration - The Time Has Come. This video, while informative, is somewhat more confusing than the first. Perhaps this is simply because it is difficult to explain what has happened to the Winnemem with regards to termination. Primarily filmed in interview style, Chief Sisk-Franco’s account of the Winnemem’s history since contact is supplemented with occasional maps and footage of the McCloud River. Mark Franco also briefly addresses the viewers. This film represents a different style of storytelling, one which feels highly personal, as if the viewer is being told Winnemem post-contact history directly by the leaders of the nation.

The Winnemem Youtube channel was established December 6, 2008. The channel hosts twenty-six videos which in total, have been viewed 11,385 times as of March 12, 2011. While some of the videos are highly produced while others feel very much like movie outtakes or home videos. This mix provides storytelling that is both very serious and mission driven, with stories that inform while they entertain. The mix also allows viewers of the channel to see the Winnemem as a dynamic contemporary nation of people.

The WinnememWintu YouTube channel is just a small portion of the Winnemem presence online. The tribe also maintains the domain http://www.winnememwintu.us/ which is a high-quality website, well designed, frequently maintained with links to their YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and Twitter sites as well as an rss feed button.

The tribe also maintains two blogs, one is a tribal blog Winnemem Wintu – The Journey to Justice and the other a personal blog Mark Franco’s Bunkhouse Diary . The tribal webpage also features a blogroll of affiliated bloggers who may produce content relevant to the Winnemem. This blogroll includes: Agua University, California Environmental Water Caucus, Dancing Salmon Home, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Global Village School, Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, Marc Dadigan, and the Sacred Land Film Project.

The tribe’s Facebook account, which is followed currently by 618 people, is linked to a number of other tribally and/or environmentally focused Facebook accounts, and includes an amazing array of still images, some as old as 1903. The photo albums on the page tell the stories of individual tribal members and hteir personal achievements, as well as the tribe’s story of political and cultural struggle.

The Winnemem presence on Vimeo is conducted through a channel called “Moving Image” which describes themselves as a Eugene, Oregon based production company that “creates video programs with heart: on-the-fly documentaries and carefully scripted dramas; educational and promotional projects; small and large budgets.”

Currently, the Vimeo link off the main Winnemem page is for the film project Dancing Salmon Home. This project is an extensive one both cinematically, environmentally and culturally, and has a web presence all of its own at http://www.dancingsalmonhome.com/.

Brush Your Gray Wings on My Head

2011-03-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

The start of my spring break has been phenomenal. I couldn't have hoped for anything better after such a long and stressful term. I got to spend the last few days birding with the x. As predicted, her knowledge was a total boon to my birding experience. I learned a few new songs and added ten species to my list. Of course, most of those birds I have seen before, but either had not identified, or was not in the habit of recording them yet.

New birds include:
White-crowned Sparrow
Violet-green Swallow
Marsh Wren
Long-billed Dowitcher
Turkey Vulture
Western Sandpiper
Western Meadowlark

Herring Gull
Wrentit
Ruddy Duck

I was delighted to share Delta Ponds with the x and got to check out two new local birding spots which I'm sure I'll be returning to often.

*image not mine

Sovereignty, Stories, and Salmon: The Use of Media in Contemporary Winnemem Wintu Environmentalism (pt. 3)

2011-03-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

Continued from part 2....

In 2004, Sacred Land Film Project videographer and author Christopher McLeod (who also worked on In the Light of Reverence”) was invited by Winnemem Chief Caleen Sisk-Franco to film an event that had not taken place since 1887 when the Baird Station* fish hatchery was built on rich Winnemem fishing grounds What McLeod filmed, was the four day Winnemem War Dance. McLeod and his team shot fifteen hours of footage and produced a seven minute film called Winnemem War Dance at Shasta Dam, which was debuted at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in September of 2004. As of yet, it appears that McLeod and the Winnemem have made this video of this dance public on the internet, but he and other invited journalists widely documented the dance in words, photos which are widely available (Christopher McLeod).

The War Dance was inspired by USBR plans to raise the height of Shasta Dam. Although the plan had been in circulation for nearly a decade, it did not begin to gain momentum until summer of 2004. When USBR officials announced their intentions, the Winnemem, under the leadership of Caleen Sisk-Franco, wasted no time in making their opposition to the project known.

In May, Associated Press writer Angie Wagner met with the Winnemem and heard their side of the proposed dam project. She then reported to readers a brief history of the Winnemem and what they had lost due to the initial construction of the Shasta Dam, as well as what further losses would result from an increase in the height of the dam (Angie Wagner).

By September, Sisk-Franco felt confident that the “proper response was Hu’p Chonas – a war dance- to bring the people together to defend their water, land and culture through prayer, dance and song.” (Christopher McLeod)

The Hu’p Chonas gained national attention for the Winnemem people when The New York Times covered their story. Journalist Dean E. Murphy wrote not only of the tribe’s desire to end the USBR plan to raise Shasta by 18.5 feet, but also described the exhumation of 183 Winnemem dead from a graveyard that was flooded in the initial Shasta Dam project (Murphy Dean). Murphy also acknowledged the link between struggles against the dam and struggles for recognition writing: “In calling her warriors to dance, Ms. Sisk-Franco said she was seeking intervention from the spirit world on federal recognition as well. Like the dam, recognition is an intensely political issues. “It gives you some standing and gives you some rights,” she said.” (Murphy Dean).

In partial fulfillment of this goal, the Winnemem spoke with Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) at the Smithsonian following the debut of McLeod’s film. As a result Sen. Campbell introduced S 2879 “entering the Winnemem’s compelling history into the Congressional Register” however the bill died without a vote (McLeod).

In the months following the Hu’p Chonas the Winnemem continued to express their concerns about the plan to raise Shasta Dam. Primarily using local media to convey their message, the Winnemem stressed the permanent loss of sacred sites that would result from the USBR plan.

The San Francisco Chronicle published a lengthy article about the Shasta Lake level and its impact on Winnemem sacred sites in February of 2005. In this article, which seems genuinely supportive of the Winnemem cause, journalist Glen Martin quoted Caleen Sisk-Franco as saying “To us, the project would be the worst kind of sacrilege.” (Glen Martin). The article goes on to state that archeologists suggest the likelihood of Winnemem settlement in the region dating back 2000 years. The article primarily focuses on sacred sites that would be destroyed by the raising of the dam. Sisk-Franco brings the journalist to Children’s Rock, Hamaleokus, and Dekkas, three sacred sites that would be lost under water. The article ends with a list of places one might go to gain information about the Winnemem. Each listing is a film screening.

Then in 2006, the Winnemem came together to perform Balas Chonas (coming of age ceremony) for Marine Sisk-Franco, daughter of Caleen Sisk-Franco. It was the first time the tribe had observed this sacred rite in decades. In order to access Kokospom, the sacred rock which is a pivotal part of the ritual, the tribe moved the timing of the ceremony to summer, when the lower water would reveal Kokospom which has been submerged by the Shasta Dam since 1940 ("Puberty Ceremony".)

The ritual grounds, which have been home to the Balas Chonas for centuries if not millennia, are now part of the USFS land on the McCloud Arm of Shasta Lake. Forest Service employees refused to close the area, a public campground, despite Winnemem requests for a full closure of the branch of the river where their ritual would be held. As a result, the people were harassed throughout the majority of the ritual. Wisely, the Winnemem invited observers and documenters to record the event. These recordings are featured in the short documentary film Public Interference -- Winnemem Coming of Age Ceremony, 2006.

The video points out the USFS position that they “don’t have the legal authority to make the closure” of the river. However, the video also shows the USFS joining the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water in kayaks trying to intercept boats and persuade them to obey the voluntary river closure, suggesting perhaps a desire to cooperate with the Winnemem, but a lack of authority to do so, given their lack of federal status as an Indian Nation.

The video vividly shows the actions of people who taunt the worshippers with comments such as “I love America, how about you?” and “This is our river too dude”. One woman even flashes the videographer on several occasions. Sadly, this evidence of outright hostility did not encourage the USFS to close the river for the 2010 Balas Chonas*. But perhaps the most important function of the film is the record of the Winnemem’s contemporary religious use of sacred sites along the river. Establishing such a video record of these events may prove useful in future court battles with those bent on raising Shasta Dam.

Sovereignty, Stories, and Salmon: The Use of Media in Contemporary Winnemem Wintu Environmentalism (pt. 2)

2011-03-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

The First Contemporary Documentaries : Sacred Places Submerged and Invaded

Federal land management policies, orchestrated and implemented through various bureaucracies such as the US Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) have had major persistent impacts on Winnemem people. Such detrimental policies have prompted Winnemem resistance and have been the focus of several documentary films.

These films address not only the physical and environmental impacts of current land use regimes, but also historical failings on the part of the federal government to adequately live up to their trust relationship with the Winnemem. Furthermore, these films immerse viewers in a worldview inconsistent with colonial perceptions.

The first contemporary Winnemem documentary presence is in a segment of the 2001 film In the Light of Reverence, produced as part of the Sacred Land Film Project, a “community dedicated to protecting the Earth's sacred places through education and action.” (Sacred Land Film Project) The film focuses on three land use conflicts effecting indigenous people; Hopi, Lakota, and Winnemem. Of the three, the Winnemem represent the only tribe without federal recognition. While recognition is not a central element of the film, it is clear that such recognition would have enable the Winnemem to make a stronger stand in protecting their sacred spring.

The film describes two issues affecting the sacred Panther Meadows site. One threat comes in the form of New Age practitioners who flock to the location in order to carry out their ceremonies and the other a plan to create a ski resort near sacred land.

Winnemem resistance ultimately blocked the resort, particularly through the efforts of Florence Curl Jones (1907-2003)
spiritual leader of the Winnemem at that time.

Although the film was completed in 2001, filming was underway during the ski resort struggle and features opinions of both the Winnemem and developers. USFS rangers also speak on film about their position as land use mediators in both the ski lodge conflict and the conflict with non-native religious uses of Panther Meadows.

Inclusion of real estate agent and ski resort proponent Jim Ayer, allows viewers to see the stark contrast between Winnemem concepts of sanctity vs. a deeply entrenched colonial capitalist concept. Ayers claims on film that the struggle over Shasta is “a religious battle” but goes on to frame private property as his driving religion, claiming “[o]ur unalienable right is to have private property-that’s what our founding fathers based everything on. The pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of private property, and, now that’s being eroded, in essence, under the guise of religion.” (In the Light of Reverence). Ayer’s ideology, while rarely spoken in such blunt terms, seems to be the ideology behind numerous incursions into sacred sites around the globe. If nothing else, the film fruitfully allows mainstream viewers to confront the callousness of the dominant approach to both religion and land.

The film also illustrates the depressing irony of New Age spirituality’s (and commerce) effects on the Panther Meadows spring site. While many of the New Age practitioners claim to be following a path that honors and respects the Earth, they are mostly unaware of the Winnemem’s ancient connection to the very same location. While some of the practitioners interviewed seem interested in hearing Winnemem concerns, others are openly resistant to the idea that anyone else’s religious views might be deserving of special consideration with regard to the use of Panther Meadows (In the Light of Reverence).

Judging from my research, it is hard to say what effect, if any, this documentary has had on the New Age pilgrims drawn to Mt. Shasta. As far as I can tell, the cult of Shasta is very much alive, and continues to function oblivious of the Winnemem and their religious rights. According to a 2005 article in Skiing magazine, many of the people coming to Shasta are affiliated with the Lemurian cult and believe that Shasta is “one of the world's seven sacred New Age summits, the home of transdimensional doorways and intergalactic star gates”. Although the article mentions that “Shasta is a spiritual mountain for the Wintu tribe” it does not describe any of the conflict that exists with regard to land use in the Panther Meadow area (Vlahos).

Interestingly, this first filming of the Winnemem and their struggles to preserve their sacred sites, was initiated by Florence Curl Jones herself. According to tribal member Michael Preston

We were told by our former leader, Florence Jones, who led the tribe for 60-plus years, that it was time to tell the world about the state the Winnemem Wintu are in. As a result, Toby and the Sacred Land Film Project were allowed to film intricate parts of ceremonial life and feature us in the film In the Light of Reverence. At first this was met with much resistance by tribal members, but Florence was unfazed and the documentary went on. Since that time, numerous short documentaries have come out telling a little more of the Winnemem story. Although many tribes still consider it taboo to film any part of ceremony, which is understandable, we have come to use a variety of documentation methods to help protect sacred sites, tell our story of injustice, preserve cultural knowledge and help attain federal recognition from the U.S. government, which does not consider us to be “real” Indians (Preston).

Sovereignty, Stories, and Salmon: The Use of Media in Contemporary Winnemem Wintu Environmentalism (pt. 1)

2011-03-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

Although the Winnemem Wintu, people of the Middle Water, have existed in the Shasta region since time immemorial, their story has been largely obscured since the arrival of Euro-Americans. Yet in the last decade, the Winnemem story has been proliferated through mainstream-media, independent press, tribal blogs, films, YouTube, and even Facebook, not mention numerous speaking engagements and public events. Storytelling as a means to cultural survival has taken on new forms for the Winnemem and may be playing an important role in the creation of international alliances for the defense of water and the restoration of sovereignty and salmon.

Early Colonialism in Wintu Lands

Anglo-Americans and Canadians first began entering traditional Winnemem lands in the late 1820’s. Jedediah Smith and later the Hudson Bay Company traveled through the area trapping and trading. While initial contacts appear to have been generally uneventful, deadly waves of malaria and influenza followed decimating many Wintu communities.

Following this wave of disease, the Gold Rush of 1848 and 1849 brought further destruction and violence. In the context of white racism and avarice, the Gold Rush period was typified by extreme cruelty. Competition for traditionally utilized streamside access, necessary for gold panning, exacerbated conflicts.

Federal dealings with indigenous “Californian” nations are difficult to chart. Numerous treaty commissioners developed agreements with some tribes “but also on behalf of others, presuming the acceptance of all Native Californian Indians to all U.S. terms and conditions regardless of actual individual participation in negotiations” (Slagle 332). Formal communications between Indian Agents and high-level federal officials illustrate a genuine lack of concern for native “Californians”. In an 1850 report to President Taylor, Special Agent for the Californian Indians Thomas Butler King described the people as, “The lowest form of human beings, who are destined to disappear as white settlement spreads over their territory”. In 1989, scholar Allogan Slagle contended that King’s “view not only reflects the mentality of the time; it seems to have provided a rule of thumb for the state’s policies well into this century” (328).

Throughout the 1850’s, state and federal governments pursued policies harmful to the Indian people of California. The "Act for the Government and Protection of the Indians" allowed whites to essentially enslave any Indians who were considered vagrants. Children in particular could be claimed and kept until the age of 18 by any white person. The law set fines for abusing an Indian child at ten dollars, and codified as a crime the compelling Indian men to work. Yet these crimes would have been notoriously difficult to prove and recourse to justice unavailable for Indians since the law also claimed that “in no case shall a white man be convicted on any offence upon the testimony of an Indian” The same law prohibited traditional forms of agriculture and gathering making life harder for indigenous people. At the federal level, US treaty commissioners entered into 18 treaties with various California tribes, but Congress refused to ratify these treaties (Act of 1850).

In particular, the government refused to acknowledge the 1851 Cottonwood Treaty calling for a 35-square mile Wintu reservation. Leaders of the Winnemem Wintu and representatives of the United States at Reading’s Ranch signed this treaty on August 15, 1851. Despite the lack of ratification, the Winnemem continued to live in the area of the McCloud River and were included in a census by Special Indian Agent John Terrell in 1915 for inclusion in government land purchases. This inclusion suggests that Terrell considered the Winnemem a tribe and acknowledged them as such, a fact that is significant in contemporary efforts to be restored as a federally recognized nation (AJR 39).

Eco-Reading: Mining, the Environment and Indigenous Development Conflicts

2011-03-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it's the end of week ten and I am pretty much spent, but I want to share some of what I've learned recently. As part of a class on American Indian Environmentalism I read Saleem H. Ali's book: Mining, the Environment adn Indigenous Development Conflicts.

Published in 2003 by the U of AZ Press, I had high hopes that this book might inspire me and help me shape some important questions for dissertation research. The book sadly did not meet these expectations. While interesting, the book seemed like a manual for companies interested in knowing more about how to exploit the concept of soreriegnty in order to gain mining contracts.

For me, this book was a let down to say the least.

Delta Ponds: Resoration and Revelation

2011-02-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

It's a cold and sleety day here in the Willamette Valley but despite that I chose to follow my birding urges out to Delta Ponds (just a bit northwest of the University). Delta Ponds is an amazing place where massive restoration efforts have worked to reunite ponds and river, remove invasive species, and enhance habitat for local wildlife. The site was a gravel mine for about fifty years, but is now home to an amazing variety of birds.

I love birding in urban places, especially when habitat enhancement and green spaces have allowed cities and birds to coexist.

Immediately upon arriving at Delta Ponds I could see a wide assortment of birds on the water. Double-crested cormorants, buffleheads, cackling geese, Canada geese, American wigeons. A little more investigation revealed coots, northern shovelers, and green-winged teals as well as a bald eagle, some mourning doves, and a great blue heron (to name a few).

Sure, I got soaked with sleet, but I had a damn good time. I'll be going back for more as soon as time allows.

**so many races of these white-cheeked cuties

Shout Out to the Cranes

2011-02-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

I'm up to my eyeballs in depressing books about mining and indigenous people, but I want to take a break from that to celebrate the release of whooping cranes being reintroduced to the wild.

The USGS has some lovely bios of the cranes complete with pictures and the news is buzzing with articles like these.

Hooooray!

Envy and Excellence

2011-02-20T18:43:00.001-08:00

So, I'm not in Klamath this year. It's a bummer, but that's how life goes sometimes. And while I could moan and gripe about all of the eagles and snow geese I'm not seeing this February, I'd rather think about the great local birds of Lane County who have been brightening my day.

Today, in Alton Baker Park, I got to see my first osprey of the season. Osprey make me think back to my first time along the Applegate River. It was late March, and the water was so beautifully green-blue that I sat in the sand watching it roll past me. Soon there were osprey above me and I was confused and amazed because back home I'd only ever seen them by the ocean.

After a few years in Oregon, I've come to think of them as messengers of spring (the way I used to think of robins).

Today's osprey was no sedate and stately reminder that spring is on the way, but a force plunging into the duck pond and emerging with a good sized fish right before my eyes. He circled close to me and then flew off into the higher trees. Total excellence!

#80 You Are Just So Cool

2011-02-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

Although I've been looking at and feeding birds for most of my life, I didn't start keeping notes about them until late last year.

Today, I had the pleasure of seeing and recording my 80th species as the Pileated Woodpecker. I love woodpeckers (perhaps they're my faves... or maybe i say that about all of them?). Anyway, today I saw and listened to two wondrously lovely Pileated Woodpeckers at Kirk Park near the Fern Ridge area of Oregon.

It was good birding all around the reservoir, though clearly I missed some parks. Guess I'll just need to go back soon.

*Photo borrowed from an interesting article about Pileated populations in Oregon

Holy Shit Seattle

2011-02-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so a month or so ago I went to Seattle for the first time. Anyone who was reading my blog then knows I had a pretty good time. I drank whisky, saw some Picasso, watched gulls dance over the decaying rooftops... but today Seattle has pissed me off twice.

I woke up to learn that the Seattle cop who shot John T. Williams last summer is not being criminally charged. Sure, the internal review found the shooting unjustified, and the guy quit his job, but why no criminal charges? Why can a cop shoot a First Nations man and go free? It just doesn't make sense.

Then, as if that wasn't infuriating enough, now I am reading about how a city park intends to prevent swallows from nesting in their usual location.

I am not suggesting that institutional racism and anthropocentrism are the same, but I think they are related somehow. They are related in that they show a disregard for life. They show a world where certain people can and do get away with undervaluing the lives of others. There is something special about birds returning to a place in order to reproduce and that should be honored. It should not be treated as an outlandish inconvenience to some corporate entity because - heaven forbid- birds poop.

And as for the lives of people... that should go with out saying. No matter what condition Mr. Williams had found himself in, homeless, addicted to alcohol... it does not matter (although the papers like to point it out over and over again as if it does). A human being has the right to live, to create, to be them-self without fearing for their life.

The only good thing I can see coming out of this is the memorial protest and honoring. I was moved by this interview with Rick Williams and his focus on tradition and art and healing...

Today, I am disgusted by the "power" structure of Seattle, and I really hope that the people of Seattle will stand up and take their city back in the name of respect for living beings. I hope this for the whole country and world really. People of tradition who honor all life are showing the world that there is a better way...

Sovereignty and Health: The Yakama Antelope Move

2011-02-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

Last month the Yakama Nation reintroduced 99 Pronghorn Antelope (gathered in Nevada with the help of the Nevada Department of Wildlife) to their lands (1,573 square miles in the south-central Washington). This even has been described in a number of local news outlets, but for me, the Yakama Nation gives the most detailed analysis of their reasons, methods, and long term plans, while the Spokesman Review has a nice selection of capture and transport images.

I hope this move proves beneficial for the antelope and for the Yakama people. Although a "Safari" club helped to finance this move, it seems that only tribal members will be allowed to hunt this herd (and that is a future hope not an imediate reality). I really applaude the reintroduction of species, especially when there is a likelihood that they will provide increased overall health in the area (in this case by providing access to healthy traditional food).

This increased access is critical for improved health especially in Indian Country, where poverty, loss of land-base and commodity food often conspire to create epidemics of diabeates and other health issues. This exercise of sovereignty could be a step in improving the health of the land and the people.

Whistlin' While I Work

2011-02-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

The PhD is kicking my butt as mid-term steamrolls by. That being said, I apologize for my quietude these days. I am thinking about birds and nature but have so little time to share those ideas in writing.

Days of rich, well-researched rambling are ahead...

Today I just want to share this link to the Nebraska Raptor Recovery Center. Another great organization helping our feathered friends survive in a world that we have often made quite unfriendlier.

Thanks Raptor Recovery folk for all of the work that you do!

Decisions, Decisions

2011-02-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

So I read this morning that officials seem inclined to promote the shooting of Barred Owls. I imagine responses to this plan will be heated and diverse.

The comments on this short news article alone are already trending that way (although online news comments are often prone to angry ranting).

In my gut I'm not sure I can support or even really understand this sort of plan. The barred owls are out competing the spotted owls and hybridizing with them in some cases, and sure this may result in a loss of species which does indicate some pretty frightful things about our management and land use habits, but does that mean we should kill another species...

I think this quote from the Seattle Times illustrates something close to how I feel:

"We certainly don't want barred owls killed, but the highest priority has to be placed on not having spotted owls go extinct," said Sallinger, with the Portland Audubon Society.

He argued logging weakened spotted owls to the point barred owls could expand rapidly. Amending habitat loss is the first step in rebalancing the playing field, he said.

"Going out and killing barred owls, if you haven't taken the other necessary steps, would be really horrific."

Yeah, let's talk about restoring habitat, not killing more animals.

*these images are not mine. click on them to see link

Salmon!

2011-02-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

Living in the Pacific Northwest, one learns a thing or two about salmon and rivers. Being interested in ecology and environmental justice, one can learn even more.

Currently, the intellectual tides of my life are coalescing around these sacred and critically threatened beings. I recently completed a reading of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Natural Resource Management which dealt with a number of species but, being focused on BC tended to primarily address salmon.

The book was phenomenal and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in resource management, indigenous peoples, solidarity etc... Each chapter was a unique essay or case study, so a variety of perspectives are addressed.

Furthermore, I've had the good fortune of meeting Theresa May and being brought on board to work with her production of the play Salmon is Everything. The play was developed by Yurok, Klamath, Hupa, and Karuk tribal members with May in the aftermath of the devastating 2002 fish kill on the Klamath River.

This play is just one of the many ways in which the nations of the Klamath River have struggled to protect the lives of the salmon and the sovereignty of their people.

I am very excited to be part of this project and have begun researching and compiling information at the production blog .

Deplorable Fragments

2011-01-31T11:23:00.000-08:00

I have fallen victim to a number of hungry beasts who feast upon my wit and time

PhD: Gregory Bateson, Winona LaDuke, Berkes, Menzies
Theater: oh you damned 2002 fish kill of Klamath region... how I ponder over your news headlines
Geography: the move is still in progress, though finally I have a bed

my social life takes little toll (as I have none)... though recent contact with the x frazzles my wits.

I am just bits of myself...

Oh good people of the internets I hope you are all having great times. Bear with me... more thoughtful things are soon to come.

Alton Baker Park in Eugene Oregon

2011-01-26T07:50:00.000-08:00

School has been taking it's toll on my brain and my bird-time, but here are a few urban delights...

Teal?

2011-01-17T21:51:00.000-08:00

Pondering... I really think I saw a blue-winged teal today at Alton Baker Park... seems unlikely, but...

PhD Blathering on a Weekend: Cranes

2011-01-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

The sky is just starting to get bright enough to consider crawling out into the world with a pair of binoculars. In the meantime, it occurs to me that I should do a bit of steady research regarding the rhetoric of wildlife conservation. It is way too early to know where the dissertation will lead, but I am certain that wildlife will be an element of the work. In light of this I think it might be useful to check the headlines for some sense of the information being circulated in the public about wildlife.

I haven't narrowed my search down to a specific place yet, but given my strong background in American/First Nations history and literature, and my interest in first nations people US/Canada/First Nations seems a likely choice.

Today's search yields a few interesting issues: the proposed crane hunt in Tennessee, and a debate about the water rights of horses in Nevada. Another recent story involves the shooting of three Whooping Cranes in Georgia.

For me right now, the most interesting thing about these stories is the way in which people respond to them. The rhetoric of the comments is often disjointed and violent. It seems like the type of thing that many have studied, but it is really phenomenal. In the case of the Whooping Cranes, the birds' bodies were found weeks ago and stories about the cranes have been circulating for sometime.

In several older news posts about the cranes, people respond with everything from Sarah Palin quotes to small rants about how destructive cranes are to residential fish ponds. Interestingly, the Florida Times Union had a story from 2001 about an 18 year old who shot two Whooping Cranes in Florida and was sentenced to "75 days in jail and 200 hours of community service, which could include working with birds". Wonder how that worked out...

Given all the blackbird hoopla, this information about crane killing seems to be of no concern. Why? Because killing cranes isn't a sign of the world ending i suppose...

Extinction is Forever: Humans as Charismatic Mega Fauna

2011-01-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

As I'm getting ready to run out of my office and head home, it occurs to me to jot this down. Forgive my haste and the garbled grammar it may create...

Today in one of my classes an interesting observation arose regarding how environmentalism (mainstream type) has moved away from rhetoric about species loss and has focused its attention elsewhere. The reasons for this, as we speculated, may be diverse, but honestly think about it.... do you remember the days of saving whales (et. al.)? I sure do.

It is important that many have started thinking about ecosystems as a whole, but I think even more prevalent today is the rhetoric of "save the humans" which ironically was the language of the anti-environment folk back in the day.

On another tangent, First Nations people have had several successful species-focused restoration projects which have generated not only improved conditions for the focus species but also for ecosystems and for people...

This concept is added to my pre-dissertation stew. Comments and thoughts welcomed.

A Few Firsts

2011-01-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

Today I was lucky enough to observe a Hermit Thrush at close range for the first time. What an adorable bird! I was a little confused about what I was seeing at first, but then it was all perfectly clear.

I also saw Cacklers on Stewart Lake for the first time. I've never seen and Canada/Cacklers out there before and today I got to watch as about 260 descended from the sky in three waves over a 30 minute period.

The Am. Wigeons were amused and did their best to get in the mix with geese, but the Mallards seemed irked by the whole affair.

They first moved to the edge of the water to avoid geese... then started getting out of the water as more geese showed up.

It was pretty funny to watch.

Another less amusing first was the intervention of a security guard at Stewart Lake. While I was counting geese an elderly and annoyed security woman approached the roomie (who was in the car of course). She wanted to know what we were doing on the property of HP. Now, I know that HP owns the land around Stewart Lake, and probably, they "own" the lake itself but the setting is very park like, and the parking all around is labeled "visitor". I've been birding there at least a dozen times and no one has ever bothered me, so it was annoying to suddenly be subjected to inquisition about my birding habits (apparently the guard told the roomie that I "need to find ducks not on private property).

I honestly don't have any great respect for corporate land ownership, but at the same time I don't want to get into it with security either... I'm sure I'll go back to the lake (in fact it would take more than a miffed security guard to keep me out) but I'll just be sure to go when the place is busy and I can pass for someone visiting an employee.

Viva!

At the Parking Lot Pond

2011-01-08T18:16:00.000-08:00

Today the roomie patiently waited (slept) in the car as I waked around Stewart Lake and delighted in an abundance of birds. After I finally made my way back to the car, we decided to go over to the shopping plaza and peak into the parking lot ponds. The one near Home Depot was pretty empty, just a pair of Mallards and a Spotted Towhee, but the one in the busier end of the plaza was bustling with birds.

Despite being only slightly larger than my living room (I exaggerate but it really is small), the pond near Safeway was packed with about fifty Mallards and crosses. The roomie could not resist indulging them with a bit of stale granola which incited an all out birdamonium. The ducks were joined by about 20 brewers blackbirds, 10 crows, and what looked to be a young ring-billed gull.

This was at around 2pm.

Later in the evening (5:30 ish) I decided to swing back by the same spot and see who was still hanging out. Much to my surprise there was a flock of about sixty red winged blackbirds assembled in the cat tails around the water. Earlier in the day I hadn't seen a single one, but at night it seemed all of the brewer's had moved on and been replaced by their flashier cousins.

Weird little urban finds like this always give me a thrill.

Bewildering Birds: A Gull Problem

2011-01-06T17:03:00.000-08:00

After a miserable day of classes, I decided to walk around UO and try my hand at birdwatching here. For those who don't know, my move from OSU to UO has not been a totally pleasant one. Although I love the program I'm in, I am not yet a fan of this campus or this city. Nevertheless, I realize that soon enough I'll be living here full-time and I need to find something to love about the place.

Part of my plan to "fall in love" involves birding. I have so many familiar spots in Corvallis. Places I go for specifically for hawks, or songbird, or waterbirds... whatever. There is a place for everything in Corvallis it seems, but here, I hardly know my way to the grocery store. While this type of thing was exciting when I was homeless and wandering, I now find it irksome to be swallowed by urban sprawl (trust me, I know that Eugene is really a beautiful place as cities go, I've just been spoiled).

Birding one of the campus quads for an hour was really nice, but I was unpleasantly reminded of how weak my birding skills are especially in the area of gulls. During my session I saw three lovelies but what kind of gulls were they? Sorry to say, I have no idea. If I had to guess I'd say that they were Thayer's Gulls, but that is a shaky assessment based on color, and seasonal presence in this location... One more thing to study... oh gulls! You're so beautiful and diverse I may never really know you, but I'll keep looking anyway.

Afternoon Delights and Dismay

2011-01-05T20:56:00.000-08:00

Having Wednesdays without classes is deluxe... Sure, I should be reading, doing homework and all that, but what I did instead was spend three hours wandering around in the rain looking at birds.

For a long while I stood on the bike path behind the OSU sheep barns watching flock after flock of Cacklers and Canada Geese descend into the waterlogged fields. There's something wonderful about the sight of them storming through the sky and swirling down together. It doesn't matter how many times I see it, I am always amazed and thrilled; always snapping photos (mostly bad ones). Today there was one snow goose among them, strange and lovely.

Further on there were five yellow-rumped warblers playing in some small trees branched up out of a seasonal pond. As I watched them what looked like a juvenile green heron flew toward me, crossed over the road and perched on a telephone pole. I tried to photograph him through my binoculars with less than stellar results. Some day I shall digiscope... some day.

Of course it can't all be good times... the news of dead Jackdaws in Sweeden and fish washing onto the beaches of New Zealand adds to the media's sudden interest in wildlife deaths and attracts my attention on a number of fronts.

I've noticed today that many of these stories now end with the uplifting sentiment that "bird kills are not uncommon"... or something of that ilk. While I agree that this is a fact, I don't think people should take comfort in that notion. Even if these deaths turn out to be unrelated to each other, even if they turn out to be unrelated to toxins, it is nearly impossible to think that they are "natural" deaths. In my mind people are implicated in nearly every case.

For example, Seagull Steve makes an excellent point about the depressing frequency of bird collisions and the disorienting and deadly consequences of light pollution.

I'm sad to say that if it turns out to be collision that killed these birds and disease that killed the fish people will likely breathe a collective and undeserved sigh of relief. There will be some sense that all is well because it wasn't poison, or military testing, or an angry god that was to blame, but nature. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty damn sure that all is not well.

Wildlife Wreckage: What's Goin' On?

2011-01-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

My intellectual curiosity about media representation of wildlife mortality and ecological trauma is at an all time high.

I've been lucky enough to be turned on to this USGS page which has a phenomenal map of wildlife mortality events. I'll be checking back here on a regular basis (I notice that the media reports more deaths than are displayed on this map but 1/4/11 was the last update).

Also, my quest for images of the Arkansas die-off continues, but so far this is the best I've seen. Please note that you can rarely see more than one or two corpses at a time. I find it a very interesting rhetorical choice.

I also find it interesting that events such as the November deaths of about 900 Turkey Vultures off of the FL coast received nothing even close to this amount of coverage. Sure, die-off happens all of the time and often from natural causes, but it is creepy how many die offs are occurring right now.

Perhaps it is also creepy that the media cares... why? Don't get me wrong, I think people should care deeply about the lives of wildlife but it isn't really a common trend in the dominant culture. There is however, a common trend of using unusual stories to obfuscate other politically volatile issues and events.

Reduced to Spare Parts: The Way Language Deconstructs Life

2011-01-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'm just feeling touchy because birds are falling dead from the sky all around the globe as fish wash up lifeless in rivers, but I am really appalled by how human rhetoric often equates life with machinery.

Birds are amazing but they are not machines. Neither are we.

On another note, look around for images of the carnage in Arkansas. Why is it that the same photo of one solitary blackbird keeps accompanying all of these stories?

22 for 2: A Last Look Before the Storm

2011-01-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow will mark the first day of my second term as a PhD student. It's fair to say that I'm a little sad to see winter break coming to a close but on a bright note, my last day of free time included an hour of sheer birding delight.

I've been trying to learn something of the history of Stewart Lake, but so far no luck. I really wonder how that particular body of water came to be and what role HP had in the development of the area around the lake. The one thing I know for sure is that the birding there is always fun and rewarding.

Today, I walked the little bark loop around the lake and took my time enjoying the birds and sunshine. In all, I saw 22 species, one of which was new for me (the Pied-Billed Grebe).

Tomorrow the hell-storm of reading, writing, thinking, and commuting resumes but I have some hope I'll be able to keep updating this blog and that one way or another my class work will open up a way for me to pursue my interests in birds, the humanities, and environmental justice.

1/2/11, you were a delight!

On the lake
American Wigeons
Mallards
Canvasbacks
Ring-necked Ducks
Lesser Scaups
Bufflehead
Common Mergansers
Pied-billed Grebes
Double-crested Cormorants
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
American Coot

Right next to the lake
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Bushtit
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)

On the lawn
European Starling (yes, I count them too...)
Killdeer

Birds of Seattle: Cardboard, Whisky, Paint, Feathers pt. 2

2011-01-02T07:58:00.001-08:00

This last set of bird images comes from inside the Seattle Museum of Art's permanent collection.

Thanks Giving - Chris Paul (Tsartlip) 2004

Mangalili Larakitj - Galuma Maymuru (Yirrkala/Aborigine) 2001

Sound of Waves - Tsuji Kako (Japanese) 1901

The Crane Ornament - George de Forest Brush (American) 1889

Another Year

2011-01-01T21:11:00.001-08:00

I'm not optimistic about 2011, but I woke up to geese flying overhead and songbirds in the trees. The first bird I saw was a bright little Townsend's.

Time will tell...

Birds of Seattle: Cardboard, Whisky, Paint, Feathers pt. 1

2010-12-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was, shockingly, my first voyage to Seattle, Washington. The purpose of the voyage, simply put, was Picasso. Before birds, before literature, even before homelessness, there was art and art history. Those who have known me over the years are actually surprised to see how little art is implicated in my professional life, because my early years were dedicated almost exclusively to creative work.

Currently, the Seattle Museum of Art is showing Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris. The collection will be in Seattle until January 17th. I love Picasso, so making the trip when it was offered, was a no-brainer. With one backpack full of film, cameras, and rain gear (it is Seattle after all) I made my way.

The show was phenomenal, but despite putting birds aside for the day, the birds would not leave me be. And so... here they are, the birds of Seattle.

SAM: African Bird Head (Mali) This sculpture was part of a collection of African marionettes and masks. SAM employees make mention of Picasso in their description of their mask, but have very little to say about bird head itself.

2nd St: A random crow shilloutte attempting to sell me a party planner... or something. I am not sure how the crow seemed relevant.

Whisky Bar 2nd ST: Wild Geese and Redbreast Irish Whiskey... how could I resist. I was a little surprised by the lack of bird imagery considering their names. Made with real geese and irish heroes?

Pikes: A real live pigeon.

At the parking garage: As soon as we parked a mass of gulls flew over. I was able to get a photo of this lovely.

Work is the Scourge of the Birding Class

2010-12-28T22:06:00.001-08:00

On the sixth floor of a university library, I looked out over the rainy campus and wished for many things: sun, birds, the time to enjoy them. Work. It had to be done.

Between those damnable tasks I thought of a story that I came across last term. It was the story of an Apache boy at school in Mescalero who used Towhee feathers as part of prayer ritual to give him knowledge and power. This story sticks with me.

I don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone that there is a connection between indigenous spirituality and birds, but the general public's perception seems focused on birds of prey: eagles, hawks, occasionally owls. However, the literature seems to clearly indicate that water, game, woodpeckers and song birds also had special roles in numerous cultures.

I'm not sure that I'll have any free time this coming term, but this is a subject I'm sure to persue.

* The x was quite a budding ethno-ornitholigist back in the day, but gave up the practice. At that time I was so busy with gradschool and teaching that the best thing I could offer was the occassional topic idea. I realize that even in her absense I owe a lot to her. Some of my most fascinating current projects and interests stem directly from the time we spent together. If she were still writing and researching about birds and such I think the world would be all the better for it. I'm picking up a thread that someone else dropped.

No work tomorrow... all play (hopefully outside).

Blustery Day Birding

2010-12-27T07:14:00.000-08:00

In early 2007, the x and I had loaded a GMC Sonoma with our possessions (which if you are familiar with the Sonoma you know what kind of tight squeeze that was) and headed west from Massachusetts to Oregon. The highlight of this trip, in my mind, was the view of a Golden Eagle eating a dead deer on the side of route 80 in Wyoming. It was the first time either of us had seen that species (Aquila chrysaetos) and he was so close to us that this first sighting was truly remarkable.

This reminiscence is not without cause, yesterday, while standing in the wind and rain atop the Bruce Rd. overlook of Finley NWR, I saw a Golden Eagle. She flew out over the field and landed in a far off tree. At first glance, I thought she might be an immature Bald Eagle, but since she perched I was able to look more closely. According to the information recorded on ebird, there have been a number of Golden Eagle sightings at Finley, and I feel thrilled to have seen her for myself.

Another delightful sight of the day included a male American Kestrel hover hunting on the other side of the overlook parking lot. I’d never seen this behavior before, and I didn’t know that Kestrels hunted this way. The winds were incredibly strong and apparently, (according to Cornell) Kestrels will hover hunt when the wind is powerful enough to create consistent updrafts (it was that kind of day).

After all this excitement, I was lucky enough to come home to a hummingbird at my feeder.

Christmas Day at the Duck Pond

2010-12-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

Since my marriage crumbled, the fact is, I live more than 3000 miles away from my family and have no family of my own. What I do have in Oregon is my roommate (an extremely distant cousin, and longtime friend), two dogs, and a pack of amigas diffused throughout the Willamette Valley. Add to this the fact that I’m not Christian, and I think it must be obvious that Christmas at my place is no ordinary affair.

As is typical for most holidays and major events of celebration, today I wanted to go outside and look at birds. My roomie, who is not really that fascinated by the prospect of standing in the rain looking at far off creatures, often humors me. She has patiently voyaged to some fairly remote places just to sit in our musty old Toyota and read a book.

Today, it was a bit rainier than I expected, and the car has been making some unfortunate sounds, so I decided the only logical thing to do was to look for waterfowl in some likely urban places. My first choice was the mis-titled “Stewart Lake”, a small pond located on the Corvallis campus of HP.

That site was actually a birding delight, even the roomie got out of the car and joined me on the banks where a number of Mallards and Mallard X’s (or Mankies as I’ve heard them called) swarmed about our ankles hoping for handouts.

Further out on the pond were numerous American Coots, a collection of Double-crested Cormorants (both perched high in trees and on a fallen log in the water), a Belted Kingfisher, and as we were preparing to leave, a Great Blue Heron (one of the roomie’s favorites) descended from the sky in a beautiful flourish.

Pleased, but not totally satiated, I then decided to check out the odd square pond near our local Home Depot. I don’t really understand what the deal is with this square of standing water, but ducks seem to enjoy it quite a bit. Today, there were about 30 Mallards and Mankies hanging out there. We also got to see a male Kestrel kill something in the field and then commence to devour it atop one of the large parking lot lights.

It wasn’t the longest birding day and there were no rare finds but it was a great joy (as bird-watching always is).

First Timer: Birding with Neebin

2010-12-22T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today I had the pleasure of taking a good friend of mine out bird-watching. She and I are both artsy-punkish types, so the image of us birding together is a pretty unusual and delightful one. I gave her a set of small binoculars to work with and off we went.

We started out on the Oregon State University campus which is really a very nice place to look at birds. Right off the bat we spotted a beautiful varied thrush. The day was warm and dry (a rarity in Oregon's Decembers) and we covered a good bit of the campus.

Off of the main campus the school has a series of sheep and cattle barns. That area was busting with birds today. Some seasonal ponds had ducks, the trees were thick with robins, and at some point three red-tailed hawks burst into the sky and thrilled us by whirling about in the thermals.

Geekishly, I kept a record of what we saw... and I am still puzzling over one bird that looked suspiciously like a black-throated gray warbler... what was it? I may never know.

Christmas Bird Count : Corvallis Oregon

2010-12-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

A terrible photo of a magestic Rough-legged Hawk (taken through my binocular lens in a car)

Today I participated in my first Christmas Bird Count and despite my exhaustion (as a result of my long night watching the eclipse) I had the most wonderful time. I was part of a three person team looking for birds in the area near Muddy Creek Charter School.

I signed up for the CBC at the last minute and was moved to a different team just thirty minutes before the count began. I went under-prepared, grabbing only a bag of pistachios to last me the day. I was a little confused about how to get to the school, but I arrived safely there at a little before sunrise and had the pleasure of watching the sky go pink and blue over the Cascades.

Weather was great all day, a bit chilly, but sunny! Sunny in Oregon; in December! Within a few minutes we had seen juncos, towhees, chickadees, nuthatches, ruby and golden crowned kinglets, crows, and a bald eagle. It was a bright start to a tremendous day.

We went to a place called Century Farm where we were able to observe a number of waterfowl including 10 hooded mergansers who looked stunning in the mid-morning light. We also saw a lincoln sparrow and a red-breasted sapsucker there.

On the rural roads we saw a rough-legged hawk, kestrels, a cooper's hawk and a belted kingfisher.

Our team found 58 species of birds and I learned a great deal about winter birding in the region. Some highlights from our count include: numerous bluebirds, a rough-legged hawk, a belted kingfisher, and a group of ten hooded mergansers. The whole Corvallis count included 130 species. I eagerly await the final report.

Our teamleader points out the area we're searching

The funny thing about this day was realizing that I am actually quite capable of spotting and identifying birds. Birding with the ex-wife, who was really a remarkable birder, made me feel like a neophyte at best. The reality is, I'm pretty knowledgeable for a recreational birder who's only been at it for a few years. She taught me a great deal and for that I'll always be thankful.

I look forward to next year.

Some Winter Images

2010-12-20T20:07:00.000-08:00

Finley NWR in November

Jackson-Frazier Wetlan in Mid-December

Ebird: Occurrence Maps

2010-12-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty excited about the occurrence maps produced by Cornell. What a great visual! Being somewhat of a visual learner these maps are a special delight.

My love of the new maps, combined with the free time of winter break, has prompted me to be more diligent with recording and reporting my bird observations at eBird. Reporting is very simple and can provide useful information for scientists and birders. I recommend it to anyone.*

32 species in the past three days... I love Oregon!

*If you're already on eBird let me know, and I'll add you to my contacts.

Winter Break Returns: The PhD begins

2010-12-19T16:13:00.000-08:00

It's been nearly a year exactly since my last update here. I can't say enough about how complex the past year was, but that's not so much the point...

The point is this... I still love nature, reading, writing, birds, sustainability, environmental justice and hope.

I keep on working toward these ends.

In September, I began my first term as a PhD student. I read so much and wrote quite a bit as well. In the interest of sharing this work with others, here is my final project from one of my classes.

This paper examines how the education narratives of American Indian people often use stories and images of nature to convey the individuals sense of loss, identity and resistance. I examine a number of education narratives mostly taken from the boarding school experience. These narratives include those of first generation boarding school students and those of later generations.

Expressing Loss, Identity, and Resistance: Reading Nature in Indigenous Education Narratives

After 1871, the United States government stopped making treaties with the First Nations of this land. This change in policy, prompted by a sense that total colonial control of the continent was at hand, signified an intellectual shift in perception, reducing peoples from nationhood status to domestic wards. In the wake of this shift, two primary methods of dominating both land and people emerged, and can perhaps be best summarized by two famous quotes; “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” or “Kill the Indian, save the man”. While these methods on the surface seem divided along Althusserian lines, one being militaristically repressive the other being ideological, readers must bear in mind that violent acquisition of land and the complete domination of nations necessary for such acquisition, lie at the heart of both statements. The unified mission of these two quotes and the methods they embody can be seen simply by considering their sources: General Phillip Sheridan, a major player in the genocidal “Indian Wars”, and Captain Richard Pratt, a minor figure in the same “Indian Wars” and later founder of Carlisle Indian School.

For Pratt, education was a way to kill Indians without killing people. It was a way to ensure colonial control over environmental resources while manufacturing human resources in the form of a new class of “domesticated”, “educated” Indians. Pratt’s methods lay the framework for the residential school system, which aimed to eradicate Native culture. Central to this cultural genocide was the breaking of Native connections to place, capacities for traditional self-sufficiency, and spiritual sensitivities which opposed the colonial commodification of animals, minerals, forests etc… While scholarship about the boarding school system thus far has tended to focus on the extreme violence against and regimentation of children, I hope to examine the ways in which the boarding schools sought to undermine indigenous land-ethics and how this tendency has been conveyed in the education narratives of Indian peoples.

Off-Reservation Schools: Disorientation for “Salvation”
Prior to the off-reservation system, a number of less ambitious, less centralized day schools were located on reserves across the country, but following Pratt’s method these types of schools were soon considered ineffective and governmental preference was geared toward off-reservation schools. At these schools, often located hundreds of miles away from their home, Indian children were initiated into a new world designed to disorient them in every imaginable way.

These major changes in geography, climate, and spatial organization had a profound impact on many boarding school students, which they reveal in their narratives. For example, Viola Martinez, of the Owens Valley Paiute, begins her education narrative with the following story:

The thing that I remember, the first morning I woke up, the sun came up the wrong way. From the wrong direction. Where we lived in Benton the White Mountains were over here [to the east] and the sun always came up from this direction. I wondered what kind of world I had come into because the sun came up the wrong way, not in my face, but behind me. That I remember. And it took me a long time to adjust to that (Martinez 17).

Having grown up in a traditional home, this disorientation Martinez experienced was not just spatial and geographical, but also spiritual. Her comments here reveal the depth of her connection to place as something more than a simple love of home, but as the very anchors of her world.

To understand the depth of indigenous connection to place, it may be useful for non-Native readers to consider the writings of contemporary author Lori Arviso Alvord. Unlike generations before who were often stolen from their families and forced into boarding schools, Alvord chose to leave her homeland in order to seek education. Nevertheless, her writings explicitly express the emotional complexities faced by young Navajo people in her position. Alvord writes:

Today Navajo children are still standing on the playgrounds where I stood, facing the critical decision I would face after I graduated from high school: to leave the rez, or to stay and cleave to traditional ways. To let the desert live inside them, or to try to wash it away. They too hear the voice of the wind and the desert, smell the strong smells of our people, and feel the ways we came from. “Decide,” the world whispers to them, “you must choose” (25).

In this passage, Alvord makes clear that place plays a vital role in the moment of decision. As in all aspects of life, place is never a lifeless backdrop for Navajo youth, but a being speaking to the people. Place is equally present in Alvord’s description of her personal difficulty with of leaving her homeland:

[L]eaving Dinetah was a frightening prospect. Navajo people believe we are safe within the four sacred mountains that bound the Navajo reservation—Mount Taylor, San Fransisco Peak, Blanca Peak, and the La Plata Range. In our creation stories it is the place of our origins, of our emergence… These mountains are central to everything in our lives. To leave this place is to invite imbalance, to break our precious link with the tribe, to leave the Walk of Beauty, and to court danger (25).

Considering the seriousness of Alvord’s emotions regarding the loss of connection to place, one must imagine how profound the loss was for students who had little choice in the matter of their schooling. Such deep disorientation would necessarily have negative repercussions for many. Some officials within the boarding school system recognized how deep connection to place created an epidemic of homesickness unlike that which they had ever known. Cora Folsom, director of the Indian program at Hampton Institute, wrote: “[h]omesickness with them became a disease; boys and girls actually suffered in the flesh as well as in the spirit; could not eat, would not sleep… an Indian throws himself flat upon the bosom of mother earth and, scorning the weakness of tears, lies their in dumb misery for hours” (Adams 133). Indeed, death from “homesickness” was not uncommon among boarding school students, and may likely be traced in part to a vital connection to place which the off-reservation schools hoped to destroy.

In addition to the physical aspects of disorientation, boarding schools also sought to reconfigure indigenous religious and economic models in order to achieve greater control over people and land, or as the colonizers might describe them, human and environmental resources. Religious colonization began long before the boarding school system, but perhaps reached its peak within the well-funded and politically supported off-reservation schools. In her analysis of religious colonialism and its ecological impacts, contemporary Anishinaabeg scholar, Winona LaDuke, explains, “Native spiritual practices and Judeo-Christian traditions are based on very different paradigms. Native American rituals are frequently based on the reaffirmation of the relationship of humans to the Creation” she goes on to state that “[u]nderstanding the complexity of these belief systems is central to understanding the societies built on those spiritual foundations—the relationship of people to their sacred lands, to relatives with fins or hooves, to the plant and animal foods that anchor a way of life” (12). In the boarding school paradigm, understanding was not part of the undertaking. Christianizing Indians was part of the “civilizing mission” but it also intentionally served to manufacture a de-spiritualized view of the natural world. Simultaneously, students were being prepared to enter into the land-owning market economy.

Preparation for entrance into the market economy took many forms. One of the most basic, and perhaps in some ways the most insidious, was the assigning of names to Indian students. As David Wallace Adams reveals in his work Education for Extinction, the assignment of names to Indian students was “part of a conscious government policy” to “imbue Indians with the values of possessive individualism” and to maintain records of property rights, inheritance, and bloodlines (108). Adams quotes Commissioner Morgan’s address to Indian agents and school superintendents:

[w]hen Indians become citizens of the United States under the allotment act, the inheritance of property will be governed by the laws of the respective states, and it will cause needless confusion and, doubtless, considerable loss to the Indians if no attempt is made to have the different members of a family known by the same family name on the records (108).

Like much rhetoric of the period, Morgan frames his argument for last names in terms of protecting the Indians from “considerable loss”, but in truth, codification of family names provided the government with not only a way of tracking property ownership, but also with a way of tracking blood quantum and thus disenfranchising countless native people. In 1892, Morgan himself went on record explaining that inheritance of Indian land could not pass from mother to child if the father was not Indian because, “[t]he father is the head of the family. When a man marries, his wife separates herself from her family and kindred…the old English common law, which makes the father the controlling factor… should apply” (Jameson and Armitage 207). Taken in correlation it is plain that the ideological and cultural policies enforced at school served the very real function of parting people from their land-base, their spiritual source, their homes.

Identification, Loss, and Resistance in the Early Narratives of “Assimilation”
Around the turn-of-the-century, the first wave of autobiographies and the formal Indian school narratives began to emerge. Among some of the most famous are the works of Ohiyesa (Charles Eastman), Francis La Flesche, and Zitkala Sa. Each of these authors wrote for predominantly white audiences, Eastman and La Flesche are widely thought of as promoters of assimilation while Zitkala Sa is often considered openly adversarial toward the boarding school system and its mission, however, I contend that all three convey resistance to the “civilizing mission” through their references to the natural world.

La Flesche for instance, opens his narrative with a brief introduction establishing his reason for telling the story of his boyhood at school. The introduction seems innocuous enough until the final paragraph where La Flesche states:

The white people speak of the country at this period as " a wilderness? as though it was an empty tract without human interest or history. To us Indians it was as clearly defined then as it is to-day; we knew the boundaries of tribal lands, those of our friends and those of our foes; we were familiar with every stream, the contour of every hill, and each peculiar feature of the landscape had its tradition. It was our home, the scene of our history, and we loved it as our country (xx).

Scholars who prefer to depict La Flesche’s book, The Middle Five, as one that downplays the violence of the Indian school system, consistently ignore this opening and its powerful claim of indigenous knowledge, history and rights. Although La Flesche does minimize episodes of violence, his narrative also reveals a deep connection to the land, language, and ways of his people.

Ohiyesa, Charles Eastman, also expressed his loss and identification with the land in his education narrative From Deep-Woods to Civilization. In this narrative, Eastman constructs the opening chapters in a way that reveals some of the conflict between his traditional upbringing and his introduction to white society. In doing so, he often refers to what might now be termed traditional ecological knowledge. He also employs indigenous poetics in describing his life as a “deepening current” that “swung upon such a pivotal day, and in the twinkling of an eye its whole course was utterly changed; as if a little mountain brook should pause and turn upon itself to gather strength for the long journey toward an unknown ocean” (“The Way Opens”).

Although he often proclaims the virtues of civilization, Eastman’s narrative also expresses a sense of civilization as the process of using things up and discarding them. He writes, “after we left Albany, I found myself in a country the like of which, I thought, I would have given much to hunt over before it was stripped of its primeval forests, and while deer and bears roamed over it undisturbed” (“College Life in the East”). By the closing of his story, Charles Eastman’s primary solace seems to be in helping to provide “open-air education, patterned largely upon [his] own early training” and he concedes that he is for civilization because, “there is no chance for our former simple life any more”, a position which seems to me a far cry from unbridled assimilationism (“The Soul of the White Man”).

Finally, Zitkala Sa provides another look at the role of nature in early responses to “Indian education”. Born in 1876, on the Pine Ridge reservation, she lived among her people until the age of eight, when she was sent to White's Manual Institute in Wabash, Indiana. A successful student, Zitkala Sa went on to attend the New England Conservatory of Music and briefly worked in the Carlisle Indian School. Considered as shining success story, Zitkala Sa shocked many when she began publishing highly political critiques of the boarding school system.

In her essays "School Days of an Indian Girl", Zitkala Sa often identifies herself and her experience in highly coded language of the natural world. She chooses identification with nature in order to convey the depth of her loss: a loss of place and of self. She writes:
[a]fter my first three years of school, I roamed again in the Western country through four strange summers.During this time I seemed to hang in the heart of chaos, beyond the touch or voice of human aid…My mother had never gone inside of a schoolhouse, and so she was not capable of comforting her daughter who could read and write. Even nature seemed to have no place for me” (191).

This sense of alienation and loss is further expressed in ecological terms at the closing of her later essay “An Indian Teacher Among Indians”.

For the white man's papers I had given up my faith in the Great Spirit. For these same papers I had forgotten the healing in trees and brooks. On account of my mother's simple view of life, and my lack of any, I gave her up, also. I made no friends among the race of people I loathed. Like a slender tree, I had been uprooted from my mother, nature, and God. I was shorn of my branches, which had waved in sympathy and love for home and friends. The natural coat of bark which had protected my oversensitive nature was scraped off to the very quick. Now a cold bare pole I seemed to be, planted in a strange earth. Still, I seemed to hope a day would come when my mute aching head, reared upward to the sky, would flash a zigzag lightning across the heavens.

There can be no doubt that Zitkala Sa’s writings represent a powerful case for the rhetorical function of nature as a vehicle for communicating loss, identity, and resistance in early indigenous education narratives.

Embedded Narratives: Revealing Environmental Racism in Education Narratives
Critiques of white-settlers’ acquisition and commodification of nature often make their way into Indigenous education narratives. For a reader strictly focused on the ethnographic details of boarding school life, or for those interested in the seemingly endless panoply of names and dates, these narratives of environmental degradation and racism might seem superfluous, but if one considers acquisition and commodification as the roots of anti-Indian aggressions, displacements, and “education” the narratives seem well placed and telling. Regardless of the reader’s perspective, narrators who include such information clearly see a link between their education and the treatment of the land.

Certainly, there has been a concerted colonizing effort to control both lands and peoples. Extensive land “management” and “reclamation” clearly exhibit the Western desire for universal control. Furthermore, the extent to which these practices of environmental control have negatively affected indigenous peoples can hardly be considered coincidental. A sick marriage of racism and resource “management” has often been –and continues to be— at the center of numerous devastating federal policies.

In his book Indian School Days, Basil Johnston expresses a number of concerns about the colonial treatment of the land. Johnston raises the issue of pollution in his “Introduction” and continues to return to the idea periodically throughout the text. His early attention to ecologic and economic history introduces the reader to place as a central feature of his narrative, and illustrates immediately his concern about the connection between these two factors. Johnston makes the reader keenly aware of how colonial control has degraded nature, undermined indigenous economies, and forced indigenous people into complicity with large-scale resource extraction.

Johnston writes of the spatial organization of the region, the CPR railway station “[s]andwiched between the highway and the railway”, and of the families “eking out a living on the outcrops of the Laurentian Shield in hillbilly style” (3). His description, coupled with a map gives the reader some sense of the region’s remoteness and of the sizable presence of water in this region. Johnston describes the hydroelectric plant, and the train stopping to “fill its enormous boiler with water, hundreds of gallons” (3). He describes as “lucky” those who work for the railroad, the hydro plant, the mines in Sudbury, or the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment company – “chief employer in the district, as well as chief pollutant of the air and the rivers” (4). In total, Johnston lists four mills all located in a short stretch along the banks of Lake Huron. Not only does his introduction address industrialization and pollution of native lands and waters, but it also addresses inequities in the management of “natural resources”. Johnston writes:
On more than one occasion the game wardens did a snow job on trappers and their families by the rigid enforcement of game regulations while closing their eyes and ears to American tourists who frequently exceeded their game limits. In no instance did an Indian agent installed at Sault Ste. Marie come to the aid of the Indians. Instead he discharged his duties as if his mandate were to keep his “wards” under strict control (5).

Likewise, Viola Martinez’s education narrative also gives attention to the environmental history of her homeland, the Owens Valley . Like many stories of displacement, the story of the Owens Valley Paiute displacement begins with gold. Once the valley was flooded with miners, other aspects of the landscape became the source of conflict. Viola states:
My uncle Bob Somerville said this [land in Benton] is where we always lived. This [rancher] Davis came in there, decided he wanted it, took it over and started to farm it…. [Davis] let my relatives work for him. My uncle said, “We didn’t have any place to go but they let us work for him… My brother George went to [Davis] and said that he wanted all of us to live together and what could we do about it?” They worked it out and paid a dollar a year. I said “Uncle Bob, you paid a dollar a year to live there?” He told me: “Yes, lots of money. A dollar a year. Lots of money.” To think that here is this fertile valley with a natural hot springs for the use of the people who had been living there for centuries, using it certain times of the year when they were able to grow crops they were going to prepare for winter usage… Then to come back and find it occupied by foreigners and told it was no longer theirs. Eventually working it out with [Davis] so they could live there for a dollar a year, when originally it was theirs. He should be paying them for the privilege that he had taken. To me, that’s ironic (22).

Taking Viola’s lead, Bahr continues to illustrate the ironies of the situation by informing the reader of the 1000 year old history of Paiute irrigation in the valley and comparing it with the highly destructive water extraction practices which dried out Owens Lake and threatened Mono Lake until saved by litigation in 1997. She also points out that the Owens Valley people most injured by these negligent practices were the Owens Valley Paiute. Lacking official reservations and seriously dependant on white ranchers for work, the destruction of ranching in the Owens Valley wrought further havoc on Paiute families (25).

Education and Indigenous Knowledge
Recent boarding school scholarship has made an effort to consider more closely the variety of experiences that emerged from the Indian education system. Scholars such as David Wallace Adams and Clyde Ellis have offered essays illustrating instances of personal growth and even happiness, which resulted from boarding school attendance. While it is clear that not all students experienced the same things, it must also be clear that the intent of the boarding school system is one of vicious colonialism bent on destroying languages, tribes, world-views, and land-ethics. It must also be clear that students, parents, and communities resisted assimilation in a variety of ways.

Contemporary academic work in the area of Traditional Ecological Knowledge may go a long way in reclaiming indigenous knowledge and contributing to native empowerment, but the historical relationship between colonial education systems and traditional peoples has been abysmal. Many indigenous people are justifiably worried about the possibility of further colonial incursions, misappropriations and thefts (Wilson). It remains to be seen how scholars and indigenous people will shape this area of inquiry, and what the role of nature will be in the indigenous education narratives of tomorrow.

Works Cited
Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928. Lawrence, Kan.: University of Kansas, 1995. Print.
Alvord, Lori Arviso., and Elizabeth Cohen. The Scalpel and the Silver Bear. New York: Bantam, 1999. Print.
Bahr, Diana Meyers. Viola Martinez, California Paiute: Living in Two Worlds. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma, 2003. Print.
Eastman, Charles Alexander. From the Deep Woods to Civilization: including Excerpts from Indian Boyhood. Chicago: Lakeside, 2001. Print.
Jameson, Elizabeth, and Susan H. Armitage. Writing the Range: Race, Class, and Culture in the Women's West. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1997. Print.
Johnston, Basil. Indian School Days. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1989. Print.
La, Flesche Francis. The Middle Five; Indian Schoolboys of the Omaha Tribe. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1963. Print.
LaDuke, Winona. Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming. Cambridge, MA: South End, 2005. Print.
Wilson, Angela Cavender. "Introduction: Indigenous Knowledge Recovery Is Indigenous Empowerment." The American Indian Quarterly 28.3 (2004): 359-72. Print.
Zitkala-Sa, Cathy N. Davidson, and Ada Norris. American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. Print.

Works Consulted
Alexie, Sherman. One Stick Song. Brooklyn: Hanging Loose, 2000. Print.
Allen, Paula Gunn. Life Is a Fatal Disease: Collected Poems 1962-1995. Albuquerque, NM: West End, 1997. Print.
Basso, Keith H. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1996. Print.
Cajete, Gregory. Look to the Mountain: an Ecology of Indigenous Education. Durango, CO: Kivakí, 1994. Print.
Carvell, Marlene. Sweetgrass Basket. New York: Dutton Childrens, 2005. Print.
Churchill, Ward. Kill the Indian, save the Man: the Genocidal Impact of American Indian Residential Schools. San Francisco: City Lights, 2004. Print.
Erdrich, Louise. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: a Novel. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009. Print.
Gedicks, Al. The New Resource Wars: Native and Environmental Struggles against Multinational Corporations. Boston: South End, 1993. Print.
Geniusz, Wendy Djinn. Our Knowledge Is Not Primitive: Decolonizing Botanical Anishinaabe Teachings. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 2009. Print.
Harney, Corbin, and Alex Purbrick. The Nature Way. Reno: University of Nevada, 2009. Print.
"Kill the Indian, Save the Man." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. .
Lomawaima, K. Tsianina, and T. L. McCarty. "To Remain an Indian": Lessons in Democracy from a Century of Native American Education. New York: Teachers College, 2006. Print.
Malott, Curry. A Call to Action: an Introduction to Education, Philosophy, and Native North America. New York: Peter Lang, 2008. Print.
Momaday, N. Scott. Three Plays. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 2007. Print.
Trafzer, Clifford E., Jean A. Keller, and Lorene Sisquoc. Boarding School Blues: Revisiting American Indian Educational Experiences. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2006. Print.
"YouTube - Use of the Term "Sustainability" - Native Perspectives." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. .

***I have no editor. I try to proofread things to the best of my ability... but sometimes things slip. Feel free to offer constructive criticism or scholarly debate.

Eco-Reading, hiking, birding in process

2009-12-27T09:58:00.001-08:00

It's winter break, so I have a bit of down time for reading. My book of choice is Empty Nets. So far I am about 1/2 way into it, and the book is quite interesting. I imagine a review will be up in a week of so.

I've also had the oppotunity to go on some lovely bird rambles around my fair town's natural areas. Here are a few highlights:

Frozen McFadden Marsh

One of a zillion robins along the Witham Hill bike path

Skywatch Friday: Florence

2009-12-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

PhD ideas

2009-11-30T21:08:00.000-08:00

I am totally bewildered. I need to write a personal statement for my Ph.D. application, and at this moment I am at a loss for what to say. I have so many ideas... ehhhh

the interaction between enviro rhetoric and creative works of fiction and poetry
rhetoric around issues of food and water
pedagogical issues surounding composition and ecology... blah blah blah.

Nov 27

2009-11-27T10:07:00.001-08:00

What a scene!

2009-11-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

10/30/09

2009-10-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

Earth Democracy: Dr. Shiva @ OSU

2009-10-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending nearly 12 hours attending varoius talks as part of the Earth Democracy Symposium at Oregon State University.

The event culminted with a talk given by Dr. Vandana Shiva. I was deeply moved by her talk, as I suppose I knew I would be. The privatization of life is something that troubles me on every level, and to hear an intelligent and articulate person speak about these issues to a large crowd was quite electrifying.

Skywatch Friday: Octoberrific

2009-10-16T18:06:00.001-07:00

Bird Delight

2009-10-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

After several weeks of being almost unable to walk, I was finally able to get out and do a little bird watching. Yee haw. So nice. I got a bit of a late start but I was still able to see plenty of fantastic sights.

I was especially fond of the spotted towhee boy who stationed himself in a super-abundant red hawthorn bush and let me admire him for a long while.

Fall is on here in the valley. Leaves are yellow and dropping. Birds, birds,birds all over the place and so many songs that I haven't heard all summer long. Soon the giant water fowl flocks will start passing over. Exciting times.

Skywatch Friday: Skies over the Downtown

2009-09-18T12:28:00.001-07:00

Feeder Watching : In pictures

2009-09-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Feeder Watching : White Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

2009-09-09T10:54:00.001-07:00

I was both shocked and not so shocked to learn that White-breasted nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis) are experiencing long-term population declines in the Willamette Valley. Since the Willamette is one of the few oak woodlands in Oregon, and since Sitta carolinensis are associated with oak woodlands, it makes sense to me that this is one of the areas where the decline of this species would be most noticeable.

Why the decline? Habitat loss... the typical reason it seems these days. Some studies regarding this loss have come out of Oregon State University and I'm in the process of reading a thesis about this very issue.

What is exciting for me though is the recent arrival of two very robust Sitta carolinensis at my newly modified feeder set-up. I live in one of the more rural and woody areas of Corvallis. My apartment complex is surrounded by oaks, but White-breasted nuthatches have been infrequent at my feeders until recently.

Happy day! I hope to see more as the season goes on.

Eco-Reading Review Five: Orr Oregon Water

2009-09-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

My fascination with Oregon and with water issues led me logically to this book Oregon Water .

Although the text itself is not very large the contents provide an almost encyclopedic look at statewide water issues. The Orrs give attention not only to Euro American water issues but to pre-colonial water uses as well.

At times I found the text overwhelming in the amount of facts and figures presented, but this says more about me as a reader than it does about this book. I feel well introduced and ready to read more deeply about one or two specific events.

Skywatch Friday: Skies over the Homestead

2009-09-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

The Reasons are Few : The Future Abundant

2009-09-03T07:40:00.001-07:00

The thesis has consumed my life these past few weeks. But Ecesis is still going strong. There are many fine things on the agenda : Ecocomposition, Band-tailed Pigeon talk, and some reflection on my thesis defense and what it is like to talk ecocriticism of American literature with a Zoologist.

Skywatch Friday: Siuslaw NF

2009-08-28T07:42:00.001-07:00

Costal

2009-08-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

Went camping at Carl G. Washburne state park and saw some lovely sandpipers

Skywatch Friday: Wild Carrot

2009-08-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

Back to the Birdwatching : Bluebirds

2009-08-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today I celebrated the completion of my thesis defense by going on a long ambling bird watch. As I began down the trail I was certain that I heard my beloved Band-tailed pigeons so off I went in search of them. I wandered quite out of the intended way, but never got to see them. By the sounds of it though a group of four or more were out there in the scrub somewhere.

As a perk of wandering off I ran into a friend and together we saw a huge red-tailed hawk. We walked about for a bit and I ended up back at the white oak grove where so many acorn woodpeckers live. They were out in force, as were the swallows and lesser goldfinches who live in the abandoned shed at the grove's edge. Among them I also saw a house sparrow. I know they aren't native, but it has been so long since i've seen one, it was actually a bit exciting.

Further down the way I got to see about 26 tree swallows (some barn swallows likely mixed in) all perched on a series of power lines.

All day I'd had the feeling i was going to see either a bluebird or a lazuli bunting. As the walk went on I started to doubt myself. Near a series of sheep barns on a power line all alone was a smallish drab bird. I looked at it with confusion then decided it must be a thrush of some sort. Then hooray! I spotted the blue on the wing. Female western bluebird. Soon enough the male came along and I got a good long look at both of them. Terrific!! (tremendous thanks to the photographer who posted this image)