Most of the indigensous languages of British Columbia are in danger of disappearing. Generations of residential schools, policies of marginalization and adaptation to English speaking society have rendered most of our communities mute in their own tongue. When I work in most places the only language you ordinarily hear is a prayer from and Elder or a conversation between to elderly speakers.
My friend Dustin Rivers is trying to change that. I’ve written before about how he is using an fun and interactive fluency game called Where Are Your Keys? To get people speaking his language, Skwxwu7mesh snichim, the language of the territory in which I live. Last week he took 16 or so kids from our homelearning support centre and taught them some basic conversational Skwxwu7mesh. In a couple of hours, the kids were identifying theings, responding to commands and directions and learning a little about the names and history of our home place.
Now Dustin is set to host a conference in Vancouver on June 5-6 for indigenous language activists from around BC to come and learn about how to use fluency games to get people using these languages so that they don’t die. Everyone is welcome. If you are interested, register and get thee to the gathering. It’s impressive what Dustin is up to and it’s EASY to learn it.
What if languages were saved and reawakened through fun? What better way to dodge the bullet?
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A quote from DH Lawrence in relation to what Lost is really about:
We cannot bear connection. That is our malady. We must break away, and be isolate. We call that being free, being individual. Beyond a certain point, which we have reached, it is suicide. Perhaps we have chosen suicide. Well and good. The Apocalypse too chose suicide, with subsequent self-glorification… my individualism is really an illusion. I am a part of the great whole, and I can never escape. But I can deny my connections, break them, and become a fragment. Then I am wretched.
via What the Lost Finale is Really About | Religion Dispatches.
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It has become a standard practice for me now to make a slam poem from the words of opening or closing circles, as a way to reflect to a group something of it’s wholeness. These poems are completely improvised, using the words of the participants as material. There is a lot of reincorporation of people’s words in these poems which makes for a lovely reminder when I read it out and participants shift their awareness around the circle
A poem I wrote at the end of the Open Space for Transition Nelson. One of our participants brought her two chickens to the event to look after them while she was away from her house. On day two the chickens escaped, which explains one of the lines in this piece.
Practicality, courage
Where's the agenda?
Appreciative thanks
amazed it didn't tank
This scenario is a dream and it seems that
whatever happened, happened.
Woooo….
Gratitude is the attitude of rebirth
A reenergized connection, soft walk on the earth
Want to pass a torch but also linger on the porch of this
new house created by friendship
and the magic in the talk…
We gonna rock…
I'm already looking younger, cultivating the hunger
for transitioning, repositioning,
gestating and relating, digesting and reflecting
seeing what is born this morning
feeling what is important to raise
in these days of unity, community, in what is bigger than me.
I'm new to this place
but what a face you wear –
a community of angels who care.
It's open and I'm curious to see where it goes,
two feet, ten toes
I don't know, but somebody knows
and I feel direction, infection
a virus of creative work
the explosion of potential that stars from a spark,
light sparkling in the dark.
Thanks to the angels and the bees
and all that frees us to fly, respond to the calling
pick up those that are falling
and send them back in the air.
I'm more connected than ever before
walked through a door to a store full of knowledge and inspiration
full of awe at the creation of what's going on –
knowing that together I can be strong enough
to live off the grid, draw on my own power,
this is the hour!
Even the chickens have become free!
It's hard to do this alone,
to clear a field full of stones,
to live a peace that is co-owned
bring a bell to the young,
three deep breaths,
words that rest lightly on the tongue
and hold the terror of action,
the commitment to a fraction of change
to a group that can rearrange the best of what we have –
time, ideas, muffins –
strange resources for a movement, but sustenance is a must for sustainability
so that's good.
So in the shadows of locally hewn wood
in a place free of shoulds,
I acknowledge the work we have done
and the potential of what is to come
life springing from ash,
passion leading to action,
a rekindled fire that burns off
guilt and fear.
Inspired –
our future starts here.
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Been too busy to read the feed lately, but here’s some stuff:
- Dave Snowdon argues for data over information.
- whiskey river posts a little something that Dave might therefore appreciate.
- WFMU shares some really interesting older progressive music sounds.
And for your further listening pleasure: Steve Mason – All Come Down from Said the Gramaphone…very nice mellow tune.
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My twitter friend Durga pointed me to this article from Euan The Potter.on the Japanese aesthetic concept of “Wabi sabi”
Etymologically, “Wabi sabi” is based on the root forms of two adjectives, both of which are generally translated as “Lonely”. “Wabishii” however focuses on the object which is lonely, where as “Sabishii” focuses on the absence which makes the object lonely. The principal of “Wabi sabi” is therefore; Beauty reduced to its simplest form, and that form brought to a peak of focus by its relationship with the space in which it exists. That is to say, the presence of an object and the presence of the space interacting to strengthen each other.
The idea that space has presence is not new. Two and a half thousand years ago the Greek philosopher Parmenides proposed that it is impossible for anything which exists to conceive of anything which does not exist and that therefore even the space between objects “exists”. This remains in modern English as the concept that “I have nothing”. In Japanese however, it is grammatically impossible for “Nothing” (Nanimo) to exist (aru). “Nothing” (Nanimo) must be followed by “Is not” (nai). The idea of the presence of a space was therefore revolutionary.
To take it one step further, a tea bowl, being a vessel, is defined by the space it contains. It is not the pot which is important, but the space. In the tea bowl it is therefore possible to have the object (Wabi) and the space (Sabi) interacting within the same pot.
I think it is fair to say that, as in the art of tea, the art of hosting works with this idea to create both containers and spaces that provide the conditions for generative activity. It’s an elusive concept, the idea of creating beauty from things that aren’t really there, but that is why we call it an art, and when it comes off well, you can feel the strength of a well held container and the quality of the enclosed space.