This is not mere speech
all we seek is here where we stand and
shape as clay, turning tides dug deep and
wider still to hold what comes
and wider still to say
We’ll never be moved from here
our lives will live in the seeds we’ve sown…

— Ayla Nereo, “Seeds” from The Code of the Flowers

Stand in the place where you live.

So singeth R.E.M., anyway.

I can’t help but notice that this place where we live – planet Earth of star Sol – is kind of, um…hurting.

In many places.

I also can’t help but notice the quality of love bubbling and cropping up among the broken and hurting places.

You all know the words:

ring the bells that still can ring
forget your perfect offering
there is a crack in everything
that’s how the light gets in

(R.I.P. Leonard Cohen)

All around me, I see so much light.

You’re radiant. You’re hurting, too; I know. The Earth our home is hurting; how can we not be hurting alongside her? For many, this hurt is all too literal: tear gas, rubber bullets, tasers, broken necks and lost lives. For others, the pain of the land and her children is a silent scream, one that may over time be ignored like the roar of the waterfall next door. Normalized. Deadened. Adjusted.

Human beings are powerfully resilient and adaptable, even unto a fault. We can adapt ourselves into numb slumber so easily, it’s scary. Hard to believe.

But it’s true, and we’ve got to wake up. Our lives depend on it.

The blood of the people stains the land at Standing Rock. They bravely put themselves in the way in order to prevent oil from staining the life-giving water.

I mean this is literally an episode of Captain goddamn Planet, people!

Bad guys with oil pipes threaten sacred Native land and bodies, not to mention DRINKING WATER which we KIND OF NEED to SURVIVE.

Unacceptable.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

If you’ve got time to spare, call. Call your representative, your senator, the sheriff’s departments that are harassing water protectors, your bank if they’re a DAPL supporter, and bug the shit out of them. Pleasantly and politely, of course. Leslie Knope the crap out of them, my friends. And if you can’t call, write.

If you’ve got money to spare, donate. See links below for more information.

If you’ve got a platform, use it. Talk about this issue. Make art about it. Sing about it.

I love (love, LOVE!!) this song by Lyla June:

Rise up
All you warriors of love
All you answers to the prayers of our ancestors from above
I can feel it in my heart
Can you feel it in your blood?
I can hear the Seventh Fire calling us to wake up
Wake up!

— Lyla June, “All Nations Rise”

LINKS FOR YOU

• Sacred Stone Camp’s website has their supply list and donation links.
• December is a month of action: read more about what you can do NOW to help before the deadline of January 1.
• #NoDAPLSolidarity.org has even more information about actions you can take NOW and every day during December, including the contact info for sheriff’s departments who are harassing water protectors at the camp. One department has already withdrawn due to protests in Minneapolis.
• Native Fashion favorites by Carly Cheyenne – for fashionable folks who want to buy from Native sources. Remember what Beyoncé says: your best revenge is your paper. Put your money where your heart is.
• Read about the Seven Fires prophesies if you’re interested in the meaning behind Lyla June’s reference to the Seventh Fire.

As folks have been saying: during your lifetime you might have wondered what you would have done during X, Y, or Z historical time of oppression. WELL, like Faramir of Gondor, now we have the chance to show our quality.

Thank you. I love you. Rise up!

xo Paige out

Captain’s Log is a series in which I report on current events and issues in my life, heart, and mind.