When racism takes new forms

“Keep the past in the past,” say deniers. (Trigger warning: this is an essay that deals with horrific subject matter.) In the divided United States that I live in, one of the divisions I witness daily involves people who are willing to consider uncomfortable truths vs. people who are not. The folks who can handle […]

Read More

What does it take to transform a storyscape?

Fire is a key part of our storyscape in California. Depending on whom you talk to, stories about fire range the gamut from nostalgia to terror. For most people, fire is a thing either confined to a fireplace (or campfire pit) or a devastating force producing smoky orange skies and moonscapes. And for most government […]

Read More

Our ongoing fight for a once-invisible fish…now made visible

Fish fascinate me. Whether I meet them up close and underwater, or on the other side of a thick glass aquarium panel, they give off a chill, yet hyper-vigilant fishy vibe. A vibe that signifies they’re hanging out, being fishy with the other fishies, and my potential predatory self has been clocked, but not entirely […]

Read More

What does it take to reawaken a Native language?

This is a question that hardworking, dedicated tribal staff throughout California and many other regions are living every day. The ongoing efforts of my friends and colleagues Julian Lang in Karuk territory, Loren Bommelyn in Tolowa Dee-Ni, Nakia Zavalla in Samala[Chumash], and Jennifer Malone for the Wukchumni, are accompanied by hundreds of other people in […]

Read More

Why a trio of articles on tribes + fire = essential reading

Wildfires are a permanent part of the landscape. Climate change – and a host of “positive” ecological feedback loops (a positive loop is one that is self-reinforcing; a negative loop indicates reactions that move in the opposite direction) – mean that things will only get worse, not better, unless we enact radical changes. We have […]

Read More