Flinging Rotten Organic Tomatoes

Thanksgiving Means. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

"Bite More Than A Mud Cookie"

Designed for World Poverty Event October 17, 2009

The Lakota Tribe is just one group that incorporated into their heritage the Dream Catcher.  Their story is a little different on how the Dream Catcher came about.  Here is their version.  As written in the book titled:  American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) by Zitkala-Sa, Cathy N. Davidson, Ada Norris Published by: Penguin Books; (February 25, 2003) is as follows:

Long ago when the world was young, an old Lakota spiritual leader was on a high mountain and had a vision.  In his vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider.  Iktomi spoke to him in a sacred language that only the spiritual leaders of the Lakota could understand.

As he spoke Iktomi, the spider, took the elder's willow hoop which had feathers, horse hair, beads and offerings on it and began to spin a web.  He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life...and how we begin our lives as infants and we move on to childhood, and then to adulthood. Finally, we go to old age where we must be taken care of as infants, completing the cycle.

"But," Iktomi said as he continued to spin his web, "in each time of life there are many forces -- some good and some bad. If you listen to the good forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But if you listen to the bad forces, they will hurt you and steer you in the wrong direction."

He continued, "There are many forces and different directions that can help or interfere with the harmony of nature, and also with the Great Spirit and all of his wonderful teachings."

All the while the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web starting from the outside and working towards the center.

When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the Lakota elder the web and said...."See, the web is a perfect circle but there is a hole in the center of the circle."

He said, "Use the web to help yourself and your people to reach your goals and make good use of your people's ideas, dreams and visions.  If you believe in the Great Spirit, the web will catch your good ideas -- and the bad ones will go through the hole."

The Lakota elder passed on his vision to his people and now the Sioux Indians use the dream catcher as the web of their life.

It is hung above their beds or in their home to sift their dreams and visions.

The good in their dreams are captured in the web of life and carried with them...but the evil in their dreams escapes through the hole in the center of the web and are no longer a part of them.

They believe that the dream catcher holds the destiny of their future.

Sioux (pronounced /suː/) are a Native American and First Nations people. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation

Maine Smells Like Pocono Mountain

Today in Maine smelled just like the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, at the Lighthouse Arts and Music Camp. My backyard is now overgrown with the strongest plants, and looks like a forest without trees. After a week of rain showers all the earth and greens are damp. There is a distinctive smell. It took me back to the first day as the Counselor of Cabin 6 at the Lighthouse Arts and Music Camp. I was just eighteen years old, loved the outdoors and being a Camp Counselor. A month at Arts and Music Camp suited me well. The first night at Camp all Counselors were asked to stay in their assigned cabins alone. It was a good experience, but it rained that night, and the damp smell of the Pennsylvania Woods was powerful, especially for a city kid like me. That distinctive smell is exactly the same damp, humid smell today, in Waterville, Maine. I moved to Maine to escape the Mid-Atlantic humidity. Global Warming must be making Maine smell like Pennsylvania. How long will it take for Maine's Climate, to become as hot as Florida?

Are Plastics a bad use of fossil fuel?

http://www.slate.com/id/2190734/

Pimped Earth 2008 - Can we educate in time?

The Land should be free, like air, water and the other basic elements. But we have managed to destroy or seriously interrupt the natural functioning of all the basic elements. Our land has been prostituted. We subdivided and covered our land with asphalt as soon as the profit margin becomes satisfactory. It’s a mere commodity exchanged for money.

Instead of birthing new life for the regeneration of Mother Earth’s natural resources and human needs, our land’s tubes have been tied, and the prostitute remains a barren waste. We stripped away natural terrain to take away fossil fuel resources; we stripped entire forests of trees. We bought farmland and built housing developments, instead of growing food stuff. So how will all those people doubling in billions be fed tomorrow?

Today, billions of people are starving. The more our population grows, the more our land is covered. So less and less land space is used for growing food. And green plants, important for the air we breath, are covered up by cement blocks. As our over-populated mass of humanity flocks to urban areas, we see an increasing growth in street-walkers.

Yet, beyond the American urban side-walk, we can follow a network of asphalt road into the country-side. Here we might see a green kingdom of plants and wild-life. But as we move closer, we see a sign NO TRESPASSING this land is owned. In the city does a Pimp know how to ethically handle his territory? In the country-side, do land owners know how to ethically handle their property? Both act like Pimps, trading tricks for profit.

Where can green plants grow free? Where can natural wild life roam? Where can great forests survive? Can the land be free if the land is owned? Perhaps we, the ethical society, should arrest all the pimps, re-educate the city street-walker and let our prostituted land have babies.

Shirleyanne Short Essay11/30/1976 response to Wayne H. Davis editorial: Should We Own Land