As she neared her 90th birthday, my mother began telling us that, in her youth, pneumonia had been called “the old people’s friend.” This friend took them, somewhat gently, over the hill. “I’ve lived long enough,” she’d say. “It’s time for me to go.” Though she had constant joint and nerve pain from a life […]
We are rocking in our body boats as we adapt to the realities (and unrealities) of COVID-19. In counterpoint, the natural world around us breaths more freely when we humans stop skittering about. Canals in Venice flow clear; the sky over Hunan clears; airplane and car noise decreases. Our hearts rush to those who are […]
Guest blog by Mayadhin Al Abri Mayadhin Al Abri is a chemical engineering student at the University of Minnesota who grew up in Muscat, the capital city of Oman. She plans to address and solve environmental issues specifically water issues in Oman. During my childhood in Oman, rain would fall once or twice a year. […]
Hindolo Pokawa, Earth Justice Leader in Sierra Leone Hindolo was once a student my class. I have learned a lot from him. Hear him in this interview. After earning a degree in Minnesota, Hindolo found he couldn’t get a job other than taxi driving. While in his taxi, he realized that he could return to […]
Illustration by Grace Harnois How my ancestors survived the flu epidemic of 1918-19 has become part of our family’s lore. Can remembering stories like this help us now? Carl, Vera, and Carl’s brother Morris were homesteading in a log house in Polk County, Minnesota, when the winter of 1918-19 arrived. Carl and Vera had […]
A response to Tropic of Chaos Guest Post by Joan Felice and the Students at El Milagro Women farmers from Guatemalan mountain villages—many of them schoolgirls—watched Tropic of Chaos and came to know of women farmers from the Lake Chad region of the African continent. The girls, who attend a boarding school at a distance from […]
When filmmaker Angelo Loy wrote to offer his film to this blog, we all received an immense gift—the voices of and views from dozens of people in central Africa. As you watch Tropic of Chaos you will come to know a vast region. You will meet people living on Lake Chad’s receding shores who invite […]
Readers of this page have been given One Word Sawalmem, a special gift from Pom and Natasha, friends on the Pacific Coast. Here is 5-day home viewing access to an inspiring, internationally-acclaimed, Native-directed short film made for all ages and peoples to watch. The 20-min film is based on one single question: What’s one word from your sacred […]
Enter Joseph M. Marshall III’s book, The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living, to learn how to live wisely with all our relatives – with mitakuye oyasin (“all my relatives” in Dakota). Each chapter of the book presents a virtue through story-telling, some stories from the beginnings of remembered life and some from Marshalls’s […]
