loud & proud

Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American are the daily dose that keeps my hope afloat. 

Reading her thoroughly researched historical perspective on our current events anchors me to reality. 

Listening to her steely determination is my constant battle hymn in our Trumpian flailing republic. 

January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack by Trump followers

These are definitely transformative times we are all hoping we can transition and navigate through. 

Never has it ever been more important to circle together to build better stability for the vast majority.  

Call on and demand our institutions to step up and protect our country, its principles, and its people. 

To uphold a government that works for everybody - of the people, by the people, for the people. 

#resist #insist #persist

Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. 

With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness - and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe. 

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling - their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. ~ Arundhati Roy 

addressing the colonized mindset - then & now

We must understand what we could lose if the actions of this Trump administration go unchecked. It's on all of us to save our country and world from the rampaging destruction of these nihilistic authoritarians and greedy kleptocrats. 

possibilities & probabilities - perseverance & persistence

Potential does not come to fruition in barren territory - even at the price of blood, sweat and tears. It is what differentiates the quitters from those who eventually succeed.
Every fellow Filipino and freedom fighter accepts this in their core being. All throughout recorded history it has been the rough road our countrymen are tested with every day.
Even the best among us have to cushion ourselves and take succor from the horror and beating meted year in and year out.

multi-generational trauma of the Philippines

A people known for their spirit of warmth and hospitality whose life force slowly leaks away in a country of parasitic politicians of few exceptions.
Much is wasted to expend scarce resources and ill-gotten wealth on keeping the masses fat dumb and happy on short term extravaganzas and fiestas.

protest heartache

Stunning images of women flood the world as we join Iranian women protesting the death of Mahsa Amini. She died in hospital on September 16 - three days after being pulled off the streets of Tehran by morality police and taken to a re-education center for lessons in modesty. 

May our hearts, thoughts, and prayers overflow with our Iranian sisters who have risen up in fury and solidarity over the death of Mahsa Amini. Women on the streets are now putting their own lives on the line in protest over this woman’s needless death.

art by Leni Antipina, UK

Mahsa was only 22 years old - visiting the capital from the Kurdish area of Iran. She was detained for improperly wearing her hijab - showing too much of her hair. She was severely beaten and died shortly afterward.

This singular act has polarized the women of Iran who have taken to the streets in epic protest - burning their hijabs, cutting their hair, endangering themselves. Protesters shout over and over - “Jin. Jiyan. Azadi.” Women. Life. Freedom. The world stands in solidarity with the women of Iran.

July 4th | creature comforts

On the wonder |wander |world blog my daughter Mahala and I collaborate on, we wonder what Fourth of July celebrations would look like this year.

George Washington, Mount Rushmore, Black Hills - Scott Olson/Getty Images

As the [dis]United States of America gear up for Independence Day celebrations this weekend, we wonder what in the world we are offering as well wishers on this occasion.

hopeful or hopeless? our choice

If life is a mirror what do we see when we stand in front of it? How many heart breaks can attack us before we collapse or give up? 

In stark contrast the world spins on - nature restored and glorious while humanity flails around in constant chaos of our own doing and device. 

As if this pandemic were not life threatening enough. Nationwide the disUnited States of America have imposed citywide curfews in an effort to dissuade demonstrations and looting. 

Police and even the National Guard have been deployed to monitor the protests, though in some cases has resulted in violent confrontation between law enforcement and civilians.

City Mayors and governors are in conflict with presidential and federal directives that tender no help and only aggravate their already beleaguered states. 

Now more than ever apathy and cynicism need to be stomped out. This is not a time to be silent or submit. Rise up and uplift whoever and whatever need our assistance and assurance. 

Time to take matters in hand and hold accountable those responsible. Injustice and inequality must end at all costs. Historic mistakes cannot be allowed to repeat - period.

It ends here today. Time to get on to better things in our lives. We have to be better. 

nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up

On Sunday, Feb 23 at 9pm, the film nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up aired on CBC TV. The TV version has been edited to fit into a 45 minute time slot and doesn’t include details that appear in the longer feature film version.

Illustration by Elizabeth LaPensée

We are pleased to offer this short segment of footage from the longer version, which provides deeper historical context to the film. In this stunning piece animated by Justin Stephenson & Solis Animation Inc, illustrated by Beth Lapensee and narrated by filmmaker Tasha Hubbard, we hear about a history of Indigenous peoples in the prairies and their relationship with the government, focusing on the events of the late nineteenth century.

In 1876, Treaty 6 negotiations ended with promises of health care, education, hunting rights and freedom in exchange for sharing the land to the depth of a plough. Instead, the Canadian government passed the Indian Act which pushed Indigenous people onto reserves. Violence and hunger were used to force assimilation and colonialism when leaders like Big Bear and Poundmaker tried to fight back.

Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up follows the family of the late Colten Boushie, a young Cree man fatally shot in a Saskatchewan farmyard, as they demand justice from Canada’s legal system.

Watch it online at https://www.wewillstandupfilm.com/watch. 

UNfuckingBELIEVABLE!

Impeach Trump already!

It's true that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It was so with Hitler. It was so with Idi Amin.

It was so with Marcos. It is so with Duterte.

So it is with Trump.