The name’s inadequate: Choke Cherry. Wild cherry. And “cherry”? Etymologically it might be from a lost language in Asia Minor. But, really, come on, it is a vocalization of the movement you […]
A Teacher of Post Settlement Language
Settler Culture? I Dunno. Ask Dickens.
I have a few questions. Why is Dickens (for example) studied in literature class at our local university, but not saskatoon leaves like this in the fall? Is this not writing? Is […]
Unsettling
It’s simple. Settler culture in North America is not about settlers, but about a culture created by settlement, which propagates itself and forces everyone to live by terms set by men in […]
Beyond the Settler Gaze
Beams of light, we say, meaning lines. Dusk on the Big Bar Esker Beams of light, we say… …meaning trees. A beam is a Baum, the Germans say, a bough, they say […]
Baseball and 4X4s
A couple things from the last ten millennia have seemed worth trying out on the plateau. Canoe Creek Esker and Ball Park Plus a mower. Those are the big contributions of settler […]
The Power of Opening
We are clematis. The rushing waters where the Pacific Ocean lifts to the sky and splashes down on rock sometimes look dry, scoured by the sky more than by water… … and […]
Beyond Settlement: Energy, Cascadia and the Portland Protests
Let’s look at energy by getting going. There is a way forward. You did not make it. No human made it, yet humans have followed it for, perhaps, 10,000 years. Deer made […]
Going, Going, Gone?
Here’s an example of how British Columbia property law and land use determines the physical characteristics of the land itself. Here’s one of our treasures, the Brittly Prickly Pear. That lovely green […]
Food, Land and Slavery in British Columbia
It is time to talk about slavery. This form of violence takes many forms. Some are slavery of people to other people, which is terrible, slavery of people to the settler state, […]
When a Weed is More than a Weed
Dandelions were brought by the earliest settlers to the Pacific Northwest, as food and medicinal plants for gardens. They escaped. Earthworms were also brought by European settlers. Curiously, settler culture now encourages […]
Okanagan Okanogan 