california, minesota, osugi, and a documentary
I got up this morning just before the sun was rising. It’s a pretty cold morning—the thermometer on a bank building that is visible from our apartment reads -1 F. I went outside to see a thin layer of snow that had fallen in the night; a fragment of the moon was visible through the branches of a tree. What a beautiful morning and a beautiful way to begin a day.
I was in California, visiting my sister, for a couple of weeks at the end of December and the beginning of January. My immediate family was all there and we had great times hanging out together. We played a lot of games, made and ate some delicious food, and managed to stay up till midnight on the new year. I fell in love with Sam, a dog that my sister and her husband sort of adopted from a friend who wasn’t able to really be there for her. She is a cool, cool dog. We took a lot of walks together and with a bunch of the family, too. In a dream last night I saw Sam and she licked my face.
Then I was in Minnesota for a little while, at Jen’s folks’ place. We ate some of Patti's delicious sweet chili and I took a walk I won't forget that took me down a muddy two-track with frozen puddles to a stand of bare trees. Jen's folks had a graduation party for her. There were many people in their house—a few old friends from Fargo, Jen’s brother and a couple of his friends, and a bunch of Jen’s relatives and some friends of the family.
During all this time two babies were born to friends! Wow! It’s amazing and I don’t even know what else to say. I hope for lots of love and happiness in their lives.
So, I don’t know what I’m writing this for....just a bit of an update, I guess. It’s good to be back home now. I’ve started helping out with lunches at a downtown shelter again and that has been good. One of the guys who works there definitely has some different ways of looking at the world than I do. In some ways, it reminds me of ways that I once thought about some things. It’s not the kind of thing that changes the way I see this person, because I think I can see where some of it comes from, but some of it does kind of sadden me. I’ve been walking around a lot, as opposed to riding a bike. This is partially because there is plentiful snow here but also because I am really liking the pace of walking.
I read a book that my sister gave me; I finished it on the trip to Minnesota. It is the autobiography of Osugi Sakae and it was a great experience reading it. Osugi Sakae was born in about 1885 (I think) in Japan during the Meiji period. He was the son of a military family and lived as a child in village settings (as opposed to Osaka or some other large city—from which there are more historical/autobiographical accounts). Somehow, even out of that background, he became an anarchist and is now known largely for his writing, translations, and public life. He translated many works into Japanese (including some of Peter Kropotkin’s stuff—a prominent Russian anarchist writer). Some of his autobiographical writings include prison memoirs, which I found really interesting. One of the parts of the book that I remember most is when he is talking about how he feels like a spring overflowing with the desire to learn. It just made me so excited!
Then I started a book my brother gave me—it’s about social ecology and written by Murray Bookchin. And I’m just about at the end of an Ursula K. LeGuin book titled City of Illusions. It’s the last book in a collection called Cities of Exile and Illusion that collects three of her early novels. I really, really like her books and short stories. In fact, a while back I read a short story called something like “Those That Walk Away From Omelas” and a recent article in the English Journal that discusses using the story in the classroom. I had written a short response about it and had thought about posting it here, along with a link to the story (I found it online). Maybe I’ll do that later.
Jen and I watched a short documentary last night that we checked out from the library. It’s called “In Whose Honor” and is about the use of Native symbols, mascots, and names in sports. It is fantastic. It’s really effective at communicating perceptions in a way that gets at what this issue is about; and it is a relief to see and hear from people who are supposedly being “honored”. I enthusiastically recommend the documentary to everyone. And this includes people who already have opinions about the issue and have never heard or listened to people who do want to see change and who don’t feel honored by these sorts of representations. The documentary does a great job at relating why people feel this way. So, check it out if you can.
Here are a couple of related links:
http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/index.html
http://aistm.org/1indexpage.htm
http://www.inwhosehonor.com/
Well, this is one long post. I know when I’ve read other blogs I sometimes don’t make it this far in a long post. So, congratulations on your endurance and fortitude. Or something. And I am wishing all a happy new year and one filled with love, meaning, understanding, and friendship.
I was in California, visiting my sister, for a couple of weeks at the end of December and the beginning of January. My immediate family was all there and we had great times hanging out together. We played a lot of games, made and ate some delicious food, and managed to stay up till midnight on the new year. I fell in love with Sam, a dog that my sister and her husband sort of adopted from a friend who wasn’t able to really be there for her. She is a cool, cool dog. We took a lot of walks together and with a bunch of the family, too. In a dream last night I saw Sam and she licked my face.
Then I was in Minnesota for a little while, at Jen’s folks’ place. We ate some of Patti's delicious sweet chili and I took a walk I won't forget that took me down a muddy two-track with frozen puddles to a stand of bare trees. Jen's folks had a graduation party for her. There were many people in their house—a few old friends from Fargo, Jen’s brother and a couple of his friends, and a bunch of Jen’s relatives and some friends of the family.
During all this time two babies were born to friends! Wow! It’s amazing and I don’t even know what else to say. I hope for lots of love and happiness in their lives.
So, I don’t know what I’m writing this for....just a bit of an update, I guess. It’s good to be back home now. I’ve started helping out with lunches at a downtown shelter again and that has been good. One of the guys who works there definitely has some different ways of looking at the world than I do. In some ways, it reminds me of ways that I once thought about some things. It’s not the kind of thing that changes the way I see this person, because I think I can see where some of it comes from, but some of it does kind of sadden me. I’ve been walking around a lot, as opposed to riding a bike. This is partially because there is plentiful snow here but also because I am really liking the pace of walking.
I read a book that my sister gave me; I finished it on the trip to Minnesota. It is the autobiography of Osugi Sakae and it was a great experience reading it. Osugi Sakae was born in about 1885 (I think) in Japan during the Meiji period. He was the son of a military family and lived as a child in village settings (as opposed to Osaka or some other large city—from which there are more historical/autobiographical accounts). Somehow, even out of that background, he became an anarchist and is now known largely for his writing, translations, and public life. He translated many works into Japanese (including some of Peter Kropotkin’s stuff—a prominent Russian anarchist writer). Some of his autobiographical writings include prison memoirs, which I found really interesting. One of the parts of the book that I remember most is when he is talking about how he feels like a spring overflowing with the desire to learn. It just made me so excited!
Then I started a book my brother gave me—it’s about social ecology and written by Murray Bookchin. And I’m just about at the end of an Ursula K. LeGuin book titled City of Illusions. It’s the last book in a collection called Cities of Exile and Illusion that collects three of her early novels. I really, really like her books and short stories. In fact, a while back I read a short story called something like “Those That Walk Away From Omelas” and a recent article in the English Journal that discusses using the story in the classroom. I had written a short response about it and had thought about posting it here, along with a link to the story (I found it online). Maybe I’ll do that later.
Jen and I watched a short documentary last night that we checked out from the library. It’s called “In Whose Honor” and is about the use of Native symbols, mascots, and names in sports. It is fantastic. It’s really effective at communicating perceptions in a way that gets at what this issue is about; and it is a relief to see and hear from people who are supposedly being “honored”. I enthusiastically recommend the documentary to everyone. And this includes people who already have opinions about the issue and have never heard or listened to people who do want to see change and who don’t feel honored by these sorts of representations. The documentary does a great job at relating why people feel this way. So, check it out if you can.
Here are a couple of related links:
http://www.aimovement.org/ncrsm/index.html
http://aistm.org/1indexpage.htm
http://www.inwhosehonor.com/
Well, this is one long post. I know when I’ve read other blogs I sometimes don’t make it this far in a long post. So, congratulations on your endurance and fortitude. Or something. And I am wishing all a happy new year and one filled with love, meaning, understanding, and friendship.
posted by matt iv at 10:37 AM
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