9.17.23

9.17.23

weekend camping trip to sedona ✨🏜️

I wake up under the gaze of the bluest sky I've ever seen--although it's the same one I've seen damn near every day since moving to Arizona. David doesn't understand when I say there's something creepy about it. He also doesn't understand that I say it with love. Maybe it's the Midwestern Protestant in me that's wary of too much of a good thing. I can't help but to wonder about the cost, and the right side of the abacus grows ever-burdened. But I am relearning acceptance, I am relearning chaos. I have felt so close to my 16 year old self these days, the way I often do in September. The fruits are ripening, the fruits are falling, the thing to do now is embrace the rot. Every autumn felt so urgent as an adolescent, when I was waiting to become alive. I spent years with a knife at the ready, prepared to sacrifice blood for a moment, a limb for a true thrill. The perpetual blue skies of Arizona do come with a cost, but I am ready to pay it. I've never seen storms like these storms. I've never felt heat like this heat. And now, under this clearest bluest sky, I am waking up again.

A recent cartoon for New Scientist

hey!!!! remember standing rock water protectors and the dakota access pipeline?

the massive, poorly constructed environmental risk that spat all over the Standing Rock Sioux people's treaty rights? that dug up their sacred burial sites? the one where the oil corporation who owned it bought out a private company to do a sham of an "environmental analysis" and never consulted the tribe and STILL didn't actually get approval? the one that's literally operating illegally and without proper permits right fucking now?

yeah, that.

you remember that.

surprising absolutely no one, the army corps of engineers this week (September 8, 2023) released an EIS (environmental impact statement) draft for public comment that takes into account absolutely 0 of the tribe's concerns, and in fact did not consult with them once in the process!

they're going to officially approve the pipeline.

what's the good news?

IT'S A DRAFT. YOU CAN SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT RIGHT NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 13!!!

This link RIGHT HERE (https://action.lakotalaw.org/action/dapl-eis-2023) will take you to a Lakota Law Project page where they've set up a form to make it easy to submit a comment.

All you have to do is add your name, email, and zip code, and it pulls up a form with a pre-written message you can just click and submit, listing the most pressing concerns. You can also personalize it if you want, but you don't have to. This will take you two minutes. Please.

you can also access the comment information on the USACE website here, email [email protected] yourself, or call Brent Cossette, the contact for the draft, at 402-995-2716!!!

you can also donate directly to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe here.