Do rocks collect saskatoons because they are focal points of life in the story of the land? Or because they collect heat and rain? It’s a question that goes to […]
We are Marmot!
Environmental Psychology: Cinema Carved in Stone
I promised to talk about the art of reading cultural narratives in mountains. There are many techniques, so let’s start with the observer. Unlike in modern cinema, in this art form the observer […]
Reading Stories in the Cliffs
The first thing about reading stories in cliffs is that cliffs are made out of rock. What we see in them is in our own heads. Nonetheless, they allow us to see […]
Reading Faces in the Rock
I went out to Kalamalka Lake the other day, as part of my exploration of how to read the land, a bit sideways to dominant cultural norms, but hopefully in a way […]
Reading Clowns, Cougars and Sacred Children in the Rock
In the story that tells this land, one pair of creatures that spring from the rock are the pair of Cougar and Clown. Let me show you three examples. Here we are […]
Beautiful Biscuit Root
High above Kalamalka Lake, it is gathering time. Biscuit Root In this old garden of sacred stone (I found an elderly Syilx couple sitting in their car, staring at this, reading […]
The Future of Okanagan Okanogan
We have been on a journey together for three-and-a-half years. In that time, I finished up this blog as a book (twice!), but then I was reading up on a lynching in Conconully, Washington […]
How to Find a Story on the Columbia Plateau
Note the grove of firs in the background here, between the Sinlahekin and Okanogan valleys (well, stories) of Washington. If you walk one way, they are the bristly children a toad is carrying […]
How to Find an Old Village Site on the Columbia Plateau
Look for the ancestors from the Dreamtime. You’ll have to forget everything you know. And remember everything you are. You’ll have to find your minds in the rock. And move there.Then you […]
Of Mice and Men
Under the snowdrifts, mice ate between the thorns. On the Columbia River, men try to catch their salmon in the same way. In the second image, however, you can see […]
Okanagan Okanogan 