We can know the needs of any particular region only by participating in its specificity–by becoming familiar with its cycles and styles, awake and attentive to its other inhabitants.
Lomatium parryi: Photo taken near Moab, Utah on March 8, 2020
Yellow stalks of spherical flower clusters rise from pointed fine fern-like leaves. She is a perennial in the carrot family (Apiaceae), and has a typical long taproot.
Desert Parsley stabilizes desert sands and creates micro-habitats for other small living beings. She blooms early, starting in February, feeding the year’s first pollinators in search for flowers. Her roots can be dug up for food or medicine.
Her enemies are the feet of cattle and humans, who disturb the desert soils and trample small plants such as her.
Her name “Lomatium” comes from the Greek word “loma” which means “bordered or fringed”, and describes the beautiful double-winged paper-like fruits, each wing a seed. I love gathering a few of these seeds, carrying them like good luck charms until I feel inspired to plant them.
A close relative, Lomatium dissectum, is a popular viral and bacterial remedy for various respiratory troubles, as well as for general immune-system support.
We are lucky to have Lomatium parryi as our neighbor in these desert lands.
Photo taken near Moab, Utah on March 3, 2020
“Land, then, is not merely soil; it is a fountain of energy flowing through a circuit of soils, plants and animals.”
– Aldo Leopold
Photo taken near Moab, Utah on March 3, 2020
I want to tell the stories of the small beings I will have to speak in a forgotten language
In my dream the world is teeming with elk, deer, and antelope herds so abundant that we never have to buy meat from the store ever again. The streams, rivers, and springs always flow with clean drinkable water, so that we always have water to drink, for our gardens, and for all the other living beings. We no longer have any need for government infrastructure.
Sonoran Desert Spring – Photo by Susan H.
In my future world, human communities come together to take care of all the children, elderly, and disabled in our community, so never again does anyone need government assistance to survive. Every adult member of our community is expected to take part in care-giving. Our elders step up to guide our communities, and never again do we need government law to keep our communities healthy and thriving.
We become a classless society, so no one needs to do extra work that benefits upper classes who don’t even live in our communities. The two parent and single parent family units are disabled, and the community creates housing for every community member, depending on individual preferences. Even children are allowed to choose where they live.
Every woman is given the choice and the education they need to wisely limit the number of children they have. Our culture is such that no woman needs to be separated from her infant, and every member of our community is expected to watch after and teach older children. We teach each other skills and pass down knowledge.
We learn to live in balance with the land who feeds us. Every member of our community contributes. Some are gardeners, some are teachers, some are hunters, some are midwives and herbalists, others are builders. Some are storytellers, musicians, and weavers. Some are traders who bring back rare items from other healthy communities. We have potters and tanners. Everyone participates and the children eagerly learn to do something useful for our communities. We become wild humans who respect and care for the living world around us.
The good of all is our highest priority.
Humans become stewards of the land; we work to make the land where we live healthy and diverse. All the wild creatures want to live in the lands we care for. A few people choose to be farmers, and they care for small herds of cows, goats, sheep, and pigs where the land can sustain them. These animals choose to live near us and are no longer fenced in. Their population is kept small so that they do not damage the land.
We take from the land only what we need and defend the land from those who want to extract resources for profit. The buying and selling of land and resources is not allowed.
The health of our human communities mirrors the land where we live.
I have a dream of what could be. In my dream the world is teeming with elk, deer, and antelope herds so abundant that we never have to buy meat from the store ever again. The streams, rivers, and springs always flow with clean drinkable water, so that we always have water to drink, for our gardens, and for all the other living beings. We no longer have any need for government infrastructure.
In my future world, human communities come together to take care of all the children, elderly, and disabled in our community, so never again does anyone need government assistance to survive. Every adult member of our community is expected to take part in caregiving. Our elders step up to guide our communities, and never again do we need government law to keep our communities healthy and thriving. We become a classless society, so no one needs to do extra work that benefits upper classes who don’t even live in our communities. The two parent and single parent family units are disabled, and the community creates housing for every community member, depending on individual preferences. Even children are allowed to choose where they live. Every woman is given the choice and the education they need to wisely limit the number of children they have. Our culture is such that no woman needs to be separated from her infant, and every member of our community is expected to watch after and teach older children. We teach each other skills and pass down knowledge. We learn to live in balance with the land who feeds us. Every member of our community contributes. Some are gardeners, some are teachers, some are hunters, some are midwives and herbalists, others are builders. Some are storytellers and musicians and weavers. Some are traders who bring back rare items from other healthy communities. We have potters and tanners. Everyone participates and the children eagerly learn to do something useful for our communities. We become wild humans who respect and care for the living world around us. The good of all is our highest priority.
Humans become stewards of the land; we work to make the land where we live healthy and diverse. All the wild creatures want to live in the lands we care for. A few people choose to be farmers, and they care for small herds of cows, goats, sheep, and pigs where the land can sustain them. These animals choose to live near us and are no longer fenced in. Their population is kept small so that they do not damage the land. We take from the land only what we need and defend the land from those who want to extract resources for profit. The buying and selling of land and resources is not allowed.
I dream of a world full of flowers and butterflies; a world where the land is full of sacred and mysteriously wild places. I dream of a world so abundant with life that we never again feel lonely.
Two queen butterflies and their favorite milkweeds flowers. Photo by Susan H.
Today I was reading a well written, yet depressing post from one of my favorite blogs, Pray for Calamity, and I found myself wanting to respond to this statement:
“We exist in a world in which manmade social systems are destroying the life giving biological systems of the Earth. All the while, these social systems have stripped us of any real say over how those same systems function.”
This is true. We won’t win this war by following the rules created by those in power.
Systems of power are created by humans and can be stopped by humans. The people in power are not supernatural or immortal, and they can be brought down.
History provides many examples of successful resistance. There is no reason why we can’t do the same.
Of course, there is also reason to be extremely afraid. If we threaten them, they may listen, but they also may punish us with death or imprisonment. If we want to stop those in power from murdering the planet, we will have to face the fear and do what is right anyway.
Not only do large percentages of women report being sexually assaulted, but large percentages of men report committing sexual assaults. In one recent survey (Knight, 2003), 38% of blue-collar men and 15% of male college students admitted having sex with a woman whom they knew did not want to have sex. In another study (Hall, Teten, & Sue, 2003), 38% of European American men and 33% of Asian American men acknowledged sexual coercion of women. In yet another study (Koss, 1998), 25% of men acknowledged sexual aggression, with 4.4% admitting rape. Similarly, in three surveys of U.S. Navy recruits, between 10% and 12% reported committing rape before joining the military (Merrill, 2001). In a study by Malamuth (1981), 35% of male college students indicated they might rape a woman if they could be assured of not getting caught. In circumstances of protracted warfare, rape and group rape become endemic, often…
People often talk about the abuses endured by women and children in the sex trade and pornography as the price of a free society, implying that the lives of these people are a tragic but necessary sacrifice if we are to avoid totalitarianism, censorship and so on. My first reaction is always one of stunned outrage — it is so very evident that the people making the sad preachments about necessary sacrifices are never the ones who are being sacrificed, and the freedom about which they have such tender and righteous feelings does not extend to those who are enslaved to ensure it.
I am just not going to mollify anyone getting indignant about me outright stating that men are avid fans of male violence against women for entertainment. Men have no problem identifying with and rooting for misogynistic, abusive, rapist male characters, whether or not they are explicitly vilified in the narrative. Men love Game of Thrones and Vikings, they love getting their share of raped/abused/murdered women in crime dramas and trashy video games and pornography, because they’re “grim” and “realistic/based on a certain time period” and “reflect human nature” and “give men what they really want” and so on and so forth.
But when narratives involving MVAW demand accountability and mete out punishment upon men who rape and abuse women (see: rape-and-revenge films), suddenly portraying men as rapists and abusers is “unfair against men” and “not all men are like that.” Men always want to have it both ways. Dudes…
“We argue that BDSM is a sexual practice that hinges on degrading, humiliating, violating, and torturing people (usually women but it is unacceptable in any form). When performed against women it is a mirror of patriarchical violence against women which basically happens everywhere already, only now it is being praised and sexualized.
“We don’t blame women who participate because women are raised and socialized in a system that encourages us to view ourselves as passive recipients, submissive, or even encourages us to view violence as sexuality. This socialization runs deep and begins from the time we are small children (listen to the discourse when a 5 year old boy hits a 5 year old girl, “he likes you!” “boys will be boys!”).”
We argue that BDSM is a sexual practice that hinges on degrading, humiliating, violating, and torturing people (usually women but it is unacceptable in any form). When performed against women it is a mirror of patriarchical violence against women which basically happens everywhere already, only now it is being praised and sexualized.
We don’t blame women who participate because women are raised and socialized in a system that encourages us to view ourselves as passive recipients, submissive, or even encourages us to view violence as sexuality. This socialization runs deep and begins from the time we are small children (listen to the discourse when a 5 year old boy hits a 5 year old girl, “he likes you!” “boys will be boys!”)
We view bdsm as the legitimization of violence against women. Part of the problem is that no one can truely consent to violence done against them. We believe…
Radical feminist critique of patriarchy has practically been silenced in our culture. It has become a subcultural discourse available only to well-educated elites. Even in those circles, using the word “patriarchy” is regarded as passé. Often in my lectures when I use the phrase “imperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy” to describe our nation’s political system, audiences laugh. No one has ever explained why accurately naming this system is funny. The laughter is itself a weapon of patriarchal terrorism. It functions as a disclaimer, discounting the significance of what is being named. It suggests that the words themselves are problematic and not the system they describe. I interpret this laughter as the audience’s way of showing discomfort with being asked to ally themselves with an antipatriarchal disobedient critique. This laughter reminds me that if I dare to challenge patriarchy openly, I risk not being taken seriously.
“Men’s reality is so distinct from ours. I wanted to laugh out loud at him, Mr brave hero, ultimate martyr of the 21st century. He believes to shock the audience by saying that every activist he knows has spent several months or years in prison, arrested by the settlers. I wish women had only that to deal with. Not long before, a woman had told me she spent 23 years imprisoned by her abusive husband – like 3 other billion women on this planet. I guess 20 years must be the minimum sentence for married or owned women, if they survive that long after childhood. The kind of lifetime confinement, torture and isolation women are subjected to by men is far beyond any man would ever experience or could ever imagine. Men’s short-term imprisonment is a child play in comparison, not only that but their prison is at least recognised as a prison, and they go in there knowing they will be greeted as heroes in return, that it was worth it, that they’re not alone.”
About a year ago, I was deceived into a male activist gathering by a few friends, who assured me the speakers were women, but who upon arrival turned out to be a man. Groan, what a trap! The problem being of course that these friends weren’t feminist enough to understand the danger it represented to be around male activists, as if the mistake didn’t make any difference. I shouldn’t have accepted in the first place, knowing it wouldn’t be feminist. It was too complicated to leave at this point, so I had endure the speech.
However listening to his speech was instructive, as I took careful note of the evening, reactions and content. He was invited to talk about his activism in his own country which was under military occupation (this is as specific as I can get) and what made his presentation rather enlightening was the comparison I could…
“This sheds further light on the complete reversal and lie which is the idea that men maintain women financially so that women have to depend economically on them, explaining why they don’t leave. Well, the reality is worse, and men are far more parasitic than I even thought. The reality is that most women are most poor when living with a man, regardless of how rich or poor he may be, or regardless how rich or poor she was before she met him – he will rob her. “
We often underestimate that many women do in fact have some amount of resources of our own. Even though we may be ourselves privately owned by a man, father or pimp and most of our work and production are stolen by men, whether with forced domestic and child raising work in the home, by slaving for husbands or other males of the family to sustain their businesses, the constant extra burdens of unpaid chores required from women in paid jobs or when men steal and exploit the products of our intelligence, findings, inventions, genius and creativity at work – many of us still manage to earn something of our own, even if it may be minimal: we may have some income, and if we’re lucky enough, we may have just enough money to be able to pay a small rent and food for ourselves, or we have some property, furniture…
Sonoran Dreamer 