There are many pieces missing in this brief overview of one indigenous nation’s history, but I hope the pieces I have been able to put together offer some insight into our nation’s history as well.
A Tale of Two Cities: Destruction and Preservation in St. Louis, Missouri
If you would have asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, there are definitely points in my childhood when I would have said, “I want to be an archaeologist.”
BRAIDING SWEETGRASS: TRADITIONS AND LAND LOST AND RECOVERED IN MAINE
On June 1, Aaron and his brother Tim (Ike) placed half of their mother’s ashes on the rocks at Two Lights, Maine, in keeping with her final wishes. They stood and watched as the tide came in and carried the ashes out to sea at a place where Mary Alice and their father, Allen (also Ike), had spent many happy times together. Standing in that beautiful place, it was not difficult to imagine the first peoples who were drawn there, over 12,000 years ago.
Maid of the Mist – Mythology and Mis-telling in Niagara Falls, NY
Almost anyone you ask is willing to take a photo so that everyone can be included, and then are grateful when the favor is returned. There is no language barrier on this exchange of kindness.
Two Spirits, One Beloved Identity
My hope for the future is that we can learn from traditions that have exhibited loving and healthy integration of all persons, regardless of gender expression, into the life of the community. My hope for the future is that we will value relationships based on how healthy and loving they are and encourage relationships where people are respected and loved for who they are. My hope for the future is that we can see each person as a beloved child of God, who created the human family in all its glory and diversity.
Erasure – A History Covered and Uncovered in Cape Ann, Massachusetts
The fact that this history has been covered over with a narrative that says, “they were never there,” has been blamed by local historian and anthropologist Mary Ellen Lepionka on the practice of Erasure…
A Journey Begins
The later you are on the road and the more the truck drivers around you seem to be nodding off at the wheel, the more you appreciate having prayers for your vehicle and for traveling mercies.
Still and Astonished
Life is amazing, and not just the special times, not just the good times. If we are willing to say, “God is the everything, God is the All,” then we have to be alert for God’s presence in all times, in all places, in all circumstances.
Swimming in Glory, Swimming in God
Scripture points us to God who is not distant and unknowable, but very present, so ubiquitously present that it is easy to allow glory to become simply background noise, easy to be swimming in God and yet be unaware that we are in the water.
Flirting with a Fawn
My senses heightened,
I turned and laid eyes on the gawky youngster.
Welcome Gray Morning
People lament rainy days.
Especially on vacation.
I get it.
Silent Sabbath Morning at Bon Secours
Perhaps this Sabbath,
Mind will settle into heart.
Is it Enough? By LeAnn McDannel Hodges
Is it enough
to hold space with a dying friend?
The Uses of Sorrow
Someone I loved once gave me a box of darkness…
Where I Come From
I come from that old-time religion. I am from a pulpit pounding preaching who put on fishing waders and dunked me all the way under when I was five years old in a white dress...
God is the Everything
By God’s word all things hold together. Let the final word be, “God is the everything!”
When Poets Pray
To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.