Time to take the worm box with the red wrigglers out and separate the worm castings or skat from the brood, like harvesting the capped honey from the hive, rich and savory, and full of promise. Honey and skat have a lot of similarities, they are the result of the work of the insects without which the world would be flavorless, and drab.

Gardening at this time of the year is a fond memory that goes back all the way to the earliest memories of life. No matter how daunting the task of pulling out those weeds with long, massive and tenacious fibrous root, the feeling of unexplained satisfaction that the muscles have in clutching those invasive mallow, the bindweed, both which multiply incessantly is satisfying. Building a new compost pile with the prize, while making a green mulch helps stir the fires of expectation. Already the carpet of blue bearded irises have overtaken the ramp. The hollyhock on the other side have mushroomed out of the mulch and the leaves that were laid last fall. The locust saplings, aromatic herbs, chives, tulips, dandelions and grape hyacinth have come and the lilies are beginning their summer blooms. The air is pungent with scents of flowering crab-apples and mint is popping up all over the front plot.

More satisfying than all of this is the feeling of your aching fingers, covered with brown and green stains from tugging the roots and the sway of your back as you tenderly pull out as much of the root as possible. For the gardener who bends down and sniffs the earth, looks longingly and deeply on the beds and the soil structure lives in paradise. There is nothing remotely like the experience of the first tugs and tussles with nature's mantle. There is no where else I would rather be early in the morning. I long for hot summer nights of watering the roots and slowly shaping the beds to hold moisture through drought and heat until the summer sun angles downward toward the southern horizon.

A Rhapsody in the Hues of the Rainbow

Aboriginals from north of the false borders; from the clans across the Americas of Turtle Island; from the continent of Native-Americans Who dwell here from time memorial have stirred the consciousness of a world forgotten.

Dark Crude is washing ashore all up and down the coasts, and in the byways and along the lanes of commercial interests. We believe that we must abide by a tougher standard to protect our lands in the exact same way as the apartheid in South Africa protected the interests of the Boors.

Only to our peril do we sew the seeds of indifference and subjugate the peoples of the Western Hemisphere. This land that we dominate was never our's to pillage and plunder.

Let the word go out that the world is not long going to uphold this imbalance of natural law. We need to be more prudent and accessible to sharing the world or lose everything.

April 26, 2010

“While the power of the Europeans has continued, I see the other part of
the Ghost Dance prophecy coming true today. So-called ‘Hispanics,’ with
faces that sure look like Indians to me, are returning to repopulate North
America. We cannot always speak to each other because we have learned the
languages of different colonial powers. But these Indians have as much
right to come and go on our land as the geese when they migrate north and
south. No one would dare to ask them for their passports and visas as they
cross manmade borders.

Instead of seeing ‘Hispanics’ as outsiders who do not belong here, we need
to start seeing them as ancestors of the original inhabitants of these
lands. They are the living fulfillment of the Ghost Dance prophecy.”

-Chief Billy Redwing Tayac, Piscataway Nation

"First Nations United, an Indigenous organization largely made up of
members of the Red Lake/Ojibwe Nation and the Dakota/Crow Creek Nation,
would like to formally express its outrage and disagreement with the SB
1070 (“Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods”) Bill passed
last week by the state of Arizona. This bill is extremely detrimental to
the indigenous communities (including indigenous peoples of Latin American
origin), which reside in the state of Arizona as well as those who live
throughout the country. The language of the bill states that if there is
"reasonable suspicion" that a person is an illegal immigrant, a
"reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable" to check for
documents. Such language purposefully promotes the racial profiling of
brown-skinned people, and in particular, of people of American indigenous
background. As an indigenous organization, which stands for the civil and
human rights of indigenous peoples throughout the continent, we are
concerned that this bill will promote the unfair and discriminatory
arrests, prosecution, and deportation of people of American indigenous
descent—not only of those who belong to federally recognized tribes, but
also of the hundreds of thousands of indigenous people who have migrated
from South/Central America and Mexico to what is now called “the United
States.” Indigenous peoples across the continent do not recognize the
borders established by the settler colonialist state on our lands, and, we
do not agree with the malicious and dehumanizing way in which the settler
colonialist government wants to enforce them.

As an Indigenous organization, we recognize that indigenous peoples from
Latin America have every right to migrate up and down the continent as
they please and as they have done through trade and communication routes
since time immemorial. The native peoples of the continent should be the
ones establishing immigration laws and enforcing them. However, because we
were disempowered through genocide and colonization, and because we have
consistently treated “foreigners” in a more humane and hospitable way, we
respect peoples’ rights to migrate. If we did enforce such power, only
tribal identifications from throughout the continent (including
documentation identifying peoples from Latin American indigenous ancestry)
would be recognized as legitimate, and we could very well racially profile
people of Caucasian descent as the true and eternal foreigners.

As the first peoples of this continent, we pose this question to Governor
Brewer, Senator Russell Pearce, and law enforcement in the state of
Arizona, “Who are you to check for documents?” We remind them that the
power they have taken to legislate was established by an immigrant and
illegal settler colonialist government, which has consistently relied on
the genocide and mistreatment of the original peoples of this continent.

First Nations United greatly objects to SB 1070 and denounces Governor
Brewer, Senator Pearce, and the State of Arizona as anti-Indigenous,
cruel, and racist. We call for an Indigenous boycott of the State of
Arizona until this bill is repealed or found unconstitutional as it will
gravely violate the civil and human rights of indigenous people in the
state and throughout the country."

FIRST NATIONS UNITED

--
Gabriela Spears-Rico
Doctoral Candidate
Dep't of Comparative Ethnic Studies
University of California, Berkeley
506 Barrows Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 643-0796 [Tel]
(510) 642-6456 [Fax]

An Alien’s Psalm
by Ed Hays

I wear the mark of your disapproval
and your often unspoken words
pierce straight to my soul,
“Why didn’t you stay where you belong?”

I feel the icy stare that says,
“Keep your distance, you foreigner,
with your different-colored skin
and your strange-sounding speech,
with your culture, food, religion, and clothing
that are inferior to my own.”

I’m an immigrant, a wetback, an alien,
an outsider operating a sweatshop sewing machine;
cheap labor; unwanted or dirty jobs
are mine for the taking;
I’m one of the countless invisible ones
who puts vegetables on your plate
or stitches the fashion dresses and shirts
that you buy in your stylish stores.

As Moses of old once said,
“Remember, you were once aliens
in the land of Egypt.”
Remember that your grandfathers and grandmothers
were immigrant-unwanteds,
were exploited cheap labor,
second-class citizens,
uneducated and poor,
used and abused,
ignored or looked down upon
for their foreign religion, speech and food.

The White House,
first house of this great land,
says it well:
white is the land of promise;
no room for other colors or creeds.

Someday we’ll paint the first house
in rainbow colors-
someday, not long from now.

Comment: What strikes me about this is that we all have to rise and say enough, or "Ya Basta." It is enough, that our ancestors have been victimized by feeling afraid coming here to live, work and raise their families. It is enough that we have generations of people who feel as though no one is listening to them. It is enough that we have no room for the stranger in our midst. It is enough that we have a legacy of subjecting citizens to abuse and taking away what is rightfully everyone's, the land, the freedom, the rights, dignity and worth of everyone.

Many of you have sponsored our team and have joined us, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. It is inspiring to hear the stories of those who have contributed as to their reasons and motivation. These arms and legs and hearts will sustain me over the miles that we ride whether foul or fair weather this June 26 and 27. The routes are posted for you to follow us and come out and cheer us on as we near the Horse Tooth Reservoir outside of Ft. Collins. That Saturday night we will be in the valley in Fort Collins. The following morning we set out at dawn on the way back across the hills and down into Front Range Community College.

Numb and exhausted the feeling mirrors the ordeal suffered by many people with Multiple Sclerosis. Please contribute to our team and my campaign here on line. We will need all of you to ride together with me this summer and take the sting out of people like my son's friend Joe, who courageously wages a daily struggle for survival. To all of you who ride with us go well stay well always.

Randle Loeb
Captain of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless Team

THIS IS THE 25 ANNIVERSARY of the Bike MS Great Western Ride
www.bikemscolorado.org June 25 and 26 Come Out and Cheer us On

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 28, 2010
DOR, Sudan
On the Ground
"Since ancient times, one of the world’s most terrifying ailments has been caused by what the Bible calls “the fiery serpent,” now known as Guinea worm.

Guinea worms grow up to a yard long inside the body and finally poke out through the skin. They cause excruciating pain and must be pulled out slowly, an inch or two a day. In endemic areas like this district in Lakes State of southern Sudan, people can have a dozen Guinea worms dangling from their bodies.

This district is, in fact, one of the last places on earth with Guinea worms. If all goes well, Guinea worms will be eradicated worldwide in the next couple of years — only the second disease ever to be eliminated, after smallpox.

For the last 24 years, former President Jimmy Carter has led the global struggle against the disease. When he started, there were 3.5 million cases annually in 20 countries. Last year, there were fewer than 3,200 cases in four countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali and Sudan. The great majority of the remaining cases are here in southern Sudan.

Mr. Carter, 85, told me a few years ago that he was determined to outlive Guinea worm. I called him by satellite phone from here and asked if he still thought he would win the race. He laughed and said he was increasingly optimistic that he would outlast the worm. “If I can survive two more years, I’ll meet my goal,” he said.

Among the sufferers of Guinea worm in its last chapter is Anyak Gol Marial, a boy living near the collection of huts known as Dor. Anyak said he thought he was about 8 years old. He had a painful blister on his thigh — a sign that a worm was underneath and might soon poke through.

Guinea worms spread because sufferers try to escape the burning pain by entering water. The worm then dumps its larvae into the water — which other people drink. Without humans to sustain their life cycle, guinea worms disappear forever.

Carter Center health workers are the only outside presence here. There is no school, no clinic, no store, not even a government road — just a path that villagers themselves carved through the bush. On my drive in, I came across several barefoot, barely clad hunters who had just killed a wart hog with nothing but spears. I have rarely felt so inadequate.

To detect cases of the disease, the Carter Center has set up a network of Guinea worm volunteers. Serving as a volunteer is prestigious and brings a reward of a T-shirt — the only real article of clothing some people own. One volunteer had reported Anyak’s blister, and a Carter Center field officer persuaded the boy to move into a compound here for treatment. This ensures that a victim doesn’t enter a pond.

Anyak leapt at the opportunity to move into the compound, partly because of the promise of a bed mat, a mosquito net and three good meals a day (at home he eats only once or twice a day). A moment later, he was riding in our vehicle to the compound — the first time he had ever been inside a car.

The campaign against Guinea worm is succeeding because — unlike many foreign aid projects — it puts villagers themselves in charge. Now that they understand that it is contaminated water rather than witchcraft that causes the disease, village elders have barred anyone with a dangling worm from entering a water source. Violators are fined, typically one goat.

Elders also encourage families to use a well drilled by Unicef, or if it is too far away to use filters handed out by the Carter Center. But it’s an uphill struggle. The well broke down while I was visiting, and I came across a family drinking filthy, unfiltered water collected from a mudhole.

When Anyak was in the compound, a nurse dripped water on his blister to fool the worm into emerging. In the morning, it did, looking like spaghetti. Anyak grimaced as the nurse carefully pulled the worm out a bit, spooled it around gauze, and bandaged it to prevent infection.

In recent decades, the world has learned that fighting poverty is harder than it looks. But the Guinea worm campaign underscores that a determined effort, with local people playing a central role, can overcome a scourge that has plagued humanity for thousands of years.

My favorite moment came when we were bouncing along with Anyak toward the Carter Center compound. I asked him what he wants to be when he grows up, and he answered with the most prestigious and altruistic position he could imagine: “I’d like to be a Guinea worm volunteer."

COME AND JOIN US at the State Capitol and let us get started this session in reducing poverty by fifty percent throughout Colorado. Let us set standards that conserve the resources and make it possible for the poor to have a fair chance to survive.

We hear that the Special Interim Task Force Committee is set to derail the process right at a time when the standards are being established for the rest of the period of the task force to do its work.

We need a chance to set standards of measurement and care for all citizens whether they are well to do and secure or floundering and living in unsettled conditions. Please come and join then in the work. We need you to call the legislators and remind them that all Colorado Citizens deserve fundamental opportunities to equal employment and security.

We need to raise our voices and establish that our votes count and that all Colorado families need to be cared for and served with every effort of our will to keep them safe and sound.

Come then and call on the representative from House District 52, from Fort Collins and let him know that you intend to stand up and keep marching on until we have a place for every citizen to live and a chance to work and keep a roof over his or her head. Call representative Kefalas and let him know that we will be heard.

Representative John Kefalas:
604 Sycamore St.
Ft. Collins 80521
(o) 303 866 4569
(h) 970 221 1135
(c) 720 254 7598
www.johnkefalas.org

COME AND JOIN US at the State Capitol and let us get started this session in reducing poverty by fifty percent throughout Colorado. Let us set standards that conserve the resources and make it possible for the poor to have a fair chance to survive.

We hear that the Special Interim Task Force Committee is set to derail the process right at a time when the standards are being established for the rest of the period of the task force to do its work.

We need a chance to set standards of measurement and care for all citizens whether they are well to do and secure or floundering and living in unsettled conditions. Please come and join then in the work. We need you to call the legislators and remind them that all Colorado Citizens deserve fundamental opportunities to equal employment and security.

We need to raise our voices and establish that our votes count and that all Colorado families need to be cared for and served with every effort of our will to keep them safe and sound.

Come then and call on the representative from House District 52, from Fort Collins and let him know that you intend to stand up and keep marching on until we have a place for every citizen to live and a chance to work and keep a roof over his or her head. Call representative Kefalas and let him know that we will be heard.

Representative John Kefalas:
604 Sycamore St.
Ft. Collins 80521
(o) 303 866 4569
(h) 970 221 1135
(c) 720 254 7598
www.johnkefalas.org

COME AND JOIN US at the State Capitol and let us get started this session in reducing poverty by fifty percent throughout Colorado. Let us set standards that conserve the resources and make it possible for the poor to have a fair chance to survive.

We hear that the Special Interim Task Force Committee is set to derail the process right at a time when the standards are being established for the rest of the period of the task force to do its work.

We need a chance to set standards of measurement and care for all citizens whether they are well to do and secure or floundering and living in unsettled conditions. Please come and join then in the work. We need you to call the legislators and remind them that all Colorado Citizens deserve fundamental opportunities to equal employment and security.

We need to raise our voices and establish that our votes count and that all Colorado families need to be cared for and served with every effort of our will to keep them safe and sound.

Come then and call on the representative from House District 52, from Fort Collins and let him know that you intend to stand up and keep marching on until we have a place for every citizen to live and a chance to work and keep a roof over his or her head. Call representative Kefalas and let him know that we will be heard.

Representative John Kefalas:
604 Sycamore St.
Ft. Collins 80521
(o) 303 866 4569
(h) 970 221 1135
(c) 720 254 7598
www.johnkefalas.org