Lindsey Lou On The Move: Standing Rock and Beyond

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(American) Individualism Grows Up

It’s come up often lately, this issue of our American Individualism encroaching upon our paths forward to a new world of community and peace. The way forward is very much a process of self and it takes more time than we ever think or wish.

The question is often, What do I do?  What is it I’m meant to do right now? 

I’ve seen throughout time a common experience of misinterpreting what our ‘heart is telling us’…. We usually are being guided to do something but it is usually something we don’t ‘want’ to do, the harder path, the scary choice, and so we dismiss it, quickly forgetting that Creator does have our back, our hearts actually, and is trying to support us.  We then mistakenly feel alone when facing something big like needing to move on or change something….a job, career, relationship, moving, taking on leadership, starting something, finishing something, etc. We are feeling what we are meant to do but it is usually the harder choice, triggering an immediate ‘ease and comfort’ meter assessment and neural path creation away from discomfort;  the judgement and disposal of heart inspiration to brain landfill happens so instantaneously, we totally miss and/or immediately forget that the Creator just tried to answer our prayer!   

All of this is to say, finding one’s place even in the urgent times we are in is a process of self that takes way more time than we ever realize. Most collective movements, truly healing and peaceful communities, the most powerful Love in the world is usually of people who are elders…. They have already walked the road we are currently on, they’ve done the work … the learning, repetition and practice of unloading the baggage and coming to know exactly Who they are and they are old because it takes time. Can we make it there faster? Perhaps… do you have an elder? Have you found one that speaks to your Spirit? If so, did you hang on? Do you honor them? Care for them? Check-in with them daily? Are you listening to their wisdom or, at times, placing it immediately in the ooo-i-don’t-want-to-do-that land fill? If you are seeking their words, reading them, are you rereading them to the point that they become part of you? 

If not yet, that’s ok; they’re patient, they have many more years of patience than ourselves, and the lesson always comes back around, until we learn and get to level up to the next!

The wisdom, the Way forward is with our ancestors. I’d like to bring their writings and what’s been left for us to the soundcloud account, available for even just a few more searching for steps forward along the Red Road.

I’ll begin with the virtues of my ancestors, as it has been my journey since 2016 to come back to the Lakota Way to learn and to share.

Also placed below each virtue are some of my favorite Mother Teresa (MT) quotes as her wisdom has been truly illuminating for me in foggy times.

I find great solace in the practicality of her words. To me they are like a blueprint for the inner self, a lovely path of words for the hard work so elusive that words hardly ever suffice and which few have space to be able to gift in authenticity; the things which exist so fundamentally and innately but that cannot just be checked off a list.

Complimentary to her endlessly inspiring quotes, a book of her personal writings, Come Be My Light, is even more illuminating and supportive … It speaks to what the personal journey in service to the collective really is, what it really feels like and what it really takes. Of course we each get a unique journey, but to learn her experience is to know that even though she looked like a natural and it all came so easy, that is an oversimplification and so it puts us back into the place of personal responsibility and empowerment to listen to Exactly what our heart, the Great Mystery, is guiding our bird spirits to do, and to put away the fear and do it. We must do all that it takes to do what is in our hearts to do.

Elder wisdom X Elder wisdom BOOM!  Perhaps I’ll be Wise and Humble enough to learn from experience and speed the process.

1 Unsiiciyapi “HoSheeCheeAwpee” Humility, to be humble, modest, unpretentious.

Of the twelve values, this One raises the power of the rest.

MT:

If you are humble, nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.

2 Wowacintanka “WoahWahCheetanka” Perseverance, to persist, to strive in spite of difficulties.

MT:

Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.

God does not require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.

Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.

3 Wawoohola ” WahWohHoLah” Respect, to be considerate, to hold in high esteem

MT: 

Let us always meet eachother with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of Love.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to eachother.

I want you to be concerned about your nextdoor neighbor. Do you know your nextdoor neighbor?

If you judge people, you have no time to Love them.

4 Wayuonihan “WhyOwnia” Honor, to have integrity, to have an honest and upright character

MT:

Spread Love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

We shall never know all the good a simple smile can do.

What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.

5 Cantognake “ChawnTeyOhgoneAwekay”  To place and hold in one’s heart = ” love”

MT

Joy is a net of Love in which you can catch souls.

6 Icicupi “EachEachOobee” Sacrifice = to give of oneself, an offering>>Service

MT

The fruit of silence is prayer

The fruit of prayer is faith

The fruit of faith is love

The fruit of Love is service

The fruit of service is peace

Love cannot remain by itself, it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service.

7 Wowicake “WoahWeeJawckHay” Truth, that which is real, the way the world is

MT

We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.

8 Waunsilapi “WowSheLawpee”  Compassion, to care, to sympathize

MT 

The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved.

9 Woohitike “WhoaEateeKay” Bravery, having or showing courage

MT:

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

10 Cantewasake “ChawnteyWashOnkay” Fortitude, strength of heart and mind

MT

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

11 Canteyuke “ChawnteyYouHeh” Generosity, to give, to share, to have a heart.

Whatever you have, give to those less fortunate; as one then, we have all we need.

MT

If you cannot feed a hundred people,then feed just one.

12 Woksape “WokeSawPay” Wisdom, to understand what is right and true, to use knowledge in a good way

MT 

Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly.

You can listen to the virtues and the wisdom of our elders here: 

Listen to Start Here by LindseyLouOnTheMove on #SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/UbrbK

Mother Teresa’s words https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1543796.Mother_Teresa

The Lakota Way 

Written, and from which the values and their actions are referenced above https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/305508.The_Lakota_Way

The Virtues Spoken by our relative and elder Lee Plenty Wolf

Something fun to do:

By way of that epic elder wisdom and partaking in a beautiful practice of self, with the amplification power for the collective by undertaking it together, let us complete this challenge over the next 21 days ! https://kindspring.servicespace.org/challenge/

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On the Struggle Bus today?

Feeling overwhelmed? Covid gotchu on the Struggle Bus? This Corona Spring continues to be an immense lesson of Mother Earth’s.  She reminds us that it is not she who is dying, rather it is we, the most peculiar (in our potential and also blindness) of her children who are not only dying but killing ourselves!

The state of our human world is a reflection of exactly where we are within – confused about Who We Are, distracted. We’ve come to the place that we are, not for lack of practical, easy-to-implement solutions but because spiritually and therefore mentally and physically and therefore socially and politically – we are a mess.  

[If these words bring discomfort, please know, for my part, I have no judgement; my pure intention is of compassion and love. In digging to the root of my own discomfort and need to judge, I discovered a deep mistrust of other humans. It is not an original, natural paradigm, rather a great misunderstanding that I’ve since given myself permission to let go of – I trust my brother and sister humans to take their own journey toward healing and Love, as I trust myself to take mine…it is a work in progress!]

We are helped along in this by our exceptional power of rationalization, a gift which was never intended to guide us, rather to support us; as imbalanced individuals we sure can overcomplicate things to the point of paralysis. 

This overwhelm cannot be ‘overcome’, rather relaxed into with awareness and healing time – we are what we eat, we are what we buy, we are what we do. We become how we think, we exist as we believe. 

He who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself; and if thou gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into thee.

Nietzsche

The implications of this are simple because in each of these things We Have the Control [firstly to stop fighting/conquering/’overcoming’ in general, rather relaxing into and healing]…

Undoing the corruption which has infected our democracy, taking power from the Corporations driving ‘the 9 to 5’, ‘data bundles’, ‘cool’, ‘30-year mortgages’, ‘ownership rights’ and ‘costs’ of water, food, shelter, health, ‘retirement’, ‘tax monies’ which ‘fund’ ‘the dark web’ and ‘gun production’, etc. etc.  is merely to choose differently.

These are systems, merely systems we created to serve us and which no longer do in many ways, for many people….[and it is critical to distinguish that it is the systems we participate in and perpetuate (right down to something as ubiquitous as a smart phone which carries within precious metals fought and died over as savagely and systemically as blood diamonds)  that no longer serve – that is our way forward, rather than fighting (i.e. struggling) some self-sabotaging, endless maze identifying and targeting some ‘inherent evil’ which is rooting, lurking and presenting within some ‘inherently evil human’. It turns out, what I do for/to me is that which I am doing for/to you and … 

The way you see people [you] is the way you treat them [you], and the way you treat them [you] is the way they [you] become.

Goethe

So here we are, full circle… I am what I put into my body, I am what I put into my mind and my spirit, I become as I do with my body, mind and spirit.  May it be Truth and Beauty then. Love. Thank you Creator for my healing – that I may Love and be Loved!

Of course, doing the work to get to the root of Why we choose to eat poisonous food that is fast and made by Corporations, why we choose to commit entire lifetimes to careers for retirements into death, why we choose to become indebted to a single, built structure of one place at the sacrifice of an entire world of communities which welcome contributing, open-hearted guests, why we choose struggle … is a good bit of hard work. Hard not complicated though, and actually, we quite love and thrive on purpose-driven (…that Truth and Beauty and Love stuff) days of good, hard work!

Divesting then is quite straightforward. Simply divest from the things that no longer serve you, things that no longer bring you joy because they literally harm you or they literally come at the expense of another living being. When it comes down to it, no matter which of the many brilliant lenses you see with: your life is still just made up of many simple choices that You have the say in! 

Power to you – in creating the more beautiful world our Hearts Know is possible! (Indeed, yes! It was a choice to use the Vimeo version of this video rather than the YouTube version.)

Resources

The book The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible, by Charles Eisenstein

Divesting stuff

‘Divestment’ as an activism strategy has gained strength in recent years particularly to affront the fossil fuel industry (system!), though also the larger toxic aspects of the industrial revolution (system!); however, you remember the good old stories of ‘bus boycotts’ affronting racism (system!), the Underground Railroad affronting slavery (system!), and further back than that, the ‘Boston tea boycotts’ affronting imperialism (system!), similar in another part of the world to Ghandi’s spinning wheel and food fasting for independence from British goods, affronting that same imperialism; all the way back to indigenous warriors affronted with mortality, the strategy of selfish, savage colonization (system!)…  

Alas, this has all been a work in progress for many lifetimes now!  

Getting to the Roots

Each of these artificial and arbitrary systems required us to change Who We Are to fit into them… we had to learn to choose struggle (“discipline”, “sacrifice”) as the “selfless” path, the “righteous” path, the “practical” path, the “respectable” and “honorable” path, in order to spend entire days/lifetimes running the systems of the industrial revolution – otherwise facing (self)judgements made to be negative, wrong, “evil” such as “lazy”, “selfish”, “savage”, “Godless”, “eccentric”, “crazy”, “idealistic”, “feminine”, “emotional”; similarly, we had to learn mistrust to learn judgement to learn inequality to justify the superiority, ownership, conquering which enabled the systems of racism, slavery, imperialism and colonization.

We are Not evil. Rather, with that precious, unique gift of rationality (that great existential, bitter/sweet, double-edged sword of our human experience)  as our (mis)guide we taught ourselves to serve systems.

Going forward, we may give ourselves permission to let go, to pause and get to the root of anything ‘demanding’ our energy and which feels like ‘struggle’, to be aware and scrutinizing, i.e. guided first by spirit (feeling) and then supported by our gift of rationalization: of the things which may be systemic, no longer natural but contrived, and which feel different than love, beauty, courage, compassion, wisdom… Truth and Beauty! 

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Urgent Updates and Call for Help From the Women on the Frontlines

I’ve learned for myself this week that while we are all in this ‘together’, Covid has created the perfect storm of conditions in which there are entire populations fighting for survival.  

These communities are experiencing real time genocide through the systematic absence of support infrastructure (literally no government protocol or acknowledgement of gaps to address) and the systematic prioritization of energy developement during Covid to maximize the advantage of shelter-in-place orders for opposition, of which these extraction industries are exempt as declared ‘essential’, and also increased exposure (from no access to masks, sanitizer, etc) to opposition. The opposition has largely been and continues to be the indigenous peoples of the world. 

  • In Ecuador, where the government has sanctioned and completed forest clearing at national headwaters, entire communities within remote villages of the Amazon have been drowned in this Covid time (right now, in this very March and April) by historically unprecedented flooding, one after another after another.  Their houses are under water. Their food crops are under water. They’ve been cut off from receiving aid from the cities, nor is government action prioritizing to resolve. 
  • In another part of Ecuador, a major oil pipeline is gushing into a river that is the water source for many other remote communities. Therefore their drinking water is not potable and though it is where they obtain food, they can no longer fish there. 
    • The government has shut access from the main cities to these remote areas and is taking no measures to provide these communities with emergency relief – food, water and basic Covid protection supplies and healthcare. 
    • Instead, the government has opened their protected lands to oil and mining which has increased in activity 30% since the beginning of March and which community protectors are being killed at the human blockades at the borders of their protected lands. Since they have declared these activities as essential, they alone are exempt from shelter-in-place. 
  • In Brazil, the president has likewise increased and prioritized oil and mining extraction is not even keeping accurate indigenous demographics being lost to Covid.  
  • In the United States the governors of the Dakotas and neighboring states will not issue shelter-in-place orders at all, as they too are ushering increased oil development activities all along the Keystone pipeline.  

All of this despite the fact the fossil fuels are being traded at the lowest value in history, well below profitability. 

…a dying industry and yet all over the Americas, our governments are using the circumstances of Covid to isolate opponents and to pass laws providing relief and support to oil corporations while laying off civil workers, education workers and others and while letting entire remote communities go without food, clean water, and Covid PPE. 

What We Learned at Standing Rock

We Cannot:

  • Flock to these communities unless asked, and unless we come with our own resources, to add value, and leave-no-trace habits,

We can:

  • Choose to be aware and hear their needs on the frontlines and
  • Do everything possible where we are

Because the danger of big Oil, selfish, exploiting Capitalism, Political Corruption… these issues connect us directly, threaten all life urgently. A win there is a win here.

I’ve included the webinars in which Indigenous Women of North and South Americas have reported in from the Front Lines this week. 

  • They have said that they need money in order to buy food, water and PPE. 
  • They need our huge actions of Solidarity to tell everyone that they need this direct help on the frontlines.  

The people on the frontlines need our direct support, they are living this struggle for life while we are privileged enough to lighten our days with memes about toilet paper; while we are able to stand frustrated in lines outside of Costco in order to fill our homes with food, water and basic ‘necessities’. 

Please help them.

  • if you have some money, give;
  • if you have followers, share;
  • if you have some time, tell your representatives that fossil fuels are a dead industry and you Will NOT support them,
  • if your money is still in the corporate banks that fund these projects, divest (simply move it to a local credit union),
  • if you buy things, buy things mindfully. 

Give and Share

Urgent Help for the South American Frontlines

Help for North American Frontlines here and here

Watch the Webinars or read my key takeaways below

Indigenous Women on the Frontlines: COVID-19 & Defending the Amazon

Sônia Bone Guajajara, Indigenous leader from Brazil, Executive Coordinator for the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) with translation by Maria Paula, Founder of the NGO “A Drop in the Ocean”

Need to address

  1. Secretary of Indigenous Policy/ Health of Brazil
  • Is not counting the Indigenous contaminated in urban areas
  • The indigenous orgs know that 5 have died, but the official number is 3
  • There is no testing available
  • The president (bolsonaro), of the country is using Covid to underplay and push oil/mining; [a real trumper]
  • The health minister who was addressing the real issues of Covid and everything was JUST fired, moments ago (as this was live)
  • The deforestation and illegal mining is increasing:
    • 30% higher since beginning of March, Covid 
  • The minister of energy just made a new law 135, that says mining is now priority, ‘essential’ and except from shutdown ‘in order to help with pandemic’
    • Allowing into protected ind. Land and increasing virus exp. To them without acknowledging or addressing urgent lack of health infrastructure to the indigenous and remote communities
  1. Therefore facing a new Genocide
  • “Coronavirus for us represents the danger of a new genocide”
  • “And we need to learn a lesson from this moment, a lesson that we need to urgently break with this economic model that is so destructive”
  • “It’s a moment of self-reflection, for people to think about what kind of society we want in the future.” “It is a moment to exercise our solidarity”
  • We know what is important now, our families, closeness, hugs is what we cannot do in social distancing and yet we now know the importance of
  • It has never been so easy to understand that money does not buy everything
  • Everyone is truly the same facing this challenge
  • Only a collective movement is going to change the worlds order
  • They have faced violence already and so they will face another one
  • Quotes from @SoniaGuajajara:
    • “The coronavirus represents a new of genocide for Indigenous peoples.”
    • “The economic model that we are living under is predatory and must change.”
    • “All around the world everybody has been running around, nobody had time to stop and look at themselves, look within and to their families. Now is the time to feel how important it is to hug each other” 
    • “It is time for us to come back to ourselves, and realize it’s time to strengthen our collective fight for a new society, for a new planet, where we all respect each other and have empathy toward each other” 
    • “I believe Indigenous nations are ancient people that share an ancient memory of the world…As Indigenous peoples we are just fighting to have peace, and this is something we can cultivate in our actions” 
    • “What we are facing is the possibility of ending the culture of exploitation, capitalism, and selfishness.”

Daiara Tukano, Indigenous activist from Brazil, independent communicator and coordinator of Radio Yandê

  • The anti-indigenous Speech of the president of brazil has been unbelievable
    • Many warriors are being killed right now with this hate speech
    • One of the deaths, a young boy of 15, is to try to stop the invasion of illegal mining in indigenous Territories
  • It’s not new for them. This time the whole world is experiencing it
  • Entire communities endangered due to healthcare insecurity 
  • Very concerned for the ones that have hidden for hundreds of years
    • From the miners
    • From missionaries who say they are helping
  • The world is now looking for the indigenous to have a solution, now that the world is ending, and the best solution that they’ve found and have said is:
    • Balance with nature, not consumption, culture of exploitation, capitalism And selfishness
      • These have brought such violence and oppression
    • The ind. Have learned to live in diversity, they have the knowledge of how to protect how to live in balance
  • It’s now to time to reoccupy our lands with our values, this is our opportunity
    • To have dignity and self respect between each other – an economy that follows that, a culture that follows that
  • How is it that with Agrobusiness came with all these promises to feed the world and only afterward,  now there is not enough food for people
    • Entire deserts of soybeans and cows
      • Soybeans are not Food, we need food, we need food
  • In April is Indigenous Month, the 19th Indian day
    • Big gathering postponed, but 
    • Ind. media Radio Yande: https://www.facebook.com/radioyande/ 
    • Media india Midia India: https://www.facebook.com/VozDosPovos/
    • We are not just in the amazon in Brazil but in each direction and facing deadly violence in each
    • Each day more and more women at the frontline
    • Working on having more ind. Candidates to represent all of the spaces
      • Pushing for more women indigenous Candidates

Patricia Gualinga, Kichwa leader from Sarayaku, Ecuador, Spokeswoman for Mujeres Amazónicas Defensoras de la Selva (Amazon Women in Defense of the Jungle)

  • Before Covid, they were in Quito demanding rights
    • To raise awareness of ind. Women, about our human rights
    • Went home to the worst flooding in lifetime, homes gone, and is getting ready to happen again
  • So ind. Are facing 2 or 3x the difficulties, lacking support that others receive automatically
  • Ind have been blocked and cannot go back in to their communities
  • It’s very clear to everyone that these are consequences of decisions we have made in the past
  • The fires, the floods are a clear message from mother earth that she needs to rest
    • Sadly this lesson is hitting hardest for the indenous who have protected the land
      • Entire communities may be lost to trying to fight on the frontlines of climate change and the pandemic at the same time
  • Many years ago an elder said if we keep destroying the earth, we will get sick, there will be pandemics
  • Currently trapped in city but now she knows it was to help the indigenous locked out of their communities
  • Everything is happening in Ecuador… floods, pipeline leaks, fires, 
  • Now is the time for women to stand up stronger, we need to do more, get more active
    • We are awake, there is hope because women know and we are strong
  • We are all connected and we can see this now

Helena Siren Gualinga is a 17 year old social activist, of Kichwa-indigenous and Swedish origin from Sarayaku, Ecuador.

  • Of the Sarahaku, who are well known for their fight and win, as a small remote village  against Big Oil even though they had the govt. 
  • She grew up in this struggle
  • 25 mins in a plane and then 5 hours in canoe, very limited access
  • Floods
    • Grandma used to say they happen every 15 to 20 years
      • Now 3 in less than 3 weeks and bigger than ever
        • Homes covered up to rooves, 
        • Fields gone, no food for the next 6ms to 1 year
        • Access is now even more limited, can’t send them help
  • The gov. In ecuador has no protocol for how to help ind. In pandemic
    •  There is nothing, nothing in place to deal with this
    • The doctor in the community has no medicine left
  • The oil spill
    • Happened just recently in another province, another river
      • So they cannot drink their water, cannot fish anymore
      • No access to the city because of covid
    • The oil is traveling to peru, because they are doing nothing to stop the leak
    • The people knew this was going to happen, warned them
  • So yes, 2X crisis for our people during Covid… And gov bringing no help, no solutions the people have never been taken into account and the huge cracks are all the more evident now
  • But we as people and nations
    • Can make a difference, the only thing we need is to Want it. 
    • Supporting the people on the frontlines, holding the gov. Accountable
    • We need to do everything in our power to be aware and to do what we can to hold our reps accountable
    • It’s time to wake up to the reality. As a youth we need to understand this is something that could be happening every week

On What We Can Do at a Distance

Sonia

  • Fundraise – really need money for basic needs
  • Interviews, social media
  • Needs to put lots of pressure
    • Divest and defund campaigns
  • Gain Awareness from Amazon Watch
  • International pressure against illegal miners 
  • Autonomy, strike
    • Food sovereignty: Start planting food on roof top

Diara

  • Support all the ind all over the world
    • Support the people on the front lines
  • Wisdom from the people
    • We are talking too much about the ending of the world
      • There are still populations that have survived because they have respected the need for isolation and in the moment awareness and respect
    • We cannot forget our part of the responsibility of this crisis
    • It is nice to see how in our absence nature is still present
      • So it is easy to see, its not too late, we can do
    • And to put this in place of all the other crisis we have gone through – black plague, colonization and exploitation – building an illusion of indepence, now we have the opportunity to build our autonomy 
      • Time to have imagination to think of a new economy a new world outside of the ‘borders’ that are just illusion… we can nurture health and dignity and peace within ourselves; to celebrate the best in human kind and in nature

Ospre: (Chinese graffiti in height of covid there : we cannot go back to where we were, because where we were is the problem)

Patty and Helena

Patty

  • We are in our houses, but the companies keep working – know, be aware of that
  • Short term
    • We see the govs are not helping, not even providing soap, medicine, sanitizer
    • The villages only have traditional medicine but need access
    • They are only attending to the  biggest cities, and are of no thought regarding the impact of the villages or the consequences of this
      • Need to pressure the govt 
  • Important to keep dreaming, praying, for the people, we are still here
    • They are heroes, they have the knowledge to keep protecting ,but need support, need basic needs 
  • the forest has rights, as we have human rights, it has forests rights – they are beings
    • If we recognize and acknowledge this, then we can restore balance
    • Learn more about the Kawsak Sacha declaration: https://kawsaksacha.org/ 

Helena

  • So important to understand the Kawsak Sacha declaration
    • Taught by the elders – the rights of the silent nations,
    • We are part of whats surrounding us, is a lesson of childhood
    • Everything that surrounds us is living and has power
    • By viewing the world in this way, has allowed them to protect their land despite the threats and persecution
      • Because they know how important it is, we are nothing without the world around us

WECAN

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SumakHelena

Indigenous Women on the Frontlines: COVID-19 & Defending the Amazon

During this webinar, Indigenous women leaders of the Ecuadorian and Brazilian Amazon will unite to discuss how the devastating coronavirus pandemic is impacting their communities, while they face ongoing deforestation, oil extraction, and Indigenous rights violations in their territories. Indigenous peoples are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 due to a lack of resources and health disparities brought on by centuries of colonial policies and environmental racism.

Indigenous women leaders from the Amazon will share their stories, analysis, wisdom, and advocacy for Indigenous rights, protection of forests, water, communities, and the global climate. They will also address the ongoing political and economic struggles affecting their Amazonian territories.

Scientists have stated that destroyed and diminishing natural habitats create the conditions for animal/human virus crossovers, such as COVID-19, and that further pandemics will emerge if we continue to exploit biodiverse regions, making it even more vital for us to stand with land defenders in the Amazon. We need to protect the Amazon because first and foremost, Indigenous peoples have the right to live their traditional ways in their own lands, and we must also understand that there is no protecting forests for climate mitigation and healthy global communities without standing in solidarity to defend the defenders of the land.

We have much to learn from the women’s calls to action, their immediate needs, and their vision for living in respect and well-being with Mother Earth.

This is a critical time to stand with courageous Indigenous women leaders and to learn from their resistance efforts as well as their essential healing knowledge, and how to make our way through these challenging times.

Speakers include:

Patricia Gualinga, Kichwa leader from Sarayaku, Ecuador, Spokeswoman for Mujeres Amazónicas Defensoras de la Selva (Amazon Women in Defense of the Jungle)

Sônia Bone Guajajara, Indigenous leader from Brazil, Executive Coordinator for the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) with translation by Maria Paula, Founder of the NGO “A Drop in the Ocean”

Daiara Tukano, Indigenous activist from Brazil, independent communicator and coordinator of Radio Yandê

Helena Siren Gualinga is a 17 year old social activist, of Kichwa-indigenous and Swedish origin from Sarayaku, Ecuador.

Moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN).

Links to donate and other resources are available here: https://bit.ly/3bk0hHp

4/14 Indigenous Women of North American, Turtle Island on the Frontlines: COVID and Fossil Fuel Resistance

  • Mother earth is saying ‘localize’ – start growing food
  • The first and worst impacted are amplifying the cracks, the injustice, in the system – 
  • ‘We’re in this together’ but not being impacted equally. 
  • Classic shock doctrine of powerful to take advantage during crisis
  • Big corporate getting bailouts funding, buying up land, pushing through pipelines etc

Faith Spotted Eagle (Tunkan Inajin Win), Dakota and Nakota Nations within the Oceti Sakowinan, Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines Resistance Leader

  • Fighting keystone pipeline for 12 years now
  • Grew up in this struggle since the Missouri was dammed when she was 1 years old
  • Finally an alliance with the Farmers and ranchers!
  • Message from the elders in a dream 6 months ago
    • People needed to go home and pray in their homes
      • Set up your alters in your homes, clean your homes for prayer
  • Prayer is the most powerful tool of resistance that there will ever be
    • Braveheart society: told our role was to retrieve the dead from the battlefield
      • And they’re doing this for those who have lost their spirits due to oppression
  • From SR we learned a lot, decided to do what they couldn’t at SR
    • Bioregion work, a template
      • The EIS is bs, it’s a waste of time, it’s nothing, a distraction
      • Went to work with mapping, gps everything to co-manage  a 250 miles stretch of the Missouri; co-management and then full management is the only way we’re going to get back
      • Water talks and stakeholders: a plan to manage the ms river watershed. Proactive, MMIW (missing and murdered) study in cooperation, police study – now the groundwork set for native sovereignty – survey the area, gather data, knowledge of plants, water, animal, return to the scientists we were 100 years ago, and relearning from elders who did know this, and young ones that are learning
      • Back in the old days, we knew how to organize, we’ve forgotten based on colonization with “competition” mentality – now we can heal, build trust and not be afraid of each other.  
        • Each of the languages has a code
          • There are secrets that are still there for us to remember now
      • Water testing
        • We need to raise above EPA, it is not acceptable, it is federal
      • NOW: 
        • April 16, rosebud and fort belknap asking for a Temp. Restraining Order
        • https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/rosebud-fort-belknap-ask-for-restraining-order-against-kxl-construction/
        • Pray as hard as you can for a good outcome to restrict the bad people
        • The gov.s There will not announce shelter in place all along the keystone pipeline the  so that they can get the oil in place and so that tourists can continue to come in and fill campgrounds, etc. 
        • The legislators there in SD are elders, and lacking, getting sick with covid and dying even, and yet not doing whats right

Freda Huson (Chief Howihkat), Unist’ot’en – Wet’suwet’en People, Leader and spokesperson for the Unist’ot’en camps resisting the Coastal GasLink Pipeline

  • Prayers, still and always our most powerful form of activism
    • They were met with peace, not aggression
    • Our ancestors did everything in prayer
      • Prayer before they did everything all of the time
    • We’re learning how to pray again
  • It’s always about the money, and yet its losing money, but they still keep going
  • For us it’s about the water, it is about Life.
    • We drink water, we grow our food with water, it is Life
    • When mother earth starts fighting back you can’t stop her, and so we will all pay, but some more than others
  • Lots of people are still sleeping, it’s time to wake up
  • If people don’t get back to prayer, in the forefront, then we all lose
    • For each other, the planet, Pray. pray.
  • https://www.yintahaccess.com/
  • https://unistoten.camp/

Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action, Tar Sands extraction Resistance Leader, Alberta, Canada

  • Alberta tar sands fight
  • Even the coastal gas link has direct links to the alberta tar sands project as they are the biggest user of the natural gas, and so to secure in country energy to power project
    • Government just announced HUGE education layoffs then days later announced multibillion dollar funding package to gas line completion
  • We are actually all in the same fight
  • Price of oil is at an all time low, its not economically viable to do it, its dying and yet we see even our gov during a global pandemic are not helping the people eat and live, but the oil corps
    • Lending billions to them, while laying off educators
  • Have seen people showing up for each other
    • The fishers, hunters and trappers feeding those that don’t have food
    • Elders being watched over
    • Young people learning the ways
  • It is a time to reimagine
  • HIV. In the 80’s when HIV was sweeping the world she remembers a time when a young man came to her people asking to be healed. And the medicine man saw him and after silence he said… We don’t know this sickness. We need time to understand this sickness so that we may learn what mother provides us to heal with. So you must come back, you must keep coming to ceremony. 
  • Faith in our people and that mother earth knows best
  • We continue to hold the line and replace with something better
  • Jack forbes, columbus and other cannibals https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2041688.Columbus_and_Other_Cannibals
  • Breaking the cycles, breaking the disease in the spirit and the mind 
  • https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/blog-1
  • Dream came in February to a South Am. sister:

The plant world said you need us right now, you need to be growing more food, more medicine; need to listen now to the plant and animal people.

Tara Houska, Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe, Tribal Attorney and Founder of Giniw Collective, Line 3 pipeline Resistance Leader, Leech Lake Reservation, MN

  • Update:
    • Workers for oil projects have been exempted from shelter in place orders
    • They’re moving material in for all the work
    • Despite ‘tar sands collapsing before our eyes’ – its being traded for practically nothing, so all of this for no reason
    • Direct threat to Anishinabe wild rice – absolutely Who they are
    • The indigenous shouldn’t be alone in these fights anymore
    • Earth day stuff… 
      • Continue to divest… they listen to this direct feedback…
        • Now they’ve even begun to buyout, own and run these banks that finance their own energy development 
        • StopLine3.org 
        • StopTheMoneyPipeline.org 
        • Earthdaylive2020.org
        • EarthDayLive.org 

On the matters of rebalancing and the need for Women in Leadership 

Tara

  • So we’ve seen what patriarchy looks like, that’s where we are right now
  • This time, of women stepping into leadership, the rebalance has been prophesied
    • Here’s what needs to happen
    • Hare are the uncomfortable steps we need to take
    • To save life, not money but for life
    • That is our duty, to be caretakers
    • We’re at  moment to choose to live 
      • This our moment to choose
    • Mother earth will be fine, she’ll be great
      • It is us who will or will not be here
    • From Tara Houska to Everyone: (02:22 PM)
    • Yes, transwomen are incredibly important, as is all life. I spoke as a woman, not as a transwoman. I cannot speak for people I am not of. Our culture recognizes two-spirited people in a different way — they are balanced unto themselves.
      • From Tara Houska to Everyone: (02:24 PM)
      • 
I am one of the speakers: Yes, transwomen are incredibly important, as is all life. I spoke as a woman, not as a transwoman. I cannot speak for people I am not of. Our culture recognizes two-spirited people in a different way — they are balanced unto themselves.

The MOST powerful things we can do:

Tara

  • Learning the values and teaching  ‘living in balance.’
    • What are we going to share during our time here?
  • Questioning these things and getting to the bottom of them
  • Teaching, humbly, and always striving to be a complete human

Freda

  • Healing center is doing land based healing to remind Us Who we are so that we feel our connection to the land and so we choose to protect the land

Osprey

  • Anurahadta roy: Nothing could be worse than a return to reality. … we can choose. 

Indigenous Women of North America, Turtle Island on the Frontlines: COVID-19 and Fossil Fuel Resistance

During the webinar, Indigenous women leaders will discuss how COVID-19 is impacting their communities and how oil and gas pipelines are being fast-tracked in their lands— violating Indigenous rights and further putting Indigenous women at risk. In this wide-ranging discussion, presenters will share calls to action, stories and wisdom, immediate needs of their communities, community-care practices, and the latest updates from various campaigns and resistance movements, focusing on Keystone XL, Line 3 and Coastal GasLink pipelines, and tar sands extraction.

Speakers include Freda Huson (Chief Howihkat), Unist’ot’en – Wet’suwet’en People, Leader and spokesperson for the Unist’ot’en camps resisting the Coastal GasLink Pipeline; Faith Spotted Eagle (Tunkan Inajin Win), Dakota and Nakota Nations within the Oceti Sakowinan, Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines Resistance Leader; Tara Houska, Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe, Tribal Attorney and Founder of Giniw Collective, Line 3 pipeline Resistance Leader; and Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action, Tar Sands extraction Resistance Leader. Moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN).

A list of resources shared during the webinar is available here: https://bit.ly/2xo5U97

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The Book is out!

What was it like at Standing Rock? Within these pages I’ve tried to capture the essence of that special place and time. What was it like? Did they really lock people into dog kennels? What now? 

I am happily, finally, releasing the Standing Rock book for purchase! It has been in the works for some time but I believe it is as relevant as ever and worth the wait. It’s been a process. There was a lot of getting things out and then putting it down for a bit, and so on. The most recent, great development has been the addition of a foreword by the legendary Long Walker and activist, Chief Goodwolf Kindness. We’ve just returned from another epic journey and are compiling that adventure as the next part in the Peace Standards series: Bee the Change.

Peace Standards was first inspired by the fire lit at Standing Rock. Please read and share with your *classrooms, your community groups and those you speak with who are feeling overwhelmed and disheartened. There’s hope for peace. 

Standing Rock is available in paperback and PDF; Bee the Change is coming soon!

*Please contact for Academic and Not-for-profit pricing.

There are also many other ways to support the mission, please do!

Our precious pollinators are leaving us. It’s been said that if they do, it will likely mark the beginning of the end for us… so how does walking save the bees?

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Moving Fundraising from GoFundMe To Popmoney

Why not GoFundme, Crowdrise, etc. ?

In fact, many of the fundraising platforms are managing their transactions with the same corporations I’ve tried my hardest to divest from… Chase bank, for example, operates WePay which Gofundme and many other fundraising platforms use. See an example of banks to divest from here.

Why *Popmoney?

It is a secure way to transfer money directly from bank account to bank account, there’s no middle account; it is trusted platform by many top banks and credit unions. Popmoney is a product of CheckFreePay, owned by Fiserv; neither of which are on the list of corporate financial institutions to divest from that I know of.

Your bank might even be using Popmoney. It is likely a service that you can setup within your own online banking (in your bill pay section) – see if your bank is participating; if not, register with Popmoney then send support directly to the mission referencing our account email: lindseylouonthemove@gmail.com.

*No money, no problem – there are Many ways to support the mission.

The credit union that we bank with provides Popmoney for free, and so 100% of your gift goes toward the mission… many of the fundraising platforms and their ‘transaction gateways’ charge a percentage; 5% of any gift is a real chunk of resources.

Here is a video made by my credit union that explains it nicely, they’ve also made a nice FAQ.




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Nations Rising Tea Program


For more than 30 years Native American Tea Company (NATC) has been doing its part in sharing the Way of our people from long ago through tea.  Our ancestors understood the relationship between ourselves, Mother Earth, and all of life. Their healing recipes honored the gifts of Mother Earth and so through them they received balance of the body and mind. Waking up, staying alert and energetic, or going to sleep… there’s a tea recipe!

In supporting Native American Tea Company, you are supporting us! Each tea purchase you or your organization make through our Nation’s’ Rising Tea Program provides funding for our self defense education across Indian Country.

Please follow the link to begin ordering and please reach for help adding this program to your institution with bulk pricing.

Regarding quality in sustainability and ethical standards, Native American Tea Company has surpassed the rigorous specifications required of Whole Foods vendors. Some notable museums and casino’s already supporting Native American Tea Company and its social innovations include:

Smithsonian, Washington DC
Mount Rushmore (Lincoln Borglum
Museum)
Mohawk Trading Post
Akin’s Natural Food Market
Captain Fitch’s Mercantile
Gold Nugget Trading Post
Hy-Vee (Sioux City)
Wiley FarmsTea by the Sea
Tate Topa (Germany)
White Earth (Netherlands)
Foxwoods Resort & Casino
Dakota Sioux Casino & Hotel
Turning Stone Resort & Casino
The Lodge at Feather Falls Casino
Dakota Magic
River Spirit Casino
Muckleshoot Casino
Meskwaki Casino
4 Bears Casino & Lodge
Moenkopi Legacy Inn
Menominee Casino
Spirit Mountain Casino
Sky Dancer Hotel & Casino

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Gifts of 2018

Dearest fam, checking in!  

How is the mission? Is the project alive and well? Where in the world is Lindsey Lou?!

It has been far too long I know.  Honestly, I do have an ongoing struggle with this form of communication… seriously, deep, existential thoughts about it but most simply and without reserve, I’m horrible at it.

In addition to my prerogative of this digital world as a struggle, the battle even tougher this year… (as when dealing in tech, or many times as can happen in anything outside ones ‘wheelhouse’) the glitches really got to me.  I could not get my domain name back from the administrator who helped me build the site and whose retirement from such things left me hitting technological walls left and right, the affronting of I deem less important in my day than being, moving, doing – it falls, for most current example, (and again, admittedly, my own shortcoming in this technological age) well below my priority to read Michelle Obama’s new book, and then of course upon finishing that there is no lack of thrilling adventures to go on.

Anyway, a person can only do what one can do – we can only begin each day with that intentional synchronization back to the Creator’s wish for us, refueling oneself with that incredible healing and energizing light, and then stepping to the day giving the best that we have to give to that wish.

Further along the same point, in recently going through The Four Agreements I learned excellent language to matters I’ve been trying to put succinctly for a while now; Don Miguel Ruiz, I am in agreement!  In doing my part to speak impeccably (first of the four agreements), it is harsh words like shortcoming and phrases like, I’m horrible at… , that I must not take personal (another of the four agreements)… am working at no longer taking personal! The internal words that run through my mind must be as kind as those I put out into the world, and visa versa. So while I acknowledge the above, I let it go, it doesn’t bring me down, my mental tape shall not play I’m a failure no matter the circumstance – I only hope that you all know enough of me to know, if not before than certainly after this point, that the mission is alive and well! Even if we don’t cross paths frequently enough for me to update you in person – and we don’t (!) I miss many of you from lack of being near – and I don’t check in regularly here, please keep hope – the mission is alive and well!


And so…

2018 was spent learning about plans. My plans versus those the Creator would have for me. To be certain, I’ve been gifted a mission – perhaps even earned (at least in my awareness of it!) over some one-on-one time out in the wilderness for a good part of 2017 . However, the unfolding of each step toward that purpose is a flow that I still find myself surprised by often. I think, We are supposed to go forward this way and then …Bam! Nope, we’re going about it all that way.

I thought I understood 2018 to be about joining the relatives on the Longest Walk, finding through that path the communities I needed to bring a self defense program to; and Oh ya! Getting that self defense program figured out….  The first solution I found became a bit clunky and rigid for trying to adapt to the reservations, all so unique.  The second solution I found last year seemed perfect – already in progress on the rez, lead by a young native woman, a martial artist, comprehensively addressing the strengths of our people but also introducing the useful instruction that’s missing in so many places… Perfect!  But No, a definitive No!  The timing wouldn’t be right to work together.

There would be a number of times in 2018 that I watched a seemingly “perfect” partnership come along, only to find that working partnerships must be approached with the same timing-is-right-value-match-stars-aligned-take-home-to-meet-mom standards that apply for a life partner match. And when they do come along, appreciate the find!  Jane Peterson came along to be my great mentor and sounding board, Dee Randolph came along to love the mission and lend her retired, but not expired(!), expertise in grant writing to make sure our resources flow, Heidi Sarmiento-Wilson came along to be my sensei in every sense, Judy Schour and the Lakeside crew, came along as some of the sharpest tacks I know in the hardest work of all, creating change. I appreciate them so.

So what did I get done last year? I know some amazingly exceptional people; the following list may pale in the lives of many, and that’s ok, it’s outstanding! Is the work and purpose of the life of a honey bee, fleeting and tedious, any less than that of majestic, everlasting, ever-rising Everest? For me, it was an unbelievable, amazing year full of many true gems unique to this world, the best ones, I imagine, I’ll never be able to put words to.  Of it all, I am overjoyed with the blessings of this place, in fact, not only the miracles all around but also in the many opportunities to make them. Highlights as such…

January

  • With Jane’s support and positive persistence I went completely outside of my comfort to create a Gofundme campaign for the mission. Elementary, sure, but big for me and of course a necessary step for the evolution of it all.
  • Dozens of friends and family far and wide pitched into the fund which would support the Tour of Hope costs! Those of you who have Standing Rock books coming… still have books coming! I’ve delayed sending as I’m working with someone on a special forward.
  • Kicked off the year with a 7-day fast; my first! In the effort to move away from any future need of modern medicine – this fast kicked off a year of monthly 3-day fasts which would eliminate my body of toxins quite regularly. The longer, annual, fast even has the ability, once toxins have been flushed out over the first few days, to proceed with repairing and even regenerating cells within the body!  Thrilling stuff. In addition to this, I experimented with plant-based diet, daily fasting, regular cold shock (last sixty seconds of each shower, for example), and daily dietary add-ins – like garlic, (learned to pickle my own garlic!), and historically significant tonics like Jamu. It is true that I got sick only once in 2018, right at the end when my dietary intake crashed with the holidays, and for one more reason that I came to know just yesterday (funny story regarding my lack of sleep for a couple years now, until just this week!).

February

My Nani and my Crickey in Light.
  • I spent time with my Nana before driving up to the Walk. Her speech had almost disappeared in a matter of weeks. Despite her new state of being, she expertly hand-made, in a matter of a two hours and no measuring tape, two beautiful and perfectly sewn ribbon dresses for my walk with the people. I headed to the north of Washington state to start the Walk. Unfortunately, the day before is when momma called to say that our Nana had stage-4 cancer. My plan was to be on the Walk, but The Plan would put me in Washington in order to gift the Snow Beast and supplies to the Walk and then go separate ways.
  • My Nana spent twenty-three days finishing her own walk through this life. I was blessed to be with her and by my mom and auntie’s sides as we all went forward with her brave decision to die at home, no machines, nothing unnecessary – together.
  • Barefoot shoes!

March

  • Nani left at sunrise on a Sunday in March, from here I just couldn’t bring myself to join the Walk. Hard to begun something new when still processing an ending.  Instead I came home to San Diego for mom’s mourning time, also a blessing… many lessons.
  • Cricket, Nana’s little Dachshund, came home with me and we went forward getting in shape and training her up as good a service dog anyone could have!

April

  • Water is life!  And a great healer, so I built mom a double pond and waterfall in the backyard. Such hard work and such troubleshooting and problem solving involved; it was a happy day when everything had balanced (no chemicals or filtration involved, only natural principles and a solar pump!) and we were able to introduce the fish – Jack & Jill and Hailaye & Rodrigo!
  • Jane had hip surgery!  It was a real blessing to be her caretaker; we got a lot done! Figured out the pill schedule, moving, prepped a months worth of Whole 30 freezer meals, got to keep Aggie’s workout regimen on point despite everything (Jane’s dog, also in post-surgery recovery). Learned a lot!
  • Formed the Nations Rising Tea Program partnership!  
  • Daily fasting (18 hours; eating within 2:30pm to 8:30pm time frame) works well for increased energy, metabolic efficiency and weight loss;
  • Plant-based accomplishes same as daily fast but with smaller footprint – benefitted from the Daily Dozen and not missing out on flax seeds, flax oil, chia seeds in each meal for energy boost (at least for someone with a more than average exercise routine).

May

  • St. Agatha’s Fund for Health, Happiness and Freedom brought to life!
  • Jillian successfully runs an art fundraiser from Brazil – providing more than 1k to the mission!
  • Found my universal thought twin!  Rob Greenfield – Mwaa!  You have my love for all that you do and teach!
  • Keeping to my fam responsibilities – being with momma, getting to Taco Tuesday fam dinners, saying ‘yes’
  • Prepped for the Tour of Hope, to begin July/August: got rid of stuff, on-boarded the partners, fundraised.

June

July (this was the month that plans began to change)

  • Got to roll out the mission at the All Tribes in Recovery Gathering, great outcomes, very powerful.
  • Jilly got home from Brazil and came out to join the mission!
  • Our chance to work with one partner dissolved, however we were introduced to Heidi and found a new way forward to get the training we needed to build the curriculum we needed!
  • We began training on the bikes, riding everywhere (1 mile, then 3.5, then 10, 35 mile day and so on)
  • Found a new Nations Rising Tea partner!
  • Acquired seeds to be able to grow Fresh Food in the communities we would visit.
  • Tried out dumpster diving and fallingfruit.org (as a means to redirect massive amounts of unnecessary waste and also to be able to travel light on the bikes) and also warmshowers.org  with great success.
  • Received invite to share message at local, beloved plant nursery/community.
Oh, bountiful Sprouts dumpster!
Post-dive-processing (for organic and inorganic produce alike): baking soda wash, white vinegar wash, rinse.

August

  • Moved monthly fasting to full-moon fasting! Very powerful.
  • Got to serve beside Chief once more at No Regatta in Arizona! VERY powerful experience and outcomes!
  • Jumped all in to Heidi’s weekly training schedule, biking to each class – six days of the week at Mesa College, Maxwell’s Boxing, SDSU, Irwin Soto’s dojo in Santee and so on.
  • Jilly had to leave just as she had come – much like The Plan which brought me to Nana’s, she also had to go home to family.
Rollin’ with the Chiefs, like lightning and the thunder.

September

  • Took another one through the Whole 30! Life changing; not plant-based (like the How Not To Die recipe book) but an impactful first step.
  • Mostly just tried to keep my feet with the schedule. Did it!

October

  • Spent my birthday in service at the Walk and Roll – a celebration for kids with disabilities and their potential to be everything they want to be; I had the added gift of finding two lost dogs back to their home – their family would later surprise me with a piece of mail filled with money for the mission!
  • Jmarie Moore, the professional boxer and daughter of Archie Moore the Hall-of-Fame, Champion boxer, and lover of the mission, introduced me to Wamnee Eagle Ereaux, a professional boxer and also leader within her native community… those two girls came all the way from Vegas and Tucson to meet my mentors and to give a demo at Heidis’ Ladies Boxing Night! So cool.
  • I was gifted a vision for the grassroots coalition I had been invited to join – Fight The Fever, a robust strategy soon to be rolled out with great enthusiasm from the team!
Professional boxers Wamnee Eagle, left, and J’Marie Moore at Maxwell’s Boxing Ladies Night
Lindsey lou on the move! with www.save-our-valley.org #fightthefever

November

  • Dee. November brought me Dee. Rather, in November, the Creator brought me Dee. A beautiful mind drawn to my path to say to me in response to my telling her the mission and inviting her, in her immediate love for it, to support by buying our Nations Rising Tea – Tea?!  We’re going to get you a grant!  Yep, just like that, retired grant writer Dee swoops in to light the way! You need a board, she said – got that, I said; and a non-profit status… Yep!  And a story…Yep!  And a plan…Got it, actually there is one thing I haven’t been able to figure out… Well why not do it this way?… Of Course, YES! Time to find that grant then!   Goosebumps… on into the Thanksgiving meal she put together for my mom and myself and a cohort of ladies leaders to hear on our project(!)… on up to the moment when she recently told me the story of a painting she painted for someone who threw her the most magical, multi-course evening, a meal she’d never be able to repay, and so asked of her good friend the question – Of all the people, throughout time up to now, which twelve would you Love to sit down and share a meal with? And so she painted that Magical Supper which must somehow be a greater light to its recipient than to me, but only slightly.

December

World Champion Kickboxers, Heidi’s Mesa Class of Fall 2018
  • The month of gifts!  I baked cookies with my mom and gifted hundreds of them away.
  • In training in the various martial arts for the first time in my life, six days of the week for the semester, feeling tired and sore and humbled always, and with the utmost focus on making Heidi feel honored in having chosen a good student…. It all paid off! I won Heidi’s boxing glove for most improved fitness baseline (PreTest squats 300, post 600, crunches pre 72/post 112, plank 5 minutes/same, and pushups pre 68/post 110)! And I won her World Kickboxing Champion (mini)belt (as in it fits around Cricket’s waste!)! But still!  I had to fight for that thing! And she was proud. What a gift!
  • In coming to the call of Chief, any time or place, for years now since our finding each other over Standing Rock, trying humbly to learn the Ways that my family has so long been disconnected from, and wanting only to have him feel respected and protected by me and my mission …. This Christmas, he gifted me a blessed eagle feather, a most sacred gift. And he was proud.
  • A humbling, joyful Christmas to please my teachers and to be gifted that knowledge; very powerful as the Creator would have it.
  • Went to the finish line with our beloved elder dog Auncha, an amazing service dog she was in life; she finished her walk on the dawn of a Sunday morning.
  • And to hear also the love and gratitude of my family this year at the stroke of midnight, especially powerful.
Aunchsa, my little oreo, our sweet little elder berry.

So a year of learning, still getting ready for all to come.

2019…. Just wait!  Already quite profound, the miracles abound!

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Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

As you know starting something is a real journey… there’s a lot to learn and much evolution.  The very nature of it is to take one step at a time into the future, a most elusive place such that even when one finds it with the new day it is no longer the future but the present made from yesterday’s choices, our past.  All this is to say, the mission is progressing but this round of updates is of the one-step back in nature.

The partnership that we’ve been nourishing since January with a fellow sister in the mission of catalyzing change throughout Indian Country with self-defense has been put on hold for now. My wish for that relationship was pure synergy that allowed each of us to save time and get to the critical needs of the 568+ nations most effectively. The Tour of Hope was to begin this month under the direct training and program rollout of that partnership. However, the timing is not right for this and so Jilly and I will be spending the next 16 weeks training, based in San Diego, in various martial art and defense forms and building a program from the ground up; one that fits the needs of our people. It’s just what must be done. My RAD training you might ask… yes, it is good experience, but it can’t be taken to reservations as it is.  As many have wisely said in one way or another, Slow is smooth, smooth is fast, (this one, Jocko Willink).

Also as our Jamaican brothers and sisters say, “There are no worries, only situations.” In leading up to this decision many signs showed us this would be the way, and so I have no worries.  Only the continued determination to discern the subtle hints better, choosing the better way faster, before having to get smacked in the face with it. Leading up to this particular reality smack, we were introduced to a true hero and local leader; a few weeks before the launch she came to know us and offered to help us in any way she can… she’s a martial arts baller, trained under the late Grandmaster James Wilson. Her self-defense based curriculums are now being taught throughout the higher education systems throughout San Diego County. Now, she’s our Miyagi and will be training us over the next 4 months as well as guiding us along the path of a perfect curriculum for our people. Another mentor and great leader among the people said to me, “You do it, You can do this! As someone with two 501c3’s to wrap you under, You do it.”  I’d be a real stubborn, hypocritical fool not to take see these helping hands for what they are, true blessings to be accepted and honored.  

While I’m disappointed not to be out on the road, meeting each community where they are right now, the need as urgent as it is, I understand why we must catch the fire here in San Diego, where all signs continue to point and where leaders and their communities graciously extend their hands for me to grab onto during this time as a baby activist with a seedling program. We can grow here, taking exactly the time that’s needed to nurture this mission, build a strong foundation, and get it done right.

Our continued work and success is truly the gift of family and friends we’ve met along the way who believe. May everyone do what they love and love what they do with at least one person in their corner to help them along – for me and this mission, it continues to make all the difference.

 

Thank you.

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Tour of Hope to Begin August!

Upon getting back to California, I’ve remained committed to staying close and seeing my mom through her most difficult period of mourning; I think being close is about the only thing to do about it. Time heals, but only if you stay open to the process; mom has done this beautifully. Before the mission became halted by my Nani’s end journey, I had launched a Go Fund Me and was racing to get the year funded before the Longest Walk. Since that time… so many blessings, such progress!

The Longest Walk has ended… in fact, those walkers were so successful in their data collection efforts that the Walks’ goals were fulfilled early!

Though I didn’t get to finish the Walk with them, or even start, I’ve been able to make some great progress from home – our little project has grown!

  1. A true advocate and change maker, Jillian Deganhart, has joined the effort to lend her passions and skills, as an educator and artist, toward amplifying the impact. She’s joining the mission from her most recent adventure of teaching abroad in Brazil, one of many beautiful, amazing things she has gotten done lately!
  2. We’ve partnered with the perfect organization to combine efforts and grow with! Arming Sisters: Re-empowering and reawakening the mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health of indigenous communities through self-defense.  Imagine this… they are in need of what most of the indigenous focused orgs I’ve found need… resources! Inside Philanthropy has identified that native orgs just don’t get the funding and it has also been one of my greatest takeaways in working to fund this project since the beginning of the year; I have found it to be disappointingly true.  This then is one of the most pertinent issues for us to resolve before we can create real impact. It’s the one which must be solved before we can even teach self-defense and this is why I’m so excited over the next two updates!
  3. The funding for this years Tour has been fulfilled thanks to the St. Agatha Fund for Health, Happiness and Freedom, which is meeting the start-up costs of this most impactful endeavor!  Named for the late, beloved, Mrs. Agnes Peterson who was an angel on this earth for all who knew her, St. Aggie they called her, and the miracle dog, Agatha, St. Aggie we call her, who found her way into the Peterson home a short time after Mama Peterson’s passing; this giant chocolate lab, defying what many would think possible, fills her shoes by saving the lives of those around her. Bless those Peterson’s. 
  4. Sustaining funds will be met through our partnership with the Native American Tea Company! They’ve been sharing the stories and healing wisdom of our native ancestors through tea recipes since the 80’s. Their standards for quality are strict and uncompromising. They’ve impacted their local Sitting Bull College and Lakota community greatly through the social innovation of their business and they are excited to amplify their impact by supporting our mission.  Through our Nations Rising Tea Program casinos, businesses, museums/non-profits, and individuals are empowered to leverage an existing cost into the sponsorship of a local Arming Sisters program.

The 2018 Tour of Hope will commence this coming August for the specific purpose of matching communities that need an Arming Sisters Self-Defense program with the local resources to fund it so that every indigenous nation in need has that education close and available.

We’ll be taking the time to do things right from the ground up.  These days, to start something new is usually to create an “acceptable” amount of negative impact justified by the positive intention of the solution.  This is an unacceptable, unsustainable norm and so we’ll go forth in a most intentional manner to fulfill the purpose of the Tour while protecting, not sacrificing, the Environment – we will follow the practical guidelines of this amazing  resource as closely as possible to be ever positively impactful socially, economically and environmentally.  We’re biking it!  Yep, we will be traveling by clean, human-powered bicycles, off-grid and with zero waste. 

Our team is hard-working, service-oriented and a living abundance of passion and skillsets  … from one mission will come many complimentary opportunities for us to leave each community better; with self-love and self-advocacy strategies like mindfulness, cooking, writing, creating art, and also growing fresh, healthy food where there is none we will be the change we wish to see, we’ll be doing what we love and loving what we do.

*2018 Tour of Hope Dates

August

4 -7 Seattle, Arming Sisters home base

24 -27 Yountville, Suscol Intertribal Council

30 – September 3 Hungry Valley, Numaga Indian Days

September

14 -16 Novato, Native American Trade Feast

28 – October 1 Newhall, Hart of the West

October

5 – 8 Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Chumash Inter-tribal Pow Wow

11 – 15 San Bernardino, San Manuel Pow Wow at Cal State

25 – 27 35th Annual Roy Track Memorial Mesa Pow Wow

*subject to change

 

This post is dedicated to my Nani.  She would have been an 86-year-old today – I just want to share my gratitude to our Creator for bringing her here, for the life she gave to this family of strong women and loving men, for her life, for return – so full of grace and humility, for all the lessons, for her last lessons – so powerful, they will last me the rest of my days.

Just one year ago the whole family trickled up to her 3rd floor apartment in Colorado, day after day for a week to give her surprise, after surprise, after surprise Birthday wishes!  Oh, how time is our truest gift! The amount is unique to each of us – my wish for you is that none of your minutes are wasted.

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Living and Dying Naturally

In February, I was getting ready to update you on everything – the progress and lessons of the GoFundMe launch, the preparation of the Longest Walk, the goals for the year etc. etc. and then things changed overnight. Everything happened so fast, I wrote the following in reflection over it all…

Shortly before the Longest Walk my Nana’s health changed. Suddenly she couldn’t hold a conversation. Her doctors attributed this change to the onset of dementia. With only a short time remaining before the walk across he country, I headed home to Colorado, alongside my mom, to spend the few days with our Nana. It was true, she could hardly speak… she understood, the words were in there, formed up and everything but when it came to getting them out, that’s when the disconnect happened and that’s when her eyes said everything. She couldn’t speak and yet she came with us to Walmart, picked out fabric and then sewed it into two ceremony skirts for the trip – in ½ of a day, by eye. They are beautiful.  She said her little Dachshund, Cricket, had been sad for months – so we took Cricket to the vet (nothing to speak of). We headed home after spending the time; mom had decided to move home as soon as possible to be there to help her deal with the struggles of dementia.

I had planned to head to the kick-off of the Longest Walk in Blaine WA in caravan with the rest of the Southern California crew but this last minute detour to Colorado meant that as soon as I landed in California again, I needed to hit the road north solo. Cartop, check. Emergency supplies, check. Bags, check.

First stop, Arcata, to spend the evening with an Amerifriend (Ameri-this Ameri-that in reference to anything coming from the years in service as an Americorps NCCC volunteer) celebrating Galentine’s. Second stop, Eugene, to spend the evening with a legendary activist and student of Corbin Harney, Justine Cooper. Third stop, Seattle, last stop before Blaine, and the home of another Amerifriend.. Each stop/friend gifted me the blessings of life… food, water, shelter and great company and love. Plus, day 1 of my trip north, I happened to be driving on Fat Tuesday and got to listen to New Orleans jazz for at least 2 hours before losing signal. Day 2, I sat at a roadblock along the coast to see a bald eagle fly over my sunroof. I got to share many miles with the witty commentators of NPR who, I’m happy to say, come through more clearly across the landscape of the country than any of the less-than-exceptional corporate stations, their hits of today and, of course, their incessant accompanying advertisements. Day 3, my last stop before Blaine, the beginning of a new journey, and only a few days from leaving my nana, ceremony skirts packed, my family received the news of my nana’s misdiagnosis. She had been taken to the hospital where they discovered the walnut-sized mass on her brain, metastasized from cancer in her lungs, also out to her adrenals and liver – stage 4 cancer. She was going to die, she wanted to be at home. All that time Nani thought something was wrong with little Cricket, but Cricket is the one who knew what was wrong for months.

Mom told me this by phone getting ready to get on a flight back to Colorado overnight. Knowing of the beginning of the Walk, and my preparation for it over the last couple of months, she wanted me to sleep on the news rather than deciding immediately. However, I did know immediately and, just as surely, the next day… It’s going to be a long time before I get to see that Nani again. I don’t want regrets. Mom needs me.

The next morning I told Bobby, the Chief of the Longest Walk, that I needed to go home. I had promised him the Snow Beast as a support vehicle and certainly did not want to hinder that in any way. I was blessed to be able to drive to SeaTac for my flight just as one of the Longest Walkers was picking more up at the airport!

The Snow Beast would continue the Walk as I headed home to Colorado for an unknown amount of time, whatever length Nani’s end journey would be.

So that’s how life goes. We sure aren’t in control.

I saw my Nana die and watched as my mom and her sister and brothers did for her what many cannot… fulfill her wishes. I did whatever they needed. I watched how the family members each dealt with it.

I was present in her ending and therefore couldn’t focus on the tasks of my own new beginning… in the mission, the walk and re empowering the people in the best ways I know. Life is weird. Timing is weird. We got only twenty-three days with Nani after learning that anything was even wrong. Those days were like nothing I’ve ever seen. To see two daughters comforting their mother into death is a most sacred moment. In this reverse, the preciousness of it seems to me even more profound than a mother with her baby. The process is hard, often confusing; it is as physically demanding as emotionally. Regular needs like sleep and food become frivolous seeming, they get pushed away and become something like chores and also the only outlet for every weird emotion.

Nani went on a Sunday morning as the sun came up; she was surrounded by love and I knew that she was proud and fulfilled that her children came together and did everything, down to the last sweep and cleaning of her apartment, exactly as she would have. Her family came together so fully that it’s as if she was just absolutely at peace to sit in it, revel in it, and appreciate it before moving along.

I underestimated the process as it must continue for those daughters left behind; there was, is still, an ocean to get through with crashing waves of emotions. It’s their mourning time, which I can already feel the difficulty of when my own requirement to row through it will one day come. For this reason, I have remained in the moment… to continue to be here for mom in any way that I can be; certainly close rather than a country’s distance away. It is my most important purpose to be exactly where I am most needed; in this way I can always be most impactful. Things that seem small are miraculous and I wish more than anything to be the miracle, rather than to be the one always asking for them.

That’s where I am, very different than what I had planned, but content and feeling happy and blessed all the same.

Before all of this, I wanted to begin writing on the less conventional choices I’ve made and continue to experiment with – free from conveniences but also their consequences, living naturally… I wanted to share these changes with you and prove that they are much more than idealist fantasy; that these things are not new but renewed. Then my Nana, herself, chose a most natural death; a most unencumbered, un-institutionalized end journey.  Upon getting her news, she chose against surgery, chemo, radiation instead opting to go home with orders of DNR (do not resuscitate) and certainly no machines, medical personnel, or unnecessary medication.  She merely wanted to go home. She wanted to leave her body to science, freeing her family from expensive burdens of a modern funeral service and burial, asking only that when her ashes are returned that her kids take her up to the continental divide and throw her the four directions, so she can travel.

No need for me to update you about living and dying free in many more words; actions, like how my Nani showed us how to leave, mean so much more.

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