Wednesday, March 29th, 2006: After the Whirlwind
I finally find a moment to breathe and smell the blooming earth while it lasts. The TIME magazine article (which came out yesterday, written by Jeffrey Kluger) was truly remarkable; it covered a large area, in fact the whole globe, dealt with a lot of difficult scientific issues, and kept its balance. I am also sure that it was released under unimaginable resistance from a certain gas-driven gov. Rifkin, Lovelock, etc. all were repressed here in the US. It mentioned Lovelock but not his new book. And it made Time Magazine the Jeffery Wygand of environmental whistleblowing, not me and little New York Spirit magazine. As it sits now, my article follows up nicely to this one, adding the Native American perspective, and offering the beginnings of a plan, one which I will expound on afterwards I’m sure.
This past month to six weeks has been a very strange one for me. In fact, from January 27th, when I first got the email from William Meyers with an RE that read: “Can this really be the end?” I’ve been in an upsidedown world, where I seemed to be the only one who knew the sky was really falling. That was the whole impetus for my blogging, in fact, as a quicker way to reach the public. The last week has been so busy that I have not been able to type at a computer, but have kept some record on tape while I drive.
For this whole time, my article has been scheduled to come out talking about a book that, for readers throughout North America, didn’t exist, Revenge Of Gaia. It is still a missing person, but at least the concepts will now be familiar to those who may have read TIME magazine. Whether Spitzer will really use my Global Warming speech or not remains to be seen. I will have a copy of NY Spirit sent to him right away. I will also try to get TIME magazine into the hands of a lot of people, especially my students, some of whom objected when I had them e-search James Lovelock’s dilemma back in early February, when his book was released in the UK to rave reviews. They were skeptical when the book was not released on March 2nd as I predicted. Yesterday, some students in that class seemed sheepish, or apologetic towards me, just a feeling I had; and I wonder if they saw a story on TV or read TIME magazine. I’m sure I’ve sounded like an end of the world lunatic to my undergrad friends Dan B and Igor V during the last month or so, as I shook them by the metaphorical collar and raved, “Its all about global warming!! The ecosystem is collapsing!” I hope that Igor’s unfinished symphony of liberal indignitude “Right Under Our Noses” will now take more of a priority, as this story certainly was right under our noses all along. In fact, the Hopi have been telling this story in some detail for over a thousand years. I am continually recalling the tour I made with Depsimana back in the 1990s, talking about the Hopi and the global warming predictions, finding mostly scorn and resentment from listeners. The Hopi say that wehn this tipping point is crossed, that it will lead to an all out invasion of the US and global thermonuclear war, ending all life on the planet.
One thing that was interesting, Kluger used the same term “Tipping Point” that I suggested Spitzer use in the speech I sent him. (TIME: By any measure, the Earth Is At The Tipping Point.) I referred to the Hopi “Crossroads” back in 2000 in my often read poem “Extra Innings of the Gods.” (posted at Waxpoetickle.blogspot.com) and in fact, allowing that election to be stolen was indeed the crossroads that led directly to this disaster, and Al Gore, the winner./loser, is still one of the foremost experts on global warming. I know that he has been run through the gauntlet for the last six years by almost everyone, but he knew all along what the price would be. By the looks of him, I’m sure that the FBI has been pointing their tazers, lazers, mazers, and phazers at him to try to get him to leave the country. I’m glad he’s still here. My poem Extra Innings of the Gods was dedicated to him and Al Leiter, another indestructible hero.
Just imagine the pressure that caused both Penguin Putnam and the New York Times to kill or softpedal this super -story, and the courage TIME must have had to pull it together and put it on the cover. A while ago, Wildlife Relief Fund had the story of the drowning polar bears, and Ellis and I thought it was the most haunting of images, a metaphor for what is happening to the planet at large. TIME used it on the cover.

I suspect that Rove and certain people have had inside information for a long time about this ecological collapse and have been keeping it under lock and key, part of the poetic tragedy of destroying Al Gore without defeating him at the polls. Any response to a carbon problem will hurt Halliburton, and that company has been raking in billions upon billions of dollars, making hay while their fossil fueled sun shone brightly. They will now probably use the money to build shelters for themselves. Fireproof, floodproof, bombproof shelters, making a jail for themselves more confining than the hundreds they have built for federal and state corrections departments over the last five years.

I have warned many hundreds of people, maybe thousands, about global warming, mostly through workshops and small setting lectures. I usually weave it into my story about the Native American perspective on “The Earth does not belong to us.” On April 2nd, my NY Spirit article will alert maybe 300,000. In one move, TIME has alerted 100s of thousands, and given some more credibility to my three step plan to bring CE’s down to zero, which will be harder than putting a man on Mars.

EAT Your Greens

My three step plan, only suggested in the article, and only suggested in the words I drafted for Spitzer, is as follows:

1. Green Energy
2. Green Architecture
3. Green Transportation

The first step is for NY City to convert to Green EAT, (energy, architecture and transportation) so that future generations can eat. My plan is for New York City to lead by example and cut all CE’s by 50% within six years. Then we share our findings with other cities who are also trying to cut emissions. The second step is for all the major cities in the US to follow the example. The third step is multifaceted. As all the cities in the world, and all the states and rural areas as well all strive to reach 50% of current 2006 levels, New York strives to reach 50% of 1999 levels (many scientists are using this year as a benchmark in honor of George W. Bush, in other words, to erase his legacy from the face of the planet!) within 12 years, (2018) then strives to reach zero emissions in twenty-four years (2030). Other cities and countries would then have an example to copy or improve upon.


The next few days are filled with significance for me. Tomorrow, Thursday March 30th, I’ll be giving a lecture on death and dying in Native American culture at Vassar with Rick Jarow. Then I will conduct an ethics class at Marist that same day, discussing the parallels between Lovelock and Wygand of “The Insider,” among other things. Then Friday is April Fools Day, then Saturday is April 2nd, marking one month after the non-release of James Lovelock’s book, which has kept me in an upsidedown situation, and will also be the release date of the New York Spirit article. On Sunday April 3rd, is the Mets Presidential Opener at RFK in DC at noon. On April 5th, Tuesday, I begin the Buddhism section of our World Views class.

So now I must begin writing down the past, to recover from my memory and from Memorex itself, what I can of these dramatic past few days, as I and thousands of others, I’m sure, struggled to get this message out to the public.

Tuesday, March 28th, Teaching Peace: I slept well, got a call from DL just when I was planning to call Thunderbird, and she talked to me for a while, even after I said I had to go teach my class. I unpacked the car finally, and that took a while. I went to Marist and had lots of work materials with me. I graded some papers, and pretty much caught up for WV and V, and was about a minute late. I did a session with the computer projected on the screen and showed how to use the Microsoft endnotes program and then handed out the endnotes handout. I also showed them World Heritage Virtual Tour Panography, and it worked but the internet was slow at that moment, perhaps in response to all that is going on regarding global warming. I didn’t know that then. I tried to show Paris, only got Notre Dame up, then showed Karnak, and Luxor; enough to give them ideas. I encouraged them to use it in their powerpoints.

Then I completed the work we started on finding Shamanistic practices and views in Powwow Highway (now on DVD) by finding Taoistic teachings in the movie as well. I mostly asked them questions, and they were able to come up with good answers, and we pretty much were able to list these wisdom teachings on the board as they appeared in the movie. The spider scene was particularly fun, as there are so many levels to it. The spider is a symbol of unity and relationship, the web of life, and is therefore associated with peace. Buddy is thrown from the car as he tries to kill the spider and breaks his gun, a symbol of violence. In fact, my criminal justice students were quick to point out that his chances of getting Bonnie out of jail with a single .22 pistol were zero to none. We also briefly discussed Filbert taking $4000 to reimburse their spendings to rescue Bonnie. We took a vote and about five said he was wrong, and about nine said he was right, and the others were undecided. I said in Shamanic stories, instead of preaching to people all the right things to do, they show you all the right things to do in reverse, and show you what happens when you do the wrong things and live the wrong way, or sometimes show you ambiguous situations ethically, so that you are drawn to discuss them, sort of like the ending of Syriana.

I handed back the midterm tests, and they were by and large very good. Then I went into the development of myths through time. I obviously owe something to Joseph Campbell on this, but I have a wholly different approach, and use Pritchard’s Seven Phases of Cultural Development and show how stories tend to be rather different from one phase to the next. We got through the Shamanic and Taoistic phases, and were working through the Geomantic, when LA a bright student who also likes to be punctual, called “time.” I stopped immediately, as I had just put the last word in place for the first three phases. Next time, we tackle Religious and Philosophical and possibly Scientific.

I did a one hour search on Thomas Chambers, and found some information, and indeed he was the one who brought clapboard siding to the Dutch colony. He obviously had English roots. I found a William Chambers making clapboard siding in Mackinac Island Michigan in 1830, which is very early for Michigan. Chambers went to Troy in about 1643 and then founded what is now Kingston in 1652. His house was on Division Street and is now somewhere under one of the Hasbrouke houses as was his tombstone. He moved to Fox Hall which is still there, off of Albany Ave I think. Also clapboard. I was there once.
I also tracked Johanness Shepmoes with less success, from his family’s move from Manhattan to Hurley, NY in the 1600s.
Then I had a push from spirit to go south and see KH, to give back a copy of NAStories of the Sacred I had borrowed. I also know she has access to the colonial records for Chambers and Shepmoes. While I was there, Karen S called, one of my favorite music students, who quit lessons six months ago when her mother died. Although I have rarely been at the music school since then, it was the first time she had called, and was asking for lessons, that she really needed to get back to music as part of her healing process. She was able to come over in a few hours, and I had the time free. She was really thrilled, and had a good reconstructive lesson, in which I had her map out her brain using hums. Humming a low F vibrated her nose and lower lip, Low A resonated in her sinuses, C resonated in her ears, middle F resonated on the side of her head, as did the next A up. C resonated at “the horns,” the place where her antlers would be if she had any, and the high F resonated at the top, at the fontanelle. This exercise not only opened up the resonating cavities in her brain which make for better brighter sound and overtones, but also demonstrated to her that they existed and that they can be used consciously.
While waiting to teach Karen S, HK and I played a little catch outside by the church as it was a perfect spring day, and people who walked by were amazed to see this elder woman of the tribe tossing the baseball with such ease. In fact, last year there were some bumps and bruises as she relearned the skill. Spring training went well this time. In the meantime we connected with another young woman who wanted vocal lessons and right away, and she was able to come in on one hours notice, and got a good lesson in time before Karen S came over. It was during that lesson I developed the humming map of the brain, but only in rough form. When I see A again (who is 15) I will go into more detail. She has a high pure voice and a remarkable range, and can read notes.
After karen’s lesson I had some chili and taters and checked my email. There was a long email from James Audlin, author of The Circle of Life, and formerly of the Poughkeepsie Journal. He had read ALL of Native American Stories of the Sacred since Saturday, and had found about ten places concerning ancient languages which he took issue with. His quickness and facility with the nuances of these languages (mostly ancient Greek, with which he is obviously quite at home) was nothing short of impressive. I was looking at the wordings from the modern reader’s perspective, starting from where we are now, but he corrected this, and suggested a wording that would be based in the actual root word or concept and move chronologically forward. I responded to each of his suggestions positively, and will send the whole letter to Mark Ogilbee at Skylight for discussion. I’m sure every suggestion will have some effect on the second edition. I’m sure David Audlin would understand my interest in not losing the reader, or destroy the prose such as it is, by splitting hairs. Obviously these are spots that need more work. I also have a few friends who are familiar with ancient Greek and will give me some insight. I am interested, and spent a month in Greece studying art, but I always found the language both ancient and modern, very difficult. Most Greek people today can’t understand the ancient tongue, so Mr. Audlin’s expertise is rather treasured, especially as it kept coming up in Stories of the Sacred. He will be consulted on The Path We Follow, as well.

I headed out to the hermitage, and as it turned out, ended up house sitting. There on the table I found the just released Global Warming issue of TIME magazine. I had a paradoxical reaction when I saw the stranded polar bear on the cover; “Scooped! Thank GOD!” I didn’t really want to be the first with this story in print, but on the other hand, I am a journalist, and a scoop is hard to resist. Suddenly I felt credible again! And the feeling is one I would describe as…..incredible!

I read the whole article of course before going to bed, and woke up at 8 AM, ready to tackle my bloglag problem, my ethics papers and the Death and Dying stuff. It was a turning point in my life. The title on the cover, quite appropriately, was “Be Worried. Be VERY Worried.”

Monday March 27th, 2006: Flintlocks and Hollyhocks: It has been a very crazy and frustrating and rushed past month, and Sunday I was having trouble breathing or even eating. There had been a growing amount of unexplained conflict in my life, and I felt that it somehow had to do with my openness about the Global Warming story. I decided to have a vacation day, and get rested again so I could think clearly. I walked around outside and started feeling buzzy and very sick and threw up over and over again, mostly the soup, although the soup was exceptionally delicious at the time. I can’t explain what was happening, but the more I hurled my soup the better I could breathe. I went to Red Sky Blue Earth at noon and waited 45 minutes for Stella (who is Blackfoot, therefore a fellow Algonquin) in response to her phone call, and though a noon opening was posted on her door, she didn’t come and open, so I left my card. This is the part of Indian Time that can be a little frustrating, but I’m sure there was a good reason. I will try again later. I really enjoyed having an excuse to sit in the sun and relax and wait. I traveled down the Minisink Trail by car, and stopped and made some phone calls, and then as I passed the historic Bevier house in Stone Ridge, I saw a car that I was sure belonged to Melinda Terpenning, so I pulled in. I rang the bell, and met Melinda for the first time in person, although we’d talked on the phone at length and I was already hired to do a presentation later this year.
I was in a great mood on a wonderful spring day, and I examined the flintlock rifle over the fireplace and estimated Native owned, 1730, and she said that would have been likely. I saw a painting in one of the rooms and said 1910, and she said, “Yes, in fact, that’s when it was painted.” She showed me an ash splint basket and I said it was a “notassen,” a Lenape basket and explained how they made them. Some of the spints were red, and some had interesting designs on them, which I copied down. There were three keyboards there, and I helped identify a number of pictures and objects, mostly not Native. Then I took her on a walk up the old crossroads trail, the one on which the Bevier house was built, the one that used to go from the Esopus to the Rondout, and which crosses the great Minisink Trail at that spot. We walked a few hundred yards across a curious kind of natural pavement made of stone, towards the Rondout, towards Pompey’s Cave which is in an empty streambed, and which is at the Kyserike Burial Ground, the site of an old Lenape Village near the Rondout. Then we turned around and went back to the Bevier House, wondering how they managed to get water to drink in that landlocked spot. I said there would usually be a native village or at least a trading post at such as spot, but the lack of water would be a big problem. The Beviers might have dug a well, but we don’t know that. In any case, I lent her Native New Yorkers and No Word For Time, which I had with me. She said she’d send me some money some time. It was a relaxing way to spend an afternoon. Next thing I knew it was 5 PM and I called Shoshana, who is struggling with cancer these days. She had left a message that she was in the area, that she had just driven down the Minisink Trail, which means she just drove past me (noone knew I was there, this is rather unusual and almost humorous coincidence as she is from Manhattan, and has been a guest on my walking tours of the Minisink Trail) and she said she is now in Woodstock with some people I don’t know and wouldn’t give a number, but said they were on their way to Ashokan Reservoir to see the sun set. I kept driving, and went up 375 towards Woodstock to see if I could find her car somewhere in town, perhaps at the laundry, and I saw her car whizzing past me on 375. I made a (safe) U turn and went chasing after her. A car pulled in front of her, and slowed her down, and a car between us turned off, so when she got to the light on 28 I was able to pull beside her and honk my horn. She looked surprised. She pulled over into the parking lot there and said she did not see me flashing my lights or honking my horn. We decided to go to the reservoir together, as she did’nt really know the way or where to park or where to get a good western horizon, so I became the trail guide. I found us a perfect spot and I met her hosts, Morl and Llyn, two women from Wales. We watched the sunset and talked of the coming environmental demise, and they were perfectly well informed, and even were quite well educated concerning Planet X, which they said we might see behind the sun as it sunk to the west. We didn’t, but we had a great time, then Shoshana was hungry so I suggested a favorite Chinese restaurant, and we went.
I mentioned that a strange man had insisted on paying for a book with a brand new $100 and I took it, and one of the women said that there are a lot of phony $100s floating around and the bank won’t take them. One of the people we connected with said she’d take it and gave me change. She felt that some restaurant in the city would take it, and it would get lost in the big money laundry which is NY C. In fact, there was no way to know that this particular bill was phoney, I just had a bad feeling about it, as there had been a large number of assaults verbal ones, at that event.
We parted company and I went home and sleep brought an end to a perfect day.

Sunday, March 26th, 2006: Global Upset: This was a day of much running around. I never did empty the car out, and it was a good thing, because I got chances to use a lot of that stuff from the Pequot. I was very tired and slept on and off, getting things done around the house in between much needed naps. It took a lot to unwind, and never did completely accomplish that goal. I woke up and it was half past noon. I was supposed to get all these things done and arrive at the Barnes and Nobles in Danbury CT at 3 PM. Somehow I did all this, to my own amazement. Not having to load the car helped. On the way I also listened to a wonderful Mets game in which they won 7-0 with great outings by both Pedro and a man named M. They scored mostly on singles, which is a good sign. Today, Heilman was relegated to the bullpen, because Bannister pitched better. Time will tell if this was a terrible mistake. I made my various stops and connections and then arrived a few minutes early for the book signing and story telling at Barnes and Nobles. As coincidence would have it, the lowly George Mason team beat the unstoppable UConn Huskies of Danbury (and Hartford, etc) while I was there. It was the Advance Auto Parts “Shock of the Day” and it was colossal! I shared that with Richard, who is an employee at the store, and part Wappingers. This was after my event. I also bought a book Walking On Egg Shells No More about how to live with someone with Borderline Personality. It took several of us working together to find the psychology section. We went to Christmas Tree, and I bought some very salty peanuts. My tongue had already been swollen and blistered from something I ate at the Pine Hill event, but this made it worse! But it tasted good. I got Richards sister a box of purple peeps.
The event went well. I mentioned that a lot is happening right now with the environment, and that there are books and articles written on the subject but you won’t find them here at Barnes and Nobles, and its not them to blame; someone is keeping NY Times articles and books from reaching the public on this story, but its an important story. There have been some drastic changes in the course of global warming in the last two years, and all the top experts have tried to tell us, but were stopped. Later on, the community relations man John Coultier looked on the computer books in print in the US and Revenge of Gaia was nowhere to be found. A missing person.
I explained in detail about how a researcher at the National Archives found that Chief Seattle never said “The Earth does not belong to us…” and I got them all to shout it out in unison three times.
Richard and his sister had made copies of the layout of the article in New York Spirit and handed them out to each person in attendance. That was probably the most effective part of the message. I didn’t have to say that much about it. The article said it all.
I brought the Micmac Moose drum made for me by Gil Tarbox and then introduced him. He had heard about the event through the grapevine, not through Polly Midgely, and it was just coincidence he happened to be around. There was another man there who heard about it through Polly, and a black woman and her daughter who heard about it through the papers. It was not a large crowd. Apparently that was typical for this location, one of the first Barnes and Nobles. I had a long talk with John Coultier about how B and N worked and ideas on how to get the book in the stores.
Then Richard and I and his sister went out to eat at the Windmill, a local, folksy place, and it was pretty good. I had mussaka in a deep dish covered with cheese. Richard ended up picking up the tab, which was not called for, but a nice surprise. We read the sports trivia quiz off the place mat.
Richard was a maven of the magazine, and I told him about Resonance Magazine making a comeback on the internet. I should scan the humor issue and put it on line.
We split up and I went back to the hermitage, and saw one of my favorite movies ALAMO on TV with Billy Bob Thornton as David Crockett. That went on til late and I watched in the usual fascination, but also seeing a new meaning in it in light of what I knew, then I fell asleep. They had just shown King of Hearts a few days earlier, both movies broadcasting a subliminal message to pay attention, wake up, this town is about to blow up. Both inspired me to continue in my quest to tell lots of people about global warming.

Saturday, March 25th, 2006: Pine Hill Mini-Festival: I had a dream as I woke up; a new board game called Command Center, part role playing game part board game part simulation, in which you simulate being President of the United States. The game comes in a brief case, of course, and is very complex, and intellectually challenging. There was a CD Rom disc that came with it and a red phone which played out various scenarios in your ear after you “made the call.” I dreamt that President Bush played and lost.
I arrived at Pine Hill about noon, and there were already people there, setting up for the International Cultural Festival. Apparently I was right on time. David Audlin arrived at the same time. We started rehearsing music right away, even before setting up our books on the same table. It was a little confusing, plans changing along the way, but he wanted to do a show together, backing each other up, and wanted to exchange books, and he insisted we read from each other’s book. He quickly showed me a passage from his book and I said I could pretty much read without rehearsal, and he the same. I chose for him to read the Seneca Chipmunk story, as he is Iroquois, and Gordy, the guardian of the Seneca traditions was there, in his wheelchair, waiting to hear and comment on anything Seneca. James did a great job, and Gordy was pleased. I later talked to him in the lobby and asked for his comments on the Chipmunk, and he worried his face for a minute and then flashed a big smile “I LIKED it!” And told me a story of how coyote brought the light.
The passage I read from Audlin was surprising, and very poetic, “elegiac” I’d say, very much focused on the part of the circle of life called Death. I did guitar lead on two of James’ songs, and they were rather well written, a lullaby and an “argument” song with a male and female lead. We had rehearsed my song Wanna See Us Free (which tied into my one real environmental comment about waking up) and he played lead and sang on the doo doos and chorus. That was fun! The theme was “songs from dreams,” and two of his were from dreams, as was my song Wanna See Us Free. So it was the dream theme team. Speaking of dreams, I told of my Command Center game from my dream, and as I said Bush got to play, DE anticipated that Bush lost the game. That got a big laugh. It was true, and true in real life as well. I thought, as soon as everyone realizes what’s going on with the ice caps, his career will be making ice at a country club for tips.
I also played flute behind his reading and he behind mine. I did a cedar flute solo with James on keyboards, but he decided to go atonal for some reason, and as we had not rehearsed, I was caught off guard for a minute. And when James the director said Time, I asked James if I could do No Word For Goodbye, with him on lead guitar. He seemed pleased, so I sang it in the most dramatic fashion I could, and got as many people to sing along as I could. The crowd applauded wildly, so long I didn’t know what to do with my hands.

I did okay with the books, and it was a wild an chaotic day at Pine Hill, with a lot of people saying crazy things, some of which I didn’t know how to take. One of the highlights was giving Rainbow Weaver the work number of an old friend she had not seen in years, Donna Johnson. I also saw DL and chatted for a few minutes. Afterwards I had a meeting with Mary Lou at the pizza place and we discussed the possibility of a Pine Hill Music Festival in September to raise awareness about global warming. It was a day of many meetings and conversations and planning. I decided not to announce the September 16th date, as the date of the free concert, and it was a good thing, as I still have to have room to move, or back up if it won’t work.

Then I visited Raymundo, but he was late, so I slept there until 200 in a back room, comfy actually. Then we talked til dawn, and then I made it home in one piece after a very long day!

Friday, March 24th, 2006: My Name Is Whirlwind Dreamer: Saw the end of Powwow Highway. The last scene is so moving, I never know how to make a transition, so I sang three songs on the Micmac drum by Gil Tarbox. Then we made a list of shamanistic practices in the movie. We discussed the name Whirlwind Dreamer, how it, like all the other names, had a dark side and a light side, he is the one who has the visions that all seek, but he is not grounded. And even of this “kick me” name he “is not yet worthy.”
I had a one hour meeting with my one black student who needed to change her topic at the last minute for her term paper. We decided on her Cherokee side, and we looked at maps and found that her mother was from an area not only Cherokee but Overhill Cherokee, Chocktaw and other tribes.
I taught a good lesson with Vessios at their home, and realized that L needed vocal lessons today more than guitar, so we went into vocal lessons, and also got in some of the lead playing she was practicing all week. I felt there was a first glimmer of a breakthrough. She always wants hard songs. I gave her some extra time.
I went on various errands, feeling tired and confused and a little wound up, and then realized that I was supposed to call Shoshana. I thought it was her birthday. In fact it was Ellis’ birthday too, and I had forgotten to say happy birthday. I was that tired.
I ended up at the hermitage, watching King of Hearts, a movie that had a lot to say to me this time, trying to warn the crazy people about the total destruction of the planet, fighting off the Germans, and getting mixed signals from HQ. It all was appropriate for that day, and I’m sure the program manager knew that. I’d seen this kind of thing before; hidden messages in movie schedules. This one was pretty obvious. I had seen Jeremy Rifkin’s s stunning article on the internet about the ice caps and how they were melting more rapidly then we thought possible, but it apparently never made the print edition of the NY Times. That was very creepy. That was when I really started to feel like my world was upsidedown, like I was hanging by my thumbs in terms of credibility.

Thursday, March 23rd, 2006: Meeting of the Minds: This was a long day that took me from the Pequot Museum in Ledyard, CT (on the RI border) with about six different meetings, a half hour of rushed research, and then driving to Poughkeepsie, then grading a pile of papers and then conducting a 2/5 hour class, one of the more difficult ones, and then a two hour meeting of the Citizenship Thinktank Meets the Womens Spirituality Group. We watched a film documentary called The New Heroes, narrated by Robert Redford, and we applauded at the end. I got to meet a lot of interesting people and speak about the cover up on global warming to people who were really interested in learning more. One young student talked about feeling like a bug when facing problems such as global warming, and crime and world poverty. I said that was enlightenment, and a lot of great spiritual people reached that “bug” mentality. I told the story of Gandhi’s Zero Point, which I have told many times before. When he hit the dirt after being thrown from the train he was nothing, and therefore could do anything. This was a day after the “nothing” discussion in Connecticut. I went home to Saugerties soon after that, feeling a little like a bug, but a happy bug.

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006: Night At the Pequot: This was the day of my presentation at the Pequot Research Library in their esteemed author series, whose guest list has included many immortal names; Wilma Mankiller, Joe Bruchac, M. Scott Momaday, etc. I left my place before dawn and made it to David Kahns in Rhode Island about ten AM, an hour before he had to leave for the doctors. In that time a lot happened, and I also got a good nap, surrounded by native artifacts. I wrote a new song at David Kahns in Rhode Island, and premiered it that night. Right now I call it The Ballad of Kwan No Day. It refers to and incorporates the traditional song Kwan No Day. I worked on the song for about two hours at DK’s. I also made a phone call or two. I went to the library at 4 PM and set up my books, and pulled some books to study and photocopy for the second volume of Algonquins and Estuaries, but didn’t have time to read them. The show went on right on schedule, at 7 PM, and I was in a festive mood, and ready to have fun. At the same time, I realized that most of the audience were Algonquin scholars and I needed to educate them in order to earn my pay, and I did. I sold a bunch of books, even though the audience was not huge. David Kahn recorded the whole thing on video tape and at some point I will transcribe it. When I have time. Afterwards, I answered some questions and signed a lot of books. A woman asked if there was a person’s name for “nothing.” I told her of the word for the self chan, or otchi-chan-hau-mitch-oo, which I loosely translated as “the vessel for the light which is itself just a shadow.” But I stressed that no one is nothing, that she should not think of herself as nothing then I signed her book.

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006: The Second First Day of Spring: The second first day of spring. The weather was pretty nice.