Category: Link

Forewarned

Deer, camouflage, estuary, photo, reflection
photo by Elizabeth
They are a heartless nation, that is certain. They have made some of their people servants — yes, slaves! 

We have never believed in keeping slaves, but it seems that the white people do! It is our belief that they painted their servants black a long time ago, to tell them from the rest — and now the slaves have children born to them of the same color! 

The greatest object of their lives seems to be to acquire possessions — to be rich. They desire to possess the whole world. For thirty years they tried to entice us to sell our land to them. Finally, their soldiers took it by force, and we have been driven away from our beautiful country. 

-Ohiyesa's uncle, Santee Sioux

Ohiyesa

If Not For Silence

abstract, earth, window to life, photo
Poem & photo by Elizabeth

IF NOT FOR SILENCE

In their mad Sufi dance words whirl off tongues

loose as hot snakes as we struggle to speak with rudiments—

mostly we quarrel, walk away, but sometimes manage

to weave them like a lovers’ embrace beneath that open-voweled moon,

which vacillates between  the startled suck of air through pursed lips

and a night so long that, shy, she slips beyond the sun’s unerring watch.

Words electrify nerves till air feels like a panther lapping our luminous skin,

but it is silence that exposes our fiery hearts to serpentine tongues,

silence that would strip our marrow if not for the pulsing muteness

of flesh kneading flesh, of snakes and stars and moon-shackled seas.

Thank you to the editors of HOT FLASHES 2 for first publishing this poem.

To Think

abstract, colors, photo
photo by Elizabeth
A person doesn't need to go to college to learn facts.
He can get them from books. 
The value of a liberal arts college education is that
it trains the mind to think. That's something you 
can't learn from textbooks.
If a person (has the) ability, 
a college education helps develop it. 

Albert Einstein  
(from "Einstein: His Life and Times" by Philipp Frank)

Disconnected

sculpture, male, nude, garden, black and white photo
photo by Elizabeth

Oxfam‘s January 14, 2024 report, Inequality Inc., explores the disparity between the uber-wealthy and the rest of society.

Since 2020, five billion people have become poorer, while the world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes—at a rate of $14 million per hour.

VOTE

flag, democracy, photo, vote, election
photo by Elizabeth

This election is not about Harris, Trump or an individual issue. It’s about what the United States of America represents, for us and the world; how it provides for its citizens and the environment; how we care not only for the living and those who have sacrificed for this country, but also for those who will follow, which one could interpret in line with the Native American-Iroquois law: “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”

This election is not about the next four years or a party; but instead, whether we choose that “all…are created equal…with certain unalienable rights…life, liberty and… happiness,” not merely as pursuit, but experienced (as described in this Emory U. article), or if we want something different for our nation.

Each vote matters, which is why so many have literally sacrificed or died to protect this right for every eligible citizen.