Doesn't It Disappoint When an Indigenous Person you Meet doesn't fit the Description

 I was at a Powwow in Fisher River over 20 years ago and a Maori individual was attending the Powwow. The MC of the Powwow introduced him to the crowd. For some reason, I was there in front of the stand to greet him. We touched noses. He was White looking just like me. I remember this because he didn't look like the Maori folks we know. Needless to say, I was a little bit disappointed. I wanted him to look like the big brown tall handsome Maori folks of Aotearoa. I imagine he was disappointed to be greeted by me as well. In any case there were loads, and I mean loads of real Indian folks around for him to later meet. Powwows are known to have lots of Indians, and many are real Injuns. 

Speaking of Indians, I visit a lot with them in the Reserve (which I belong to) and it is fun, and frustrating at the same time. The Elders (not just Traditional Elders but old folks) are wonderful in sharing stories, knowledge and viewpoints. I also get to visit with the trouble folk as well, the ones living in addiction, specifically meth and crack. 

In Winnipeg there is a homeless situation where the people (mostly white folks) are appalled, disgusted, and angry that the homeless are messing up places. I get that for sure. You drive down some streets where the homeless congregate and there are tents, garbage, shopping carts, bicycle frames all over the places. Not to mention the discarded syringes on the grounds (like playgrounds in some cases and public parks). So people don't like that kind of thing. Me, I don't like it but I am not sure what could be done about it. 

You see people are funny in some ways. Not the laughing funny but peculiar. Like how my friend was; a smart person capable of dialog with anyone, even kings and queens. He had a habit. The habit was, he was comfortable with the drink. He would be sober, doing great things and then he would sabotage all he was accomplishing. He would self sabotage himself because it was uncomfortable "winning." His default was to the street life, the drink, the pills. It was how he was. He knew the taste of winning, but he was more familiar with the taste of losing. Just like how some guys thrive in jail. 

I have met many people who have served time in jail. Whether they deserved or not, I don't know. I used to tease my friend who was in jail many times, there was research study which determined ugly people got more sentence time than good looking people. I guess he got lots of time in jail. Oh anyways, the common thing about jail folk, is they never accept that it was them, who got themselves into jail. They say things like they are "turning the key on us." They say this about anyone in the system, from Indigenous guards to the Elders who work there to help them. It's a thing. "Our brothers are in there, it's a brotherhood." Meanwhile, some of them are killing our own people but yeah those are the brothers. 

Manitoba has an Anishinaabe Premier. Who would have thought it. I mean, Manitoba is not known for their love of Indigenous folk, or anyone of Colour for that matter. So having a political party choose an Indian (not India Indian cause that has happened in Canada and even a Woman too) to head their party. He, the Indian, got elected by the conservative landscape called Manitoba. And get this, he looks Indian. I mean his Mom is white  (not disrespect intended, I have met her and she is a smart strong person) but he has the looks and colour of his Dad. I think all the Indians (well not all, many call him a political prostitute) are waiting for him to do Indian stuff. I mean do something for Indians within his political purview. Like, I don't know follow the law of Point of Sales tax for Indians. Where you purchase something and it is sales tax exempt. It is law after all. Indians may not realize the Premier is leader of  the whole province and the province is mostly White. So essentially white rules the kingdom, despite who is sitting on the throne. Even if the guy is fitting the description of an Indian. This means, the Indian Premier, lord of the manor, the head honcho, the big cheese, the grandest chief, is just a minion for the true rulers of the nest. Indians should not expect anything for them really. The other thing is why should we beg a lower government for stuff, we are sovereign nations after all. 

Fitting the description is a good thing, but it is not the only thing.

Joe TwoRivers - The Forest Rangers TV show
Not an Indian 
Actor Michael Zenon of the Ukraine 

 

Big Wiggly

 I have interacted with many people over the years, from different "walks of life." I have had steaks in a doctor's home in Las Vegas, water skied in Lake Mead with White people. Witnessed "big shots" filling their glass with Hennessy, and telling the host, "you got the best bar in town."  I ate with people who were running for Judicial office in the United States. I have also seen folks take big shots of Everclear, and that is far away from the Remy Martin as one could get.  I encountered and engaged with different folk from various "stations" in society, in life. From the high Scotch drinkers to the Baby Duck connoisseur.  I visited with Lysol drinkers, beer drinkers, Holy Rollers, Jehovah's Witnesses and non-smokes. Today, much of my interaction is with Reserve members and of course my family. I look fondly on the people I interact with today. I do miss visiting many of the people in the "Ceremony Circle," many who are my relatives and friends. I think it's an age thing; you tend to stay home more and hang with your partner, the grandkids. I still think of my friends, family, cousins often, which brings up good thoughts and feelings. I'm lucky to have had those good experiences. There are some interactions which do bring me other thoughts. The meeting with many strangers where just that, strangers. You know how some strangers when you meet and visit them, you wouldn't mind being friends with them, while others you think, "douche bag." I don't really have the opportunity to sit with high rolling big shots much these days. 

I have known many a criminal, whether it was a friend who "buried a business partner in a farmers field" to (as my friend referred to them, himself included) the "cheap nickel and dime-store-hood. They were good people, except for the one little tiny mistake they made; killing someone, breaking entering, and other mistakes.  I'm not going to say they were better than the big-shots, but some of those big-wiggles were kind of creepy. Never went beyond the superficial hand shake with them, so really don't know if they were good folk or not. I don't judge but I do fucking judge. If you are a baby-raping, baby-eating, baby-killing parasite, I don't like you. At the our wedding, in my Mom and Dad's yard, their home, I invited a gentleman who killed and buried a criminal in a farmer's field. I was perfectly comfortable with him at our Reserve. He was not a parasite. Get this, he was not an Indian, but a Whiteman. Yes, even though I judge white people harshly, I did and do have White friends. I exclude them from the rest of the white world. They are fine people, good people, big hearted people. 

So much cruelty in the world and you can bet your bottom teeth it is not the lowly walking-the-mud-with-gum-boots-t-shirt-wearing people. Yeah, for sure, cruelty can be dished out by anyone. The Karen, who calls the cop on a child for selling lemonade, the cop who shoots a child playing with a toy gun, the cop who kneels on a man's neck until he is dead, the father who sexual abuses his child. Cruelty walks with us everywhere and in many different levels. I feel much of the world's cruelty is being enhanced by  the Big Wigglies, the people with uncontrolled power. The power is usually attached to wealth, the obscene wealth. The type of people who would purchase a bottle of Vodka for 3.7 million dollars. 

The Rich, the super-mega-insanely rich people are the culprits, the maggots of greed, are the engineers or cruelty. These are the Big Wiggly cruelty with zero limit. They are the baby eating, baby raping, baby murdering parasites. We live in a mad world ruled by the Rich. The Rich control the world, and control the governments of the world. The governments of the world are largely filled with political prostitutes. The men (and some women, but mostly men, white men) who sign up for public sector life are generally paid and bought for by the rich. For the rich it's a cheap deal. They get to own governments and go to bank, laughing all the way. The political whores spread anal wide for the rich, while the Rich won't even bother with lube. Big Wiggly all the way. The baby eating thing may not be actually true, but the raping culture of the rich is documented, and under age of 18 is still a child, someone's baby. They are raping babies to raping the Earth. You are just a witness. 

It is the man who says "you got the best bar in town," who is the cruel, the Big Wiggly cruel. 

Political Owned Whore 

Wonder What They Are Thinking

 I live in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba and I drive to the Sagkeeng Anishinaabe Reserve daily. It's not too far, one and half hour drive from city to Rez. When I get into the Reserve border, I drive by Catfish Creek and many a morning there is this Eagle on a tree all by His lonesome. I guess it is a male as it is on the smaller side of the Eagle size, and Women Eagles are huge. Females have the size and dominance, so I hear. Anyways, the Eagle is by his-self in the mornings, sitting in a tree, looking away from the Lake Winnipeg and towards the highway. I wonder what this Eagle is thinking as it sits by his lonesome, looking around? He is just looking out for food? Or is he wondering, why can't I have a Woman (or partner)? Why do I have to be alone? What is the sake of siting here and not being able to share a little meal with someone? 

Society (arseholes) used to think, and some still do, that animals did not have consciousness. Better human beings know this has had to be pure bull-shit. It gives arseholes the "clean-slate" to treat animals with no regard. Thereby giving them the clear conscience to  be cruel to them - dog fighting, animal testing, locking them up in cages and every other monstrous act they feel free to do.  I was just watching a Spanish Bull Fight and saw the Bull being killed with a sword by the Matador. I felt bad for a brief moment and then the feeling and thought went away. It is just like anything else where it's "out of site, out of mind." I wonder what the Bull was thinking, was feeling? Maybe it's a mindless beast? 

You know there are Indigenous folks out there who know, they really know, that the Whole (everything) is related. So how can we think of our relatives as dimwitted creatures? People like to say "oh, they live on instinct." As if that is an excuse to not think of them as Thinking Beings. The pure arrogance of human beings. If there were not Human Beings where would the world be? I really love the analogy that we are the invasive species. Just like those Zebra Mussels. Mucking up everything they come in contact with.

We are in the world of round, of the circle. People like to demonstrate with the Circle; like a Medicine Wheel model, drawing to show connectiveness. For me, the whole Medicine Wheel thing is a Teaching Tool. It reminds us that everything is connected: seasons, directions, elements, ages, and beings. That is all there is to it. Of course there are much more Teachings to the different Circles but in the end, we are all Relatives. So stop taking down to your relatives, like they are (R-word) and beneath you. Afterall you don't know what they are thinking.

Cut Those Tipi Poles

 There is a Powwow (Treaty One area) in Winnipeg  and for some strange bizarre reason some individual or individuals, decided to take a chainsaw and cut up the Tipi poles. Is it just me that finds this really weird. 

"The 5th annual Anishinaabe Days powwow kicked off Saturday in Winnipeg bringing together dancers from across the province and beyond.The celebration at at Naawi-Oodena was clouded by an act of vandalism, as the tipi poles were cut the day before the event. “It’s unfortunate that we had an incident like that here,” said Chief Gordon Bluesky of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation. “I don’t believe reflects all of Winnipeg and I definitely don’t believe it reflects residents of this area,” said Bluesky."  

This is a weird story and it reminded me of  the The Golden Spruce tree that was killed by this crazy guy. The Tree was not easy to get to. This guy had to swim across the water to get to the island where the Tree was standing. He really wanted to kill this tree. With the Tipi poles it is not as dramatic or as significant. The Golden Spruce was held in reverence by the Neechies (the Haida First Nation). The tipi poles were quickly replaced. The thing is this, someone or more than a someone, had to really think about what they were doing. Had to get a chainsaw, drive over to the area, pick a time where no one would be around. The area is is a high traffic area, and in an area of the City that is a little affluent (or adjacent to rich folks areas). Not that it should matter but you know how it goes. The person or persons were deliberate in what they wanted to do. I wonder what they end goal was, and what they accomplished? Was it an act of racism? Where someone(s) with so much hate, they took the time to carry out and act of vandalism with forethought to hurt someone's feelings? Was it an act by Indians themselves? You know, those Neechies who don't like Traditional ways, i.e. Christian Indian folk. Maybe they went there to make a statement, but who knows. There is this one Reserve who is rumored to outlaw Traditional practices in their community. I think this is so sad. Perhaps it was a grudge attack. Maybe someone or someones, don't like Treaty One or a person or group linked with Treaty one? 

We don't know what motivated the act. It is a small act in the big world. Really an annoyance with little significance. Tipi poles can be replaced, harvested in the bush. If you were to order a set of Tipi poles you would be looking at no less than six hundred bucks and higher to purchase. It wasn't a harmless prank. It was disheartening. It shows contempt for Our Ways, Our People, Our History, Our Community. So it is not a nothing thing. It is like someone decided to come take a shit on your doorstep. set it on fire, knocked and ran away as you come to see who it is. It was an act of disrespect, an ugly disgusting act of knowing this is messed up. Anyways I say fuck them and anyone else who smells like them. 

The Powwow is a celebration, and it is a get together of everyone. The thing about majority of Powwows, is that they are a public good. Meaning they are not a money making venture. They provide a public function, a public service for the public. The nastiness of the chainsaw action on innocent Tipi poles is like shitting on their own kitchen floor. It makes no sense. 

We Didn't Know, Some of Us Know

 At one of the community Powwow Gatherings there were some comments made to the organizers/sponsors regarding a Flag Bearer. The person drilled the organizers about who the Flag Carrier was. At a Powwow entry there are Flag Bearer/Carrier is front and center of the Powwow Dancers. The Flag Bearer either holds the Community Eagle Staff, National Flags, Community Flags at the beginning of the event. They dance with Staffs, Flags while Honour songs go on. This is a significant part of the Powwow. They are chosen to represent the event, the community, the People. So, it is an Honour to be part of this procession. Turns out this particular Flag Bearer was a predator of Women.  "We didn't know." 

Do we know or do we not know, can be the difference between an active participant or a clueless schmoo. In the case of the Honourable Flag Bearer some one must have known. But who knows. There is this guy in the community who is literally a daily voice in the community and We Know. The fella was in the news for sexual assaulting an young woman, barely 18 at the time and he was in his 40's. He wasn't convicted as he said he "kept asking her." She was juiced, drunk, intoxicated, and he had his way with her on the bathroom floor (cause he is a classy guy or as he says a "Traditional man"). She was a petite thing and he is an imposing older guy. So, yeah she "consented" (Heavy on the sarcasm here). The young girl had Aunties who interrupted the "encounter." They beat him on the head with bottles. The courts didn't convict him, so it's all good, he dances at powwow and blows his whistle at the drums.  I guess there are people who don't know, but some of us know.

A number of us organized yearly Gatherings for people who had suffered a suicide loss, a death by suicide. We put out pamphlets and internet postings advertising the Gatherings. We included the people who were going to participating at the Gatherings, various guests, and speakers. There was one fella on the information pamphlets, a good guy by all indications. An Elder, this Woman came on told me about the risk of using his image, name on the pamphlet. Guess the guy had history of sexual abuse. We didn't know, but someone knew. We are shocked when we now know, aren't we?

There is this guy, he was a Chief for many many years. He was widely known for his fierce nature and his deadly stance against colonial injustices and the instruments of colonialism. He was merciless when he went to deal with government officials. I remember him at a meeting speaking to a high ranking executive big wig of the Federal Government; "I used to play hockey too, and with the stickhandling your are doing, I would smash you against the boards." I thought that was a real cute way to threaten and intimidate a bureaucrat. This fellow was exposed on television for having his mother's arm broken. People didn't know or some knew. I remember he dated a relative from our Reserve, put her in the hospital, yeah he was fierce all right. Get this, he has been chosen as the leader for his Band again. Guess they don't know or some of them know, but it's copacetic for those who know.

In the wider society, actors, musicians, political whores are known. They are not known usually for their sick depraved behaviours, and beliefs. We listen to the tunes, watch their movies, vote for them because we don't know, some of us know. The biggest, everyone knows, is of course the racist raping deranged wrinkled whore and no it's not Rosanne Barr, it's the other one. 

Genocide happening in Palestine, We Didn't Know. Kids being targeted deliberately by snipers (IDF). We Didn't Know. It was live on television, the slaughter. We Didn't Know. 

Tom Paxton - We Didn't Know 

“We didn't know,” said the Burgomeister
“About the camps on the edge of town
It was Hitler and his crew
That tore the German nation down
We saw the cattle cars it's true
And maybe they carried a Jew or two
They woke us up as they rattled through
But what did you expect me to do”
“We didn't know at all
We didn't see a thing
You can't hold us to blame
What could we do
It was a terrible shame
But we can't bear the blame
Oh no, not us, we didn't know”
“We didn't know,” said the congregation
Singing a hymn in their church of white
“The press was full of lies about us
Preacher told us we were right
The outside agitators came
They burned some churches and put the blame
On decent southern people's name
To set our coloured people aflame
And maybe some of our boys got hot
And a couple of niggers and reds got shot
They should have stayed where they belong
And preacher would've told us if we'd done wrong”
We didn't know at all
We didn't see a thing
You can't hold us to blame
What could we do
It was a terrible shame
But we can't bear the blame
Oh no, not us, we didn't know
“We didn't know,” said the puzzled voter
Watching the President on TV
“I guess we've got to drop those bombs
If we're gonna keep South Asia free
The President's such a peaceful man
I guess he's got some kind of plan
They say we're torturing prisoners of war
But I don't believe that stuff no more
Torturing prisoners is a communist game
And you can bet they're doing the same
I wish this war was over and through
But what do you expect me to do”
We didn't know at all
We didn't see a thing
You can't hold us to blame
What could we do
It was a terrible shame
But we can't bear the blame
Oh no, not us, we didn't know

It's Not My (fuckin') Concern

 A cousin of mine has lost two of his feet. He lost one foot, than he lost a finger, than another foot. Yeah, he has the diabetes. The guy was never obese and had been always active. Sure he is older now, about 67 or so. I keep meeting guys in my reserve who are losing parts to their bodies and it's from the diabetes. I asked a few of them, "what the hell happened?" This one guy is about five or six years younger than me. He has a tip of his finger gone. He said, "It just fell off. There was a little black dot and next thing you know my finger tip just rotted off." Another guy has some of his toes gone and he said the same thing, little black dot and then the doctor says "got to go," and then snip they took them. It never was any business of mine when people started to lose feet legs from amputation. Now it is my fuckin' concern because I got the diabetes. I was recently put on insulin for  my sugar numbers being high as the heavens. So that was kind of a shitty moment in my life. Don't get me wrong, I have had my good share of shitty moments in my life; you know suicide of my son and high number of deaths in the Reserve. The news of insulin made me quite mournful. Mournful of youth, mournful of mistakes in my life made by me. You see, I never don't think of stuff being on me. I was always at the edge of the pool when it came to wild waves of things. My cousin shoots his wife, I was 15 and he was my older cousin, but wasn't me. A friend of mine hanged himself, I was 15 but it was his family and not me. A car accident killing 5 in front of our house, I was about 8 or 9 but remember it well (our house was on Deadman's curve). The Aunties' house burning down across the highway from us. I was about 14 or 15. Nothing left but the concrete footing of the house. I remember the power lines sparking around and just whipping around on the ground. My cousins without a home, but it wasn't me. 

It's by the edge of the pool but we're not diving in, falling in, or even putting or feet in. It's tragic but not really our fuckin' concern. We have a roof, a bed, a home. You know the world is in a bad way right now. The Earth will always be the Earth, but the world with human beings is in a bad way. But it's not our fuckin' concern. 

Suicide has not really been a concern of mine. Sure I did my first suicide attempt at 17 (gun misfire or no Steve, no kids, not blog). My fixation with suicide, didn't come to much later in life. Again, it was around us and we were not in the pool. My nephew Jay took his own life, long before his cousin, my son took his life. Still at the time of my nephew it was not me. It was me but I still  was just at the edge of the pool. My nieces and the cousins around his age were more in the pool than the edge. It is weird that even things right close to us are still not our fuckin' concern. It's not us, not me. 

I just saw on social media a doctor's post about Loss of Ejaculation when diabetes is long in your life. I was thinking, "I don't know how to feel about that?" I mean, am I going to dip in the pool over this, or just keep sitting at the edge of the pool? And, and to make matters worse, look at this: "Erectile dysfunction (ED) affects approximately 34% to 45% of men with diabetes and has been demonstrated to negatively impact quality of life..."  No damn shit, your quality of life is negatively impacted. God damn, talk about jumping headfirst (get it) deep into the fucking pool. Not just dangling your feet in the water by the edge. Is it in in our fucking concern? Since I am now considered a full-blown type 2 diabetic, should it be my fuckin' concern? The loss of ejaculation is weird though, don't you think? I mean. if Larry Flint has thought us anything, it was the quintessential representation of ejaculation was the shot on someone's face or breasts. With limited ejaculation you are nothing it would seem. Not that I care about following the masses with ejaculation adventures. 

I wonder what else we believe where it's not my fucking concern? Earth quakes happening in Venezuela. Genocide in Palestine where IDF (world's most moral army) are deliberately targeting kids.  On the good side, "more than 100 Catholic bishops, nuns, priests and parishioners joined a procession across the U.S.-Mexico border, urging the U.S. government to treat migrants with dignity and respect." I am not sure if this makes my concern, but what does these days?  I am happy to hear about animal bridges being built. Like last year, Colorado made the biggest animal bridge across a super busy highway. And get this, deforestation in the Amazon (no not the rotten Jeff Bezos empire) has dropped by 24 percent. You can thank the Indigenous people for the drop in deforestation. Also the world increased  use of alternative energy. It is in my fucking concern, because the forests around the world clean the air for all of us. I love the bush, we all should make it our fucking concern. 

My Reserve Chief and Councilors seem happy in their roles but that is not my fucking concern. 

   

Diving in the deep end and not hanging out in the shallow pool. 

I would pay a 100 bucks to see that

 I remember the episode of The Sopranos where Vito is beat to death and a shaft is shoved up his butt. The Lisbeth Salander avenging her rape with shoving a sliver dildo up the butt of her tormentor/rapist. Those fictional shows were memorable. I would pay for a memorable episode right now for some certain villains of society.

I would pay a 100 dollars to see the Orange dude (Mr. pedophile Trump) have a similar experience of anal exploration by Lisbeth Salander or by the old Hillary Clinton lady. Now that would be something the public would love to see.

I would pay a 100 dollars to see the Orange dude (Mr. wants to sodomize his daughter Trump) slide down one of the big twirling water slides, the ones that you exit at a 100 miles an hour and have the same experience on the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas. You know, the infamous decapitating slide. 

I would pay 100 dollars to see Danielle Smith sit in one of James Arthur Ray's Warrior Sweat Lodge. I wonder if she would fare better than James Shore or Kirby Brown. 

I would pay 10 dollars to see Doug Ford get intimate with the Animal Farm's Napoleon (the Pig in the book Animal Farm). Not that I would enjoy it, but I would be paying to see the expression of his face. 

I would pay 100 dollars to see Pierre Poilievre do journalistic reporting in Gaza. 

I would pay 10 dollars to see Mark Carney drink water right out of the Athabasca River everyday, for at least a month. Where the Athabasca River runs through the Tars Sands area. Carney and the Country of Canada see no issue with the environmental concerns raised by the Neechies living there. 

I would pay 100 dollars to see Benjamin Netanyahu smothered, lathered in maple syrup and do the Game of Thrones walk of shame through the rubble of Gaza. With the added nuance of children saying "shame, shame, shame," and then the Yellow Jacket Wasps are released around his walk path. I would for sure pay 100 bucks to see that.

I would pay 100 bucks to see FBI guru Kash Patel, go snorkeling off the coast of California, all the while he is pulling Chum in a cotton sack, tied to his swimming fins. All the while there are camera crews following his day long adventure in the Ocean. I paid to see that.

I would pay 10 bucks to see Kristi Noem be in the middle of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. She would do well with the Bulls as she is comfortable with Bull shit. 

I would pay 100 bucks to see Trump, and his team of retards (the label is only for them) swim in the Porkchop Geyser. Where the water is a nice temperature in excess of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. It would be an adventure for them that is for sure. 

Entertainment may come with a cost.