View From The Hogan #12     Plants begin to grow (April 2000)

Notes from Big Mountain

    I have an alarm clock. Its called the Peabody Mine Plane. Most days it
flies by a little before sunrise, so if I am still in bed when I hear it I
know I'm running late. Its not a little 2-seater, but large enough to have
cargo doors in the rear. A couple of years ago it took to "buzzing" the Altar
way below the legal altitude. Twice it was so low it caused the flock to
scatter to the four directions. Maybe the pilot had recently watched Top Gun,
or maybe the bosses told him how much fun it is to frighten old ladies. So,
why does Peabody need a plane? Well, it takes a full 3 hours to drive from
the office in Flagstaff out to the mine on Black Mesa, and, as we all know,
time is money, so those poor old executives have to fly themselves and the
mail out there. The thing that strikes me each time it flies by is just how
much it must cost to operate. Keeping an airport at the mine going, a
facility at Flagstaff airport, the wages for the pilots and mechanics etc and
the fuel costs. A damn sight more than is made by ALL the people on the land
that the plane flies over I suspect

    And to continue on the theme of the Absurd, I want to talk about cows.
    (Appearances to the contrary, this is not a Cowboy versus Sheepman
scenario, so popular in the old western movies)
    A lot of people don't like cows.
    Considering the damage they have done to western lands, that's not
surprising.
    One of the Grandmas here refers to them as " four-legged vacuum cleaners."
    I remember way back when THE RAINFOREST replaced the whale as the Poster
Child of the mainstream environmental movement. Seems like huge acreage of
virgin forest was being cut down daily to provide grazing land for cows to
feed the american burger franchises. Admittely there were some huge bucks
behund the campaign, but millions of americans "voted with their pocket
books" and applied pressure to the burger chains and caused some minor
changes in the corporations habits. (Having a tendency to cynicism on
occaision, I suspect the changes were primarily cosmetic). Seems like people
thought the diversity of the forest habitat was more important than the
sacred cow. A couple of years ago I was listening to a radio interview with a
Native American woman who had an organization that helped indigenous peoples
with economic start-ups. She went on to explain that they had now moved into
the international arena witha project in Botswana. Apparently the Bushmen of
the Kalahari were being moved off their land to make way for...... cows. Once
again, american support was mobilized to stop this travesty. (though I
believe the Bushmen are still being moved off)
    So whats this got to do with Big Mountain? Well, there used to be over
ten thousand virtually self-sufficient people living here. Mostly living in a
good way without needing to plug into the cash economy too much. They've been
moved off. And what has replaced them? Cows. A damn sight fewer than ten
thousand of them. These cows are owned by a very small group of individuals.
These individuals and their friends ARE the Hopi Tribal Council. The parallel
to Public Lands ranching in the western U.S. is obvious. A small group of
individuals get to engage in uneconomic profit making because the US
taxpayers, and in the case here the Hopi people AND the US taxpayers, are
footing the bill. And the land and the people suffer.

    The second of the "Exclusion" trials has taken place. Still no word on
the result of the first one, though Hopi people say there is no way of
getting a fair hearing from the HTC. They should know. What is obvious is
that the HTC is selectively applying this law against supporters of the
resisters. If they were to apply the law to everyone then their courts would
be full.

    On a totally unrelated subject, A Hopi Tribal judge just got busted in
Flagstaff for DUI.

    A delegation of resistors are in Geneva (thats Geneva, Switzerland, not
Geneva, Wisconsin) testifying before the U.N. It's worth remembering that
back when the U.N. was setting up the process to include the worlds
indigenous people in its apparatus, that President Bush threatened to pull
the plug unless the U.N backed off from the relocation issue here.
After Geneva the resisters are going to a town in Germany where a Coal
Company is planning on relocating some people to make way for a mine. Lets
hope the delegation of resistors gets there before the HTC parachutes in a
crack SWAT team of propagandists to teach the Coal Company how to manufacture
a land dispute.

    People here have been receiving a new round of impoundment notices. I
guess the good guys at the Hopi BIA figure there is no-one watching here any
more so its back to the usual daily grind of harassment.

    Now might be a good time to once again offer to you a variety of ways you
can help with the situation here on the Altar. First thing is,... educate
yourself about what is and has been happening. Watching a video and reading a
few emails is not enough. Research, cross-check, verify,... dig and learn for
yourselves what is going on. Draw your own conclusion.... anything you learn
for yourself has more power than simply repeating what has been told you. As
you learn it should become more obvious in what ways you want to help.
Secondly, talk to people about what is going on,... friends, family,
colleagues, and especially media contacts... it can only help all of us the
more people who are aware of what is actually going on. Third, write to the
Clowns.... tell em what you think and feel,... ask em what they think they
are doing. I can send a list of addresses and suitable topics if you want.
Fourth, on land support,.... material and physical. There are a few material
things that can help the people here live as they should. Bodies are needed
to herd sheep and act as witnesses, drivers etc. Finally, Pray. Whatever your
spiritual persuasion.

    Back in the real world, Spring has sprung (as the saying goes). Spring is
in the air (as the song goes). Many friends writing recently have commented
on the arrival of spring in their neck of the woods. It seems like no matter
how insulated from the non-human world we get, whether by TV, artificial
light, concrete and steel, or supermarket food, the rhythmns and cycles of
life tug at our cells and stir something deep inside. For those , like the
people on the Altar, who lack no awareness of our dependence on the land,
Spring means one thing. The gift of Life.
    The grass has started to grow again. First one species, then a week later
another, then another. The bright green against the
red/pink/salmon/ochre/white/grey ground paints a pretty picture indeed. The
wild carrots now are topped with delicate purple and white rosettes. I even
saw the first scarlet bud of "Indian Paintbrush" poking up. Somehow, the
hummingbirds down in Mexico know this and are starting their journey back
here. The peach trees are blossoming, and two other species of flowers are
about. Just below the surface of the ground, the melted snow and rain sits
and waits for the corn to be planted in a moon or so. The sheep are happy to
be getting fresh green...  as will I be in a couple of weeks when the first
produce from the garden comes in.

    I'd like to introduce you to some of the individuals I spend my days with.
    Great great great Grandma is very old. I remember overhearing a young
girl at a swimming pool ask her mom, when an old lady came out of the
changing room, "mommy, why doesn't that ladies skin fit?". Thats great great
great grandma.... all skin and bone. For the past year she has always come
along in the rear of the flock. She refuses to hurry (an admirable trait),
and arrives at the corrall after everyone else. For the past couple of weeks
she has decided to march to the beat of a different drummer than the flock
and makes no attempt to keep up with them. She comes and goes as she pleases.
    At the other end of the age spectrum is Baby. For some reason Babies mom
had no milk, and none of the other mommas had any to spare, so I have been
bottle-feeding Baby. Problem is, instead of following the other sheep she
just hangs around me, and whenever her belly is anything less than empty will
bleat incessantly if she can see me.
    Then there are a pair of twin sisters. If it were not disrespectful to
name the animals, I might call them Dumb and Dumber. They are real pretty,
with black, white and brown coats, and they sure like to eat. So much so that
they don't bother watching the rest of the flock wander off,... after 10
minutes or so they will look up, and not seeing anyone, will wander around
making noises like a car horn with a dying battery. I constantly have to keep
back-tracking to find them.

    Soon be time to plant corn, so I went down to check out the cornfield
recently, and was horrified to discover a family of moles have moved in.
Simplest thing would be to spend a day or two sitting outside their homes
entrance with a gun or club, problem solved, quick and easy. But that would
be cruel. So I have decided to instigate a "Voluntary Relocation" program.
Already I have written a legal document (in english and navajo and Hopi)
explaining their illegal trespassing, and the necessity of them to move
elsewhere, and left it in their doorway. So far they have decided not to
reply or comply. The next step will be to hammer a couple of metal fence
posts into the ground near their burrows, and repeatedly throughout the day
bang furiously on the posts with a hammer. If that doesn't work I will stomp
on all new construction and repair of their homes. Then I can pour water down
the burrows. If they still haven't left I resort to the Ultimate Secret
Weapon..... I'll slap an "exclusion order" on them.
    
    Been reading a lot on American foreign policy,... not just towards the
Red Nations of Turtle Island, but world-wide. It is absolutely clear, that in
most, if not all, cases that  the U.S. has started a War, "police action", or
invasion of other countries (and there have been many dozens just since
WWII), the american public has been lied to about the events leading up to
these invasions... while promulgating a high moral stance, the U.S. has
militarily intervened in the democratic processes of other countries to
further or ensure its own control of the resources necessary to keep the
profits flowing to the rich, and to keep the american populace sedated with
cheap consumer items. After the event, the truth becomes known, but by then
its too late. Question is, how can the american people continue to accept the
blatant lies of its government when the facts contradict them... again and
again? Theodore Roszak puts it this way "Like all imperial powers, we fill
the silence that follows our conquest with assumptions of historical
necessity. Whatever holds out against us - we regard as so much cultural
debris." This same colonialist policy has continued, and is evident right
here on the Mesa..... .... The Indian Wars didn't end when Kevin Costner road
off the screen in Dances with Wolves..... they continued unabated,..
camouflaged sometimes, but largely invisible to the majority of U.S.
citizens. Maybe this is why there is so much support from outside the U.S.
for the resistance here.... from outside the dominant culture, history is
different...... instead of starting when Columbus invaded Turtle island, the
land has a history that goes back to the beginning of time,... this history
continues alongside that which is taught in schools...

    An update on my companions that I wrote about earlier. Great Great Great
Grandma hasn't been by for a few days now. I suspect I shall find her bones
bleaching in the sun sometime soon. I suspect also that she died with the
same dignity that she lived with. As for Baby and the lambs-formerly-known-as
Dumb-and-Dumber,.... early this morning the flock busted out of the corrall.
(I know which individual is responsible for this jailbreak), and by the time
we found them they were a half mile from home..... rounded em up and put them
back in the corrall, but Baby and D&D were nowhere to be found. Searched for
them all day, and as they weren't found by sunset I figured they were coyote
bait. A couple of hours after sunset I heard a plaintiff bleating a couple of
hundred yards out,..... taking a flashlight I followed the sound to its
source, and there was Baby and D&D,.... all with fat bellys. I guess Baby has
now learned to hang with the other sheep, and D&D are smart enough to find
their own way home. Not that I doubted it for a second.

    I hear that something called "Earth Day" is coming up soon. I'm sure most
of you already know, but here in Indian Country, EVERY day is Earth Day.
(Every day is Thanksgiving too.)

    With the blinding speed of the Information Superfootpath, View From The
Hogan has gone visual with the addition of photos. I don't want to clog up
y'alls email boxes, so I will maintain a second subscription list for those
wishing to get the photos. They will be in JPG format, and not too large. So,
drop me a line if you want to get them. This first set are:
    VFH12pix1..... Seemingly unaware that they are undocumented trespassers,
the flock ponders the eternal paradox... no matter how much they keep eating,
the grass keeps growing. (foto credit: BoPeep)
    VFH12pix2 .... After crossing through the Fence, the Prayer Walk
approaches the final ascent onto Black Mesa. Or, if you're a fan of the HTC
"aggressive and racist outside agitators invade Hopi land". (foto credit:
BoPeep)
    VFH12pix3 ...The Prayer Walk is moments away from reaching the top of
Black Mesa. (foto credit: BoPeep)
    VFH12pix4 ... Long-time resister and matriarch Roberta Blackgoat. (foto
credit unknown)

    Walking past a newstand a while back, I noticed a headline "Los Angeles
running out of electricity."(Or maybe it was Phoenix) Oh dear. what will they
do about that? Seems like they have 2 choices. Build more coal-fired power
plants (now where could they be thinking of finding the coal do you
think????), or build some new nuclear power plants ( it is , after all, a
"clean" energy source!!!!). A third option of using renewable energy sources
like wind or solar has dropped out of favor in McU.S.A.
    There is a fourth option. The inhabitants of LaLaLand (or Phoenix) could
DECREASE their energy consumption. But thats an absurd idea, as that would
imply that as "mere" individuals we were capable of effecting change. Much
simpler to feel powerless victims of the Mega Corps. Then go out and buy more
stuff.


    But then, what the hell do I know, I'm just a sheepherder

        Thank you for giving me your time by reading this

        Your prayers, support, & correspondence are invited

        "I look for what needs to be done. After all, that's how the universe
invents itself"

        For all my relations

        BoPeep
        (reachable via unclejake74@hotmail.com)


P.S. To all those who have written to me, please be aware that my highest
priorities are the flock, the garden, and the Grandmas, email is not,
therefore it may take as long as a half  moon between when you write, and
when you hear back from me. Around here the information superhighway is
sometimes no faster than the Pony Express. Please be patient, you will hear
from me.

If you have received this update as a forward, but want to sure of getting
them in the future, please let me know and I will add you to the list. Also
if there are any  "back issues" you don't have, again, let me know.

Please feel free to distribute (unedited) this email.