tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34548952951979641712024-03-05T01:56:32.850-08:00Land Liberation ProjectRestore the Commons. Land has been privatised for the benefit of the few over the many. We are all a part of the world and the world is a part of us. This relationship is common to all life. Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-15894526912646483272018-11-03T05:11:00.002-07:002018-11-03T05:49:39.573-07:00The Power of Return- Dark MountainThe following essay originally appeared in<a href="https://dark-mountain.net/the-power-of-return/" target="_blank"> Dark Mountain</a>. Thanks to Nick Hunt and the editors. <br />
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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1znK5k9eaUsEnzyzLzxlC9GafAb4mN9f6PFN-bsTLJCs/edit?usp=sharingTipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-36041568616063493562017-07-27T08:07:00.001-07:002017-07-27T08:07:16.888-07:00The Power of Return<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">We saw that you can see and face what you’ve done and are doing, America. Perhaps for the first time. </span></div><div>The Smithsonian returned, on loan, for the 150th commemoration of the state of Nebraska, ‘items’ or belongings which were picked from the bodies and from the village following General Harney ‘the butcher’s’ punitive attack on Little Thunder’s peaceful village in September 1855. Official sanitised reports claim 86 people killed, half of them women and children, when 600 cavalry descended upon a village of 250 at five in the morning. Contemporary archaeologists put the estimate closer to 130. Many people had run to find themselves surrounded in a ‘pincer’ manoeuvre and hid in caves along the Blue Water Creek. Dragoons fired into the caves and Harney ordered them collapsed. This butchery went on for hours. </div><div>Survivors, some mortally wounded, were marched by their aggressors and captors, ten miles South to Harney’s staging post at Ash Hollow, where we were this past weekend, a place of water and abundance popular with the pioneers and settlers moving West on the Oregon Trail. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0cSkVsje9Nwxr_KRjzTnHC8Dj6ZSnle3lkPEE_yFLpzt0Tb_KdD0-71MpmoYIMJ_YtqE2qlba3WyZ3VL6O9SUA7-t5izVTNwONXOM4iubsGX1Cg8wNBz5vriBzTfHnO3lN44vT6xzdJQu/s640/blogger-image--436109888.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0cSkVsje9Nwxr_KRjzTnHC8Dj6ZSnle3lkPEE_yFLpzt0Tb_KdD0-71MpmoYIMJ_YtqE2qlba3WyZ3VL6O9SUA7-t5izVTNwONXOM4iubsGX1Cg8wNBz5vriBzTfHnO3lN44vT6xzdJQu/s640/blogger-image--436109888.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>I stood with an archaeologist and they looked up at the cliffs and explained to me how the landslides below weren’t naturally occurring. It’s highly likely that bodies were piled there and the loose cliffs were collapsed to bury and hide the extent of the atrocity. </div><div>The living and the dead have an intimate pact. </div><div>Settler descended residents of the town of Lewellen spoke of childhood memories of surprise at looking in the mirror and seeing pale skin. The land whispered and the strong and compassionate ones heard. They sought the descendants of Little Thunder, who was wounded and survived the massacre. A process of healing was initiated and a cache of dozens stolen ‘artefacts’ was remembered in a drawer in Washington. Members of the Little Thunder family asked for the Smithsonian to return what was taken and they were agreed to be retuned on loan, but for the State of Nebraska’s signature event and to be placed on display in a case in the museum at Ash Hollow. A doll taken from a little girl, a pair of moccasins, a bag. It was also agreed that these ‘items’ would be in ceremony before public display with involved families. I had the honour to be invited to and participate in this ceremony, but I never looked at the belongings, even though they were on display all weekend; I couldn’t find my place in something which feels so intimate and raw. Gawking feels inappropriate. </div><div>There is a Lakota word ‘wokinktuza’ (forgive the spelling) which means something like forgiveness. I saw and heard descendants of Little Thunder with that power and I saw that as example of a way to be human. Then I thought about the culture of America and how, now, after this unprecedented occasion, it is gathering the spiritual strength to have a good look at itself and it’s foundation. We can turn it’s military might into spiritual strength for a force for good in the world. The government will catch up but it’s led by the people. We’ve seen how Settler Colonialism has laid waste to vast tracts of land, rendered rivers undrinkable, turned what was, actually paradise- into hell, all in the name of progress. But now it’s going forward to our Indigenous Knowing, as it was and supposed to be. Now we’re remembering Original Instruction. </div><div>Spirits of bloodstained belongings of the past are finding peace and restitution. This is rippling through to the present. The people dance and sing on the drum with remembrance and celebration and we're reminded that those forgotten and lost smile and find a way. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1pV4EYGtIrxSDblukOi0yJKBu3S59xhlT6N-_uye-HR-R2YdByhfHh1ABNBSImjmpIJ8qscC9s80Tb8pBNR3buaj7Oocj0mWBdMVgIMLMgb6_YJseNXO0Ikpg8Vj2QZYYEdyl9SREE3H/s640/blogger-image--492592901.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1pV4EYGtIrxSDblukOi0yJKBu3S59xhlT6N-_uye-HR-R2YdByhfHh1ABNBSImjmpIJ8qscC9s80Tb8pBNR3buaj7Oocj0mWBdMVgIMLMgb6_YJseNXO0Ikpg8Vj2QZYYEdyl9SREE3H/s640/blogger-image--492592901.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Epigenetics is a scientific way of studying historical and ancestral trauma. Healing occurs for those victimised and for the victimisers, whose spirits also know no peace. For the individual and the collective. The USA is founded on untold genocide and in order to continue avoiding facing this fact it looks outward with hidden and suppressed shame and pain, inflicting the only thing it knows on the rest of the world. Invade and colonise. Hidden behind abstract and unconnected rhetorical concepts like ‘freedom’ and ‘progress’ and inflicted upon the meek. Then exploit and profit the land and ‘resources’ of those places at the expense of the locals, historically indigenous, in a world where there is more than enough of everything for everyone. </div><div>We are coming to the end, one way or another, of this cycle of violence. Everything will and has to be returned to where it’s supposed to be. It begins with the loan of family belongings and continues to place, land. Everything has to return. Wh have to have the strength and find the power to carry this through. </div><div><br></div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-9891870884333814622015-12-11T15:09:00.000-08:002015-12-15T07:46:14.205-08:00A Year of Displacement<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
They tore us from our home</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And we fell</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Onto the earth</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And we discovered
that we were here all along.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So we pitched our
lodge, lit the fire and made a nice cup of tea, cooked some dinner
and sat down as a family.
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Circling the hearth. </div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Summer land and winter land continue now, indifferent and untended, set aside by conservationists and Eco-villageists. We continue as a displaced culture. Currently 1:5 of the population of the planet are displaced. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We discovered there
was new life on the way. New and small and delicate life, to be kept secret and hidden. </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then Brooks Newton, owner of Hidden Springs Wellness Center and founder of Seven Generations eco-village set the sheriff on my family and I, when we were living at the traditional Winter Spot. </span></div><div><br></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">"I was angry with my friend</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i>I told my wrath, my wrath did end.</i></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i>I was angry with my foe</i></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i>I told it not, my wrath did grow."</i></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><br></i></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i>-W Blake</i></b></div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br></div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">I <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">came to
understand myself and my oppressors as an expression of 'place'. Not
just a physical place, piece of land, but an expression of place in
time. A constellation. But it's not like it's like that just for the families, couples and individuals of Tipi Village, or these circumstances, it's like that for all of us.
We are individuated expressions of a collective. There was no other
option for things to become what they became. We were never going to
become unwoven, after all that infused life shared. We
frothed out of that place, a natural process, like all of the other
life; oaks, firs, ants, skinks, deer, grass, mycelium. Nothing more
than an expression of Place. The new land title holders seemed to
take offence to this in a way that they didn't with all of the other
things growing and living there. Not just because they tore us from
our place for no reason other than their lawyer put the fear of law into them, but the
subsequent blame and vilification that we mostly got to hear about
second and third hand as political spin. It's understandable because without such there
would have to be an admission of some wrongdoing. These people are
life coaches, chiropractors, relationship counsellors, yoga teachers and the like and appear publicly as almost saintly.
We've had no direct communication since that time. I think they
understood our way of living as a 'lifestyle choice', because that's
how they understand their world; it's all choice and it's all
lifestyle. It's an attitude of the privileged. "You could have
gone and gotten a job at McDonalds and social housing" was the
retort recently with a mutual friend,"No," I said,"That's
not an option any more, look outside, look at the world, socially and
ecologically. Why would I contribute to that when, unhindered, I know
how to shelter and feed myself and my family in a good way." Why
would I put my children through the fallacy of 'lifestyle choice'
when their life is essential, direct, on the ground around the fire
and has been since they were born? Would one say the deer exercise
'lifestyle choice'?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So as an expression
of place, that place said, in a human voice,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eco-Lawyers+</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eco-Sheriffs+</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eco-Chainsaws+</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eco-Bulldozers+</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eco-Concrete</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
= An Eco-Village
with a name co-opted from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_generation_sustainability" target="_blank">Iroquois Confederacy</a> which, it turns
out, had no consideration for one generation, let alone seven:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<i>In all of your deliberations in
the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all of
your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion. </i><i><b>Cast
not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and
nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but
return to the way of the Great Law</b></i> <i>which is just and
right. </i><i><b>Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people
and have always in view not only the present but also the coming
generations</b></i><i>, even those whose faces are yet beneath the
surface of the ground- the unborn of the future Nation.”</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That time passed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We moved deeper into the woods adjacent
to the place from where we were arrested. Hidden and safe. Life still
growing in Kayla. January and cold and wet, though not much snow.
With tipi orders to fill we pitched the shop on a level open spot on the 'wrong' side of
the fence for the new title holders. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWLcM6bCCCkN-PzXHhMuv58J0uDMtae3Jos08ZotdSrP93fW6PbCCGajOuMordSMEfg0CHQ5oN53SAHn6sPqoKXyXy7SfwRZfSNCJRPbgNaLQpyRMEq_r-VxtqNf9Y0y7K0TQX-6_l0xd/s1600/20150111_094844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWLcM6bCCCkN-PzXHhMuv58J0uDMtae3Jos08ZotdSrP93fW6PbCCGajOuMordSMEfg0CHQ5oN53SAHn6sPqoKXyXy7SfwRZfSNCJRPbgNaLQpyRMEq_r-VxtqNf9Y0y7K0TQX-6_l0xd/s640/20150111_094844.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
They made us take it down, I
think because they weren't trusting us, or life and it's process.
They called us 'a booger you can't get rid of' behind our backs and then accused me of
name-calling when I opened an email with “Dear Good King Rod”.
But then this gave them legitimate reason to eschew communication
because we weren't being civilised, because we were 'too upset' and
'angry'. An illustration of a culture that maintains social control
through condescension. I have never been upset, angry or even
civilised enough to send armed agents to deal with my problems.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Will you hold me,</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brooks?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Will you hold with me that moment</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When you picked up your phone</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In your very nice house</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And spoke those words</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Of love and betrayal</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Did you cry</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">More or less</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Than I</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Than the men who came after your call</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Your knights dressed in black and weapons of suppression</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And deniable oppression</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Who peered through my doorway</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Shamefaced</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Into my home</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Upon a family of six</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Upon a living breakfast hearth</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Excused because it's his job</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He's following orders</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And he has to pay the rent</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And feed his family</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Are you excused,</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brooks?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Did you have to pay the rent?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Did you have to feed your family?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold these moments with me,</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brooks</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moments now engrained with my being</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold the moment when you cried with us</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the sacred circle</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And we opened to you</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And you said:</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“<i>We call it Seven Generations because we want to be living as you do, in seven generations”</i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We believed you</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Do you believe you? </i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just hold me,</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brooks</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold our children, please</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tell them, cry with them</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When they ask you, and they will</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And quench your unquenchable tears</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On that co-opted phrase</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seven generations starts now</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I am so sorry</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What have I done?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What can I do?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold Rod with me,</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brooks</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold these words,</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“<i>You can go ahead and tell Steve that we can pay ten thousand more and close within seven days”</i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold Kayla in the crown of our home</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Facing off the sheriffs</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Standing for interwoven place</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">First Generation</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Backed by our strong allies</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold that moment when we were fresh from filing the lawsuit </i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For the right to be entitled</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And we saw you</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And ran up to you</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">With the excitement of children</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And you were shopping for shoes</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just hold that</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For one moment</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The moment we heard you were both going on another vacation</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So we called Rod</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And he reneged</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold the thousand dollars</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The court now demands from us</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Because of those actions</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hold that because</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My bank account has </i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Eighty six dollars and thirteen cents</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Today</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">How much does yours have?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Was it hard for you,</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brooks?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Or was it your most convenient option?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Was it harder to maintain a respectful dialogue</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To sit up until four in the morning</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Working out the future of our </i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Society</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And </i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ecology?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To stretch beyond the comfort zone of</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">relationships defined by</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Cash</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Was it hard to consider</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The uterine generation</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then, too, imprisoned by your hand</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><i></i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Or will it be easier to acknowledge</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The worthiness</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Of a larger,</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Humbler</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Love?</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A reality exciting, new and unknown</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Still present and forgiving</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Still accessible.</i></div></div>
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We went and pitched the shop in Drew's
yard and started working on orders. A couple of tipis and linings and
a Baker tent. Drew lived over the hill in the ranch buildings on
Buckhorn Road, still part of the same Mosby ranch, turned out to be
five square miles, not 1600 acres as previously stated here, now
entitled to Rod and Brooks's pet project.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBK_xbpG7DowQHJdJRHtZC2Wn3np3pIywd-XGGKUIouwAxlbLlSTBd-s1OHKkjYpMIF1oT7kCWDXl75zMtOcU-akwKWmau2y_AQF2QRgZPekiUxkJeglJznwPyx4rKmEhCc6rwcWbJV0C6/s1600/20150117_162944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBK_xbpG7DowQHJdJRHtZC2Wn3np3pIywd-XGGKUIouwAxlbLlSTBd-s1OHKkjYpMIF1oT7kCWDXl75zMtOcU-akwKWmau2y_AQF2QRgZPekiUxkJeglJznwPyx4rKmEhCc6rwcWbJV0C6/s640/20150117_162944.jpg" width="640"></a></div>
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Drew runs sled dogs and
arrived in the Buckhorn Valley shortly after we did, down from
Alaska. He had a lease on his plot which is why he could invite us
there. We started parking at the ranch buildings and it was a lovely
walk up the hill from Drew's barn to our lodge, even in the sleet
late in the evening on the way home from a town visit. It was lovely because
the world is and I remember crying on occasion, making that walk.
Sometimes we would sing,"Come on family, we do not walk alone. We
can walk together as we sing the spirit song." Drew belongs on the
old frontier in the libertarian sense, more as a trapper than a
homesteader with Manifest Destiny entitlement. Sometimes we'd see him
careening past our lodge, pulled by his dogs on his mountain bike. He
had a relationship with Rod Newton as he had helped him when Hidden
Springs Wellness Center was fighting AT&T to stop them erecting a
cell phone tower nearby their centre in town. He had also informed Rod that the title to the ranch was available. This didn't save him from eviction orders.</div>
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In retrospect, I
think as a family we were a bit traumatised from the experience of arrest and displacement. It was winter and we were pregnant so we
took a trip up to the school district maintenance yard in Eugene and
took one of their old buses. A good deal on a 1987 Chevy Bluebird
with an 8.2l Detroit Diesel engine and an Alison standard
transmission. </div>
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We removed the
seats (the bit between the seats and the walls had 28 years worth of
schoolchild detritus, sometimes a bit kind of oozey, sometimes
hairy), gave it a good wash and furnished it with a floor, walls,
bunk beds, a wood stove and other bits of furniture. Mostly
re-purposed and up-cycled from around and using good old hand tools.
The Yankee screwdriver came in splendidly useful. </div>
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We eventually
pitched our lodge by the barn so that we could work on the bus.
Proper nomad style it was, desolate and empty buildings lashed by
horizontal rain with a small contingency of cosy mobile dwellings inhabited by the remaining people of the community.</div>
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The bus has, so far, brought us closer to the road but we're still
tipi snobs. The bus also provides the ability for us to carry several
sets of poles (including the Big Lodge), our lodge and Rogue
Dwellings' shop. Navigating these rapids of life, the bus was later
likened to a barrel, like one of those in which people go over
Niagara Falls. It helps with all kinds of displacement, being an
eco-village/conservation refugee but best of all the migratory
nature of our living.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Clusters of
self-conscious, prius-driving, blue polyester Patagonia wearing,
clipboard-wielding eco-villagists would walk by, surveying their potential and we'd all be there, in our homes, casually observing.
Mostly we wouldn't let them get away with their inane grinning
indifference and we'd attempt engagement. Usually they were in a
hurry and had to leave, almost as soon as they came, with valid excuses. Sometimes it would get a bit
too raw and real and they would dismissively and fearfully beat a
hasty but nonchalant retreat. I do recall myself shouting after James
Haim and Melanie Mindlin one time, “Go on, run away- keep running!”
-Loud raspberry sound-,”I fart in your general direction!”... It
was one of those moments when we could have all fallen into a big
laugh but they appeared horrified at this 'angry' Englishman calling
obscenities and scurried off. Still too much to ask and not enough
compromise. </span></div>
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Drew left north to
run his dogs in the snow and we were three lodges in the yard, the
buildings barren and empty, with various random people coming and
going, picking up the left- over pieces of Drew's presence.</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br></div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#000000" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfo3anXffoTpUEhwUzvMoTS6eUKLw-Klgygw-XmXq6NcwdB8qNt99l23tE2T1SXZZNnz9Z57hfi7VHkeYZ-aOM7KUAFqln3xc_8nx2aH78s5HoFvSzquI0JfiRZ3hN4yU3-StDgnRI_rr1/s1600/IMG_0920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfo3anXffoTpUEhwUzvMoTS6eUKLw-Klgygw-XmXq6NcwdB8qNt99l23tE2T1SXZZNnz9Z57hfi7VHkeYZ-aOM7KUAFqln3xc_8nx2aH78s5HoFvSzquI0JfiRZ3hN4yU3-StDgnRI_rr1/s640/IMG_0920.JPG" width="640"></a></font></div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br></div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One of the local 'free' papers, in which Hidden Springs runs an ad wrote an article about us. It was basically a review of our blog and an interview with Jim Haim. We were not contacted for interview or comment which surprised some who asked us about it. Jim later denied any involvement with the article. There were a couple of points that were defamatory, one that our 'lifestyle' is supported by this blog- all money raised is still being held by the Way foundation except for what we used to pay the lawyer and printing costs for Hearth Tidings etc. And this point about the 'central disagreement' over the 'belief' in land 'ownership'. One can own a piece of paper stating title to land, thereby giving one <i>entitlement</i> to the use and abuse of land and it's inhabitants under a given paradigm but it is plainly a false premise. One does not eat, breath, drink or is supported by those pieces of paper yet all the land supports us all. All the time. There are ways of working with the county planning department; they are receptive and curious. We could become a private campground, one of numerous ideas. There was no mention in the article of the better part of a decade calling this place home for dozens of people, men, women and, most notably omitted from the article, children. It's a shame that the article stayed at the level of ideology and spin, defining Kayla and I as the Land Liberation Project and Seven Generations Village as the Land Stewardship Project- a new name picked when publicity began. Rod's last phone call to me was just over a year ago. He was telling me that we should change the name of Land Liberation to 'regeneration'. He offered to mentor me in exchange for participation in the sweat lodge. I didn't decline his offer but I reminded him that the sweat lodge, prayer, is not for sale and is for all. The central difference between us and our adversaries is that we're not telling them where not to live.</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jim Haim and Greg
Carey came by once, to see us rather than avoid us, but with a piece
of paper from the county about our dwellings and their 'illegality'.*</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_CkC3A9V9zqdYb_lZHQUS2nXle7hvXELcst2X6mNV_pFJMgmyNJW99f3WfaPbffPeFG4waln_Bl7cl1RFqopRxheDxs2FsJ1WYpeRug376MhxEHdv7iC7vhCQkbe2JUOUPr_kROf1Ai-/s1600/20150627_121228.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht_CkC3A9V9zqdYb_lZHQUS2nXle7hvXELcst2X6mNV_pFJMgmyNJW99f3WfaPbffPeFG4waln_Bl7cl1RFqopRxheDxs2FsJ1WYpeRug376MhxEHdv7iC7vhCQkbe2JUOUPr_kROf1Ai-/s320/20150627_121228.jpg" width="240"></a><b>*Living nomadically
in tipis in the woods is, apparently, 'illegal' in Jackson County
since the millionaires in their splendid house in the Soda Mountain
wilderness hired “the best land use attorney in the valley” to
re-interpret the county code to make it so. Now, in steps the incoming
millionaires who live in a splendid house in town, with
multimillionaire investors to pay money for title to five square miles
of Buckhorn Valley. Apparently they are also using “the best
land use attorney in the valley”. Furthermore, the millionaires in the valley are going to want to be
on good terms with the millionaires on the mountain because they have
to have their project be a success. Millionaires on the mountain are notorious for complaining to the county about building codes. They have another splendid house in LA where they spend much of their time. Also, the millionaires on
the mountain bought title to the place where we used to summer and it
has valuable transferable building permits. We got caught up in the
middle of some kind of millionaire land grab. Millionaire in the
valley, on one of his influential phone calls to Kim, Kayla's mother, which Kayla and
I heard after being released from gaol that fateful December night
suggested that Kayla and I "go after" millionaires on the mountain,
because “They are a much better example of the 1% than we are”. I
don't know anything about percentages but apparently Mrs Millionaire
in the Valley inherited from the Wriggley's Corporation. We've been
shafted by millionaires all over the place. I think it's because we
challenge what gives them power and we know that fiscal conservatism
is contrary to social liberalism because of the unequal and unfair
(and unsustainable) power structure that it perpetuates. Both sets of
millionaires would probably consider themselves liberals. Questioning such power in such a way,
perhaps, exposes that hypocrisy. Their notion of 'Democracy' belongs
to those who have the privilege to be in a position to pay money for
it. The land endures and holds all of us, whether we realise this or
not.</b></div>
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<br></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>
So we dance,</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>
Sword dance,</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>
And we learn to be
skilful and sometimes we stumble but their swords are dull and
lifeless and we still dance barefoot.</i></div>
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<br></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Anyway, there's Jim
and Greg telling us that we have to
go right away or they are going to get fined by the planning
department. We tell them that we're working on the bus and doing all that we can to improve the
situation, we're not staying in Drew's yard, a time and place we
later called the Refugee Camp. Jim tells us that if we pay the
delinquent rent then it can all go away. We tell him that is an
example of extortion and land held by the sword. He calls us
name-callers etc. etc...Jim rents out houses in town and is a rent
collector.</span></div>
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A couple of days
later some private detective comes around trying to tape a piece of
paper on our lodge, fumbling and nervous as Kayla and the kids
observe. The paper doesn't stay in the wind and he picks it up from
the ground, Kayla telling him that Drew (to whom it addresses)
doesn't live in this tipi, best try the empty house. He posts it
there and it's from the office of "the best land use attorney in the valley" giving us 24 hour notice to vacate the premises.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Then Jim comes
around with a surly minder and a piece of paper for us to sign
stating that we will be gone by midnight on March the 20</span><sup style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">,
equinox and that we will not return unless Rod and Brooks allow it.
There are a few of us present when they come. The surly fellow,
shaven head doesn't acknowledge us as he comes into our home until we
override his indifference. I ask who he is and why he's here. I
had the feeling that Jim was afraid of physical violence and brought
his fear. He's some special friend of Jim's. We have some good
conversation with the handful of Tipi Village participants and those
two. For the first time, after being pressed, Jim acknowledges that
they could have been more skilful with the situation. He says they had no choice and it was really hard for
them. I propose that it was actually the most convenient option for
them, hard would have been sitting in circle until four a.m. and
finding consensus. He said they called the sheriff because it would
have been weak for them to ask us to leave (puts on an effeminate
voice,”please leave”). We agree, it would have and it was weak. Jim says we're trying to make out like we're some neo-indigenous displaced by some corporation (Seven Generations Village LLC). Hmmm, we say.
We don't sign it because we're working on the bus, the barrel, and we
have no intention to settle in Drew's yard anyway. “Perhaps you can make a
paper aeroplane out of it” I suggest as Jim is stepping out of our
lodge. He grimaces, or perhaps some kind of smile, and returns with,
“Well, I didn't think you'd sign it.” </span></div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">By now it's April,
the bus is cosy and we're hoping we're beyond the boundaries of contention,
bimbling around and seeing what guidance presents. One of the nights
we spend in town a cop comes by in the morning and tells us we can't
sleep in our bus in town. We are kicked out of the woods and now we
are kicked out of town. It's more risible than offensive. It
illustrates a culture with only the capacity to accommodate a narrow
band of conformity. Anyway, it's novel and we enjoy a little leisure
time in town. We were keeping a connection to the sweat lodge, full
and new moon, being an important ceremony.</span></div>
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Sometimes people
ask,"So where are you guys living now?” and my answer, not really
that facetious is usually something like,"On the ground around the
fire.” With a bit of an apology. Through the experience of forced
displacement we have discovered a much more holographic,
multi-dimensional perception of the land, especially the Buckhorn
Valley sweeping up to Soda Mountain, and this is beneficial.
</div>
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The last
communication we had with Rod or Brooks was published in a previous
post on this blog. The last communication we had with Jim Haim was an
email telling us to collect the Sweat Lodge things piled by the new
gate on Carter Creek. Another new gate, especially for us, put up by
moneyed people. Another multimillionaire Louise Gund happened by when
we were in ceremony. <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She reluctantly shook my hand when I presented it with a welcoming hello. Really soft hands. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Her money comes from the Gund teddy bear family.
The Sweat Lodge site is adjacent to her fence and land to which she
is entitled, all along Carter Creek. She had some notion that we were
going to burn the woods down, even though it was spring and wet,
woods that she believes should be free from fire and people. She
lives somewhere in the San Francisco bay area, also in a splendid house. We said
we'll put the fire out when we're done with it. She started
complaining how dare we stop her doing what she wants to do and she
took her little plastic water bottle and tried to put the fire out.
It was easier to look on with bemusement than offence, even though we
were cooking dinner for the kids on a little fire by the bus at that
time, "Oh, your kids will be fine I'm sure" she scowled. She said that she's worked really hard to own that land, for
the animals. I didn't tell her that I work really hard to not own
land, for all beings. </span></div>
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<br></div>
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The final indignity was when I went to see
if our youngest son's passport had arrived. We had been waiting for
months for it after various delays and expecting it to our old mailbox.
The new occupant of Drew's house, across the road from a rack of about three or four mailboxes fixed to a couple of old iron tractor wheels came walking over just as I was about
to drive off (the passport had still not arrived). I got out of the van
with curiosity and shook his hand,"I'm Ande" I said, </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"Oh,
I know who you are. You should leave." I didn't recognise him but later
realised it was Jim's surly minder, "You are trespassing" he continued,
becoming more aggressive,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"I'm not trespassing, this is the public highway."<br>
"Leave."<br>
"You're going to have to make me" </div>
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"Leave or I'm calling the cops" </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"Go ahead and call the cops, I'm on the road, definitely not trespassing. Are you trying to intimidate me?" </div>
He
made an eye rolley kind of sigh,"Be intimidated and fuck off" he said,
turning away.<br>
"Well, I'm not and <i>you</i> can fuck off." was the best I could
come up with at that point. A few days later we receive a call from the
mail carrier informing us that the new people had,"tore out the
mailboxes".<br>
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<br></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Silken handed
lawyers. Heirs and heiresses. Facile, leering estate
agents, the world does not belong to you, it belongs to All of Us. Do
you think you can have your land, separate from the rest of the
planet, perhaps floating alone in space? Is it your air breezing
through your trees? Your water flowing over your rocks? Your
inevitable wildfire? Ask any psychologist if suppression is
sustainable. And you! Do you think you can exist without the rest of
humanity? Rich without poor? Do you really think that my loss is your
gain?</i></div>
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<br></div>
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We have entrusted
the wellbeing of our world to the moneyed, for some reason, and it
looks like they're making a mess of it. Well, they have made a mess
of it. See if there's a gap between that rhetoric and the reality of
a world about as geo-politically dystopian as it could be. Any worse
would be apocalyptic, surely. Moneyed people, from my experience, are
the least qualified to manage land and resources precisely because
their relationship to such things is unfelt and indirect. Arvol
Looking Horse, Oglala Lakota, nineteenth generation keeper of the
White Buffalo Calf Bundle, whilst speaking at the World Peace and Prayer day said,”Mother Earth is not a resource; she
is the <i>source</i> of life”. Moneyed people tend to know the
price of everything yet the value of nothing. Those people know the price of permaculture (and the like) experts from far off continents yet are clueless to the value of the keystone inhabitants of a place. We can't continue to
treat the source of life as a resource to be exploited. It's simply
not sustainable. Fiscal conservatism is one of the
main problems, socially and ecologically. It all comes down to
unequal distribution of wealth destabilising a wholesome social structure in a
distorted way. Greed and excess is celebrated. Generosity becomes a virtue instead of a fundamental. </div>
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<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'll have my
birthright, thanks very much, and I'll participate in our world under
my own terms. You can keep your food stamps and dole money and paternalistic ways
of compensation and coercion. I never signed a social contract of a
diminished place with Great Mother. She deserves and requests no less
than my full power. Reciprocated. Same as for all life here now.<br>
<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4YcZF01LwLJfkRob2I2YTVJBwvj0RkMbcIxrrFgKFQyebDCUWcnCeb1Uzi2NZoblqkvQtXrTBMrydEASgiKskMLGKjboe63diMW8EZy1J4eK2C89axfBfEeX12mY9Tp1JVMFBIN4S3YL5/s1600/IMG_0223.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4YcZF01LwLJfkRob2I2YTVJBwvj0RkMbcIxrrFgKFQyebDCUWcnCeb1Uzi2NZoblqkvQtXrTBMrydEASgiKskMLGKjboe63diMW8EZy1J4eK2C89axfBfEeX12mY9Tp1JVMFBIN4S3YL5/s640/IMG_0223.JPG" width="640"></a> </div>
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<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Summer came and at
solstice time we migrated back to the High Country with an intention
to give birth. We found ourselves beyond man-made 'property' lines and began to understand more deeply that the land is already liberated.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We pitched our lodge and the shop and made an extra tipi as a Birthing Lodge. Also took care of some orders.</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It was a quiet time with no Big Lodge and we were no more than four or so families. Our new daughter was born outside, under a White Fir tree. On Mother Earth and free. A few minutes after she had breathed her first breaths Kayla and I looked at each other and said,"Now What?".</div>
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<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The reality of badged uniformed armed officials came when the geese had started their Southerly thing. I have come to see them as an elemental force, or as a part of the fauna of a place. Geese and men. We had a good forty days post-partum. We struck and loaded everything into and on the bus and took to the road after delivering a tipi in the Illinois Valley. Travelling down Highway 1 along the rugged Pacific coast. We've been on the road for a couple of months at the time of publishing, travelling through worlds forgotten by families growing on the ground, sourcing our elements directly. </div>
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<br></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mostly I have an overwhelming feeling of sadness witnessing the pervasive ecological and social isolation endemic with the current version of industrialised society. I don't know how anyone could raise children in a good way in that world of compliance and 'nature deficient' indoctrination. It is probably possible but it seems that it's something only for the moneyed and indebted, and then it's disconnected- a 'lifestyle choice'. <br>
<br>
We left Highway One at Ventura, just above LA, with the sunset ocean still in our hair, eyes and between our toes. We managed to avoid LA proper, visited family in San Bernardino and childhood memories in Big Bear then swung North and spent some time in Death Valley at the hot springs. All along the way people would ask why we are a family of seven living in a school bus. We are displaced, we say and then try to tell the story, succinctly. We meet many displaced people along the way, not directly displaced by war, like the people flooding in to Europe, but people displaced by economics, living in cars, trying to find work and a sense of self respect. Out of our cultural context, on the ground around the fire, we are poor charity cases. During the pre-arrest contentious time, our adversaries suggested we take a year off. It took me a while to understand that the equivalent would be to ask a house dweller to take a year off. In our context our lives are affluent because our wants are few, contrary to the world of rent and finding a job to pay for that. I ask people about all of this busyness, when we're in town, is to pay the rent/ mortgage, right? Let's try a thought experiment; how would your day be different, today, were you not burdened by rent/ mortgage? All of that human effort, endeavour, compromise put in to paying rent- where does it go? "I know" is the reply most of the time,"But really, it's a question, where does all of that energy go?" "I know, really!". There's been no answer thus far and if you, reader, know, share it in the comments below. My best guess so far is it goes towards the war and to moneyed people.<br>
<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OXqw618yiPPNAvX2Bu_cL87ypX25yhyW7joy853b-7MLnYinrR7daDR53Nz8qkozOLo_Zjg2U3jIb8Uo5BueJqV6Ck7fymuNnFsKuF8a7_6HnZ6idLUENTdGCadCOiQJaZWH8PllsuRH/s1600/IMG_1160.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OXqw618yiPPNAvX2Bu_cL87ypX25yhyW7joy853b-7MLnYinrR7daDR53Nz8qkozOLo_Zjg2U3jIb8Uo5BueJqV6Ck7fymuNnFsKuF8a7_6HnZ6idLUENTdGCadCOiQJaZWH8PllsuRH/s640/IMG_1160.JPG" width="640"></a><br>
<br>
Now we're stuck in snow in the North Sierra's, hanging out at the library- hence the chance to finish this blog post which has been in the works for months. Holding out for guidance and keeping the trip together. Thanks for reading, thanks for all of the emails and messages and keep them coming, hopefully we can respond to all of you one of these days, or better still share a cup of tea and a song or two around the hearth.<br>
<br>
-Ande <br>
<br>
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Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-23878178327958307852015-09-24T09:14:00.001-07:002015-09-24T09:14:37.833-07:00With Only our Tongues for our Swords.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Rome never looks where she treads. </span></div></div><div> Always her heavy hooves fall </div><div>On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads; </div><div> And Rome never heeds when we bawl. </div><div>Her sentries pass on—that is all,</div><div> And we gather behind them in hordes, </div><div>And plot to reconquer the Wall,</div><div> With only our tongues for our swords.</div><div><br></div><div>We are the Little Folk—we!</div><div> Too little to love or to hate. </div><div>Leave us alone and you’ll see</div><div> How we can drag down the State!</div><div>We are the worm in the wood!</div><div> We are the rot at the root! </div><div>We are the taint in the blood!</div><div> We are the thorn in the foot!</div><div><br></div><div>Mistletoe killing an oak—</div><div> Rats gnawing cables in two—</div><div>Moths making holes in a cloak—</div><div> How they must love what they do! </div><div>Yes—and we Little Folk too,</div><div> We are busy as they—</div><div>Working our works out of view—</div><div> Watch, and you’ll see it some day!</div><div><br></div><div>No indeed! We are not strong,</div><div> But we know Peoples that are. </div><div>Yes, and we’ll guide them along</div><div> To smash and destroy you in War!</div><div>We shall be slaves just the same?</div><div> Yes, we have always been slaves,</div><div>But you—you will die of the shame,</div><div> And then we shall dance on your graves!</div><div><br></div><div><div>Rudyard Kipling</div><div>(‘The Winged Hats’ —Puck of Pook’s Hill)</div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-5le8JT_XblRM4Dw5C845sTZZBRI_kY2VYu7-r4ddUyFiVvk0_lnR5pq_157ceS-u4vW7PYlhOUVzZhqd5nUE-qP77LA2PpAG-pH5wfnp1KQejMf5m2iMOAs-A8C88ZUW1rnUZyW0NIq/s640/blogger-image--1846335649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-5le8JT_XblRM4Dw5C845sTZZBRI_kY2VYu7-r4ddUyFiVvk0_lnR5pq_157ceS-u4vW7PYlhOUVzZhqd5nUE-qP77LA2PpAG-pH5wfnp1KQejMf5m2iMOAs-A8C88ZUW1rnUZyW0NIq/s640/blogger-image--1846335649.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Take heart!</div><div>We are still here, families raising our children and living love on the ground around the fire, part of the wonder of the world. Still come and find us, internally or externally. There is no Big Lodge at the time of writing and the weather, law enforcement and geese remind us that it is the season to migrate. We participate in the world under our own terms. Industrialisation has no monopoly on the definition of 'modern'!</div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-71539691135701254292015-02-04T17:17:00.001-08:002015-02-04T17:20:12.580-08:00World Turned Upside Down (Digger's Song)<br />
World Turned Upside Down (Digger's Song) performed by members of the
Family Blanchflower. The words resonate through the ages and provide a
map for a way forward.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TNZ18AMCOFE" width="480"></iframe>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-40301703159633169122015-01-27T15:50:00.000-08:002015-01-27T15:50:22.986-08:00A Story Through Letters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuER_jcPBHSix5dvR1zrsCfMxbWSzOAb_LvV7QoCuadvVwJX75g6XCaBdzJ2AAOAZZf3DGS8XOMkb_ymUF4bkcz4fTf3aOtQq1-IKCwucBcPrlwCf3xW5UsujMi-woYOSJ85K6rh_yp_L/s1600/IMG_1312%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuER_jcPBHSix5dvR1zrsCfMxbWSzOAb_LvV7QoCuadvVwJX75g6XCaBdzJ2AAOAZZf3DGS8XOMkb_ymUF4bkcz4fTf3aOtQq1-IKCwucBcPrlwCf3xW5UsujMi-woYOSJ85K6rh_yp_L/s1600/IMG_1312%5B1%5D.JPG" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
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We have been slow in sharing publicly the process that Tipi Village has been involved in with Rod and Brooks (the new Winter Grounds "land owners") and since we have, it is easy to see that we all could take a turn down the warfare path. The intention of this post is to help direct it towards the heart, towards love, towards honesty.<br />
<br />
There is a place in me that holds Rod and Brooks with much love. I have, over the months since our relationship has developed, had glimpses of them as family. I am reminded of a sunny autumn day when Rod came by for a visit. Without a hello as if he was grandpa stopping by, he sat back in the air-chair, sequoia climbing into his lap and the two of them gently and quietly swinging and dozing off for a moment. The first time we all sat around the fire our hearts connected as the talking stick spiraled around and the connection grew as we shared more time together. Yes, I love Rod and Brooks. Strolling through a park, sitting on the ground in a circle in playground wood chips listening, speaking, holding hands.<br />
<br />
These are not mere memories.<br />
This is a story.<br />
<br />
The storytellers are frothing out of this place, this land, and have done so for millennia.<br />
<br />
Below is a long thread of email correspondences mainly between Rod, Brooks, Ande and Kayla interspersed with concerned fellow community members. The intention in sharing them here is to honor the story that is unfolding. Stories are meant to be told. They are for everyone. Different than the memories that remain only for personal anecdotal glory. It's for the archives.<br />
<br />
It might be tempting to summarize this story as having two sides: the long term inhabitants of this region (tipi people) and the incoming Eco-village (the Newtons and their 'meta council'). And although on one level this is true, it is a superficial level, the level of pretexts and dualisms. But this isn't bad. There is gold to be found here. We have to start somewhere. As you read the many letters written in this story, go ahead, identify with one role or another. Feel impassioned even. Great understanding comes from this stage of 'the story'. Morals, values, discernment, judgement, right and wrong. Like a good Hans Christian Anderson or an old Indian animal story. Do as the child does; identify with the roles, develop morality and become wiser for it. But don't get trapped there because beyond the easy dualisms await amazing and mysterious depths to discover. As in the talking/listening circle, the story is a journey and the truth of it is, all parts and archetypes present are actually representations of 'me'. This story is each of our story in some way or another.<br />
<br />
So if you must "take a side", please do so with awareness that the story doesn't stop there, because there are no "sides" in the circle of life, only parts. We do not wish to justify ourselves here as there are probably more skillful ways we could have dealt with these circumstances. We also do not wish to vilify Rod and Brooks and their project. We strive to integrate them. At times this is a great challenge, especially when the 'argument' turns physical and pain is involved. Which is what has happened here. Multiple families have been displaced and are homeless and it's winter. According to the Dominant Paradigm, yes, the Newton's are completely justified and right in calling the cops to have us removed from our home. It's actually quite normal within that culture to do so (many of you would even do the same). We know we have no legitimate 'rights'. However, our family along with many others who call this land home, are not governed by that paradigm. We rest in our inalienable rights and in the law of Gaia. It may be hard to understand this for those who have been usurped by the Dominant Paradigm, but many will know exactly what I am speaking of. We live our lives according to the seasons. Our bodies resting on the earth mother, wool and fir boughs the only layer between our hearts' and hers for many, many years. Our children know no other way. The fire, alive and elemental, is the center our families dance around daily and nightly. These forces are our paradigm. They bring us directly to a life of belonging. So in this instance, it is a meeting of cultures. That's all. Now what? How can we all find dignity in this?<br />
<br />
So here are many written letters from the concerned parties involved. There is a lot of writing compiled here and I imagine mostly they will not be completely read but knowing that many readers of this blog have direct relationship with these people and care deeply about some or all involved, including many mutual friends of Rod and Brooks and folk of Tipi Village, it may spark ideas of how to help. If so, please get in touch.<br />
<br />
In love and respect for the story we are weaving,<br />
Kayla<br />
<br />
One thing to know:<br />
Communication prior to the first email below was usually in person (usually in the form of a talking circle or a walk) or by telephone. Since this thread began, our engagement remained through email alone. The first email was written while we were living on BLM across the imaginary boundary of the Winter Grounds. We moved there before the usual winter migration in order to give more space and time for finding a true collaborative way forward with the Newton's and their Meta Council.<br />
Once they informed us that they "reached a decision" about our presence on this land, our home, we responded with this:<br />
<br />
______________________________<wbr></wbr>___________________________________________________<br />
<br />
November 20, 2014 Hearth Felt<br />
<br />
Dear Rod, Brooks, James, Katherine, Greg, Paula, Will and Tashina,<br />
<br />
Thanks for this process in which we are together involved and the humble learning taking place. Thanks for this continuing communication painted on a canvas of love. Love encompassing and accommodating openness, expansion, deep understanding and patience and the robustness to be kind and honest. These times are challenging for us all and it is essential that channels for collective dialogue are maintained and continually strengthened.<br />
<br />
Between 'you' and 'us' we are involved in a dualism or a polarity although there is no dualism inherent in the Human Condition. We strive to live as a whole where our uniqueness can unite us. This 'whole' we can name Gaia or Mother Earth and it is to this whole we petition now and seek counsel.<br />
<br />
Our side of the duality looks like this:<br />
We have been disenfranchised from the 'decisions' of the Meta-Council, decisions which affect our way of life. A decision which threatens Latent Violence on our family, that you will involve the sheriffs (which, in case we were unaware, involves people with mace, tasers, cuffs and guns and a whole section devoted to taking our children away) should we have the audacity to assert a basic human right to live accountably and respectfully with our earth; to make a circle, sit down in it, build a fire, cook some food and lie down at the end of the day. To shelter ourselves from the elements, directly, as a family. We know you probably think it's sad and regrettable but it's what you need to do in order to succeed. And in the eyes of the Dominant Paradigm, one which enforces unjust laws for the encouragement of exploitative ways of living, you are completely justified in doing whatever those man-made laws will allow. Be also aware, however, that there is absolutely no moral or ethical justification for such threats which amount to little more than an abuse of power. The imposition of boundaries in such a way represents an inner weakness; a lack of the deep core values rooted in the sun rising and setting, the changing of the seasons, the waxing and waning of the moon; realities bigger than the psychosis and neurosis of the industrialized way of living.<br />
<br />
Of course, it is clearly understood that there is an 'out of the moment' perception that we are a threat to the Seven Generations Project and all of the time, energy and hard work to which many have contributed. Your project is not so flimsy and maybe stronger than you are aware. As far as we can discern, the indirect threat that we pose is founded in a fear that our presence might draw adverse attention to your project which in turn might be looked upon unfavourably by county officials thereby restricting your agenda which is, as yet, still unclear. These fears, from our perspective and knowledge, are grossly over-exaggerated, largely unfounded and based in prejudice. How can we be motivated by that?<br />
<br />
We strive to be motivated by love rather than fear and even less by the imposed fears of others. This means to integrate fears which arise, rather than to shun or disavow through discomfort, no matter where they come from be it Steve Mosby, yourselves, the sheriffs or a potential new community member running an unconscious fear agenda. There is a lot of time in seven generations. We can honour and respect your fears and we can even turn to them and face them, but it's not possible for us to integrate them for you (though we are happy to hold your hand through it)! Your fears about us seem to be an abstraction of multiple abstractions (what if - maybes) that are understandable but in all honesty are entirely unreasonable and logically inconsistent. There is a lot more to say about specifics and details but here we are trying to bring the dualism into awareness (so we don't have to be governed by it) rather than contribute to it with justifications of petty pretexts.<br />
<br />
As the visionary seed of Seven Generations Farm is planted in the soil, please consider the life that is growing in the area. There is no need to chainsaw ancient oaks or bulldoze the mountains nor uproot the simple people who dwell here and who's children have been born on this soil. There is a willingness to accommodate and collaborate. May this seed grow strong with the power of love and only love because this is the only option as a way forward for humanity.<br />
<br />
There is an opportunity now to have a good look at our marginalised and disavowed parts (you might say shadow?) given that inlakesh, 'I' am another 'you' and we are all a part of the one same superorganism. The actual basic physical and real reality is that not only are we causing no harm to anyone, we are having a directly beneficial effect on our immediate ecology and we are becoming more and more interwoven and integral as the years pass. Our culture is one of place and embedded connection, rather than attachment and an external illusion of 'ownership'. We all know that it isn't remotely possible to 'own' land and the denial of that reality for the complicity of the Dominant Paradigm can only be counter productive for any long term, lasting social change. The world is changing and the ecology is dying in the midst of life and we do not have seven generations to sit back and wait for others to give us permission to do the right thing by Mother Earth. We know the power of the earth and she bats not one eyelid at our petty solipsism. She is not sentimental. Her wind and water currents churn all that is. We know because she raps on our home and shakes it and burns it and wets it. The words of Chief Sealth, "This we know; the earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth" deeply resonate because they remind us of a universal truth, in danger of being forgotten which would be a great and perilous loss. We must empower these truths and do so at the expense of untruths. In times past we had the excuse and the luxury of ignorance and naivety. Now we don't and to do anything less than all that we can to end social and ecological destruction on a historically unprecedented scale would be negligent. The people and movements of energy coming forth from the Buckhorn Valley at this time have massive potential for real change in the USA where it's sadly and urgently needed, and more so on the sociocultural level than the political. We need living examples, now, of how to live collectively, directly and accountably and to deeply bond with and cultivate a knowledge of Place which, in this time of displacement and lack of common story/mythology, is absolutely essential. It's probably the hardest thing to do right now, to slow down enough to hear Mother Earth softly humming and it's the only worthwhile thing to do. The rest is window dressing. Pushing, elbowing, steamrollering and bulldozing, even if done with a smile and a statement of support is disingenuous and a poor example for our children who will (and make no mistake already are) hold us to account. Many eyes and hearts are turned toward the Tipi People of the Cascade-Siskiyous, locally and globally, and a very small minority of them are disparaging. We can't let those perspectives define the global imperative now. The process is open and public and will continue to be, simply because there is a wider benefit. Gentle openness is the only healthy and honest way forward here and things have become much more difficult and just plain weird since, through the advice of a lawyer, we were more covert and less open. We have no reason to hide or run and we have plenty of reason to stand, open, arms stretched to the sky, singing Yes!<br />
<br />
We're asking for some basic common human decency here, a starting place where we can begin to come together and empower the real truth of the collective power of the circle. If there is any openness and willingness, we have numerous suggestions and ideas of finding solutions. The hierarchy is outdated. Circle as one; always completing never ending.<br />
<br />
Our family has spent a good deal of time considering the options before us. We have stretched ourselves in many ways including traveling long distances to see new horizons. Patiently we have prayed and waited for clarity. The path of searching has brought us home, to the winter grounds. We are currently residing on bordering BLM as we have made a strong effort to wait as long as possible to find consensus with the Meta-Council or at least some resonance. We have about 9 days left not to mention the most basic need to prepare a cozy home for our large family as the elements become wet, freezing and harsh. There is very little time left for communication between us before we make our move for the best interests of our family, the neo-indigenous culture emerging here and the greater process with which we are all involved.<br />
<br />
Recipients included in this email are of The Re-indigenous Council comprised of OPENTrust, For the Creation of Intentional Communities, EarthTeach, other Tipi People and family. This Council is currently collaborating and manifesting for Peopled Conservancies and the Global Commons, recognizing that sharing is at the very center of growing healthy community.<br />
<br />
Thank you for reading this letter. It would be an honour to share a new moon sweat lodge this Friday along Carter Creek. Feel welcome.<br />
<br />
From the ground around the fire,<br />
Ande and Kayla<br />
______________________________<wbr></wbr>__________________________________________________<br />
<br />
November 21, 2014 Re: Hearth Felt<br />
<br />
Ande and Kayla,<br />
<br />
Thanks for your heartfelt letter. We felt a lot of sadness reading it. We have a lot of beliefs and values in common. The one difference we hold is that we are committed to working within the existing laws to bring about change. We have spent considerable time, energy and money exploring ways to have tipis as legal residences (for more than the 30 days allowed under the camping laws), and haven’t been able to find any way.<br />
<br />
We're sad that you are making this a conflict between you and us. I think your real conflict is with the laws of Jackson County.<br />
<br />
Also, thanks for your invitation to the sweat lodge. We’re sorry we couldn’t make it.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Rod and Brooks<br />
______________________________<wbr></wbr>__________________________<wbr></wbr>_______________________<br />
<br />
November 23, 2014 Re: Hearth Felt<br />
<br />
Hello Rod and Brooks,<br />
<br />
Thanks for responding. A lot of effort went into that letter, it's been a journey, or part of one and I acknowledge the generosity of the two of you in continuing to engage. It's really a wonderful process and an honour to be in a position to participate in a very wide story.<br />
<br />
The sadness is present and has a place on the altar. It's a very full altar, as can be seen in the letter, there are other things on it too, though.<br />
<br />
It feels like we're being asked to go much deeper here, together. It takes great heat to forge strong relationships.<br />
<br />
But, for now...on with the pretext:<br />
<br />
We've only been able to continue over all of these years by working with, and even within, the Existing Laws, and finding a way. We, too are committed to working with the Existing Laws. From our direct experience, the Existing Laws have always been very compliant in helping us be in compliance. They do need to change, too, though. The point is, in order to find a way one must make a way. Sometimes. There are ways we can find with the Existing Laws for our present, and pressing, situation.<br />
<br />
We were saying the same thing, the other day, that 'you' were putting 'us' in a position of conflict instead of Jackson County. It's another thing we have in common. If we take the concept of Jackson County out of the equation, just for a moment, do we still have conflict? We just keep getting along with our lives and do our best to respond to the world, as it goes around doing what it does. An opportunity to resolve a conflict is generally considered good medicine and powerful learning.<br />
<br />
I, personally, am really open to being convinced how it's acceptable for you to call the cops on us if we do move onto the Winter Grounds. We're just talking about doing whatever it takes to maintain agency over our lives, basically. Involve us in the process of our lives on the executive level, without patronising, and see how much bigger and stronger we'll all become. Trust us to make empowered moves for the benefit of all and see what happens. I just have no idea, in this moment, if it is the most widely beneficial move to return to the Winter Spot as life seems to be a really complex system in constant flux.<br />
<br />
If anyone has any useful input, feel free. And if anyone of the Metta Council would not like to be a part of this thread, let me know.<br />
<br />
Big Love<br />
<br />
Ande<br />
______________________________<wbr></wbr>____________________________<wbr></wbr>______________________<br />
<br />
November 25, 2014 Re: Hearth Felt<br />
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Thanksgiving is upon us. The time when the indigenous hosted, held and nurtured the colonists as the new comers to a land known and loved by those who had already tended and inhabited it seasonally.<br />
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<div>
</div>
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How do we honor all of you involved in this complex puzzle?</div>
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How can we hold and nurture all of you and you each other?</div>
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<br />
As the Quakers sit in silence together and open to the inner light that shines through us, I pray that "a way may open".</div>
<div>
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</div>
<div>
I send this message as an individual who cares about both of your visions and wants to see both of them come to full embodiment. The message is from my own person and does not represent any other individual or group. </div>
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</div>
<div>
Love, Joanna</div>
<div>
______________________________<wbr></wbr>____________________________<wbr></wbr>_______________________</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
November 26, 2014 Re: Hearth Felt</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Dear Rod, et. all,<br />
<div>
<br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In the spirit of Thanksgiving, and as grandparents of the tipi-children, we wish to express deep gratitude for KC Mosby. In 2008 Kayla and Ande had taken their tipi to what they thought was BLM land in order to birth their second child as closely aligned with the elements as possible. One day KC rode up on her horse and explained that they were not actually on BLM, but that they were on Mosby land. It turned out that KC had once lived in a tipi herself, and loved the idea of this young family giving birth in a tipi on this land she loved. She supported the idea of this family living in harmony with nature and as stewards of the land. She directed them to living on different parts of the land where neighbors would not be effected by their presence, and she allowed them to work with the fire, county and BLM officials so that they could be in compliance and remain on the land in their seasonal and nomadic ways. This support continued after KC’s death, through her husband, Dave. Dave also supported their presence on the land, and allowed them to work within the rules and regulations of those same officials. Thank you Mosby Family.</span></div>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">For years now we have been part of Tipi Life from our comfortable home in town. We visit often, sometimes spend the night, and celebrate the important family holidays on the ground and around the fire. We have watched closely as they have built strong relationships with those same organizations and neighbors, and have seen them enter into conflict with them as well. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Time after time neighbors and officials have approached the tipi folk with a complaint or concern. Tipi life is a foreign concept to most. And, time after time, once they sit down to tea, around the fire with Kayla and Ande, they often find common ground and solutions. Those who have remained oppositional, interestingly, appear to be those who continue to decline the invitation to dialogue. The truth is that Kayla and Ande have positive and working relationships with most neighbors, as well as BLM, county and fire departments. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It’s been a beautiful, challenging, inspirational and educational journey watching my (Kim’s) daughter and her husband choose to live and raise a family in such an elemental way. Before Ande came into our lives we had no idea such a lifestyle was even possible. Now we know it is crucial to the future of our planet that we learn to live lighter, to care for the land and not just build upon it, and to steward the plants and animals on that land in a way that supports future life and future generations. One only need meet the children to feel the strength in their love, care and understanding of Mother Earth.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">When we first learned that the Mosby land was being sold, and that Rod and Brooks were part of a council of folk who are dreaming into existence a new way of creating sustainable and long lasting community, we were overjoyed that potential allies had arrived to that beautiful land. In the beginning, it appeared that the long held dream of living simply was going to get some traction with other like minded folk. In fact, throughout the summer we thought we were working together. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">As you said, Rod, “we have a lot of beliefs and values in common.” This is true. The conflict is now said to be between the Blanchflowers and the county, yet it appears that the door to resolving that conflict has been closed by the council. How is it that we are not allies? How is it that we are not working in concert to find a way forward that does not include displacing this family? The Blanchflower tribe (which includes us), along with the Re-indigenous Council comprised of OPENTrust, For the Creation of Intentional Communities, EarthTeach, Peopled Conservancies, Global Commons and the Meta-Council could all be allies working separately but in concert to influence the county. The more allies, the more powerful and effective the movement for change will be. There appears to be an opportunity for the Meta-Council to have many allies dedicated to creating change, each with their own unique angle of influence. What an opportunity for a grass roots movement!</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">From our vantage point as community members of Ashland and family members of the Tipi folk, it seems that there must be a way forward, TOGETHER. How do we assist the deep digging needed to find it? </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In deep respect,</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The hopeful optimists,</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Kim and Jimmy</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">______________________________<wbr></wbr>____________________________<wbr></wbr>______________________</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">November 27, 2014 Re: Hearth Felt</span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Ande and Kayla,</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> On this Thanksgiving day, I am feeling a lot of gratitude for you and your family, for all the gifts you have brought to me. Your invitation into your tipi connected me in body-felt ways with deep values I have around connection to the earth, to nature, and to place, as well as to living a simple life. I’m sure this has affected me more deeply than you know.</span></div>
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The challenge of dealing with the difference in our values around the legal system and cultural norms has forced me to seek Divine Guidance with more intensity and surrender, and to let go more into living in uncertainty, and living in the present moment. For these gifts I thank you both. And your children! They have been wonderful teachers and little love bugs.</div>
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Our decision to not grant you permission to live on the land through the winter is because we cannot do it legally. Our decision to call the sheriff if you do move onto the land is because if you move onto the land illegally, and we don’t call the sheriff, we are breaking the law. We made those decisions and conveyed them to you as early as we could, so you would have as much time as possible to find an alternative. We wanted to be as clear as possible, and not have you be surprised by our actions later. </div>
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We made those decisions after listening to you, and after much conversation and consideration, both with you and among ourselves. They were not easy decisions. </div>
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You were not included in a consensus decision-making process because, although the decisions affect you, they are not your decisions. You have made decisions similarly. You made the decision to move back to the summer land (and other significant decisions) without including the Mosby’s, even though they were affected by your decision. They then made their decisions of how to respond to your decisions.</div>
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I personally support your efforts to change the laws and change the culture. However, I can’t see how moving onto the land illegally could do anything but interfere with those efforts. It may be convenient for your family in the short term, but I can’t see how it could be the right thing, even for your family, in the long term.</div>
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Although I pray for a mutually acceptable resolution to this, I’m not sure that is possible given the difference in the ways we relate to the legal structures and cultural consensus.<u></u><u></u></div>
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I want you to know that these differences in no way diminish the value, and my appreciation for, the gifts I have received from you, and the gifts that I’m sure will come in the future. So, I hope you will accept my sincerest thanks and wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.</div>
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With lots of love to all your family from both Brooks and myself,</div>
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Rod</div>
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November 27, 2014 Re: Hearth Felt</div>
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Greetings Ande and Rod and everyone.</div>
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I am very thankful to be able to take part in this conversation. </div>
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It is to me a very important conversation as I believe it portends the kind of civic alliance and collaboration that will become highly regarded by the bureaucracies who find themselves in the early yet dynamic throes of a great transition to a local peopled democracy, in which we could take an opportune lead. </div>
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And I have recently been given three very young grandchildren which have sharpened my lifetime of deep regard for the remnants of our global indigenous peoples and their 10,000 yr old livelihoods. It was my fortune this Summer to come to tipi village a handful of times seeking a direct personal solace for what we are losing as a species pertaining to these old ecological lifeways. Livelihoods that we seemingly <b>must</b> re-discover and embark upon, as it is predicable that there will be one billion climate refugees needing sanctuary and ecological service livelihoods by 2050. My grown grandchildren probably and happily among them. Maybe even me.</div>
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Within these motivations I am here to open the 7Gen planners to the inevitable legislative passage of the <a href="https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/one-planet-oregon-legalize-low-impact-development" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">OnePlanet Development</span></a> scheme (legalizing indefinitely sustainable livelihoods) so we can all begin to consciously anticipate and allow for the next generation's progressive downsizing of the uber life of their parents toward a deep green re-indigeny, and place this idea well within 7Gen's ongoing village plan. Tipi village being the presenting seed for this consumer-free next-world vision that some of us are all but ready to live in. </div>
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As a member of the Re-Indigenous Council we believe we are only the early pulse of a re-indigenizing human zeitgeist beginning to yearn for the regenerative joy of being a keystone species again. I ask the 7Gen community to regard us in communion with the Blanchflowers as we seek alliance with and inclusion in your project vision, which we find timely, beautiful and breath-taking unto itself, of what we have heard of it.</div>
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Apologies for my brevity. I am happy to go further into any of these directions with anyone here.</div>
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What else can go right!</div>
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FinnPo</div>
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November 28, 2014 Re: Hearth Felt</div>
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Dear all<br />
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These times of contention bring forth a strong demand for clarity and wisdom which can only have a wider benefit.<br />
Thanks for all the perspectives speaking up here. The heart of true communication is willingness.</div>
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Your response, Rod, is beautiful and the learning continues as we all move. Times during this process life reminds me of it's iridescent shimmery quality. <br />
I'm mostly going to say some things we already know and it can at least serve as a reminder of our common humanity..<br />
It is essential to honour Divine Guidance. Uncompromisingly so. Especially when it's least convenient. It's reassuring to know that more and more of us have our priorities in order. We are on a journey of awakening. <br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Wake up, now</span>.<br />
I, personally, find Divine or Greater Guidance from my direct experience of Place woven with creation. From feeling my real and visceral impact or input on my ecology. <br />
I am given away to this bigger process, let's say Gaia or Mother Earth.<br />
It's kinda woven through my flesh and bones with the seasons, now mild evening more moonlight than sunlight. The Deep Time is upon us.<br />
I am given away to the necessity of shelter. To shelter essentially with the luxury of all four elements present directly from the source.<br />
Slave nor master. <br />
The rising and setting of the sun is my timecard, my uncompromising boss. The waxing and waning of the moon. Battered by 60mph wind and horizontal sleet. First morning pee under a distant sun on a crisp frosty morning. <br />
Just to share a bit of context because it's been so long I rarely remember things like a mirror cabinet over a bathroom sink and that inner dialogue of disconnected places interchanged with products. We're going nowhere trying to convince each other so from a blessed life we pass on our blessings to make more in the world.<br />
My family and I are following a process here and it's focus is a direct physical-spiritual connection with a real, actual place. This spring will mark the end of a seven year cycle in the Buckhorn Valley for the Blanchflowers as Tipi People. Whether this is a death or a birth, we are committed to midwifing and honouring this process. We expect no-one else to honour that as it is what we are here for, now. So if our words or actions appear antagonistic or disrespectful, Rod, Brooks and SGF, then I can only ask forgiveness and give thanks for patience. It's nothing personal and 'your' intercession with 'our' process is where the information becomes transparent, molten...that thing that happens between unstoppable forces and immovable objects.<br />
A couple of the dialectics you introduce, Rod, are logically fallacious and I'd like to address them in the interests of uncovering a deeper truth. I'm concerned that prejudice is a motivation here. "If you move onto the land illegally, and we don’t call the sheriff, we are breaking the law", aside from the chilling lack of personal responsibility reminiscent of the Third Reich, this is simply not true. Being in noncompliance with county codes is very different than breaking the law and county officials don't call sheriffs to evict people in noncompliance. They ask them to comply and give them at least thirty days before fining them and for as long as the parties are working towards compliance the county don't issue fines . Most people, according to the county, ignore fines, and when we've met with the county they've expressed gratitude at our engagement. We're not talking about some heinous crime being committed, though I can see how demonising and presenting our situation as our own 'fault' would make it easier to carry out unreasonable actions. Which brings us neatly to the Mosbys, with whom we were in good relation until Steve took the helm of his family's trust and arbitrarily decided to evict us without communication or consent. Yes, we responded and answered to the land, still open and still striving for consensus. Steve made no pretence about working with consensus, however, which is clean and easy to understand.<br />
I will respect any consensus decision of which I am a part, of course.<br />
We have heard that members of your council describe us as amongst other things, 'a bugger you can't get rid of' which is surprising to me as I imagined we were not so bigoted. I find this quite dehumanising.<br />
So I'd like to encourage you, Rod, if it's true that you personally support the efforts (not necessarily 'ours') to change the law and change the culture, to walk your talk. The change starts somewhere and it's not outside of ourselves. This is not really as a challenge to you but more like we're operating on different levels and we can work together for something even greater than mutual benefit. Our lives are incredibly full at the moment and this time of year.<br />
Desmond Tutu said, "If you are neutral in times of injustice then you have chosen the side of the oppressor". It looks, from here, Rod, like your role is playing you rather than the other way around and you are, for no good reason that I can see, being the oppressor in a very real way. I don't 'choose' to see it like this, I 'choose' whenever possible, to see reality <span style="font-style: italic;">as it actually is.</span><br />
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Love<br />
Ande</div>
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Hello Rod and the circle of folk involved in this process,</div>
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I give thanks for the quality of communication here between us all. Words from compassionate and passionate hearts. Hearts that care for and tend strong relationships. I am learning a great deal from life at the moment and am grateful.</div>
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My understanding of (how I imagine) your position, Rod, is growing. I found your last letter beautiful. This helps a great deal and it also helps for more understanding about the gap and incongruities I feel are between us. It's this contentious and rough place I wish to explore further.</div>
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So far I understand that to be associated with the Tipi People could be politically dangerous. This is what I believe to be a motivating factor in the Meta Councils "decision" regarding the continuation of our living on the winter grounds. There is a fear. None of us wish for enemies, of course. Polarities, however, seem inevitable and unavoidable (yin yang) and can be used to our benefit. Seven Generations Project probably has few adversaries currently as it's' vision is only just beginning to manifest. Tipi Village is different in having been in existence for years now, growing in size and public awareness. Naturally, we have adversaries as well as great allies. I can understand and respect why SGF would be trepidatious in developing a close relationship with Tipi Village. </div>
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I hear clearly that if there were a legal way forward for the tipi dwelling people to live on the winter grounds there would not be an issue here. I struggle with a perception of a lack of honesty in these regards. I see legal ways that I think are not given a proper consideration or have unreasonable excuses for not being explored. Before I list them here I would like to encourage the deepest honesty we can muster up. It's possible that county code and law are being used as a shield. I'm not completely clear about what is being shielded. That is a question I ask you, Rod.</div>
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We know first hand and through others that working with the county is largely about relationship building. Codes and laws are not as black and white as they appear, probably and most likely because they are held within much grander Laws. The county know us by name and by face. They know some of the history of Tipi Village, and certainly know that it was happening here well before the ownership of the deeds changed names (and will thus know it wasn't SGF bringing the "illegal" tipi life). We have had a good relationship with them over the years. Some of them have expressed a wish and hope for good positive change that could accommodate the vision we carry. Others have straight helped us to find the "loop-holes". This comes over time building a relationship. They explained the challenging nature of our situation in that only "land owners" have "rights". Perhaps Tipi Village could have a better chance at thriving if we had the opportunity to face the county officials directly. </div>
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My first proposal is for us to continue living where we traditionally dwell during the winter months (free from the threat of sheriffs removing us) and if this path should lead us into the arms of the county, then we get to rise to another opportunity as we find compliance. We will not allow fines. I believe this proposal to be legit because engaging with the county and working toward compliance is legal. We are not asking the Meta Council to work out how the tipi people find compliance. We are asking that you not shut the door on our possibility to do so. We can become a primitive private campground (for example) and our family can be the hosts. This is not the long-term solution nor is it sustainable. It is simply one small step. "Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard." </div>
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A second proposal is one that I see as a sustainable and healthy solution for not only all of us but also future generations. It's a full (and expanding) vision and would take many voices to paint the whole of it. I encourage folk from the Re-Indigenous Council to fill in any gaps. The Winter Grounds can become a Peopled Nature Conservancy on land held by the Global Commons. This land will be free and safe from exploitation (through conservation easements) and will be inhabited by bands of families, seasonally tending and caring for these "protected" and "wild" places. Where there is an open community growing together and actively re-introducing humans as a Keystone Species and participating in the glorious blossoming of a new/old and connected culture. Where we birth and bury each other with our Place on the land. Where fragments are gathered and woven to bring forth a Culture of Deep Connection to Place. It's a fairly new concept for the mainstream era although ancient in its roots. The land would be held by the Global Commons, by the power of the circle. It will never be sold. </div>
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The deeds to 1,600 acres or so were just purchased for the seed of Seven Generations Farm to grow in. We have come to learn that SGF intends for some of the land to remain "un-developed" and "wild". I even understand that the Carter Creek Winter Grounds is one such place. I see great potential here! What a perfect solution! This wild land can be donated to The Commons, SGF being a part of that (if there is the interest) and the establishment of the nations first Peopled Nature Conservancy can begin to grow. There will be many hurdles along this visions' path and will involve any who are drawn and inspired by it (and not a requirement of SGF to overcome these hurdles as I'm sure you'll have plenty of your own!). I see SGF in a position to make a contribution here. The circle must be empowered for healthy change as it brings forth an egalitarian society. One that shares and acknowledges the basic human equal rights in all of us. The Meta Council is in an abundant position to share the land and it's deeds. </div>
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I feel deep respect and appreciation for the hours spent together exploring the many facets of our new relationship. I value the SGF vision and the people behind it. </div>
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Thank you for reading. I hope these proposals will be truly considered and at the very least, they are met with a proposal other than "go away". We are not asking for any permission. We are simply asking that you do not threaten or use the sheriffs department to 'deal' with us. Being on this side of that threat, it just feels straight up wrong. As the Buddhist saying goes "There is no right and wrong. What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong." We are stronger than that and certainly more creative. Instead, come have some tea, or better yet, a sweat lodge.</div>
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In love,</div>
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Kayla</div>
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November 30, 2014 Surrender to Love</div>
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Dear Rod,<br />
We moved to the traditional Winter Grounds before your last letter. The constant background threat that men in uniform will walk up to this twenty foot circle where my family and I sleep and force us to leave is a heavy one but regardless of whether or not you call the police on us, it looks like we won't be staying here for the winter. Many hands, hearts and strong backs have worked this land with picks and shovels and it somehow, at the moment, feels not quite right that we are here. This place was always Tipi Village; not Ande and Kayla's. Kayla is about to post on the blog about the process.<br />
I surrender to love and I yield my place to the culture of displacement which you call the cultural consensus. Make no mistake, the current situation of our displacement represents the cultural default here, not the cultural consensus and although we were all born to it, very few of us give our consent to it. The culture to which you and I were born has no consensus or even a common myth. This is the challenge of our time.<br />
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Love from Ande</div>
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November 30, 2014 Surrender to Love</div>
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Ande,</div>
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Thanks for letting us know you have moved onto the land. We’re very sad to hear of your decision.</div>
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We see this as simply a series of decisions we are both making. We decided to not grant you permission to move onto the land under our ownership, for reasons you know, although don’t agree with. We want to be clear that we did not ask you to “get lost”, or “go away”. We honor your autonomy and decision-making, even if your decision violates the laws, and goes against our request. </div>
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As we have clearly let you know, if your decision is to move onto the land, our decision is to call the authorities. You decided to move onto the land. We will call the authorities tomorrow. </div>
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We continue to pray that over the long run this will work out OK for all of us, the land, and for the evolution of humanity.</div>
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Sincerely,</div>
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Rod and Brooks</div>
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November 30, 2014 Surrender to Love</div>
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Rod, Brooks and the sgf meta council,<br />
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Could OPENtrust and the Re-indigenous Council ask for an asap powwow concerning these decisions? We can be there by Weds/Thurs with a handful of members well versed in the issues.</div>
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The future of the future is the present,</div>
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FinnPo</div>
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November 30, 2014 Surrender to Love</div>
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Ande and Kayla,</div>
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We (my family and I) are coming to Ashland tomorrow. Perhaps we may join you on the Winter Grounds to receive the authorities? Maybe they won't even show up, in which case it would be a good opportunity for our families to meet. But if they do, I would like to be there to support you. I think it's a good idea to film any encounter with law enforcement, so I'll bring the camera. I've been following the email exchange, and I'm impressed with how civil it's all been, and with your steadfast continuation of your ways in spite of pressures from the external world. The course of history is steered by the unrelenting efforts of the dedicated few, I believe. So thanks for being strong and standing by what you live for. <br />
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We will be heading down to Ashland as soon as we can get out of the house tomorrow morning. I will call from the road, unless I hear back that you'd prefer to handle the lawmen alone. Either way, I'm looking forward to getting our families together for a visit at some point. We'll be staying in Ashland for a few weeks, so we should be able to work something out. Cheers.</div>
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Eric</div>
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November 30, 2014 Surrender to Love</div>
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Eric,<br />
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Of course it would be splendid to host you all. I guess we'll just be carrying on with our lives and we'll greet the authorities perhaps with an offer of a cup of tea. Or we'll just see.</div>
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Probably best if I give you directions over the phone. </div>
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Go well!</div>
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Ande</div>
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______________________________<wbr></wbr>____________________________<wbr></wbr>_______________________<br />
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<span name="Mail Delivery Subsystem"><span style="color: #222222;">December 1, 2014 Surrender to Love</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span name="Mail Delivery Subsystem"><span style="color: #222222;">I wonder if you, James, Katherine, Greg, Paula, Will, Tashina, Rod and Brooks loose any sleep over all this.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span name="Mail Delivery Subsystem"><span style="color: #222222;">It's 3:45 in the morning and my body can't seem to stop sobbing.</span></span></span></div>
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Why is no one else from the Meta Council
saying anything here? Do you all feel aligned, right and good with the
circumstances and decision of sending the SHERIFFS?</div>
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This is not a game! These are lives here!
Our being here actually harms no one! Rod, you are abusing your
position of power in a very serious way and the scary part is, I think
you are becoming aware of it. Yes, we faced the sheriffs before. You
might think it's not very dangerous but you are wrong. Very wrong. I
think you are being incredibly naive about the effect of your actions.
Do what you will and know that our actions put a ripple into the world.
Love or fear. Stop letting your fear run you Rod or at the least, STOP
putting it onto us! </div>
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We can "legally" be here for AT LEAST 30 days if you had the decency and heart to "allow" for that. </div>
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So I understand this is nothing more than
a game of power to you. And to really FEEL all this might mean
becoming a puddle of tears on your kitchen floor. </div>
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We have been here, for years. The way you
are arriving is insensitive, disrespectful and frankly, parts of me are
beginning to consider you lot a threat to this land.</div>
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Do you feel proud that you can sit in
your ivory tower, in the safety bubble of your New-Age community and
make a phone call to your 'agents' to have us removed? I got the word
agents from my father last night, who is a deputy sheriff himself and
explained that the sheriffs are being just that in this case. Agents of
the rich. Agents of those who think they own our mother and are entitled
to push others around. Perhaps it would help to read the Chief Seattle
letter hanging on your wall again?</div>
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I'm being real here. Yes, I'm angry.
Really fucking angry. You are messing with our lives in a very real and
physical way just because we won't leave at your request; to leave our
home and woven life now because you have the "power" to say so. Are you
proud? Are you deeply aligned with this? Is this the quality of the
spiritual guidance you get? Geeze Rod. It's pretty messed up if you ask
me and if you step outside your safe little bubble of mainstream ways of
thinking, you'll find that countless people would agree. </div>
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Let's see what coming together on Wednesday/Thursday could bring. It's something we haven't tried yet. </div>
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Rod and Brooks, you don't have to call
the authorities simply because you clearly warned us. Seems a bit like a
parent following through with the threat of a consequence. Maybe there
is a fear of appearing weak in not following through but know that you
aren't our parents. Even if you were, sometimes it can be the strongest
thing to admit to your child that you were wrong. Remember, things can
change, especially when given the room. </div>
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Kayla</div>
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<br />
I made a post on our blog yesterday
sharing some of the intimate, tender and vulnerable process me and my
family are in. If you care to have a look:</div>
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<a href="http://landliberationproject.blogspot.com/2014/11/surrender-to-love.html?m=1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://landliberationproject.</span><span style="color: #0066cc;">b<wbr></wbr>logspot.com/2014/11/</span><span style="color: #0066cc;">surrender-<wbr></wbr>to-love.html?m=1</span></a></div>
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Also, I am speaking only for my family and NOT the Re-Indigenous council.<br />
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December 1, 2014 Surrender to Love<br />
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Ande and Kayla,<br /><br /> We just had a good talk with the Sheriff Deputy,
Charlie Retzer. He suggested that he give you 24 hours notice to leave
the property, and if you leave by that time he won't need to arrest you.
We gave him your phone numbers so he can call you and doesn’t have to
surprise you. He seems like a very compassionate man, and I’m confident
he will handle the situation well.<br /><br /> You brought this on
yourselves. We were very clear with you over the past couple of months.
You can avoid all of this now by moving off the land in the next 24
hours. It’s not like you don’t have any other options. If you don’t move
off of the land, and there are negative consequences, you have no one
else to blame but yourselves.<br /><br /> We are sorry that it has come to
this, but we will continue to offer our integrity—saying what we will do
and doing what we say we will do.<br /><br /> With compassion for your situation and holding firm with our limits,</span></span><br />
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</span></td><td style="width: auto;"></td><td style="width: auto;"></td><td style="width: auto;"><span name="Mail Delivery Subsystem">December 2, 2014 Surrender to Love<br />
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Dear Good King Rod,<br /><br />Yes, I have brought my life upon myself, of course, I will continue to do so without compromise.I will continue to rise to and meet life as I live the stories that I will tell my grandchildren. I feel good about this because I know that I'm harming no-one. Of course I understand that your paradigm has been transgressed by me but your paradigm is out of date. Your continued 'victim-blaming' illustrates this. I, as you are, am defined by my actions. Your words, Rod, are not congruent with the callousness of your actions and you would do well to take on some responsibility for your actions. This is very different than blame. Blame tends to come about when there's a lack of personal responsibility so, sure, I could take on more responsibility.<br />It might be difficult for you to understand, given the world in which you live, but the only 'decision' I have made is to follow and honour the process of fully living my life. It's about as much 'decision' as a meandering river twisting, turning and falling to the sea. This is an elemental process and in your attempt at intercession with this process you will get to feel some of it. Our processes are entwined and for you, it's free.<br />I have heard some of the things you have been saying about me Rod and thanks for your feedback although direct would be appreciated and public I'm okay with. It's good to see that you will do what you say you will do because my experience of you, thus far, is that you have done little of what you have said. The point in saying this is that involving the sheriff with what is, essentially, a family disagreement lacks personal integrity and is weak. Again, it demonstrates a lack of honest core values.<br />My theory is that Kayla and I challenge your power structure and you want rid. You haven't said the words, 'get lost' but you've also offered nothing in the way of positive input even in the face of willing collaboration and many creative ideas. It would be polite to offer something real, given the hostility of your actions. I have heard that you are a kind and generous man. <br />I suspect that you are afraid of my family's relationship to this land and that we will hold you to account with your impact here. I think you want to bulldoze and throw up McMansions to appease your investors. I am concerned that you want to profit from our mother at her, and our, expense and I'm having a hard time reconciling this in our relationship. Let me know if I'm completely off on one here. I'm trying to make sense of all of the incoming information and the deeper reason for such extreme responses. It appears that you are hiding something behind the 'law'. <br />We don't call the cops on each other. That's just plain wrong. <br />Perhaps I overestimated you , Rod, and my hopes and expectations have been failed.<br />You might be interested to know, Rod and Brooks, that we have decided to turn the land where your house stands into a wild-tending retreat centre for all of the busy people in town. We can run lunchtime drop-ins and make a load of money. We know it seems harsh but it's really for the best for everyone and we think you'll understand. You can go and live somewhere else, it will be good for you. We'll give you thirty days from today.<br /><br />Always with love, for real,<br />Ande<br />
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December 3, 2014 Surrender to Love<br />
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<span name="Mail Delivery Subsystem">Finn Po,</span></div>
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Thank you for your offer to meet with us with Ande and Kayla. I don’t know that this is the time for such a meeting. It seems from their last e-mails that they are in a lot of pain, understandably so, and are probably angry, scared and deeply sad. We are hoping that you, and their other supporters, can offer them your support, so they don’t feel so alone as they go through this. And we hope you can help them find a suitable place to live. Other than our prayers, we are at a loss as to what else we can do at this point. </div>
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Thanks for your support,</div>
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Rod and Brooks Newton</div>
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December 3, 2014 Surrender to Love<br />
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Good morning Rod and Brooks,<br />
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We will be meeting in Glendale tomorrow and then as a group we will journey to Ashland early Friday to help through Saturday in whatever is presenting itself at that time at the winter grounds. Then Saturday evening we all plan to attend the Hazel Ward storytelling at Wellsprings <span style="color: #222222;">7pm</span>. Please consider coming early and sharing in all that will have unfolded by then.</div>
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Note: Imagine having wintered here for seven years in a tipi. One idea: fund raise among the meta council to gift this family a winter long tropical vacation. For instance, my daughter tells me that tickets to Maui are $130 right now. Or a primitive Baja playa with Ilya rolling in sand dollars. Ready set go! </div>
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Love is in the Earth,</div>
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FinnPo</div>
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December 6, 2014 Head's Up<br />
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Ande and Kayla,<br />
<br />
Just a heads up to let you know that deputy Retzer has not returned to the land because he was off duty the past few days. He goes back on duty tomorrow (Sunday). We didn’t want to have him turn it over to another deputy, since he’s familiar with the situation. He will go out to the land tomorrow and, if you are there, he will enforce the law. We sincerely hope you have found, or can find, a suitable alternative site that will serve your family and the cultural change toward low impact living.<br />
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Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Brooks and Rod<br />
______________________________<wbr></wbr>_______________________________________________<br />
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December 7, 2014 Heads Hung<br />
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Hello Brooks and Rod,<br />
<br />
The fear is s palpable as we've delved deeper into this process. Fear is okay when we recognise its healthy place on the altar; it brings a broad sensibility. When disavowed, however, it becomes unknown and unconscious and its power becomes corrosive and toxic. It dominates our actions especially towards those whom we love and are close. When we hold that fear and even love it we can allow space for radical transformation.<br />
<br />
I miss you guys! Where did you go?<br />
<br />
I am curious what the deeper need is, here, for both of us, for such irrational and hostile contention. Will this deeper need be fulfilled once we have been physically made to go? We are stronger allies than enemies, surely, and while the current state of our relating is fraught, one can only wish that some strong foundations are being laid. The willingness to continue communicating is appreciated here.<br />
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My need is quite basic and simple; to shelter myself and my family and to maintain a culture of connection and accountability on all levels (physical, psychic and spiritual). To love and be loved comes next.<br />
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What is your need, on the most fundamental and basic level, relating to our contention? I ask this genuinely and curiously.<br />
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I am willing to stand in the fire and burn, transform.<br />
<br />
We are also playing out a broader social issue; that of unequal distribution of wealth. Traditional societies in this region and indigenous social structures all over the world have safeguards against this in order to maintain social cohesion. Even recent studies in the industrialised world have revealed that communities with equal opportunities and evenly distributed wealth are much happier and effective. If anyone started to have more than anyone else they would be considered to be hoarding and would be shunned. Also, you wouldn't be happy walking around in a pair of moccasins and a spare pair at home knowing that the family next door had leaky shoes and it was winter. Industrialisation and corporate capitalism have inverted this social structure, celebrating and protecting the moneyed, vilifying and shunning the poor.<br />
<br />
In short, the sheriff will enforce the 'law' of the moneyed privileged. Here again we find ourselves at the blunt end of millionaires. No-one's 'fault', of course, but it doesn't mean we can't do something about it. Also bear in mind that although it might feel a little relieving to have sent a 'heads up' about the sheriff, it doesn't change the action. I can't help being reminded of this summer when the IDF sent text messages to the Gazans saying, "your house will be bombed in thirty seconds, vacate now". Yes, thank you for not killing me, but you bombed my house!<br />
<br />
None of this will change anything outside of myself. I said it anyway because language is culture and we have it in common. I am looking forward to giving the two of you a big hug and finding out what all of this was about.<br />
<br />
Always with love<br />
Ande<br />
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December 8, 2014 Heads Hung<br />
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Ande and Kayla,<br />
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We will talk more with you once you have honored our request to move from the land. Until then we don’t have anything more to say.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">This thread has held a lot for all of us involved. I commend Ande and Kayla as well as Rod and Brooks for expressing their hearts in the best cultural forms from which each of them come today.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Having spent some time with the Blanchflower family I honor and respect them as the most "re-indigenized" folks I know. I feel their sincerity and authenticity as they write via this format. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">I have yet to meet Rod and Brooks. Never the less, I recognize clear efforts to use peaceful and clear communication. I also empathize with the emotional investments they likely have in the Seven Generation project. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">From where I sit around the fire, this is what I see. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">1. This is a cross-cultural exchange which is worthy of mediated support. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">2. Some assurance of working with the Blanchflower family as the caregivers, tenders and inhabitants of the particular land know as the "Winter Land" for the last 7 years seems prudent and just.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">3. This is a situation worthy and amenable to <b>collaboration</b>. To me, resistance appears inappropriate as the parties involved are actually <b>allies</b>. To be working in opposition of one another appears to me as "horizontal hostility" that can be found within oppressed groups. It is my understanding that everyone here has the common goal of creating the space and legal ability to live indigenously. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">4. This collection of individuals has the collective power and knowledge to change the law, to create Common lands, to support re-indigenous living. A significant cultural shift, for the Blanchflower family and multitudes more, can occur from the collaboration of such a group.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">I have recently been asked to participate in a group of people who are committed to "Empowering the inalienable human right to subsist on land held in Common." We recognize the relationship between those living indigenously and those living more conventionally as being cross-cultural relationships. We offer and encourage mediation and support to those relationships. We call ourselves the Re-Indigenous Council. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">As the Re-indigenous Council we offer the Blanchflower family sanctuary for the winter season. We have found support from Pete Cotton as an intermediary between the parties. We also have access to professional mediators and Council facilitators should the parties be willing to participate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">The current situation between the Land Liberation Project and Seven Generations is an inspiring one that demonstrates a herstorical, as well as current and likely, future conundrum. We believe each person involved has a unique and necessary perspective around the council fire. We believe the council fire will help us see a way through that is beyond what any one perspective can offer. We are on the edge of a significant cultural shift. I pray that we all play our parts true to our unique position.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Bright thoughts, Joanna</span></span></div>
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December 16, 2014 <br />
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My heart is heavy with wonder if I could have been more helpful. I read this afternoon on facebook that the arrest did take place. I am sorry for the trauma suffered on any account. It is my sincere hope to provide you with anything you may need. I admire your courage though this should be no new news to you!</div>
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I am fascinated by the extreme measures we are forced to display to be heard, seen or acknowledged. Look what we must do to remind the world of minimum requirements to live. </div>
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It is your willingness to follow through that places you at the forefront of this movement. I am beginning to see that there was no other alternate outcome as long as the culture communication was blocked. It appears to be deeper than blocked when some refuse to acknowledge.</div>
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I continue to be moved, motivated, encouraged and inspired by your willingness to stay true to the knowledge you now come away with. So precious is your perspective into the true meaning of freedom and liberation. </div>
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Please allow the universe to now wrap your precious tribe into the folds of the mother's love. You have worked so hard and now it is time to take this knowledge and transcribe it into a powerful movement. Allow the forces of the energy to guide to the place that you can be nurtured, sheltered, appreciated and celebrated for your legacy. </div>
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Please forgive my absence, I am at your service and send you all my love so that it my lift your spirits.</div>
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Namaste</div>
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Misty</div>
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December 18, 2014 As it is</div>
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Brooks and Rod,</div>
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End this attrition and hostility towards my family and I. </div>
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You have violated the sanctity of my family with your action of calling the sheriff and <span lang="en-GB">criminalising</span> our culture and way of living, much in the way the Mozambican hunters have been labeled poachers. I see no good reason for the denial of my liberty for the violation of a county ordinance; not even equivalent to skateboarding on the sidewalk or a parking ticket. Ok, we only span two generations and the first born to connection but it's only after living on the ground for at least one winter that one can begin to understand for what the culture of industrialised fragmentation has absolutely no frame of reference. I was born in the culture to which you lend your power. You have stomped on this emergent post-industrial culture with your spoilt monster of a 'baby' of an 'eco-village'. You could have helped, instead you chose to lend your power to hinder and, being at the brunt of your power, I can attest to it's spitefulness in action hidden beneath a veneer of an apparently expensive smile.</div>
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Your actions seem to be malicious and a form of punishment for declining your 'request' to stop my relationship with the place where my bone (yes, bone) blood and flesh are mingled. The place which permeates the very cells of my body. The place which, as I was loading belongings the other day said, loudly,”What? You're leaving?” as a child might. The place that you will never understand from your vantage of Google Earth and your permaculture walks. You seem to have taken personal <span lang="en-GB">offence, which is a great shame.</span> </div>
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You have actively chosen the side of oppression. Not just in having Kayla and I cuffed, violated and thrown in jail, but in the way that you have attempted to influence those close to us in order to coerce, “We wouldn't want the children to be taken away.” is the kind of threat you'd expect from the mafia. You are welcome to your Belief Systems and you can 'choose' to see reality as you like but remember the words of Goenkaji,”There is the reality as we would like it to be and then there is the reality <i>as it is."</i></div>
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Drop the charges, please, that have turned Kayla and I into criminals and have involved my children in a 'crime'. They are now known to the authorities because of your actions which, although came as no surprise, were a huge disappointment. I don't know how our relationship can recover from actions which amount to a family argument getting physical. Passive-aggression turned violent. I know, you told us and you warned us and it's a feeble argument in the face of what you did. It does not exonerate you from your actions, much as you attempt to privately and <span lang="en-GB">publicly</span> deny this and blame me. You have a lot of face to save for your project. Yes, the Ashland community rallied around you against AT&T. People are generally <span lang="en-GB">favourable</span> towards David rather than Goliath. As yet, we have still made no public statement about what it feels like to be displaced by an eco-village.</div>
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As it stands, we have no intention <span lang="en-GB">of being anywhere near your trip, your ego-village and the land to which you now hold entitled title and if those words serve as the fulfilment of the imposed condition we heard through Leslie that you will only drop the charges under such utterance, then so be it. Show it to your lawyer. By dropping the charges we will be free to leave the state and to find a new home. I don't know, however, if we will still have to appear in court on December the 23</span><sup><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">rd</span></span></sup><span lang="en-GB">. By choosing to not press charges you can send a clear signal of intention towards healing. You still have your jackboot in our neck. Kindly remove it.</span></div>
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<span lang="en-GB">I am still, as I have always been, open to sitting and communicating with you both, unconditionally and with an intention of restoration, reconciliation and honesty. It would say a lot if you had the strength to face these disavowed (shadow?) parts of yourselves, for grown-up real. Until then, your homework is to understand the difference and relationship between sympathy and empathy and their respective effects on humane human relationships.</span></div>
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<span lang="en-GB">In honest love</span></div>
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<span lang="en-GB">Ande</span></div>
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December 18, 2014 As it is </div>
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Ande and Kayla,</div>
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We called the DA office to drop charges. </div>
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At the suggestion of Pete Cotton, we are tentatively planning a constellation led by Stephen Victor on Jan 2nd for the purpose of healing the energetic pattern of conflict that has been on this land for generations—natives fighting natives, settlers fighting natives, whites fighting whites, Mosby’s in conflict with others, etc. If you are interested in doing a constellation also, for the purpose of healing the land, we will arrange it. </div>
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As we continue to do our healing in relation to this, we are discovering more and more about the energetic pattern of the land that is dovetailing with our own patterns of wounding. We feel that you two, and we, have been influenced by this land pattern and in certain ways have been playing it out unconsciously. We are deeply sad about the pain all of this has caused you and your family, as well as the damage it has caused to our relationship. We are hoping this will help in the healing.</div>
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January 1, 2015 Tenderly Open</div>
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It is encouraging that there is willingness to bring to awareness and integration the cultural conflict and displacement present (not just) in the Buckhorn Valley. If you, Rod and Brooks, are inviting us to a constellation tomorrow or proposing a separate one then we are tenderly open to either, just let us know.<br />
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-Ande and Kayla</div>
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January 2, 2015 Re: Tenderly Open</div>
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Ande and Kayla,<br />
<br />
Just got your e-mail. We're happy to arrange a constellation for you. I left messages on your phones, but no answer. I talked with Stephen Victor and he is available today at 12:30 or next week. If you want to do it today, just come to Hidden Springs and if we are still in session you can wait in the other room until we are finished. If you want to do it next week, you can e-mail Stephen to arrange possible times and then let us know and we will let you know if the room at Hidden Springs is available at those times.<br />
<br />
You can invite anyone you want to observe your constellation, including us if you would like us to observe.<br />
<br />
Best Wishes,<br />
<br />
Rod and Brooks<br />
<div>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEg0rgkpyrXRAMQdVt8s-PsiCIQJ2G1T8n2VErdPKOj_skGv6bn3xgFqpTm1_rpuCzuoxj6HPggVI0E4Q4BkC4y_GANM4DJgB6SB37G9HZDXtJnOX5l3XKCMaBshQQOtSnjsXPGr33VX5oQY6hUWpQH8ik2_n54eAfOVYQVx=s0-d-e1-ft" /></div>
<div>
______________________________<wbr></wbr>___________________________________________________</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
January 6, 2015 Re: Tenderly Open</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
There is a Hellinger constellation facilitated by Stephen arranged for one o'clock on this coming Thursday in the community room at the Jackson Wellsprings. Everyone reading this is welcome and invited to attend, although some are across the world. The process is open for the greatest and widest possible benefit.<br />
<div>
Rod and Brooks, we can acknowledge your contribution to the collective effort here (Stephen would like to be paid before you go on vacation). However, a lot of issues have been raised, not just through this email thread and there is much to be addressed if we are to empower our relationship to shine it's potential. It's going to take more than throwing money at it, however; being arrested for going home and being homeless with four children in the middle of winter is no flippant matter. Putting a sympathetic 'deeply' before an adjective doesn't quite do it; we never got to find out your deeper need. </div>
<div>
Yes, the story of this land, not just the part to which you hold title, has been fraught since settlers arrived with the paradigm of domination. Prior to that no-one knows how life was because everything was completely different. We know this because we sleep with our heads on our mother's breast and we have heard her heart beating (a hummingbird has a heart rate of some two thousand per minute, a human somewhere between seventy and eighty, a blue whale about two, sister moon oscillates monthly and Gaia earth once a year). It takes an effort of will and diligence to avoid complicity with the Dominant Paradigm a world view which is contrary to life and living. The effort is not insurmountable.</div>
<div>
Love to all,</div>
<div>
-Ande<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEg0rgkpyrXRAMQdVt8s-PsiCIQJ2G1T8n2VErdPKOj_skGv6bn3xgFqpTm1_rpuCzuoxj6HPggVI0E4Q4BkC4y_GANM4DJgB6SB37G9HZDXtJnOX5l3XKCMaBshQQOtSnjsXPGr33VX5oQY6hUWpQH8ik2_n54eAfOVYQVx=s0-d-e1-ft" /></div>
</div>
</div>
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> ______________________________<wbr></wbr>______________________________<wbr></wbr>____________________</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
January 9, 2015 Re: Tenderly Open</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div>
<div>
Thanks to all who came in support yesterday for the Constellation.<br />
<div>
<br />
Rod and Brooks, Kayla and I each received a letter from the DA the day before yesterday telling us to appear in court on the 28th. Have you picked the charges back up?</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
-Ande</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
______________________________<wbr></wbr>__________________________________________________</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
January 9, 2015 Re: Tenderly Open</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Ande,<br />
<br />
I just called the DA again to have them to drop the charges. I had called twice before, but they had no record of it. Apparently the report hadn’t been filed at that time. Let me know if it comes up again for some reason. We have no intention to press charges as long as you aren’t living on the land.<br />
<br />
I hope you found the constellation valuable. I have found it very helpful in the past and again found our constellation last Friday valuable.<br />
<br />
Best wishes,<br />
<br />
Rod</div>
<div>
______________________________<wbr></wbr>___________________________________________________</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
January 12, 2015 Re: Tenderly Open</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Ande and Kayla,<br />
<br />
I can’t believe you set up a Tipi on the land! I am sad and deeply disappointed.<br />
<br />
I called the DA and rescinded the request to drop the charges, so you will have to appear in court on <span style="color: #222222;">Jan 28th</span>. I’m assuming that’s what you are wanting anyway, based on your actions.<br />
<br />
The DA said he will issue a restraining order to keep you from trespassing to the land. You do not have permission to go on the land again. You will need to get someone else to remove your possessions. James and Greg both have power of attorney to make legal decisions regarding tenancy on the property. They will handle things while we are away.<br />
<br />
My sincere hope is that you find a suitable place to continue your lifestyle.<br />
<br />
Rod<br />
______________________________<wbr></wbr>___________________________________________________</div>
</div>
</div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
January 13, 2015 Assuming=ass of you and me</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<div>
Wow Rod. I believe you may have just made a fool of yourself. I'm glad you "can't believe it" because it isn't true. </div>
<div>
<br />
Yes, we set up our lodge on the land. Of course, our family needed shelter. Where else would we pitch it, the moon? If by "the land" you mean "my land", then no, we did not pitch our lodge on "your land". We wouldn't dare do so. It was the voicemail from you (left on my mothers phone the night you sent us to jail) threatening the removal of our children from me and Ande that keeps us from returning to our winter home. You won. That is a mean and dirty threat and you won. Are you proud?</div>
<div>
<br />
The tipi that James and Melanie saw at Bear Springs does not belong to us and we do not live in it. We would rather not say exactly where we are living but can assure you it is not on "your land". Our family has been hassled and traumatized enough and we still have winter ahead of us. That isn't to say you or James or Greg or anyone isn't welcome. You are, always. Just come and find us. It isn't hard. We have been accessing our lodge through "your land" to avoid drawing further attention. We also pitched the shop a couple days ago in hopes of filling some orders to maintain an income for our family (both of these were suggestions made by you).</div>
<div>
<br />
Here's a tip: drawing conclusions is dangerous. Especially when we take serious actions on conclusions that were actually completely wrong to begin with. If there is any "sadness and deep disappointment" here, it would be that we have criminal charges against us (which means 30 days in jail and a minimum $1,000 fine) and a restraining order that demands we stay away from our place of connection, of ceremony, of tended plants.........What are you doing? Slow down Rod because someone is going to get seriously hurt if this continues. Is this another "shadow" reaction like the "lawsuit scam"? There is no need to press charges. Please retract them. </div>
<div>
<br />
Please consider the motivation of how you move through the world because the effect of your wave is painful. Seriously, physically painful. Please stop. </div>
<div>
<br />
Kayla</div>
<div>
______________________________<wbr></wbr>___________________________________________________</div>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; text-align: left;">
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
January 13, 2015 Re: Assuming=ass of you and me</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
With Rod and Brooks out of the country, my anxiety is on the rise about who takes the responsibility of stopping the erroneous action of reenacting the charges with the DA's office? Any further legal action would be an outrage. James? </div>
<div>
With deep concern,</div>
<div>
Kim (mother of Kayla)<br />
______________________________<wbr></wbr>__________________________________________________</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
January 13, 2015 Bottom Line</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">Ande and Kayla,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;"></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">I’m glad to hear you aren’t living on our land. </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">We have called the DA and requested that they drop charges as our agreement was that charges would be dropped if you were not living on the land. My apologies for thinking it was your lodge on the land above. Who would have thought someone else would have a lodge on your old Bear Creek site. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">
<br />
For clarity sake, we did not give you permission to set up your shop or access your lodge via the land we hold a deed to. We had discussed it several months ago as a possible idea, when I thought there was some hope of possible collaboration. No agreement or permission was ever granted. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">
<br />
We want to be clear about our bottom line at this point: You have demonstrated that you are not willing to accept the current cultural convention of land ownership, and you haven’t shown the slightest willingness to collaborate, or do anything other than to try to get what you want, without compromise. Because or that, unfortunately, we can’t work together. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">
<br />
You do not have permission to go on the land, except to remove your belongings, and we will enforce that with a restraining order. You have one week to remove your shop and belongings, ending <span style="color: #222222;">Wednesday, January 21st</span>, at which time any remaining materials will be removed. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">
<br />
Since we are leaving the country tomorrow, all further dealings must be with James or Greg.<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEg0rgkpyrXRAMQdVt8s-PsiCIQJ2G1T8n2VErdPKOj_skGv6bn3xgFqpTm1_rpuCzuoxj6HPggVI0E4Q4BkC4y_GANM4DJgB6SB37G9HZDXtJnOX5l3XKCMaBshQQOtSnjsXPGr33VX5oQY6hUWpQH8ik2_n54eAfOVYQVx=s0-d-e1-ft" /></div>
<div>
______________________________<wbr></wbr>______________________________<wbr></wbr>_____________________</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
January 13, 2015 Re: Bottom Line</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Dear Jesus, Gandhi, Dr. King, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, Crazy Horse, Chief Seattle, Chief Sitting Bull, Bhagat Singh, Emiliano Zapata, Nat Turner, Elie Weisel, <span style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.39px;">Dietrich Boenhoeffer, Emma Goldman, Rosa Parks, Assata Shakur, Sojourner Truth, Geronimo, Bobby Sands, Romona Africa, et al. </span></span><br />
<div>
<span style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.39px;"> "</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">We want to be clear about our bottom line at this point: You have demonstrated that you are not willing to accept the current cultural convention."</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">In deep healing and all-one Love, </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">The Seven Generations Ego-Village </span><span style="color: #002147; font-family: concourse-caps,sans-serif; line-height: 1.4;">® </span><span style="color: #00152e; font-family: concourse,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25.6px;">™ </span><span style="color: #545454; line-height: 18.2px;">© </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #545454; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.39px;"> </span><i style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.39px;">In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self-interest shall be cast into oblivion. Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground – the unborn of the future Nation.*</i><span style="color: #545454; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<i style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.39px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Void where prohibited. May be restricted or redefined by current moderator of social understanding at any time, with or without context to the peoples whom from which the original ideas where penned and are now all but obliterated by those with laws and money and men with guns.</span></i></div>
<div>
<i style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 22.39px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></i>(from a fellow community member)</div>
<div>
______________________________<wbr></wbr>______________________________<wbr></wbr>_____________________</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
January 14, 2015 Bottom Line<Mother Gaia</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
What a life! One can only wonder at the awe of it. The world continues and endures for the free people; our task is to not be ensnared by fallacious thought constructs. That last email from Rod and Brooks was either intentionaly manipulative and devisive or else plain naive. Given that most of our interactions have lacked the honesty to address direct questions (evidenced in this email thread, which is too valuable to be kept from the public domain) I am veering towards the former.</div>
<div>
The only relevant question here, again, for the third time, is 'what is the Deeper Need'?<br />
<div>
A common fallacy is called 'the straw man'; one in which a false representation of the opponent is constructed and then attacked. This whole process and relationship started going pear shaped when Rod, Brooks and their meta council made a decision (we can't have you on the land) and imposed it, eventually violently, with <span style="font-style: italic;">no option</span> for collaboration. It is easier for extreme actions to be justified when the recipient of those actions is discredited and vilified and here comes what the new agers call 'master overlay' even as a form of passive aggression. </div>
<div>
You are living what you are accusing.</div>
<div>
Out of necessity Kayla and I have striven to collaborate with you all. There is no imperative for the moneyed and entitled to collaborate because of the systems of violent domination which support them in doing whatever they want however they want it. Yes, we didn't collaborate with you because we were never invited to even though we were asking. And yes, we haven't ceded to your commands too. We have simply striven to live in a good way, which means fully honouring place and relationships. You, Rod, Brooks and lackeys have made it quite clear how you relate to the land and the people around you. </div>
<div>
Since our public statement many have come forward in the Ashland community to express not only their inability to work <span style="font-style: italic;">together </span>with you both but also those whom have suffered at your manipulation of honesty. Most notably people from Big Bend, where you have previous for doing the exact same thing; grabbing land and displacing people from their homes.</div>
<div>
At this point in this process, Rod and Brooks, you can still find a way to be gracious in victory or defeat. It will define you.</div>
</div>
<div>
The tipi up at Bear Spring is perhaps your first glimpse of what is frothing out of the ground here. Your continued resistance will only cause more pain and anguish for many people who not only <span style="font-style: italic;">thought </span>but knew and <span style="font-style: italic;">know. </span>Take care how you relate to this place and the beings present here; it hasn't blown up in your face. Yet.</div>
<div>
Love to all</div>
<div>
-Ande</div>
<div>
______________________________<wbr></wbr>______________________________<wbr></wbr>_____________________</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
January 16, 2015 Fwd: Blanchflower Matter</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13pt;">Mr. Newton-<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13pt;">Pursuant to your request, we are dismissing the Blanchflower matter involving your property. If you have any questions, feel free to call or email.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Marco A. Boccato<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Deputy District Attorney<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Jackson County DA's Office<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">715 W 10th Street<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Medford, OR 97501</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">______________________________<wbr></wbr>___________________________________________________</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was at this point when we stated, publicly, that we intended on sharing these email correspondences on our blog. Soon after, James Haim, a member of Seven Generation's Meta Council, wrote the following email. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />_________________________________________________________________________________</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt;">January 16, 2015 In Response</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">As
you may know, Rod and Brooks Newton have formed a council to steward a
community initiative on the land they recently purchased adjacent to Buckhorn
Springs. We collectively decided to respond to the many emails sent by Ande to
this list.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">Some History</span></b><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;"></span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;"><br />
Ande and Kayla Blanchflower lived on the ranch for years when it was owned by
the Mosbys. During that time there were numerous neighbor concerns and
complaints made about raw sewage, a fire pit in the Tipi, etc. In the spring of
2014 (while the land was still owned by the Mosbys), ___________, the county
Code Enforcer, warned Ande that they were trespassing and needed to vacate the
ranch.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">Rod
and Brooks and other investors bought the ranch in October, 2014 with the
intention of working with county and state officials to create a stewardship land
trust. Ande and Kayla’s unlawful
residency required attention, since it prevented lawful compliance with the
trust, county, and municipal regulations. Rod made numerous and concerted
efforts to resolve this situation harmoniously. Working with county officials
and an attorney, and through dialogue with Ande and Kayla, Rod tried to find
possible legal solutions to circumvent regulations that prevent Tipi living on
the ranch. Despite spending considerable time and expense, it became clear that
this was not legally possible. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">In
early fall, Rod and Brooks reluctantly communicated the legal facts conveyed to
him by attorneys and county officials to Ande and Kayla, who were no longer
living on the land. Rod and Brooks volunteered various ideas for Ande and Kayla
to consider as short-term solutions for their family.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">At
that point, the relationship began to deteriorate. Andy and Kayla’s prior tone
of friendship changed to anger and they began verbal attacks on Rod and Brooks.
Ande and Kayla moved their family back on the ranch on <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_572480364" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">November 27th</span></span>, informing
Rod and Brooks after the fact. Rod and Brooks had made it clear in numerous
conversations with Ande and Kayla over the previous months that they would need
to call the authorities if they illegally returned.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">Rod
called the authorities. Ande and Kayla had multiple opportunities to avoid
being arrested. Given several days to leave, Ande and Kayla chose to remain on
the ranch. Someone told Rod and Brooks that Ande and Kayla had said they wanted
to get arrested, as an act of protest. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">The
Sheriff came out and told them that he would return the next day, and that if
they were still there he would have to arrest them. When he came back, they had a cameraman ready
to document the event. They were arrested by the Sheriff and taken to jail for
several hours, then released, with a pending court date. With Ande’s promise to
not return to the ranch, Rod and Brooks dropped the charges.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">Present Day</span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">Those
of us involved in this situation have felt sadness and disappointment over how
all this has become a display of animosity and what seems to be an attempt to
polarize public sympathy. Rod and Brooks (and all of us) have put a lot of time
and resources into trying to make it legal for Ande and Kayla to stay put, but
without success. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">Did
we or do we hold any malice towards Ande and Kayla? Did we participate in
anything underhanded? Do we have some sort of personal or corporate profit
agenda with the ranch? No, no, and no. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">Hundreds
of people who have known Rod and Brooks over the course of many years can speak
to their consistently high level of caring and citizenry. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">It is unfortunate if Ande and Kayla felt misled
into thinking that they could somehow continue to live on the ranch, given the
legal limitations. We have been patient and non-retaliatory with Ande and
Kayla’s name calling and judging of us in recent emails, Facebook posts, and blogs.
But this has escalated into personal confrontations in the form of verbal abuse
from Ande during visits to the land. This has convinced us that trying to
collaborate any further has now become impossible. We have no right to expect
anyone to change. However, we also have no obligation to continue an
association with those who hold us in such obvious contempt.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">With sadness that the story has unfolded like this,
we acknowledge the end of our relationship with Ande and Kayla relative to this
land, and </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">wish them well with finding a new home.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">Sincerely,</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">James,
Katherine, Paula, Will, Rod, and Brooks<br />
for the Seven Generations Project</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;"> ________________________________________________________________________________</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;">January 19, 2015 For Real</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span>Thanks for responding, James, Catherine, Paula, Will, Rod and Brooks.<br />
<br />
It's
about time you guys spoke up because you are an executive part of the
process and thus far have appeared to eschew honest communication. It's
helpful to read your perception and your version of recent events and
interactions. I would like to hear more personal perspectives.<br />
<br />
Greg and Tashina's names are noticeably absent. <br />
<br />
Your
email was almost wholly factually inaccurate and were we so inclined we
could probably sue you for defamation (don't panic, that's really not
our style). The tone seems to be one of vilification and demonisation
rather than reconciliation; explanation rather than exploration.
Furthermore, it's coming across as a cynical attempt to discredit in
order to maintain a flimsy facade to your investors and the Ashland
new-age community, where you are held, for the most part, in high
regard. Also, discrediting the tipi dwellers of the Buckhorn Valley
legitimises and justifies your hostile actions. Turning the reality of
our lives into an ideology puts us into the realm of politics because
you are meeting us with ideology, not reality. For our realities to be
clashing your home and life-way would be threatened as ours is. In
short; we are not trying to stop you living how you see fit, whereas you
are stopping us. Violently.<br />
<br />
Look, you guys have succeeded; much
as the Mozambican hunters have been criminalised as poachers when the
eco-tourists came, I find myself as a steward criminalised as a
trespasser now that the ecovillage has arrived. Your email is the first
time I have heard the words 'stewardship land trust' relating to this
place. If that's your true intention then how did we become misaligned?
You have it all your way, even the twenty foot circle we call home which
happened to be in the midst of 1600 acres entitled to your corporation.
<br />
<br />
I'm not going to go through all of the petty inaccuracies
because that would be tedious and disrespectful to the other readers and
contributors to this thread. I am going to try to address some of the
major ones, though, because there's more to learn.<br />
<br />
The biggest
and most offensive logical flaw is that 'someone' told you we wanted to
be arrested. I don't recall any of your clique ever asking me if I
wanted to be arrested. No, we did not. We wanted to do nothing more than
return home to the Winter Grounds. The 'cameraman ready to document'
was a concerned neighbour who turned up of his own volition when we got
to the road, after we had already been arrested and walked out. We have
been advised by many that it's a good idea to have cameras present when
dealing with law enforcement to help them behave. It turns out we got
along alright and we always have. The pictures on the blog were taken by
Kayla and I with our phones. We could have had friends from various
local and international newspapers on alert but decided against turning
our lives into a spectacle for the bored.<br />
<br />
What are you trying to do by painting such a fallacious picture? Some would say Speaks with a Forked Tongue.<br />
<br />
Over
the past seven years of tenure there have been four complaints. Never
about 'raw sewage' because there are no sewers here. Sewage is what
happens when one defecates in water and it's a problem. Here we return
our poo to the ground, where it belongs, sans toilet paper and added
leaves, duff and other high carbon, high microbial humus matter. Two of
the complaints were about solid waste; easily rectified with a porta
potty. One was about parking on the road, again easily complied with a
small gravelled parking area. The other complaint was the last time we
heard from _____________, the county code enforcer. Although he has a badge and a
gun in his car, I have never seen him wearing either. That's because
he's code enforcement and it's not his job to inform anyone that they
are 'trespassing'. That would be the job of law enforcement, you know,
the guys who wear their guns, cuffs, tasers and bullet proof vests. Do
you understand, yet? Code and law are very different. Anyway, we last
saw him when he came to the Summer Spot in the autumn of 2013. He told
us that someone had hired a lawyer (probably the very same one from whom
you take advice) to have the county code about tipis re-interpreted to
be in violation and that we would have to become a private campground in
order to be within compliance. Until that point there was no code for
tipis and _____________ was cool with that; he knows how we live and care for the
land. At that time Steve Mosby had taken the helm of his family trust
following the death of his father and was under pressure to liquidate
his assets and sell the deeds to the 2000+ acres of ranch, of which your
corporation bought some 1600. Then it was migration time and we moved
down. Aside from the fact that we don't put our fires in a pit (rather
on a hearth; something you would know had you ever taken the time to
find out what you are condemning, James) there has never been a
complaint about the fire. We are on good terms with the fire department
as they largely recognise that clearing dead wood is the best way to
reduce conflagration.<br />
<br />
Another thing I'd like to address is the
'considerable' amount of money, time etc. spent on the behalf of the
Tipi People without our consent or knowledge. Between yourselves, the
Mosbys and other forces of control and oppression, tens of thousands of
dollars have been spent on us as a problem requiring attention. By now
probably more than we earn in two years. You can stop spending money on
us and wearing it as a badge like it's virtuous. We can get along fine
without such paternalism. In fact it's made our lives much harder. If
you have extra money, you can get us something useful like new wool
long-johns; ours are worn pretty thin and holey and since this hostility
it has been a struggle to maintain a livelihood.<br />
<br />
Sure, you've
spent a lot of time and money acquiring deeds and investors to impose a
top-down ideology of an ecovillage. Consider then that the inhabitants
of this region have given our whole lives to this place, bottom up; not
just some inherited money with the dubious karma of industrial
agriculture perpetuating the appropriation of indigenous lands.<br />
<br />
To
be within county compliance (as you keep fatuously saying 'legal'), we
can apply for campground status. You can hand over the title for the
small plot inhabited by tipi people, a plot you have already stated you
have no interest in 'developing', to the Global Commons for a peopled
conservancy and be free of all legal liability. These are only two of
the many ideas that Rod knows about but dismisses without concern.<br />
<br />
Again,
what are you trying to achieve with such aspersions? The end of our
relationship with this place? Not possible; we are in each other.
Enmeshed in a way that you will only understand by feeling. Even if we
were never to set foot on the wrong side of your fences.<br />
<br />
What
'verbal attacks' have Kayla or I ever done to Rod or Brooks? What 'name
calling'? Can you furnish one example? Yes, our relationship
deteriorated after you guys made a misguided secret, exclusive and
executive decision about the lives of not just Ande and Kayla's family
but another family bonded with intimate knowledge of place and every
other of those who would certainly be inhabiting the Winter Grounds
given half a chance and unmolested tenure. I can admit that both Kayla
and I have spoken strongly with some of you. I can freely admit that
with you, James, I expressed my frustration when you and Melanie came
strolling up to my shop, pitched only two days previous in the hopes of
finally getting some orders filled and I heard you, with entitled
smugness, tell me to take it down. Compound this with being hassled and
on the run for maintaining a connection with the ancestral homeland of
our children.<br />
<br />
Although I have no intention to 'return to the
ranch' at this point, I have made no 'promise' to Rod. The first time
the sheriff deputy came he left a hand-scrawled card on our door (we
didn't see him because we were in town) saying the 'property' owner
wants us gone in 24 hrs or "we will be back to trespass you". We called
the deputy, after Rod and Brooks had told us to work it out with him,
and asked if we could stay until the new year (after Sequoia's birthday,
solstice and Christmas) he said that would be fine but he'd have to
check with the 'owners'. He called back to tell us they wanted us gone
in twenty four hours. We kept holding out for a shred of decency,
empathy, compassion. Something, anything real. We refused to be
motivated by the abstract fear of a symbolic culture. We were aware that
meant meeting the fear with love, were we not to be moved by it. So we
did and we do and, it turns out, we love as much as we are loved as much
as we love...<br />
<br />
We looked far and wide, we even followed Rod's
only -not 'many' by any stretch of the imagination- idea to visit Deer
Mountain in California. Everything came back home to love and that
motivation. You guys have offered more in the way of 'solutions' to the
problem of cattle who trash this land than you have to the keystone
people who care for it.<br />
<br />
Again, collaboration is all we have ever
asked for. At least now you have the honesty to say what's been true all
along. It's a shame we have to go to such extremes to find some
honesty. Yet somehow I still don't believe it, because above all else,
even human relationships, you want your project to succeed. On it's
current trajectory your project has already failed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Deep, real love,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Ande, Kayla</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
_________________________________________________________________________________</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-35095941013473816572015-01-15T00:04:00.001-08:002015-01-15T00:33:37.865-08:00Who is Who<div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Below we are sharing an email correspondence between Rod Newton (new "land owner" of the Winter Grounds) and Wylden Freeborne (Michael) that came in shorty after we were arrested for going home (see previous post). It may help fill out the story and bring more understanding of the roles being lived out, for real, now.</span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: 22px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: 22px;">I </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">called Rod today and told him that I and my family are part of the community of the Cascade-Siskiyous and that I wanted to let him know that his actions are shameful and cowardly. To call upon violent forces to do our bidding is to remove ourselves from relation. He asked for an email address so he could respond. He sent this within the hour:</span></div></span><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Michael,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I appreciate your concern for Tipi Village, and for handling disagreements in a civil and collaborative way. I also hold those values. This has been very painful for us and I’ll share why I think we did the only thing that we could have done under the circumstances. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Feb and September of this year, we purchased two parcels of the Mosby ranch for the purpose of establishing an organic farming and land regeneration research and education institute. During May and June, Ande and Kayla livedon the first parcel we purchased before moving up to their summer site, since they had to move off of the Mosby property. As we got to know them we appreciated their vision of wanting to live in harmony with the land, but even then there were many uncertainties about the practicality and legality of their return to the second parcel we were buying from the Mosby's. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In order to explore all options, we volunteered a considerable amount of time, energy, and money in a thorough and lengthy research of Jackson county law relating to living in a Tipi. Jackson county law is clear in defining Tipi living as a form of camping, and camping on privately owned land is allowed for a maximum of 30 days in any 6 month period. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any way that Tipi living could be legal on this land for more than the 30 days in six months. This made it clear that we could not give them permission them to return to the land in violation of the law, since they had already stayed more than 30 days in the past six months.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We then told Ande and Kayla that we couldn’t legally give them permission to move back to the land, because we weren’t willing to violate the law. They disregarded our concerns, and appeared determined to return anyway, so we had to inform them that if they moved back without our permission in a way that violates Jackson county regulations, we would be required to call the authorities, because if we didn’t, we would be in violation of the law. We had a number of meetings with them, but of all of their options, they seemed determined to move back on the land. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We hold a lot of values in common with Ande and Kayla, have grown quite personally fond of them, and support their mission of bringing back low impact living on the land. But the one area where we disagree is about the willingness to break the law. In the end their dispute is more with Jackson County law than it is with us, but we became stuck in the middle. Sadly, when they decided to move back to the land without our permission, and in violation of the law,we believe that they chose an option that is not only disruptive to everyone concerned, butdestructive for the future of low impact living on the land. We wish them well, but cannot be party to breaking the law. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Of course you might feel differently about breaking the law, and you might have made another decision if you were in my situation, but I hope from this you can at least why we made the decisions we made. They were carefully considered, with input from our council and elders who were unanimous in the decisions, and based on exhaustive research into the situation. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I’m happy to hear any thoughts and feelings you have after reading this. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Thanks, </span></p><div class=""><div id=":sp" class="" tabindex="0"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img class="" src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif"></span></div></div><span class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rod</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This is my response to him:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hello Rod. Thank you for the note. I am very interested in sincere communication. I do hope we can find that one day. In the mean time, i will respond to your message. I do feel differently about breaking the law, specifically when to not do so comes at the cost of our integrity. It was once against the law to harbor runaway slaves. It was once against the law for Native people's to dance, sing or speak their language. Law is meant not to protect or serve the people, but to protect and serve the rulers of the people. If you think for a moment that laws of land ownership and county codes against living on the ground are at all different than laws supporting slavery, you should ask Ande and Kayla how their shackles felt differently. </span></p><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">You provide your story in a way that I read as you claiming powerlessness. This is sad to me as we are all empowered to make the choices we make. This is the privilege you and I were born with. You were not powerless when you picked up a phone and called upon violent forces to do your bidding. The police function out of fear. The fear of their violence is the motivating factor to abide by unjust laws. Period. When one is subjected to the violence, or threat there of, one will feel a sense of powerlessness, even briefly. When one chooses to call upon those violent forces to work in their benefit or on their behalf, that person loses touch with the reality at hand. You have purchased land that is older than you and I. Land older than tipi village. Older than laws and deeds and organic farms or solar panels or fly by night new age health spas. The land does not need cops, or men with guns, but those willing to listen. Those who come humbly will be gifted. There is no ownership, Rod. Only violence or love. You ARE empowered to choose your path. You can claim self righteousness concerning law, but we both know that this is disingenuous. When we speak of love, we speak not according to laws of country, state, county or city, we speak of opposition to law. True love is fearless, and just and integral.Law requires fear, hence the guns, the shackles, the jails. Land is not parcels, it is not packages, it is not fences or property lines. Land is life. Living on the ground is not a mission. It is living on the ground. Ande and Kayla, Rowan, Isla, Sequoia and Tamarack, are part of that land. They are born there. Are you? Can you be? Or are you there to till soil and tear out trees, reroute streams and all in the name of regeneration research? Stop researching. Stop searching. Start seeing. Start hearing. You can remove them with a phone call, you can get unanimous consent from a board, you talk to your lawyers and your elders, and get permission to act in a way that they choose for you to act, or you can listen to the land. You can talk to those who you will be the ancestor of and tell them you did what was right, not what was legal. You have chosen a side to fight for, and you can choose again. Each moment is a choice, a potential adventure or a bland retelling. It takes a simple reading of a children's story to see where we stand sometimes. It is not hard to see who is who in this story. Can you see?</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Wylden</span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 13px;"><br></div></span></div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-63104235508545829482015-01-13T02:53:00.001-08:002015-01-13T10:36:04.246-08:00Hold on to what is good.<p dir="ltr"><b><i>Hold</i></b><b><i> on to what is good,</i></b><br>
<b><i>Even if it's a handful of earth.</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>Hold on to what you believe,</i></b><br>
<b><i>Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>Hold on to what you must do,</i></b><br>
<b><i>Even if it's a long way from here.</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>Hold on to your life,</i></b><br>
<b><i>Even if it's easier to let go.</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>Hold on to my hand,</i></b><br>
<b><i>Even if someday I'll be gone away from you.</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr">— Pueblo Prayer</p>
<p dir="ltr">Sitting on the ground now, cool and damp January evening, the usual soft snores of the children, fire of oak, madrone and manzanita low flickering, starting to smoke a little and will need attention.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We've been displaced by a proposed eco-village by the name of Seven Generations farm. Arrested, cuffed and taken to jail for 'second degree trespass', relating to the place we have been calling the Winter Grounds for the past seven years. The Place we call home. The Place in the woods, oak savanna, whose deed title changed hands half a year ago along with 1600 other acres. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Last spring we spoke with the incoming title owners and they said they have more land than they know what to do with and they like how we live and as long as they don't know then they don't care. An advisor told them that they had liability issues with us but it was spring and we were moving, plus we were being evicted by the old title holders. </p>
<p dir="ltr">We met the incoming title owners and we sat in circle and cried and they said that the aim of their project, Seven Generations Farm, was that people would be living similarly to how we live in seven generations. We breathed and fell in love with a couple who had 'wanted to do an eco-village' since childhood. We felt an alliance and moved to the Summer Grounds only to find that it was in contract to the neighbouring conservationists, who also wanted us gone, the events of which are covered in previous posts. Our new ally told us to inform the then title holders that we could pay them more money and close the deal in seven days. The Summer Grounds became valuable to them when they discovered that the three measure 49 claims attached to that deed were transferable (meaning that they would be able to bypass county planning processes for building home sites). We filed a lawsuit for the right to buy the title for the Summer Grounds. We hired an attorney and paid him from the Land Liberation Fund. He advised us on absolute secrecy, even with our new ally and then in a later meeting told us that he couldn't represent us for fear of being associated with 'queering' a sale. Our new ally was advised by their attorney that they could be sued in turn for conspiring to disrupt a sale. So they pulled out. We found out after asking them as they were about to go on a hiking vacation in Utah for a couple of weeks.<br>
We held off returning to the Winter Grounds as we continued communication with our new allies, all upstanding pillars of the Ashland new age community, and it became clear that they were indeed afraid that our way of life is a liability to their project. </p>
<p dir="ltr">They are working on saving the world so it's quite important. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Their lawyer told them that if anyone complains about our homes being in noncompliance with county regulations then it could slow and entangle the 'things' they wanted swiftly passed with the county. We maintained dialogue and gradually our protestations, input and ideas began to fall on deaf ears. They wanted us gone. Away.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Meanwhile we're late on the mountain and the Big Lodge is blown over and shredded to the winds and the last of the serviceberries have dried up, the geese are flying, shadows lengthening and the hot summer of many wildfires smells old. Via a hop and a step we're back on the Winter Grounds and our new allies are telling us that along with their meta-council, in spite of sociocratic and consensual ideals, they've made a difficult decision and they're calling the cops on us because we've returned home. They gave us 'fair warning' and even a 'heads up'.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Here's an account of that day written shortly after it happened. It's no 'poor me' and after the experience I have a newfound respect for brothers and sisters imprisoned for an imposed ideology: </p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>I was sipping coffee, it was a late morning as I was late in the shop the previous night working on a lining for Dan over the hill. I had my phone out reading an email from Jules Pretty. He's the author of Edge of Extinction and he'd been talking about extinction and evolution on Start the Week. I was inspired hearing him speak about 'enduring people in vanishing lands' so I wrote to him. He said, "Those who are settled have always become suspicious of those who move, even if their touch on the land is light". There were footsteps outside (shaking the web) and I looked up to see three or four grave looking men in badged uniforms, with guns, cuffs, tasers, mace (etc.) walking up to the doorway and peering in. Very well presented, clean cut and clean smelling. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>They told us that they were here to arrest us for trespass. Here at the Winter Spot. So we put our boots on, all of us, and they walked us out. There was a little of the usual banter that occurs at the intersection of two cultures, or paradigms. We came to the road and Kim pulled up with Jimmy to take the children to their place. The kids were valiant and stalwart. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>I can only imagine what it must feel like to see my mum as dad being handcuffed and taken away. The bigger ones understood that we'd (according to the deputy) probably be released the same day, but still...y'know? </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Then it's Kayla and I in the back seat of this sheriff's pickup truck with bars on the windows and clear vinyl covering the seats. Cuffs digging in still behind our backs and they buckle us in.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>On the I-5 north to Medford and we start singing that old Seize the Day song: </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>'No-one's slave I am no-one's master</i></b><br>
<b><i>No-one's slave I am no-one's master</i></b><br>
<b><i>On my grave they will write this after I am gone</i></b><br>
<b><i>I will be gone</i></b><br>
<b><i>And when my breath has gone to the air it came from</i></b><br>
<b><i>Flesh has gone to the earth it lived on</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>I am through with the shame of my lying</i></b><br>
<b><i>Had my fill of the cruelty and crying</i></b><br>
<b><i>Earned my keep in the land where the dying deserts grow</i></b><br>
<b><i>And now I know</i></b><br>
<b><i>And now I'm looking out with a new perspective</i></b><br>
<b><i>Lifting up with a new directive</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>Going home to the land of our mothers</i></b><br>
<b><i>I will walk with my sisters and brothers</i></b><br>
<b><i>We will share what is good with each other in our love</i></b><br>
<b><i>It is our love</i></b><br>
<b><i>It is a love that brings you the invitation</i></b><br>
<b><i>Join me now with this incantation:</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>Mother Earth I was nearly the end of you</i></b><br>
<b><i>Please accept my desire to be friends with you</i></b><br>
<b><i>Now I know just how much I depend on you for life</i></b><br>
<b><i>You are my life </i></b><br>
<b><i>You are the life that grows in the flesh I'm weaving</i></b><br>
<b><i>Life that grows in the air I'm breathing</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>I am strong like a tree on a mountain</i></b><br>
<b><i>Full and fresh like a free flowing fountain</i></b><br>
<b><i>Bright and clear as the stars beyond counting in the night </i></b><br>
<b><i>I am their light</i></b><br>
<b><i>I am the light that shines in a thousand people</i></b><br>
<b><i>In my sight every life is equal</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>No-one's slave I am no-one's master</i></b><br>
<b><i>No-one's slave I am no-one's master</i></b><br>
<b><i>On my grave they will write this after I am gone</i></b><br>
<b><i>I will be gone.</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>We come to the jailhouse chain-link, razor-wire gate. The deputy hails the intercom,"This is Adams with one male, one female, cooperative. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Now, finally, they have us cooperative.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Gate closes behind. We pull into a large garage, door rolls down behind. Deputy gets out, opens the truck doors. We get out and wait in front of a glass and metal door leading to a chamber where someone before us is getting frisked. Kayla and I kiss, the deputy tells us not to. Kayla goes in first and I see them searching her, taking her outer clothes off, her headscarf, facing the wall. Now she's facing the woman searching her, talking, then she looks at me and shrugs with a resigned smile, holds up her hand and takes her ring off. They take her through the other door and now we'll only see each other briefly through the window on a cell door. We will hear each other and we sing the Song of the Diggers and this old favourite:</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>We are the power in everyone</b><br>
<b>We are the dance of the moon and the sun</b><br>
<b>We are the hope that will never hide</b><br>
<b>We are the turning of the tide</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Then it's me, feet on the red lines on the floor, slightly too wide for my height, about a foot -18', facing a bloodstained cinder block wall. Three or four armed men behind me, going through the pockets of my coat that I'd brought along but wasn't wearing. </b><br>
<b>"What are you here for?"</b><br>
<b>"I'm not sure...living in a tipi?"</b><br>
<b>Arresting officer Retzer, in comparison now kind and familiar steps in, "Trespass two"</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Then my trousers, belt, pants starting to fall off, shirt unbuttoned, then cuffs off, wrists released. My ring wasn't coming off (but he got it later with some lotion). </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Then ,"Follow the blue line!", clothes, socks jumbled up.To another room. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"Take the rest of your clothes off." </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"Oh, are you gunna look up my bum?"</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>-"Yes"</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>" What, like </b><b><i>probe</i></b><b> it?" </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>-" No. Turn around, bend forward, spread your cheeks and cough three times." </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i><b>"Cough, cough, cough."</b></i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"Again, but harder."</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i><b>"Cough, cough, cough!"</b></i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"Ya gotta do it harder"</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i><b>"Cough, cough, cough."</b></i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"Harder!"</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i><b>"Cough, ahacouurgh cough, cough, chug, charrugh!"</b></i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"OK, put these on!"</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>White, well worn, many laundered boxer shorts, T-shirt, green overalls. Blanket, sheet, pillowcase containing rubber cup, spoon, four sheets of paper and a pencil, toothbrush, palm comb, booklet. Given to me in exchange for all that was just taken. Led to a cell. Man asleep on a bunk, head in the corner, raises his head, swollen eyes, growl, head down, stainless steel toilet/ sink unit to the right. Empty bunks to the left. </b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>Door closed.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">Following is some of what I wrote in that cell. Read on with a strong centre because there is some swearing in it and I was really pissed off. It's not necessarily how I feel now:</p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>Fuck your self-righteous and justified veneer of indifference and nauseatingly complete lack of empathy. Fuck your pseudo-sympathy. Fuck your desperate and spineless political posturing and your squirming from any personal responsibility for the manifestation in Our Shared Life. Fuck your manipulation and your fear-mongery. Fuck your nonviolent passive aggression. I went to jail because this time I defied your consistently poor judgement.</i><br>
<i>You punished my family and I, Brooks and Rod, and your character has been laid bare and open for all to see and now we can see your capacity for honest collaboration. Here we sit: caged, cooperative and cuffed and now you can say that you follow through with what you say. That you are people of integrity and strong boundaries. You might like to question the values contained within those boundaries.</i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>Your proposed ecovillage is founded on the denial of my freedom. So fuck your ecovillage. Your deeper intention is being revealed through all of this which appears to be nothing more than the same bullying and domination of the past three millennia. Even more galling is the cynical lexicon of new age love behind which you hide your pernicious agenda for profit from the land.</i><br>
<i>I was sent to jail because I did not honour your 'request' to not return to the Winter Grounds, home. What kind of 'request' cannot be declined? And my children, remember, you called them 'little love bugs'? Fuck you for manipulatively using the threat of them being taken by child services for disobeying your commands. But mostly, fuck you for diminishing their opportunity to live a life of connected place.</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">They released us late the same night. There followed heavy rain and wind and we were homeless. St. Vincent de Paul helped us to pay for a week in the Ashland Commons.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We asked for consensus or at least to be left alone in the twenty foot circle in the woods we call home. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Where do the free people go in this Land of the Free? Yes Rod, as you said, you 'hooked the rebellion'. Meanwhile, emperor, we have to work out shelter and it's winter.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Today the deed owners rescinded the charges that they had dropped at our request under the mistaken belief that we had moved back to "their" land and we are to be in court on the 28th of January. I'd like to simply get along with my life in a good way and be done with this cold, hard contention.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>"</i></b><b><i>We</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>sing</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>of</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>freedom</i></b><br>
<b><i>And</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>speak</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>of</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>liberation</i></b><br>
<b><i>But</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>such</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>chances</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>come</i></b><br>
<b><i>Once</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>a</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>generation</i></b><br>
<b><i>So</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>I'll</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>ignore</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>what</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>I</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>am</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>sure</i></b><br>
<b><i>Are</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>the</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>best</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>of</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>your</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>intentions</i></b><br>
<b><i>You</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>are</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>judged</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>by</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>your</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>actions</i></b><br>
<b><i>And</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>not</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>by</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>your</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>pretensions</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b><i>There's</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>drudgery</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>in</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>social</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>change</i></b><br>
<b><i>And</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>glory</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>for</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>the</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>few</i></b><br>
<b><i>And</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>if</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>you</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>don't</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>tell</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>me</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>what</i></b><b><i> not </i></b><b><i>to</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>say</i></b><br>
<b><i>I</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>won't</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>tell</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>you</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>what</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>not</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>to</i></b><b><i> </i></b><b><i>do</i></b><b><i>.</i></b><b><i>"</i></b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>-</b><b>B</b><b>. Bragg (I don't need this pressure, Ron).</b><br></p>
<p dir="ltr">-Ande</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj83IFzFomlaBzVu0Bc42eOhJN2Aq9GA7fMo5r_aDntXBCYvTTeVpCBDFqkYe58-goAT13XEpEnLRz29bnduRnPu4w0xoHzimb00HzVlNl7iVeghuxV3A9nWiRD6gTr5AvaDL87iFuuxGO5/s1600/20141209_102858.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj83IFzFomlaBzVu0Bc42eOhJN2Aq9GA7fMo5r_aDntXBCYvTTeVpCBDFqkYe58-goAT13XEpEnLRz29bnduRnPu4w0xoHzimb00HzVlNl7iVeghuxV3A9nWiRD6gTr5AvaDL87iFuuxGO5/s640/20141209_102858.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh944NatEvBbEBHf3KtIG1uTt62yVMkn_KsIjekx9K-U0QFhUbN5E1GMVMfCC7oz9IckAvqmkfGb3Lg7ULamf2mmOTEQQT1APtuaZhtdAiPRgEwMXSoKXnCZrBZFQrK5b0ylvAlBQuY_CBF/s1600/20141209_101148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh944NatEvBbEBHf3KtIG1uTt62yVMkn_KsIjekx9K-U0QFhUbN5E1GMVMfCC7oz9IckAvqmkfGb3Lg7ULamf2mmOTEQQT1APtuaZhtdAiPRgEwMXSoKXnCZrBZFQrK5b0ylvAlBQuY_CBF/s640/20141209_101148.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hymtzRKjS-VLDEdLdOAp36YJRB3Ksy8ICAo5BtOLcseqmgqiuT7MTKHG5lkvTDGbC5jLncdrYZSyuRfmVIZoZHyHqOhxMYhV8gM_Itst5FRGrLiqUzIMAvhJRIIlX98mfY_Derd87M7H/s1600/20150107_092452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4hymtzRKjS-VLDEdLdOAp36YJRB3Ksy8ICAo5BtOLcseqmgqiuT7MTKHG5lkvTDGbC5jLncdrYZSyuRfmVIZoZHyHqOhxMYhV8gM_Itst5FRGrLiqUzIMAvhJRIIlX98mfY_Derd87M7H/s640/20150107_092452.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_i2agj6wj-fhwTVfveTFz8TcxXGkzGd-d2nbkBj5FNSx70EsgVEP6Ca9ZGznbjKILweYAXlZk0SLLiGbWF8cuwHdGymrwNqx2T0gLX39ZsBCAMbN9He1_m6LZXXJ_-1RfEimgSUtpI0_y/s1600/20150108_215719_LLS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_i2agj6wj-fhwTVfveTFz8TcxXGkzGd-d2nbkBj5FNSx70EsgVEP6Ca9ZGznbjKILweYAXlZk0SLLiGbWF8cuwHdGymrwNqx2T0gLX39ZsBCAMbN9He1_m6LZXXJ_-1RfEimgSUtpI0_y/s640/20150108_215719_LLS.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-12748579082768499412014-11-30T15:26:00.001-08:002014-11-30T15:29:07.377-08:00Surrender to Love<div>The children and I walked for a long time today. The first proper walk since our migratory return to the Winter Grounds as we have been focused and busy making our home. We have only been here for a handful of days yet if feels like forever.</div><div><br></div><div>We set out, with no clear plan or route in mind. Slowly we walked together and I found myself entering into a bit of an altered state. It was the swing that took me there. Or rather the sounds of laughter that came from that bit of rope tied to that old oak where the hillside is worn down from the countless little feet dragging as bodies thrust into the air. The echoes were familiar as they traveled through the small valley and were held by the trees.</div><div><br></div><div>We carried on, gathering around the still standing May Pole. I could hear the singing and feel the dancing that was woven into those faded colors of cloth wrapped around the towering pole. Village life was full in those days and I love dearly the people I have lived with on this hillside. </div><div><br></div><div>I began to understand a quality and reason for this walk that I was unaware of when we first began. A quality of healing, of coming full circle, of honoring a process. Perhaps the beginning of a walking ceremony of completion, of death, of transformation. Perhaps it would help to release the dancing woven ribbons of the May Pole to the fire and to open all the hearths to the east. Release.</div><div><br></div><div>We continued on, making our way past the many mounds made with muscle, sweat, shovels, pick axes. Where lodges once stood and where people we love once dwelled. We were walking amidst the ruins of a once thriving tipi village. </div><div><br></div><div>Gently, sadness flows through me and out my eyes back into this hillside.</div><div><br></div><div>The stories and feelings of this place, of this journey, grew, exponentially as the children shared their own as we walked, giving me a small glimpse into their wild and free relationship with their place. </div><div><br></div><div>We ate rose hips as we searched along the dry creek bed for treasures of tumbled stone. It was the sound of muffled singing and drumming from a distant past that brought us to stand at the bones of an old sweat lodge. A place where together we entered the womb of the mother and prayed. I could feel its' warmth somehow although it was damp, the hearth overgrown with moss and my breath steaming as I exhaled. Outside of myself are the cold remains of tribal life. Inside are the stories of connection, life, love.</div><div><br></div><div>We gathered herbs to bring home for tea. Our quiet walking on the leafy path joined us with a buck who turned and came toward us with a relaxed confidence. For a brief moment I thought I was a deer, perhaps a doe, for we seemed so comfortable together. </div><div><br></div><div>With chilled hands in our pockets we uncovered with our boots the old rock-tiled platform and hearth built for the horse trough bath tub. Such luxury to bath in the snow by the creek!</div><div><br></div><div>A dense, dry standing dead oak revealed itself. The kids and I wrestled with it for awhile. Now it brings warmth and light to our home. </div><div><br></div><div>We continued on, following the faded network of paths formed overtime as hearts and hearths connected; traveling bodies moving through life in similar ways. Gathering wood. Fetching water. Having a poo, visiting a neighbor, having a bath, playing, joining, celebrating, arguing.</div><div><br></div><div>A web of shared life shimmering with texture.</div><div><br></div><div>The sound of the first lodge to rise with the chopping of wood or the crying of a child. </div><div><br></div><div>In the evenings, hunkering down for the long nights journey away from the sun and one by one the glowing lanterns of homes across the hillside fading out. </div><div><br></div><div>The sounds of children being born; a father announcing the arrival with the blowing of the conch.</div><div><br></div><div>The bright colors of village children in costume for a beating-of-the-bounds parade or a Spring Equinox play. </div><div><br></div><div>The long, long nights on vigil hill; bodies bundled from the wet and cold while waiting for the return of the sun. </div><div><br></div><div>The sacred communing and mind melding of the talking stick, spiraling around and around, sometimes till morning.</div><div><br></div><div>The big lodge and all the diverse realities it accommodated.</div><div><br></div><div>It's only our one family lodge standing here now, glowing in the night.</div><div><br></div><div>There are so many reasons, known and unknown, for the dispersal of lives. It was the sheriffs arrival at the Summer Grounds in September, on the behalf of the land "owner", coming to remove us that broke the last of this shimmering web.</div><div><br></div><div>Spider shows us that webs are alive. They ebb and flow, break and mend at the whim of the elements. To be strong, they are continually re-made. Sometimes daily. </div><div><br></div><div>We have returned to the Winter Grounds although the new land "owners" have asked us not to. For this struggle and lack of consensus between us I am sorry. I love them and see myself in them. Respectfully, our family answers to the earth. It is her with whom we give our authority. I pray that we all remember this power.</div><div><br></div><div>We needed to return here to be able to feel and to heal. A circle completing and never ending. </div><div>It is a deep blessing.</div><div>May we continue to walk with gratitude for where we have been, where we are now and where we are going. I remember, yet again, that the process and journey through life is all we have. May we cherish it.</div><div><br></div><div>To all the lives who lived on this hillside, I love you. Deeply. You are in me. It was an honor to share life with you in this way and has made my life more whole. </div><div><br></div><div>To the life before me now, this land, these trees, this water, thank you for opening. Thank you for receiving the lives from my womb made by the love of two bodies united under your moon. Thank you for weaving me and my family into you and you into us. And thank you to the previous land "owner", who preferred to call himself a steward, for being a part of the openness here. </div><div><br></div><div>To the people who have recently arrived here as the new land "owners", please be good to her. Take care of her and listen to her. May you be taken in and held as we were by her fierce and gentle embrace. </div><div><br></div><div>And to the unknown path ahead of us, may we walk it with open arms and curious minds. May the love that opened to us here in this place give us the strength and power to move forward on dancing feet. </div><div><br></div><div>Kayla</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRWTmmo0V526HfcpeceNmxZCasOVHiOcrLX30p8dVvvXZgnlnmwNYUpnJG708s-Aoke1BFcqhiyyGFTU-v8sEWdySWMxqZhmtPdWfLx0ku3ltEFy8IfAwAvUTsyl8zNq83vH-AjtZBjaD8/s640/blogger-image--346575441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRWTmmo0V526HfcpeceNmxZCasOVHiOcrLX30p8dVvvXZgnlnmwNYUpnJG708s-Aoke1BFcqhiyyGFTU-v8sEWdySWMxqZhmtPdWfLx0ku3ltEFy8IfAwAvUTsyl8zNq83vH-AjtZBjaD8/s640/blogger-image--346575441.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-55954160376331130132014-11-12T23:06:00.001-08:002014-11-12T23:37:14.726-08:00Dispatches from the Trenches<p dir="ltr">Stepping out for a pee into the night strong wind rain tall trees. Push the smoke flaps over come back in to smoky embers remedied by a hand full of dry manzanita and oak twigs. The rest of the family sleeps barely audible sighs over the rain caressing the cover. No lining or ozan yet; moving lightly in our lodge.<br>
The Big Lodge blew down last new moon in some heavy wind on Soda Mountain. It didn't just blow down, it kind of <i>exploded</i>. It was really well staked around the cover and the tripod was buried 12-18 inches. We were staying in there and went to bed trepidatiously, poles flexing from the onslaught of the wind but standing strong and tight. Little sleep and then sometime around four the cover started tearing on the leeward side. It was a 27' tipi and liked to catch the wind. At this point we roused the children and got out, more tearing as the fabric gave way at the peg loops. Kayla and the kids headed away towards the van, trees crashing, I stayed rolling up bedrolls as the whole structure becomes more and more unstable, wind more and more intense and I find myself in the doorway as reality begins to lean and shift then white canvas passing my face, poles knocking, looking up to see a clear, moonless sky, Orion trailing his dog and away to the left shreds of canvas, still firmly staked, and a pile of articulated poles, fallen, discovered for the first time, ancient bones uncovered by the elements.This was Clear Guidance and we took refuge in town for a few days while we cleaned up the aftermath of the Big Lodge and pitched our family lodge...somewhere else.</p><p dir="ltr">The Big Lodge is no more, at least for now, and it's both saddening and a relief. The whole concept and reality of Tipi Village is an unanswered question and this is a time of radical restructuring on many levels. Most welcome. Right now we are one family in the woods and the rain is getting heavier. We get to rise to the circumstance of living and always give thanks.</p>
<p dir="ltr">-Ande<br>
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcPdGxwjgWxPgHHvypsBriNq-jk67k4Ojf4i2xZfucj8LdWYgA1uCqEZ_L583ywhrXbUilHaGJY-ZtRfHf9rw96P0lkiWQJ3jj_YQI1wPZ9V1h2C3QrfjOsXFTZ-DPOSALJwtvpTQq1Um/s1600/20141029_142114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWcPdGxwjgWxPgHHvypsBriNq-jk67k4Ojf4i2xZfucj8LdWYgA1uCqEZ_L583ywhrXbUilHaGJY-ZtRfHf9rw96P0lkiWQJ3jj_YQI1wPZ9V1h2C3QrfjOsXFTZ-DPOSALJwtvpTQq1Um/s640/20141029_142114.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiteeHznX11dG_eQXcRdhkc6bg3l1X01VVNCf1ElSIULKA9d_pNVF1_DvsC7-OBVkAjguWQb_mj1lnQuS6hUVOHUHsN_73sLA2tHSH_aKQEBae7EGbKQzGNz8doCs71alnA5mjn_4AloitE/s1600/20141030_160759.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiteeHznX11dG_eQXcRdhkc6bg3l1X01VVNCf1ElSIULKA9d_pNVF1_DvsC7-OBVkAjguWQb_mj1lnQuS6hUVOHUHsN_73sLA2tHSH_aKQEBae7EGbKQzGNz8doCs71alnA5mjn_4AloitE/s640/20141030_160759.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIki1Wrm7Cuxq1jN_zPLQZ5519TJOHwramjfH7eQXzz-iawBngN7HU5OqDiap37iNQMqcs8gAUk8HhxkFqxOOzfqrS-8CnwtAX9QIS6zk36Zh0KdnYfCmZ6liSlYTkctd-y64442wk_Jax/s1600/PicsArt_1415857518049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIki1Wrm7Cuxq1jN_zPLQZ5519TJOHwramjfH7eQXzz-iawBngN7HU5OqDiap37iNQMqcs8gAUk8HhxkFqxOOzfqrS-8CnwtAX9QIS6zk36Zh0KdnYfCmZ6liSlYTkctd-y64442wk_Jax/s640/PicsArt_1415857518049.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnFpMY0DCrSLBIjXL0-5cNiJ0KAwOxqbAZxdEO6x7P8N5GR4Kubm6AhrwjLKZ1bSeOprQT4snVOsnVEiat7slysQWwQosW3PTMqgnTchuuQhMs5M2RK0Maov8pvKzfBdfrwE8FRHrf6g8/s1600/20141025_115606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnFpMY0DCrSLBIjXL0-5cNiJ0KAwOxqbAZxdEO6x7P8N5GR4Kubm6AhrwjLKZ1bSeOprQT4snVOsnVEiat7slysQWwQosW3PTMqgnTchuuQhMs5M2RK0Maov8pvKzfBdfrwE8FRHrf6g8/s640/20141025_115606.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-77984081465022314502014-09-29T20:45:00.001-07:002014-09-29T20:48:37.065-07:00<p dir=ltr>Geese giggle overhead longing for winter grounds land slipping away below. We slip away together.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9M_sokgxKsxcnbY7knavadNLUV4dQZqM40G09_S3Cv4GCizSG_zQKrpzHHagu9ErWCByKrl3yFnVHu9ZMXJ81vZXgxsuhgfF1PWDHcXiexESUmo4za53UCS-vj3vZlNjgDTMHLSQsT-2/s1600/IMG_20140927_190438_660.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN9M_sokgxKsxcnbY7knavadNLUV4dQZqM40G09_S3Cv4GCizSG_zQKrpzHHagu9ErWCByKrl3yFnVHu9ZMXJ81vZXgxsuhgfF1PWDHcXiexESUmo4za53UCS-vj3vZlNjgDTMHLSQsT-2/s640/IMG_20140927_190438_660.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-22495047892170742522014-09-22T14:02:00.001-07:002014-09-22T16:47:10.570-07:00Skunk Medicine<p dir="ltr">Occasionally a skunk might come into our tipi, at night, when we're all in bed. He'll sniff around the food box, maybe rummage in the trash and generally have a good nose around. He'll have free reign around the lodge; an uncomfortable and formidable, (though dynamic and welcome) guest, even known as good pets. Any attempt to shoo or evict a skunk would be folly, even were one not in one's home. Left be, skunks are a rich part of the fauna of embedded place. A benefit to a diverse ecosystem with powerful medicine. When harassed or threatened, their defensive spray can be so intense as to cause temporary blindness and lasting discomfort.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It has been a little over a week since our second visit from the deputies. We had moved, since eviction, deeper into the woods, onto land within the same region but beyond the assumed imaginary boundaries of the Dominant Paradigm. It turned out, according to the real estate agent's GPS(who happened to show up shortly after the deputies' arrival), that we had pitched our lodges on the 'wrong' side of that imaginary line drawn over a map of the wilderness, by a couple of hundred feet.<br>
The deputies recognised our blunder as a good faith attempt to comply and gave us until Monday to 'rectify the mistake'. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Is that fair?" asked deputy Mc.Kay. In one sense, yes, of course, we've made a mistake, we're on the wrong side of that line on that map. My mouth however, which sometimes, with an emboldened doubt, like stretching fresh wings, said (something like),"No, that's not fair. This place we call home, our children are born and grow here. The folds of this place, we know intimately, as the folds of a lover. You men with guns and tasers walk all the way up the hill here, well out of your way, into the wilderness, to displace us, so that this land can be sold to conservation and exclude these representatives of a keystone species." (the reality of what actually came out was probably more clumsy).</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Well let me say it like this, on Monday I'm coming back and I'll arrest every adult still here and place your children with Child Services."</p>
<p dir="ltr">I have a lot of respect, on the whole, for the deputies. We've had some good dialogue over the past week. They are charged with executing a court order and they seem to understand the absurdity of the whole situation; families living wholesomely on vacant land in the middle of nowhere, not only doing no harm but bringing great benefit to the immediate ecology. They, in this instance, being agents for the powerless wealthy. An executor of an estate of thousands of acres, living in Montana and an LA business man connected with the Hearst Foundation.</p>
<p dir="ltr">During the intervening days the Big Lodge was moved to Public Land and the village was cleared all except for our family lodge, remaining on the 'wrong' side of that line. The children went to stay at their Nana's. Monday morning came and some people showed up in support. Kayla made herself comfortable in the crown of our lodge and the sheriff's deputies arrived, walking up the hill. They stayed for a while, appearing a little bemused and more perplexed, not expecting to see my glorious wife high in the crown, with a sign,"we belong to the earth", peacefully not only refusing to come down and be displaced, but giving the deputies some heartfelt conversation. Mostly I felt like crying during that time and I missed the children being witness to such living. The deputies left not needing to arrest anyone, Kayla came down and we took off for Medford seeking legal help. We heard that the deputies had come back again whilst we were gone. They have a fleet of four or six vehicles, two pulling trailers carrying ATVs. Combined there has probably been more spent on evicting my family from the wilderness than we earn in a year. We're talking tens of thousands of dollars. They came again the next day and we were gone again. The day after that the deputies and I met on the driveway. They told me they were coming to take our family lodge. I was amused to imagine them dragging the whole thing down the hill on their backs but it turned out they were coming only for the cover. They strongly asked me to accompany them but I declined as we were on our way to the courthouse to file a lawsuit. And anyway we have plenty of tipis and can make more. The lawsuit is so that we can have the right to 'buy' the place we call home. We came home, late, hungry and tired in the rain to find out the Big Lodge had blown over. Along with the deputies taking our home we had no shelter so we repitched the wet Big Lodge and made dinner and dried our bedding as best we could. Thankfully the deputies had helped and brought a couple of bags of our belongings to the Big Lodge. There was an idea to ask Bob and Suzi Given for shelter that night as it is their contingencies of purchase that are forcing Steve Mosby to evict us. They've stopped cmmunicating with us and refuse to consider our tenure, insisting that they will sell the land to the government. Many in the surrounding Greensprings community say that the Givens want to have Soda Mountain to themselves. I, personally, don't think they are so selfish. I think they have an old school idea of conservation which cannot accept humans as a part of the ecology. What is clear is that if we are to do anything about environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity then it is essential that we re-intergrate ourselves, our nature, as a part of a whole, Gaia.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So a couple of days ago we were heading to Central Point to collect our tipi cover and we met the other hostile neighbour, Jonathan Paul, outside of his house on Soda Mountain Road. There was some exchange of words and tensions grew along with aggression. He had a 'badass' gangsta-leaning little friend with him also heckling, telling us to leave and trying to intimidate. So we drove out to Central Point to the sherrifs, picked up our tipi and had more friendly interaction. Some hours and $20 in gas later we're home again and Jonathan Paul turns up again as we're collecting a set of poles from the 'wrong' side of that imaginary line (the sherrifs told us we could). More aggro posturing , whining and complaining (really- do you people have nothing better to do?) and Jonathan leaves telling us he's tattle telling the sheriff. So the next day we get a chance to engage on the front line of the Dominant Paradigm, again, and the deputies go and walk all the way up the hill, again, to discover that they had bad information.</p>
<p dir="ltr">You're probably reading this, JP and I'm probably going to hear about it from you. I'm communicating the story, from my perspective as it unfolds and you are woven in to it. I still don't know why we're opposed or why you're so much involved other than you've taken your friends Bob and Suzi's story. I can tell you that attempts at bullying and intimidation, even if you're acting at Bob and Suzi's request, will only serve to make us more resolute. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The last time Bob and Suzi Given's names were mentioned in this blog I was threatened, by Bob, with a defamation lawsuit (hey, that's how rich people communicate in the US of A!). It got Bob to speak from his Ivory Tower and I heard his and Suzi's discomfort at feeling dragged in front of their community against their will. With compassion (I have no assets to lose in a lawsuit) their names were removed from the open letter I wrote to them. Bob and Suzi Given,you can continue to pull strings to send men with guns and uniforms, men without guns claiming to be 'security', have big, ugly yellow gates installed and locked, and generally harrass, intimidate and try to get your own way by whatever means you deem appropriate, but understand that the world will know. Your actions lack any morality and even the most basic human decency, not to mention neighbourlyness. I have only ever been friendly and amicable with you and, even still, I enjoy our interactions, though sparse. I have the power of communication and I will continue to use it. Even when you come around and we get to a point of consensus; I will communicate that. If only you knew how much I long for some resolution with you! And before you freak out about the horror of your names being public, now, consider that I'm not dragging you from your home into the rain, telling you to leave and giving you and your children nowhere to go. <br>
My children have a right to be able to live and grow where they are born. There is no right to buy and sell the earth for private gain. We belong to the earth!<br>
Stop all of this waste and expense, circle with us and find a mutually amicable way forward together.</p><p dir="ltr">-Ande</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcwSm28gqGRelcCA1xt00OBBlC1H888Vlo8ya-NZd_yrjAhzPeIrdHCjlRUjhymxbVxADixfspg2h7hNGpkTb6nXwmQS8NJBDp_gJC0wkJldRPjrrUeiqXI6A4RMXtyifdLphhisZyV4l/s1600/IMG_20140917_093526_356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcwSm28gqGRelcCA1xt00OBBlC1H888Vlo8ya-NZd_yrjAhzPeIrdHCjlRUjhymxbVxADixfspg2h7hNGpkTb6nXwmQS8NJBDp_gJC0wkJldRPjrrUeiqXI6A4RMXtyifdLphhisZyV4l/s640/IMG_20140917_093526_356.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByEdqeDuj2-aKAulWCIR5sqrW020pmfRY1D1GbuP6mtdeSshF0_3LDyNNlaLjU4Io8Fs3yLhCevBzuzTVurg6bsHyW8jyXCyarCcvp4piaByYPa50ktSalqeLcuLZMCn6e4KnDdW4_L39/s1600/IMG_20140912_172259_984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjByEdqeDuj2-aKAulWCIR5sqrW020pmfRY1D1GbuP6mtdeSshF0_3LDyNNlaLjU4Io8Fs3yLhCevBzuzTVurg6bsHyW8jyXCyarCcvp4piaByYPa50ktSalqeLcuLZMCn6e4KnDdW4_L39/s640/IMG_20140912_172259_984.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-32063123719779347972014-09-22T13:54:00.001-07:002014-09-22T13:54:24.145-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtqLU7O6A5Q-FJqTF12o5iXQbqeQ3oVubaN7NrcVeOjoCLjGnOOdhYLYndPeTc9Si28KvLHjogxoQ231cZCzqEq5efACmtkVAzLUY8m-QwXsaRgVtRk1YNWuNdcHEaHNYTlKaToxFEwwUv/s1600/IMG_20140828_134633_284.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtqLU7O6A5Q-FJqTF12o5iXQbqeQ3oVubaN7NrcVeOjoCLjGnOOdhYLYndPeTc9Si28KvLHjogxoQ231cZCzqEq5efACmtkVAzLUY8m-QwXsaRgVtRk1YNWuNdcHEaHNYTlKaToxFEwwUv/s640/IMG_20140828_134633_284.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-59968939189569780172014-09-22T12:14:00.001-07:002014-10-04T16:13:02.569-07:00An Open Letter to Jonathan Paul, another involved distant neighbor<div><span style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">More sharing of the process here.....</span></div><span style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><div><span style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></span></div>Dear JonathanPaul,</span><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">I appreciate the decency (although minimal) you have to come to us directly for communication, however, it's ironic that I feel safer perched in the crown of my tipi over six men with guns, tazers, mace and handcuffs than I do talking on level ground with you. I continue to be baffled as to what your issue might be with my family and Tipi Village being on this mountain and I get a sense that you may not even know. Can you spell it out for me very clearly so that things can begin to be properly addressed (sans yelling)? I am not interested in aggressive threats towards my family from you or your friends anymore. Enough.</div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">It was Friday (a few days ago) when you came to "check" on us while we were loading the last of our things (with the sheriffs permission none-the-less) from the land we have been evicted from. You smugly took a picture and informed us that you'd be telling the authorities. Well the sheriffs paid our family yet another visit the following day. In retrospect, it probably helped our cause having them see that we are honest and that there are neighbors attempting to sabotage. They said the complaint that was filed was a 'bad call'. So I guess I can say thanks for that. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Although recent encounters between us have been on the nasty side, I have gotten glimpses of our commonality. I can imagine a day when we have a good, robust and respectful argument with the many valid perspectives all around. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">I heard you say that I should find another cause to sit in the crown of my lodge for, another way to spend my time. What other cause would that be? Animal rights? No GMO's? Climate Change? Yes, these are worthwhile causes and are also all symptoms of the dominant paradigm; the one that is currently pushing my family and community around. There is a pattern repeating itself here, one that is rooted in white-settler land-ownership consciousness. How did you get to 'own' your 'property' in the first place? Consider what it is embedded in. You shout for us to leave the mountain. How have we offended you so? The only time we enter your space is when driving by your house and cameras on our weekly trip to town. The less savory parts of myself are tempted to speed on by, ignoring the 'slow down' signs and your wish for no dust, but I resist. I'll stretch myself for the sake of neighborly respect, giving what I wish to receive. If I may be so arrogant as to advise you on something, how about finding something else to do with your time besides passive aggressively pushing and threatening families who are living a quiet, simple and direct life in the woods? </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">The mainstream paradigm has no regard for future generations. It is completely absorbed in itself. I will not feed my children to it! I will instead lead a way that I believe to be wholesome. A way that regards all our relations, including unborn ones. A new old culture is emerging through people all around the world. What a time to be alive! If peacefully resisting eviction by living in the top of my lodge can help this movement in any way, although small, it's a worthwhile cause. While seated up there, a sheriff asked me what kind of example I thought I was being for my children in not obeying the authorities. I felt a gentle smile emerge and then reminded him (and myself) that the highest authority is Mother Earth. She's in charge and continues beneath our feet. We belong to her, not the other way around. The most power we can have is in our ability to adapt to her and dance with her seasons. Anything else is an attempt to control the outside world, which is futile. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Jonathan, it is your birthright to have a place on the earth, to build a nest as the bird does. There is no arguing that. Every human has that right. There is enough space on this mountain to share. Contrary to the mainstream 'conservationist' thought, humans are actually an integral part of the natural world. We are living in a time where we humans must find a way (by remembering the old ways) to live in harmony with the remaining wild places. A healthy bio-diversity is dependent on keystone species. Humans are just that!</div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">The mainstream way is one of isolation and separation. We all know this. It does not live as tribes or bands any longer. It lacks an understanding that we are woven together and have a responsibility to each other and the future. I understand you do not have children of your own. But as folk who live within a few miles of each other out in the woods, you do. They live here with us. And they could use your help in assuring their future is imbued with a culture of regard, of empowerment through direct living, of songs and stories that are grounded in a place. You have a part in this story. Which role would you like to play? </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">In love,</div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Kayla</div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHmoXbkz-421pSumNZ_AQGLYLAVypTME0-MJOUOQWteL9PiCRhHj6zelrIBPQ-1XaiORJnjj1v24d3wJoUxxXlFdEP2LoNo0SgyznjBti6ztegLSpOnKFvYJBK7rHeCCAj6eh8s6T-CJU/s640/blogger-image-1868528896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEHmoXbkz-421pSumNZ_AQGLYLAVypTME0-MJOUOQWteL9PiCRhHj6zelrIBPQ-1XaiORJnjj1v24d3wJoUxxXlFdEP2LoNo0SgyznjBti6ztegLSpOnKFvYJBK7rHeCCAj6eh8s6T-CJU/s640/blogger-image-1868528896.jpg"></a></div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-12544946100409364102014-09-21T21:15:00.001-07:002014-09-21T21:47:30.132-07:00Another Open Letter to Bob and Suzi Given, our distant neighbors<div><span style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Here is one of the latest of many letters written a few days ago to our neighbors. They are in escrow to buy the land we have called home for seven summers now with the intention to pass it onto the government. This letter has gone unanswered along with the others. It is our hope that through sharing these letters and stories with a wider community (the public) the parties involved will be motivated to act with integrity and accountability. Please Bob and Suzi, talk to us. We are here on the mountain with you. Let us sit in a circle on the ground we all love and find some consensus. </span></div><span style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><div><span style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></span></div>Dear Bob and Suzi,</span><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Today the sheriffs confiscated our family's shelter. We returned home just before dark with hungry and tired children to find our clothes, rugs and beds in an open meadow wet with the rain that comes and goes as I write. I had the thought to drive to your place and ask you to accommodate us <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://0" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0">tonight</a>, seeing as you have had a role in our displacement. We don't have a dryer. We have the sun, which is shining on the other side of the earth right now. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">I heard recently (from an attorney) that the law is designed to protect the interests of the rich; it isn't moral, fair or just. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Carl Jung spoke about money representing non-feeling. I find that without much money, we are vulnerable, raw and trusting and thus comes the inspiration to dive deeply into the richness of life and its' many challenges. It benefits me to take good care of relationships, knowing that this is all I have at the end of the day. Excess money seems to confine and shelter one from the soul's tendency towards deep empathy. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">The amount of money that you and I have seems to be our main difference and I pray that this does not come between our heart's capacity to love and respect one another as well as our ability to communicate directly! </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Bob and Suzi, you both have said several times that you respect me. Today I am baffled by the contradiction of your words and your actions. Ande and I have extended ourselves to you many times only to be hung up on, ignored or avoided. Somehow you have absolved yourselves of any responsibility with the current plight of our family and small community. You are as culpable as Steve for sending men with guns to remove us as well as installing gates on the driveway to lock us out of our home. I have learned that both of these are your contingencies for the purchasing of this land. So it seems Steve is doing your dirty work. The only way to get direct communication from you is to literally follow you around at a festival begging for it, or write an open letter. Tell me, is this respect?</div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Standing in the meadow this evening was yet another opportunity to rise and meet life's call to empowerment. Dire and epic seem to go together these days. We continue to do what we can. Living intimately with the natural forces of our earth mother gives us a strength far greater than any attorney, court, bank account balance or land deed can ever give. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">We are still here. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">May we all find the strength and courage to continue an honest dialogue. I hope that together we can find a way forward that is good for everyone. </div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: '.Helvetica NeueUI'; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Kayla</div><div><br></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzu9I3LFXJZloTQbUUPo22WqBEQz9eAMWx9bvjn1TDRFqyFlZr8dG5bkLkRXs2AzZd1jkmGxzk_x43d4alL_qSPAz92GAt6-b-x-HOJoobOdnP5bjZpjnd96TYEWnShGu_Ox6D5ZxMS4C/s640/blogger-image--1518404884.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzu9I3LFXJZloTQbUUPo22WqBEQz9eAMWx9bvjn1TDRFqyFlZr8dG5bkLkRXs2AzZd1jkmGxzk_x43d4alL_qSPAz92GAt6-b-x-HOJoobOdnP5bjZpjnd96TYEWnShGu_Ox6D5ZxMS4C/s640/blogger-image--1518404884.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoFbEbodevlEOVV7ckkVxvxhur7VIkPi6R5Cbb915Xa6Bv-XM3Tr63mJvgSTb1UYWic7yBGjtGHavZn_QgmhT3QJ12ftP_MwL6tWL4w2hOux-e1rMWeL1vqfjcINL48tAUzKS-0XosNcT/s640/blogger-image-689134021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoFbEbodevlEOVV7ckkVxvxhur7VIkPi6R5Cbb915Xa6Bv-XM3Tr63mJvgSTb1UYWic7yBGjtGHavZn_QgmhT3QJ12ftP_MwL6tWL4w2hOux-e1rMWeL1vqfjcINL48tAUzKS-0XosNcT/s640/blogger-image-689134021.jpg"></a></div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-34983134108946255692014-09-18T11:22:00.001-07:002014-09-18T11:33:19.730-07:00'Rural' Disobedience and The Song of the Diggers<p dir="ltr">It's a well known English traditional folk song, published here as it's pertinent to Tipi Village at the moment and we've been singing it for the past week or so.</p>
<p dir="ltr">There's been a lot going on what with sheriffs and all and we'll post an update when there's time. Mother Earth endures and we belong here!</p>
<p dir="ltr">Love from Ande</p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>In sixteen forty nine</b><br>
<b>To St. George's hill</b><br>
<b>A gallant band they called The Diggers</b><br>
<b>Came to show the people's will</b><br>
<b>They defied the landlords</b><br>
<b>They defied the laws</b><br>
<b>They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"We come in peace" they said</b><br>
<b>"To dig and sew</b><br>
<b>We come to work the land in common</b><br>
<b>And to make the waste ground grow</b><br>
<b>This earth divided</b><br>
<b>We will make whole</b><br>
<b>That it may be a common treasury for all."</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"The sin of property</b><br>
<b>We do disdain</b><br>
<b>No one has any right to buy or sell the earth</b><br>
<b>For private gain</b><br>
<b>By theft and murder</b><br>
<b>They took the land</b><br>
<b>Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command."</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"They make the laws</b><br>
<b>They chain us well</b><br>
<b>The clergy dazzle us with heaven </b><br>
<b>Or they damn us into hell</b><br>
<b>We will not worship</b><br>
<b>The gods they serve</b><br>
<b>The god of greed who feeds the rich</b><br>
<b>While poor folk starve".</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"We work, we eat together</b><br>
<b>We need no swords</b><br>
<b>We will not bow to the masters</b><br>
<b>Nor pay rent to the lords</b><br>
<b>We are free, though we are poor</b><br>
<b>You diggers all stand up for glory, stand up now!"</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>From the men of property</b><br>
<b>The order came</b><br>
<b>They sent the hired man and the trooper</b><br>
<b>To wipe out the digger's claim</b><br>
<b>Tear down their cottages</b><br>
<b>Destroy their corn</b><br>
<b>They were dispersed but still the vision lingers on.</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>You poor take courage!</b><br>
<b>You rich take care!</b><br>
<b>This earth was born a common treasury </b><br>
<b>For everyone to share</b><br>
<b>All things in common</b><br>
<b>All people one</b><br>
<b>"We come in peace" </b><br>
<b>But the order came to cut them down</b></p>
<p dir="ltr"><b>"We come in peace" they said</b><br>
<b>"To dig and sew</b><br>
<b>We come to work the land in common</b><br>
<b>And to make the waste ground grow</b><br>
<b>This earth divided</b><br>
<b>We will make whole</b><br>
<b>That it may be a common treasury for all".</b></p>
<p dir="ltr">-Traditional</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgdXCUNRlBc_bh7ECL8q6Ovhb9cMzmMFxfmm7i6H8nYqbKTYvCANd6zRGogDS83ci5huoeFdiOWI55Ob3QbFAlZOFoHv4B4aoyL3NJcwkNwBBBiqz-gp_FvBFhduFgL8f5pJgn-U9AF_YJ/s1600/IMG_20140915_084833_508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgdXCUNRlBc_bh7ECL8q6Ovhb9cMzmMFxfmm7i6H8nYqbKTYvCANd6zRGogDS83ci5huoeFdiOWI55Ob3QbFAlZOFoHv4B4aoyL3NJcwkNwBBBiqz-gp_FvBFhduFgL8f5pJgn-U9AF_YJ/s640/IMG_20140915_084833_508.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjY6KRXEXsDqisoEFystmIlB9jCMQWbBVaFzVIEeblfPkeEy3m6ssLol6xUZheLR694p1w6QUXmEntNHaHomUQugTpbuZguvaZdRMFJ4j_sKBrjgOoVh2bouOwxS06jg0apZoMLXUyOee/s1600/IMG_20140915_121556_897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjY6KRXEXsDqisoEFystmIlB9jCMQWbBVaFzVIEeblfPkeEy3m6ssLol6xUZheLR694p1w6QUXmEntNHaHomUQugTpbuZguvaZdRMFJ4j_sKBrjgOoVh2bouOwxS06jg0apZoMLXUyOee/s640/IMG_20140915_121556_897.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-78314079467214366342014-09-05T14:45:00.001-07:002014-09-05T14:45:15.926-07:00Mother Earth Continues Beneath our Feet<p dir=ltr>Version one of an incomplete essay written on the evening of Wednesday the third of September after meeting the sheriff's deputies:</p>
<p dir=ltr>Today the deputy sheriffs came to evict us. Hostile neighbours and land 'owners', you can be proud of yourselves for empowering the Dominant Paradigm. For attempting to displace our children from their place of birth, from the land that they love, we love. The struggle is tenuous right now and we're not (yet?) Conservation Refugees. We belong to the Earth and our connection endures. We are old and strong and we know that we are all a keystone species, like the wolves of Yellowstone. <br>
You 'conservationists' who live in your air conditioned central heated buildings, who think that 'nature' is something seperate, external, understand that human nature <i>is</i> 'nature' and there is simply no getting away from it.</p>
<p dir=ltr>This is no right wing libertarian entitlement to exploit and plunder our mother; this is people living as <i>Homo</i><i> </i><i>Sapiens</i><i> Sapiens</i> and we're happy to get along with you <i>Homo</i><i> </i><i>Urbanus</i>; we can complement each other and I'm not to tell you how to live but perhaps when you say you respect and even admire the way that I live, you could be kind enough to walk that talk and <i>at</i><i> </i><i>least</i> stop harassing us; it's getting old and we are here, always have been and always will be so you'd best get used to it.<br>
My children are probably about the seventh generation  since the slaying and displacement of the small bands of families who once roamed these mountains before the settler consciousness of ownership arrived. To the descendants of settlers and the supporters of this Dominant Paradigm; I am sorry, you have been told and sold a lie and the life of servitude you have given to your mortgage (mort- <i>death</i><i> + </i>gage- <i>grip</i><i>) </i>has only ever been for the profit of the greedy. There is more than enough of this abundant world for everyone and paying for a place on her is detrimental because it separates us from our responsibility and our accountability to her, through the intercession of any landlord, bank or entity which says 'this is the way you are to live, regardless of personal mores and morals'</p>
Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-3300533235291569842014-09-03T22:57:00.001-07:002014-09-05T14:49:07.029-07:00Always have been; always will be.<p dir="ltr">Version two, with more about the people and events of that day, two days ago:</p><p dir="ltr">Today the sheriff's deputies came and evicted us from the wilderness, even though we'd already moved beyond the imaginary boundaries imposed by the Dominant Paradigm (we were coming back for tidy up).</p>
<p dir="ltr">So we all danced together, with the sheriffs and private detective, we circled and sang together and tears were shed and we made some strong memories and new (old) stories to share on this land, this same earth.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I can only be, ultimately, grateful for the experience and the continuing process of the gift of living and the place I now find myself, in the Big Lodge, candle around the hearth children gently snoring on that ground under the sky.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mother Earth endures, old and strong, beneath my feet, under my backside, sat cross-legged.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We are not Conservation Refugees.</p>
<p dir="ltr">My children are not displaced from their place of birth.</p>
<p dir="ltr">We are here and connected. Always have been, always will be. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Get used to it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">(And be welcome)</p>
<p dir="ltr">-Ande</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJnmZpsmgXTZo4ONf7uNyWAzrMcRTVbfTQiUsu7FOEnjw78klhXL9eX9r2uMM9b6MAHrufysnomkGppoC-ZU6Zhkoa1_La0WbyQYxNWBQZVRO_3ma6udeJP3ngPC9BYhfqT2ZBXwZ-b9H/s1600/IMG_20140903_160325_801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJnmZpsmgXTZo4ONf7uNyWAzrMcRTVbfTQiUsu7FOEnjw78klhXL9eX9r2uMM9b6MAHrufysnomkGppoC-ZU6Zhkoa1_La0WbyQYxNWBQZVRO_3ma6udeJP3ngPC9BYhfqT2ZBXwZ-b9H/s640/IMG_20140903_160325_801.jpg"> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnLOGnvCKrj0ciha5khsVFFGJdOlvu7tMcl7MqqHxsLNW8xwpGaiz8tz1JxGBf_GGn9pQ3G2NvGGFPjAWw0l2ehJ3HFpQ5XliLgKlcp0J48hFoI6FHFDQAaxVOg7CdpM7xJXPLxhyphenhyphenit-2/s1600/IMG_20140902_184434_852.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnLOGnvCKrj0ciha5khsVFFGJdOlvu7tMcl7MqqHxsLNW8xwpGaiz8tz1JxGBf_GGn9pQ3G2NvGGFPjAWw0l2ehJ3HFpQ5XliLgKlcp0J48hFoI6FHFDQAaxVOg7CdpM7xJXPLxhyphenhyphenit-2/s640/IMG_20140902_184434_852.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-49760732192604114492014-08-23T00:35:00.001-07:002014-09-09T23:15:35.534-07:00Read Charles Eisenstein<p dir=ltr>Thanks for posting about us, Charles: <a href="http://www.thenewandancientstory.net/home/the-new-and-ancient-story-9#comments">http://www.thenewandancientstory.net/</a></p>
Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-24508518122806856852014-08-16T18:06:00.001-07:002014-08-16T18:06:05.514-07:00A common question: how can the average person help?<div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">This is a response to those of you with the question of 'how can the average person help?'</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">We are experiencing a strong wider circle of folk who don't live here but resonate with the vision/mission and are participating in unique ways. Ranging from the structuring of the trust and conservation aspects, working towards getting codes changed to accommodate low-impact living, to more immediate matters including relevant phone calls/emails. The understanding has begun that this project is for more than the folk living here. Inspired people with activated and busy lives have begun to show up, physically, to sit in council together and vision great things as well as sit in a more left brain way in a 'meeting' with lots of writing and 'brainstorming' (and other left-brainy kind of stuff). </div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Someone said recently "how are you guys gonna chop wood and change laws?". An answer: a wider circle of folk other than those living here who see the greater benefit is how! </div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Come sit in council, and pass a stick.</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Contribute to the magic hat.</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Write an article to your favorite publication.</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Share the stories of this process unfolding, your own and ours.</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Contact any rich folk who would like to give some of that money to a good place and get a deduction.</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Sign the petition to get One Planet Development in Oregon under way.</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Whatever!</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Last summer when we launched this liberation project loads of ideas came flooding in, too many for us here to realistically embody but any dreamer can do the manifesting too! </div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">So, there is a spectrum. The least one can do to 'help' is to click like, but the most one can do, and this one is radical and has the potential to make a massive world change, is to stop paying your rent and mortgage! Just plain stop. You do not owe anyone anything for your place on this rotating planet. Know that, and claim it. We belong to the earth and we actually owe *her* if there is any owing to be done.</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">And one more...... Those of you who have an arrest to give, consider Tipi Village. Seriously. </div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjdAIsXXhPMDIjDZ4Rzlh7EOPAMXMOn_t14sNhDTSOZr16eHcmjMRlsO8nEJl0jcJPPg_jcUQyOYyZwWKd6X1sozhkxnzYa8THR2MC_VwLr8x-h0Y0u2e5X-5JKm9e4-ROM5hlmiAwlKp/s640/blogger-image-105034813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBjdAIsXXhPMDIjDZ4Rzlh7EOPAMXMOn_t14sNhDTSOZr16eHcmjMRlsO8nEJl0jcJPPg_jcUQyOYyZwWKd6X1sozhkxnzYa8THR2MC_VwLr8x-h0Y0u2e5X-5JKm9e4-ROM5hlmiAwlKp/s640/blogger-image-105034813.jpg"></a></div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-61426921327516124932014-08-15T13:32:00.001-07:002014-08-15T21:53:29.177-07:00Fearful Gates That Love Can Break<div><br></div><div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">So it appears that some folk are attempting to put a gate at the end of the driveway here. I suspect it is in preparation for our eviction come <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://0" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0">September 1st.</a> Usually, in the circumstance of eviction from a building, the locks will be changed. This is where we maintain agency and power in our lives because no-one can ever lock us out of our home. We can carry it on our backs and bring it to stand where we like. So it makes sense that fearful folk (most likely the buyers that I won't name yet although it may come down it to bring some direct communication) would put a gate across the road. However, I can't shake the feeling of being not only disregarded (no-one asked me about the gate even though we have lived here for the past seven summers, before the monument designation and have a legitimate place here) but also just plain pushed around. Our presence here is harming no-one. We are trespassing no-one. There is no physical or moral harm being done. And actually, from my perspective, I am seeing the forest around me flourish from the touch of the hands of people who care. If I am oblivious to a harm I am causing, please, bring it to my attention! (And honestly, if its regarding ownership and money, I'm not sure I consider that true harm).</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">As we approached the place where two new gaping holes have been dug to receive the intended gate, Sequoia, our three year old daughter says quietly "the birds are sad about these holes that people dug, the birds want us to live here".</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">The really sad part of all this, the part that brings a painful heavy feeling in my gut and heart, is that money and land ownership have become more valuable than human relationships. There was a time in our history when it wasn't an option to be so rude and plain mean to our fellow humans because our life depended on each other. Our relationships mattered more than anything and it was the greatest benefit to maintain healthy and considerate ones. There was a recognition that the woven web of all our relations was (and still is) life itself, and that damaging a strand in that web, damages the self and the whole. At the end of our lives, this is all we have, the quality of our relationships, of how we related to this web of life. Think about it, what else do you imagine caring about on your deathbed? </div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">The circumstances we find ourselves in and the people involved are not special or unique here. I'm not sure special and unique even exists. Or maybe its the opposite, maybe it's our uniqueness and specialness that unites us all. Whatever the case, I stand in solidarity with all the people of the world, now and throughout history, who stand strong in the face of so much fear, hatred and oppression. Who speak out for basic human rights, peacefully and powerfully. Who risk and give their lives to make a way for the world's children, the world's future. </div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">I keep hearing that this is a powerful time to be living as humans on the earth and every time I hear this I wonder what makes this time more powerful than any other. I'm getting glimpses of it now. It's a ripeness of the altruistic nature in all of us, of the love that binds us together, of the circle that brings power to every person's voice and life to be the guiding paradigm, of the realization that we humans are a keystone species and have a massive effect on the earth and are at a point where we get to consciously live a life that is in harmony with all that is, including the future. We have the beautiful opportunity, right now, to live an absolutely epic, un-compromised life, directly and completely un-mediated through money and false ideas of power and land ownership. As William Kotke puts it: "This is the watershed logic. For the humans and planet to endure, a completely new human culture must be created. This is not movie and books. This is the whole world view and all of the content by which we relate to each other and to the earth in belief, practice and ritual. This will be a most amazing adventure. If one has heart and courage and can move out of virtual reality onto the fact of the living planet, our future will provide one of the most exciting challenges we humans have faced, with the greatest benefits, if we are successful."</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">It is our birthright to have a place on the earth. We have the capacity to live with the earth and take care of her. It simply won't work to "save" wild land and keep people off. Understand this! There actually is no separation between the two!! </div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">As I sit here in these wild woods, writing to a larger community in hopes of generating beauty, inspiration and support, the cement hardens around the posts for the gate that may lock us out in only three weeks. A community of people, including children who have been born on this soil, who are cultivating a wholesome, connected culture. When I say "us", I mean it. You and me, because you see, there is an open place here that we maintain for any and all who are inspired to collaborate and dance together a new dream. </div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Please get in touch, especially if you know a lawyer who is keen on taking on a human rights case. Or perhaps there are other ideas and input. We are asking for it. Thanks.</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">In love,</div><div style="font-family: Noteworthy; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Kayla</div></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPf5pU_tX6eOqPq_KLbvuhkSz6es2L8jDeTdEgUcM49sxIOwxFUkg2jzgJTfZwg6iQ6rMUk8j1yYNQsyrUbIlBGAdZateZseqHiWsOGYh-eFqtHyRc0oxCWv7KJKvzBUHngxBqdg6k_ikC/s640/blogger-image-658920642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPf5pU_tX6eOqPq_KLbvuhkSz6es2L8jDeTdEgUcM49sxIOwxFUkg2jzgJTfZwg6iQ6rMUk8j1yYNQsyrUbIlBGAdZateZseqHiWsOGYh-eFqtHyRc0oxCWv7KJKvzBUHngxBqdg6k_ikC/s640/blogger-image-658920642.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3trR9McF0Jr-uh1Y6Bxj1NhU-9e-zCTMWB5nJDfhYrk2pBeAqQNx2QzZqMywN0XjB6VIXhWxLhCs3TTl9mSq8I4_Ye3Y7nWpEhQDfTwx_KG8Dfu_fxxovSIEkoSXfGPM2KBJDkQPyS3H/s640/blogger-image--1891664604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3trR9McF0Jr-uh1Y6Bxj1NhU-9e-zCTMWB5nJDfhYrk2pBeAqQNx2QzZqMywN0XjB6VIXhWxLhCs3TTl9mSq8I4_Ye3Y7nWpEhQDfTwx_KG8Dfu_fxxovSIEkoSXfGPM2KBJDkQPyS3H/s640/blogger-image--1891664604.jpg"></a></div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-19463512289963249872014-08-15T13:29:00.001-07:002014-08-15T13:29:36.783-07:00Moving the Gateposts<p dir=ltr>The BLM authorised a feller to put gateposts at the end of our driveway on Soda Mountain Road. <br>
Seems like an act of aggression from where I stand.</p>
<p dir=ltr>Police Major Ronnie Robinson, speaking about a shift in tactics following the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/15/ferguson-disarming-tactics-of-highway-patrol-pay-dividends-as-calm-descends">Ferguson riots </a>said, <br>
“Any time a community and a people are willing to break the law to get the law, you’ve gotta pay attention to that. They have cried out to us and now we need to give them the attention they deserve.”</p>
<p dir=ltr>We're reaching out in a civil way and asking for communication. We know that this blog is read widely and we have been sending messages to the relevant parties with no response. Hopefully we can come to a consensus before calling in mediation. We don't want to break your laws and we don't really want to start naming names, but if you're passive-aggressively denying access to the ancestral homelands of my children, I honestly am running out of ideas of ways forward here.</p>
Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-31599745100874667322014-08-14T19:09:00.001-07:002014-08-14T19:13:53.382-07:00Getting Along with Living<p dir=ltr>Look, to the people who define their relationship with the Earth that sustains them as 'property', you people with your acres with which you have little or  no real relationship, you people with your bank accounts with zeros that you worship, I have no quarrel with you. You are welcome to play your game of little pieces of paper of 'ownership'. </p>
<p dir=ltr>But when you start to push me and my family and my community around then I don't know what to do other than make a stand. </p>
<p dir=ltr>You know? </p>
<p dir=ltr>I know that the conception and birth of my children means nothing in your courts when it comes to tenure in a place. </p>
<p dir=ltr>My blood, flesh and tears mingled with the soil are not admissible as evidence in a trial of legitimacy of place. </p>
<p dir=ltr>But I can tell you that not only do I not own land, neither do you. It's not possible, even if you doug up bucketsfull and guarded them day and night with your life until the day you died and buried them with you, you never owned it, because it endures and you don't and you will become one with it again. The best you could hope for is an acknowledgement of belonging, that you belong to the Earth. <br>
Your pieces of paper with your signatures, your abstract constructs of human laws, are unjust and immoral. Justice strives to interpret morality otherwise it is meaningless.</p>
<p dir=ltr>So, with the example of the Tipi People living on the otherwise uninhabited summer spot of remote wilds of Soda Mountain, who's neo-indigenous presence tends and stewards land otherwise neglected. Land that was, until five generations ago, husbanded by bands of families, wiped away, displaced and straight up brutally killed by a new and pernicious consciousness of ownership, settler ownership. In our case, dear reader, I can tell you that even though this is the twenty-first century, that story continues and I find myself, not through choice but through following a life of inspired love, I find myself resisting displacement.</p>
<p dir=ltr>I find myself in court, again, answering to a judge presenting two options; vacate the land where I have a bond of stewardship and deprive my children of the chance of living a connected life, unencumbered by the fragmentation of mainstream industrialisation, or go to trial, with no legal representation. </p>
<p dir=ltr>Under duress (even though the Judge was, on this occasion, open and kind), we opted for the former. So we have until September 1st before men with guns, kevlar vests, mace and cuffs might come out.</p>
<p dir=ltr>No-one here wants to obstruct any sale of land, because we love the currently documented owners with full acknowledgement. However, the prospective buyers, whom we love as adversaries (yet long for this to develop), have a contingency written into their contract that we must be gone. They have told us that they intend to sell or give the land we call home (and hope for the keystone species Homo Sapiens) to the government in exclusion of human habitation.</p>
<p dir=ltr>I think that there are laws to help people to maintain basic human rights, like a place to be with the Earth, but I don't know what they are yet. I think, or hope, that there are laws to give our children the right to grow up in a healthy and wholesome way.</p>
<p dir=ltr>If you are a lawyer or know of one, please get in touch; this is a high profile case that can set a precedent for the future of human place in relationship with Mother Earth. If you are thinking of coming for a visit, now is a good time, though dynamic. Come and witness the front line of the transformation of the paradigm!</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0BKYMR6O2EhGEB0R_YLriFzE-pcKpQoAOnqX42Mowi9WKkpeVliBwSeizuWHUC38ogEmg7VR_fVz3NSn1seM23t2ir45WQquOWcThZ0tsxEK7Nnvwo5L7TrVHp6Xp5AH2GzVY-fLHuZwr/s1600/IMG_0778.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0BKYMR6O2EhGEB0R_YLriFzE-pcKpQoAOnqX42Mowi9WKkpeVliBwSeizuWHUC38ogEmg7VR_fVz3NSn1seM23t2ir45WQquOWcThZ0tsxEK7Nnvwo5L7TrVHp6Xp5AH2GzVY-fLHuZwr/s640/IMG_0778.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-16476204064090361092014-04-24T11:02:00.001-07:002014-04-24T11:05:01.399-07:00Letter of Withdrawal to the Medford Court.<p>This is the final draft of the letter I sent to the court in Medford yesterday. It gives a brief glimpse of what's been going on here over the past couple of months. <br>
There will be a fuller update at some point; there's a lot to say, but this can serve for now as we get on with moving. Thanks for reading.<br>
-Ande<br></p>
<p>Dear Judge Peterson,<br>
In reference to case #14LT00529, I wish to withdraw the appeal for a hearing scheduled for this coming Friday April 25th.<br>
It is an eviction case and I am the defendant. The migration of Tipi Village has begun and by the time of the hearing we will no longer be living at the place known to Jackson County Assesors as # 1-010851-1 and 1-012270-1, 42-2E Tax Lots 100/102, although we will likely still be collecting belongings and cleaning up. <br>
Following will be a more thorough though concise explaination of why this hearing was filed and now dropped. Please excuse me if it's inappropriate here.<br>
I and the other families of the nomadic community of Tipi Village became aware that we were trespassing on the above named parcel of land when Art Padillo, private detective, served us with a summons in early March of this year, 2014. Until that point we had an agreement and invitation from a member of the Mosby trust and were paying rent.<br>
At the initial hearing on March 10th I signed an agreement with James Stout, legal representative of Steve Mosby (the land owner) that we would vacate the above land by March 31st. <br>
In the intervening time we discovered that the land upon which we have spent the winter (tax lot 100 of the aforementioned) had already transferred ownership (the Mosby family are selling all of their land). This information was communicated to James Stout through voicemail and messages left with his secretary and we received no response. We subsequently considered the case dropped by the plaintiff until Art Padillo showed up again on Friday, April 11th with a notice of restitution (which did not include a copy of the 'landlord's claim') and a deadline to vacate of the following Tuesday, April 15th. With no wish to be in conflict with the sheriff and not enough time to move a village, we decided to request a hearing. <br>
We would have only asked for more time for the weather to settle in the higher elevation, to where we migrate, (usually mid-May), to avoid undue stress on the families. This whole business has been stressfull to many people; men, women and children simply getting on with living wholesome and direct lives which in itself is hard work and challenge enough. Further concern, after reading the 'landlord's claim' is that we might be liable to his costs, etc, for his actions which, with just a little communication, could have been cleared up and dealt with directly, without wasting the time of a judiciary with much more important things to do.<br>
Please feel welcome to experience the reality of Tipi Village. We are not 'transients', we are a strong neo-indigenous culture pioneering and presenting viable and humane ways of living with our world. Open to all.<br>
Thanks for reading this and for your compassionate consideration.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlN6HbQLWDcOHN9ra0WxqseJ_WQ_3EuwaD_c4P3H5lHNOvDw4dgPM8Hed_Tk2f6vEtwERVzvowsXix_5d89Hi2lYv_m_tWkjiS2iJtN8fmESdrAjvYUn1y1FFrl4WnZwDjOc_G2dei9iez/s1600/IMG_20140419_141110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlN6HbQLWDcOHN9ra0WxqseJ_WQ_3EuwaD_c4P3H5lHNOvDw4dgPM8Hed_Tk2f6vEtwERVzvowsXix_5d89Hi2lYv_m_tWkjiS2iJtN8fmESdrAjvYUn1y1FFrl4WnZwDjOc_G2dei9iez/s640/IMG_20140419_141110.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3454895295197964171.post-8920768040025447632014-03-07T10:27:00.001-08:002014-03-07T10:27:16.791-08:00We'll take the premise of Love, thanks!<p>A few days ago I was on the phone with a woman from Costa Rica, enquiring about a Rogue Dwellings tipi. We had a decent chat as she'd read this blog. She asked,"Do you want to buy land?" and I replied, after a pause,"No. The inspiration is to keep on doing what we're doing; living nomadically and lightly."- Unmolested. That doesn't preclude 'buying land', and that might be how this unfolds, but what's important to state clearly here is that the inspiration which is our motivation is non-attachment and nomadism; living with our Earth as a conscious part of the Gaia super-organism.<br>
I can easily fall into self-righteous indignation when I focus on the injustice of The World and some of that came with my previous post, with comments about a Malibu beach house. I'm not going to retract those words because I do feel indignant towards the grossly unequal distribution of the externals (land, food, clothing, shelter) when there is patently more than enough for everyone. The Earth is bountyful. There is no need for scarcety.<br>
So I'd like to address the 'fight'. Because fighting is really inefficient. There's too much to take care of for the collective right now, if we are to maintain habitability for our unborn generations. I have no point to prove, no ideologies to promote, no conspiracy theories to espouse. I have a life to live in the way I know best and children growing surrounded by a culture with which I have agency and input. Which means to stand my ground and at least question the default mass culture of passive, latent violence, which comes to me now, my sovreignty violated in the form of a court summons and which, should I choose to ignore it, would continue to come to me, more strongly, in uniform, Kevlar and with guns. <br>
To subsist comes from the latin sub + sistere. It means to stand firm, to be, to exist.<br>
The conspiracy is in the network and we can easily find ourselves, especially if we feel we have no agency, power or control in our lives, participating. Con- (with) spire (breath, spirit). We are the conspiracy when we breath together. When we breathe, conspire with things that inspire then we have power, collectively. We can give our power to something greater, with which we are aligned, and then the mal-aligned aspects wither with lack of power or belief. It's a process because part of that malignancy is fear and fear when shunned or surpressed becomes disproportionately powerful. Fear and fearful ways are to be intergrated, brought into the whole and utilised.<br>
And it's all a journey of discovery for me because right now there is fear coming up and the best I can do for me, my family, for you is to feel it and trust it and avoid being motivated by it. To love it and be motivated by that love.<br>
-Ande</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdaKo0idR3nWla97PG6DLOrZs0REhZi2P1PZgrHvCCSOWJY8k3WZhUfCTmHIF695fACM3psVLzmnEecuNS_atfzzOi9QepDBivty4cdGCxF_9mde3R3DdJLgpSnuVgTIaO3gXxhEAbQqD2/s1600/IMG_20140306_150256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdaKo0idR3nWla97PG6DLOrZs0REhZi2P1PZgrHvCCSOWJY8k3WZhUfCTmHIF695fACM3psVLzmnEecuNS_atfzzOi9QepDBivty4cdGCxF_9mde3R3DdJLgpSnuVgTIaO3gXxhEAbQqD2/s640/IMG_20140306_150256.jpg"> </a> </div>Tipi Villagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17982132491800891698noreply@blogger.com0