"High Points" along trails during December 2023... 

Still working on it....

• Sweetman Mountain, Granville, MA
• Holden Hill, Granville, MA
• Bartlett Tower Hill, Tariffville, CT
• Nicks Hill, Metacomet (NET), West Suffield, CT

On this day from the Archives:

Marathon Archives:

On this day in 1996 I participated in the annual "Fat Ass 50" in North Adams, Massachusetts.

This event consisted of many loops on the road, on a cold, gray day, and I believe there was a pretty bad snowstorm on the drive home.

I have a time listed of  5:32:35, and I think that was for 26.2 miles - not 50k.

This was my 8th marathon completed.

Damp and Cold this morning, yet K2 and I decided to continue our push towards fitness in 2024 with a trip to Granville.

We settled on 2.5-hrs and during that time I managed 8.5-miles.

At the end of the workday, I took a road-run around the Point for 3-miles. 

From the Marathon Archives:

This day in 1997... 

I completed my 14th marathon on this day in 1997.  It was the Grupa Dupa held at the Talcott Mountain State Park, home of the Heublein Tower. 

I believe Tony W and Janice K were the organizers of this "Fat Ass 50" type event.  It consisted of loops up and around the tower, but I do not recall how many.  It was 50k, and I recorded a time of 5:11:13.

What Played in Ed's Head -- 

Music listened to for the time-period December 1st through December 31st, 2023:

2024 Unsupported Trail Race Unofficial Challenge #02

Day After New Year's Day 20k (12.5-miles)

Began at the Bear Hole Reservoir Parking area with K2 early (8 a.m.) and cold (24-degrees).

We planned on 3-hours, and I hoped to get to the Trolley Trail north of Route 10/202 and the Ashley Reservoir.  I had been out there back in May of 2019, and it would be helpful for me to remake the connection to this group of trails.

Straight out north from Bear Hole, stuck to the old roads, and crossed the railroad-tracks onto the Ashley Reservoir gravel road in roughly 2.5-miles.  As I am still learning the roads around the reservoir, I erred and exited the property on a residential paved road for a half-mile or so, but it worked out to my advantage as it turned at the Holyoke Elks and the parking lot available for reservoir visiting.

Re-entered Ashley Reservoir, I knew where I was and what was necessary to find the exit at Route 10/202.  It happened, and I crossed the street at Doyle I believe, to run up the road toward Holyoke Community College.  It seemed like a long time, as I passed the trail-head at the daycare facility which I used back in 2019, but I found a good kiosk pointing me correctly into the woods across from the college.

Worked a bit of single-track, descended the ridge over a stream and I was on the Trolley Trail.  Followed it despite a few intersections pulling me (or trying to) and exited onto Route 10/202.  Plenty of space on the opposite side of the highway to run "inside" the guardrails, so safe.  Only about a quarter mile or so from the re-entrance to Ashley Reservoir.

Took the Adrenalize to the Cauldron Trails back to Prospect Ave, and then the New England Trail (Metacomet) back into Bear Hole.  Ended the day with 12.5-miles and 1000' climb at 4.9 mph, taking it slightly easy once on the old trails from Ashley south.

2024 Unsupported Trail Race Unofficial Challenge #01

New Year's Day 10k (6.2-miles)

To Northwest Park with K2 and J Evil.

I made the connection from Northwest Park to Farmington River Park in 6.2 total miles.

Excellent day, forty-degrees and very sunny.

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

Morning visit with TC.

Afternoon drive to Granville to run 3.2-miles out to Sweetman Mountain and Holden Hill.

Poisonous Words and the Massacre of  Wounded Knee

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.

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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.

"Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #30 for 2023...

"Cop Hater", an 87th Precinct Mystery by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) published in 1956.

This is the 87th Precinct Book #1.

The New England Trail (NET) offered another round of the:

Hike 50 Challenge and a Hike 100 Challenge in 2023.

I believe this is the sixth consecutive year I have completed the challenge.  

I received a nice patch and certificate in the mail as well.

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

Quiet Christmas at home with DL and TC.

Took a 4.9-mile run at Bear Hole late morning into early afternoon.