It’s great to have readers! I set out to follow my river home and to sing the journey as a map. The Nkwentkwitkw, below Rattlesnake Ridge, photo by Harold Rhenisch I had […]
52. Pierre’s Hole 4: Some Problems With Using Business to Conduct Diplomacy
Business has always been a primary foundation of the development of the West of North America, with diplomacy being subordinated to it. The development of Cascadia is no exception. It was an […]
32. The Land Talks
Technology that works with the land is not one of force. This is not always immediately obvious in a culture built around action. This action includes the obvious, such as the active […]
19. All This Land Was Water Once
There is no need to think in straight lines. Lines like that say “this stuff is land”… … and “this other stuff is water.” That is simply a false division. There’s an […]
The Muddy Okanogan
Move over, Mississippi! Why is our beautiful clean river, the Okanogan, so brown when it hits the blue Columbia?* The Crossing This image was taken from the site of the old Hudson […]
Lewis and Clarke Never Found My Country
I went looking for the two Cayuse sisters, the beautiful twins. Coyote brought them salmon, and continues to watch over them, like the good dog he is. Before I found the sisters, […]
The Two Faces of Beacon Rock
What’s in a name? Lots. To US American culture, this batholith is called “Beacon Rock.” Kind of a lighthouse, really. When you see it, you know where you are, from a distance. To […]
The Purpose of Education and Indigenous Identity
Welcome to the Wallula Gap. That’s the impounded Columbia River, in its old bed there. The gap between the cliffs is so narrow that the 300 foot deep flood wave from the melting ice age that […]
How the West Was Won and Lost
Oh, here we are in the Hanford Reach, where we find a bit of Canadian Water going home. No, wait, it’s American water. No, wait, it’s everyone’s water! Oh, heck, just look… […]
The Manhattan Project Today
This is the Columbia River as understood by the people who brought us the Atomic Bomb. Control Panel, B Reactor, Hanford Engineering Works, Washington This is the Columbia River as understood by […]

