On the Edge

Michael Stephen Wills Photography

After leaf fall abrupt emptiness of Taughannock Falls is visible from the south rim. Beyond, you can just make out the enormous carved limestone slabs that protect visitors from the constant infall from the gorge walls allowing them to approach the falls.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

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Brazil’s Indigenous Xavante strangled by agribusiness, slammed by COVID-19

  • With pressure on their native land and traditional foods, agrochemicals polluting their rivers, and a high rate of chronic disease have left the Xavante people of Brazil’s Cerrado savanna vulnerable to the pandemic.
  • Community leaders and epidemiologists point to a diet of processed foods and the loss of their game animals as key factors in the poor health outcomes for the Xavante — a problem mirrored across other Indigenous communities in Brazil.
  • The Xavante have also seen their land fragmented and increasingly hemmed in by industrial-scale soy plantations and cattle pasture, with a plan in the works to start agribusiness activities inside the reserves themselves — in direct violation of the Constitution. 

Source: Brazil’s Indigenous Xavante strangled by agribusiness, slammed by COVID-19

Freckled Smile. (Sketch)

Fire of Moods

Sketchbook: Bienfang Bristol Vellum paper Media: STÆDTLER Graphite pencils As a developing artist in portraiture, I have always wondered what an ideal and challenging reference portrait would entail. Could it be an elderly face where the mien is calm as the sea, and its wrinkles are like estuaries of flowing grace, or could it be […]

Freckled Smile. (Sketch)

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Not Enough Being Done for MMIW

I was surprised when the speakers all talked about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), sometimes expressed as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR). I was just learning much of this violence came from the man camps, the living quarters for those work on the construction of fossil fuel pipelines.

LANDBACK Friends

I was not aware of the epidemic of violence against, and the disappearance and/or murder of Indigenous women prior to getting to know some Indigenous people. I first became aware when I rode in a van, organized by Ed Fallon, to Minneapolis February 3, 2018, the day before the Super Bowl was played there. Minneapolis is the US Bank headquarters, and the Super Bowl was played in the US Bank stadium. US Bank has been involved in funding many fossil fuel projects. We gathered outside the bank offices with signs to call attention to that.

Heading for Minneapolis, Feb 4, 2018.

I was surprised when the speakers all talked about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), sometimes expressed as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR). I was just learning much of this violence came from the man camps, the living quarters for those work on the construction of fossil fuel…

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Thoughtful Thursdays, Stayed on Freedom’s Call page 36, and Operation Understanding in DC

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

     It is crucial that we each help our society to become more fully inclusive for all of us today, and to come and work together, for all of us.  This organization, nicknamed for another famous organization, did good work some years ago.

     I believe that attention to shared histories, as in DC, may provide part of an answer.  I started a note about that, a few years ago, in my book Stayed on Freedom’s Call:

 

” …   profile of Jewish people of color, such as the recently crowned Ethiopian Miss Israel.

Another organization based on similar programs in other cities was Operation Understanding (OU).  OU DC brings together Black and Jewish young people in Washington, DC, and endeavors to promote understanding of each culture by the other. In similar vein, the Community Cooperation walking tours of Black-Jewish Washington, DC were being offered by a recent endeavor…

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Un messaggio per i decisori del G-20 e della COP26: « La terra non appartiene all’uomo, l’uomo appartiene alla terra. L’uomo non ha tessuto la trama della vita, è solo un filo. Qualunque cosa faccia alla rete della vita, la fa a se stesso. » 

Barbara Crane Navarro

«Stai insegnando ai tuoi figli quello che noi abbiamo insegnato ai nostri figli? Che la terra è nostra madre? Ciò che accade alla terra accade a tutti i figli della terra.

Sappiamo che la terra non appartiene all’uomo, l’uomo appartiene alla terra. Tutte le cose sono collegate come il sangue che ci unisce tutti. L’uomo non ha tessuto la trama della vita, è solo un filo. Qualunque cosa faccia alla rete della vita, la fa a se stesso.»

– Capo Seattle, da un discorso pronunciato nel 1854 durante la visita del Governatore di Washington a un consiglio di capi tribù locali

I leader mondiali si sono riuniti questo fine settimana al vertice del G-20 a Roma. Il motto del vertice del 2021 è «persone, pianeta e prosperità», ma questi leader rappresentano i paesi industrializzati più ricchi del pianeta, i governi più potenti e le multinazionali responsabili della maggior parte dell’inquinamento…

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OPAN: MUDANÇA DE PERCEPÇÃO DE INDIGENISTAS ASSEGUROU DIREITO DE POVOS EM PERMANECER ISOLADOS — OBIND

Barbara Crane Navarro

Mobilizações ocorridas na década de 80 foram determinantes para consolidação de políticas de proteção aos grupos em isolamento, que passaram a ter o princípio da autodeterminação priorizado POR HELSON FRANÇA/OPAN Entre os povos originários, existem aqueles que, para sobreviver à ação de invasores em seus territórios e preservar seu modo de vida, tiveram quebuscar…

OPAN: MUDANÇA DE PERCEPÇÃO DE INDIGENISTAS ASSEGUROU DIREITO DE POVOS EM PERMANECER ISOLADOS — OBIND

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