Drove out to Adams to spend the afternoon with the folks, celebrating the upcoming "New Year".
Yearly running total for 2023 wasn't good, but at least ended decently...
611.7 Total Miles made up roughly as follows:
83.2 - January
70.7 - February
58.0 - March
42.7 - April
19.9 - May
00.0 - June
11.8 - July
62.2 - August
58.3 - September
27.4 - October
80.6 - November
97.9 - December
Poisonous Words and the Massacre of Wounded Knee
.png)
An iconic photo of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee of a dead and frozen Big Foot. (Photo/Public Domain)
Today marks the 133rd anniversary of the Massacre of Wounded Knee during the wintry week between Christmas and New Years back in 1890.
Nine days before the massacre that left hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children dead, an obscure weekly newspaper in South Dakota ran an editorial about the death of the Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull. In the opinion piece, L. Frank Baum, publisher of the Saturday Pioneer, wrote:
“The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled.”
Early in the morning on Dec. 29, 1890, across the state of South Dakota at Wounded Knee Creek, the Sioux, who were captured the previous afternoon by members of the US 7th Cavalry Regiment, were surrendering their weapons. A shot was fired. The Calvary proceeded to shoot unarmed and innocent Sioux elders, women, and children. While an accurate account will never be known, it is believed between 250 and 300 Sioux were massacred that day.
Snowfall was heavy that December week. The Sioux ancestors killed that day were left on the frigid wintery plains of the reservation before a burial party came to bury them in one mass grave.
Never miss Indian Country’s biggest stories and breaking news. Click here to sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning.
After the mass killing of Natives, Baum picked up his poisonous pen again and wrote another editorial for his Saturday Pioneer newspaper. This time, he wrote:
“The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extirmination [sic] of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth. In this lies future safety for our settlers and the soldiers who are under incompetent commands. Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as full of trouble with the redskins as those have been in the past.”
Ten years later, Braum wrote a children’s book called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Yes, that one. It was eventually made into one of the most famous movies of all time. When I was a youth, my siblings and I would make popcorn and sit and watch the movie when it was broadcast yearly. As an adult, I discovered Baum’s hatred and poisonous racism towards Native Americans. Suffice it to say, I stopped watching the film.
Now, I realize Braum did not single-handedly cause the genocide of Native Americans. But, he contributed to it with his editorials and his calls for the extermination of Native people. His family later apologized for Baum’s racist editorials.
This is why history matters. If you know your history, you know your place in this world.
I believe that most Americans would agree that racism has been a true poison in our country throughout the last two centuries, though it’s not something we’ve been able to eradicate.
That’s why it’s important we remember the Massacre of Wounded Knee, as well as the rhetoric and words used to justify it. Because it’s a potent reminder of what racism has led to in this country: the death of innocent Native people whose ancestors lived on this land since time immemorial.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen - We are all related.
About the Author: "Levi \"Calm Before the Storm\" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online.
The New England Trail (NET) offered another round of the:
Hike 50 Challenge and a Hike 100 Challenge in 2023.
Having been born in 1962, and liking and listening to music from the early sixties onward, I thought it might be fun to attempt a listing of my favorite albums each year since birth.
I didn't really begin to listen to a lot of music until the early '70's, and I began buying records around 1974 or 1975 I guess. I can still recall many of those first albums I bought. Many, I still enjoy.
Many of the early 1960's records I found later on in life, some just in the last few years.
I had a period of time from early '90's until the late 2000's that my listening was mostly jazz. This means a couple of things... (a) there will be a decent selection of jazz records in my list, and (b) many of the "rock" albums from this time I might have caught later on (a decade or more) from when they first came out.
So, this isn't really a list from any sort of time-machine, of what was #1 during that year. It's looking at sixty years of music that I can say I enjoy or have enjoyed.
I am sure I'll fine-tune my thoughts, but, that is for another day...
I present my favorite albums of 1962...
Albums released 1962
1. John Coltrane Coltrane
2. Howling Wolf The Rockin' Chair Album
3. Bob Dylan Bob Dylan
4. Rashaan Roland Kirk Domino
5. Bo Diddley Bo Diddley ‘62
6. Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm Dance
7. Dexter Gordon Go
8. Roy Orbison Crying
9. Jackie McLean Bluesnik
10. Charles Mingus Oh Yeah
Honorable Mentions
11. Ike & Tina Turner Dynamite!
12. Sun Ra Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow
13. Bo Diddley Bo Diddley's a Twister
14. Charles Mingus Tijuana Moods
15. Bo Diddley Bo Diddley & Company
16. The Shirelles Baby It's You
17. Dexter Gordon A Swingin’ Affair
2023 Unsupported Trail Race Unofficial Challenge #27
Winter Solstice 26.2 km (16.3-miles)
Bands and Live Performances I've been a part of:
#11.
Primitives, Dong Show #3, Who Knows, sometime late 1984.
By this the 3rd Dong Show, the alcoholism and associated anger amongst each and everyone present (participant, entrant, judge or audience) cast a bad vibe over the entire club.
Boy Joe, a co-worker from SE and regular performer for the Dong Shows, totally outdid himself by performing a strip-tease in drag. In front of a capacity crowd. I played guitar for this piece, with Young M on drums.
Joe was gonged, but honestly this was an incredibly brave and punk performance for the times.
Shoot, for where it took place, it would still be something today, forty-years later.
As the performers attempted to entertain, the Judges did not seem to be enjoying themselves, it was almost like they hated being there. Took it out on everyone trying to perform "something".
The idea of "fun" must not have crossed their minds.
That being said, the Primitives were back.
We were the defending People's Champions. We practiced hardcore for weeks to get ready.
We performed a wonderful "Do You Love Me" by the Contours.
We thought we had momentum. The vibe was there. Fans showed up. We rocked and rolled.
The crowd responded "YEAH"! We cranked high decibels.
We were performing well, and practiced regularly.
We were tight. Musically, Vocally and Performance Presence.
We got gonged early, which surprised and really ticked us off.
In the end, nothing surprising. Rumors of the "Big Fix" floated around all week leading up to the event. Game-Day revealed a group in Halloween costumes badly dancing to Thriller on tape were rewarded with the Trophy, and subsequent cash prize.
Thinking back, if I can remember anything at all, it is that the judges acted as though they were supposed to gong everyone participating other than the predetermined "winners". Not even giving anyone a chance to complete their act. Sort of like there was a time-limit or something.
It was the end of the Dong Shows, it just didn't sink in right away, and one more attempt was made but the magic was gone.
Bloodwork and Physical from earlier this week (Monday the 11th) showed that I am strongly positive for Lyme Disease.
Another round of Doxy is necessary. At least this diagnosis explains my discomfort lately.
For the majority of todaty, DL and I drove out to Hoosick Falls, New York to meet my folks for our seasonal beef pickup.
"High Points" along trails during November 2023...
Still Building up....
Drove out to Bear Hole with K2 to get him set up on the 3.2-mile loop, and for me to piece together a few more miles into a runnable longer loop.
35-degrees when we began, and 49-degrees when we finished 3-hours later, so you guessed it, we overdressed badly.
K2 completed two full loops and a modified part of a third - so good work on his part.
I explored a bit, managed 11.1-miles at a decent pace without getting totally tired out. Out of the eleven-miles, I have a solid, well flowing 7.2-miler as well as a shorter 6.5 - 6.7-miler. I have an idea to add another mile on in the northeast, we'll see.
This is a bit of progress, anyhow.
After cleaning up at home DL and I grabbed out Christmas Tree and Decorations out of storage for the Holiday Season.
Completed 4.9-miles on the Metacomet Trail from Phelps Road north to the CT/MA border just south of Rising Corner. Finished prior to my shift at work, temperature in the low 30's.
These miles today gave me 100.3 New England Trail Miles (related) for 2023's Hike Challenge.
I filled out the online form, sent my results in. I have participated four years (I think).
Suffield 5km Course #3 for 2023.
Cold and Clear at 8 a.m. or so (~25-degree.); 26:36..
The Route behind the Agri-Center is blocked off by fenced goats, so a minor adjustment there.
1st loop in 13:26 and 2nd loop in 13:10. Negative Splits!!
Times for my Race Against Myself (plus official events) at this location:
2023 Unsupported Trail Race Unofficial Challenge #25
Bear Hole Reservoir 11.25 km (7-miles)
I've been noticing the Bloomfield to Tariffville Multi-Use Trail on the side of Route 189 in Tariffvile for a bit, and I am nearing the completion of 100 miles on the Metacomet (New England Trail) for my NET HIKE CHALLENGE 2023.
Putting this together, a trip to Marion Wilcox Park in Bloomfield to climb to the Metacomet (NET) down to Tariffville where I could then explore the Multi- Use Trail back to Wilcox Park seemed like a great idea, and would be the proverbial "two birds one stone" theory.
Pretty awesome run, despite the drizzle which began right about at the start of my adventure.
Completed 4.3-miles in 52:30 (4.9 avg) with 500' of climb.
From Wilcox to the start of the Multi-Use Trail was about 2.2-miles.
