Longmont, Colorado: Land Acknowledgement

 

                    Mašké by Danielle SeeWalker. Longmont Art Museum. May 2023.

 

                                            Exhibit: "Duality: Contemporary Works by Indigenous Artists"

Being in Longmont for a couple of months, I checked into the city's land acknowledgement, if any. 

Longmont does have one.

In July 2021, the Longmont City Council adopted this land acknowledgment: 

We acknowledge that Longmont sits on the traditional territory of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Ute and other Indigenous peoples. We honor the history and the living and spiritual connection that the first peoples have with this land. It is our commitment to face the injustices that happened when the land was taken, and to educate our communities, ourselves and our children to ensure that these injustices do not happen again.

John Fryer, the reporter who wrote this article also shared a quote from the mayor: 

Mayor Brian Bagley said approving the statement amounted to sending a message to Indigenous peoples as well as Longmont residents and visitors to the community. But, he asked, if the words in the statement are true, "What are we going to do about it?"

Bagley .... said the community's commitment needs to be "more than just a statement."

He suggested one possibility would be for Longmont residents to provide homes to tribal children attending colleges and universities in the area.

And the mayor is right to ask this. There are two-to-three concrete commitments in the land acknowledgment statement: 

1. Face the injustices that happened when the land was taken, 
2. Educate our communities, ourselves and our children ... to
3. Ensure that these injustices do not happen again. 

..... and yet. 

Here we are in a time when our nation's decision-makers are drunk on a neo-racist cocktail of "invasions" and "border security," stirred with a hearty splash of George Orwell's 1984 doublespeak, where "diversity, equality, and inclusion" is code for a KKK warning against "white genocide." 

 

Sign outside Harrison, Arkansas. August 2016. Photo credit: Mzuriana.

  

Our Declaration of Independence states: 

" .. .  all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ..."

Longmont, Colorado: 'Snow Way, Go Away!

Graupel hail-snow in Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

 I just can't escape winter, it seems. I think spring is coming and then Demeter throws a wrench in daughter Persephone's plans. I mean, heck, what the hell was the snow doing in El Paso this March?!

Graupel hail-snow in Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

So last night it hailed here in Longmont. Or it might be more accurate to say it graupeled?

Funny enough, on my way to this very same place back in May 2016, there was snow alongside the roadways. 

Snow along Highway 36 in Colorado. May 2016. Credit: Mzuriana.

Longmont, Colorado: Walks in the Neighborhood: Longmont Estates

Neighborhood pond. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

My temporary home turf is in the Longmont Estates Neighborhood. 

There is a pretty pond within its borders. 

There is a whimsical yellow utility box with storybook mice. 

Storybook mouse on yellow utility box. Longmont Estates Neighborhood. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

A woodpecker or northern flicker surveyed the hood from the flattened crown of a topped tree. 

Bird on a topped tree, Longmont Estates Neighborhood. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

There was the ubiquitous tossed boot. A blue medical glove, an artifact of this COVID era.  

A slide show of walks in the Longmont Estates neighborhood: 

 

#30

Longmont, Colorado: Another City, Another Farmers Market

 

Arranging the asparagus. Longmont Farmers Market, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

No kettle corn.

Several vendors offered big ol' fat, soft, chewy, yeasty, pretzels. I felt tempted, but no, I am saving my caloric debauch for kettle corn. 

 

Soft pretzels. Longmont Farmers Market, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

This vendor is clever; made me smile, although I didn't even notice the name or claim - The Off Beet Farm - the Gayest Little Farm - until I looked at the photos later. What pulled me in was how the sunlight played on the leafy colors. Maybe my mind was also distracted by my hopeful search for kettle corn.

 

Gayest Little Farm at Longmont Farmers Market. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

Gayest Little Farm at Longmont Farmers Market. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

The mountainous backdrop with its crown of clouds lent drama to the occasion. 

Mountainous backdrop at Longmont Farmers Market. Longmont, Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

Apparently, I am not the first person (or even the second or third) who initially misread the banner of this pie vendor. 

Human pie? Oh. No. Longmont Farmers Market. Colorado. May 2023. Credit: Mzuriana.

The bird nest outside the pupusas booth enchanted me. Also, the "Pupusa Family" took me back to Mexico City, when an El Salvadoran family from one of the Central American caravans made pupusas to share. 

Pupusas and bird nest at Longmont Farmers Market, Colorado. Credit: Mzuriana.

Other farmers markets: 

2010: Kansas City: Travels With Carol: Day 3: City Market, et al

2011: Color in Harar [Ethiopia], Day 4

2011: Last Day in Gonder [Ethiopia]: The Market, Gold, and God is Calling

2011: Rustavi, Caucasus Georgia: At the "Big" Market

2012: Istanbul: Larceny and Spice

2012: Alamogordo, New Mexico: Farmer's Market

2013: Las Cruces: The Not-So-Farmerish Farmers' Market

2013: Lafayette, Louisiana: Farmers' Market at the Oil Center, Winter

2016: El Paso: Downtown Farmers Market

2016: Antigua, Guatemala: Municipal market stories here and here and here. 

2016: Outside Antigua, Guatemala: The Sunday Blues

2018: Mexico City: New Housemates and the Saturday Market

2023: Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market

#30

 

 

10 Years Ago: Sounds of a Weekend

 

Gosh, this makes me smile. 

I'm happy to revisit, to hear these sounds of the past.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Sounds of a Weekend

Flowering ocotillo, Leasburg Dam State Park, Radium Springs, New Mexico. May 2013. Credit: Mzuriana.

From Leasburg Dam State Park and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, one weekend in May:

Flowering desert, Leasburg Dam State Park, New Mexico. May 2013. Credit: Living Rootless

Drumming minute in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. May 2013. Credit: Living Rootless

A hot springs bath in Truth or Consequences, along the Rio Grande. May 2013. Credit: Living Rootless  

 

 

2023 Word of the Year: FEAR: Feelings Expressed Allow Relief

 

Boats along Hudson River Greenway. New York City. September 2022. Credit: Mzuriana.

 

FEAR: Feelings Expressed Allow Relief. 

There are so many angles from which to look at what's meant by "expressing feelings." To myself? To the person or group who provoked said feelings? Or to a third party about the provocateur(s)? And are we talking about negative feelings (fear?)? Or are we throwing in the positive feelings, as well?

I read something recently - the source since forgotten - that resonated: When it comes to expressing one's Big Negative or Fear-Filled Feelings (aka resentments) to someone in our family-and-friend circles, it is best to wait until our wound has healed into a scar. If the psychic injury still bleeds or if the infectious agent is still virulent, we are likely to incur fresh harm. Or perhaps to inflict same to the other person. 

These days, I seek equilibrium, serenity, peace, stability - stability as in the stability of a sturdy little boat in churning waters. The water is choppy, but the sturdy little boat is sound and seaworthy. It can right itself in a storm.

If I let it do what it's built to do. If I remain calm. 

So express my feelings? Sure, that's a good thing. But first I want to pause, to gather peace to me. To express those feelings when I've collected my calm in my sturdy little boat.