Change a tire- today Part 1

Have you ever had the chance to change a tire? Remember the time when you were a kid and your bike tire had some type of element lodged in the rubber? If you were like me, the natural tribal voice, would guide you to fix the tire yourself.

My most early times of changing a tire, I can recall, that I needed tools and I needed parts. But, the first few times, i would just put more air in the tire and ride the bike until I needed more air. Finally, one day me and my best friend Jordan started to hunt around in our parents toolboxes and start our inventory of tools. That way, the next time either one of us got a flat, we would have tools and eventually materials needed in order to fix our tires.

Just recently I had the huge job to change the tires on my mid-sized S.U.V. Now, if I was geared like the mainstream, I would have done the " civilized " thing and brought all three of my tires to a shop and pay for the costs of getting a tire changed. You have to pay for the disposal of the old tires(considered toxic waste), have the tires mounted, get the tires balanced( most of the time-not necessary) and wait for the tires to finished.

It takes quite a lot of energy to produce a tire. From the mixture of the plastics, rubber and mixture of synthetics to the actual forming process-all of this is a mega-carbon emission monster. Something we hardly ever stop to intellectualize upon. Not only does it takes huge amounts of energy to produce one tire, it also takes quite of human motivation, determination and energy to CHANGE TIRES BY YOURSELF. Of course I am referring to the basic philosophy, that we had when we were kids- that we don't need high tech. gear and gadgets to change our tires. All we need is good company, great motivation, patience, poles, screwdrivers, wrenches and whatever makeshift items that will maximize our experience.

This past weekend, I decided that procrastination was at an end and that I need to have my tires changed. I than decided to ask my brother in law. He was more than grateful to help me. Besides, he has a lot more muscle mass than myself, plus he changes tires by himself most of the time. If you know me and my history with working on cars, you will know than, that I tend to fall right into the worst days to work on a car or any of a cars many parts. on this particular day, it was raining and the temperature was a frost 33 degrees. Cold!

The task at hand required to take off the rubber off the two rear rims and replace them with some other plastic-rubber-non-environmentally friendly tires. When the wind tends to fluctuate with rain-the motivation to change the tires can be very slow at times. Not only was it raining, cold and wind, but I happened to park the S.U.V on the gravel as opposed to the blacktop. But, I decided that i wasn't going to move the car, BECAUSE this is where it was suppose to be.

To be CONT.

Bones,Bones,Bones Part 1

Anishinabe-Aking has lost another great elder and holy man; Thomas Stillday.
When i think of this elder, many a thoughts come to mind. But the few thoughts that last, are is when me and Foxy( one of my non-fictitious characters) sat down and tried to "iron" things out to the differences in our opinions. We sat down to discuss things in the month of August of 2007. Our discussion was in the Hotel lobby of the St. Croix Hotel in turtle Lake, Wisconsin. We had discussed many things about the Midewiwin and what he "thought" was important to the community of Round lake and to the ideals and principals of Midewiwin and how i wasn't fit into his grand scheme of Midewiwin. It gets deeper, but what i did get across was my concern to his arrogance and his respect for elders.
Of course, because i do not have fancy letters behind my name(i do not promote them), my thoughts and concerns to him were worthless and unmeaningful. I am okay with this, but i shocked him on many levels of self-being, all of which pointed to him and his Anishinabe lifestyle, attitude, psychological functioning and reasoning.
Out of the many things we threw back and forth towards one another; the thought of Tommy Stillday and Anna Gibbs came up.
I, did not initiate to know either of these elders and i am not saying i know them personally. I do know however what was related to me about Midewiwin and what "Foxy" thought about the future of Midewiwin in the village of Ponemah. When he brought up Midewiwin in the village of Ponemah, my first initial thought was, " what the hell does this have to do with me or my community of Roundlake"?"
Foxy related to me that....basically Ponemah was going to lose it's Midewiwin and that Roundlake was going to flourish; because" hey " we have so many interested young people and so many people interested in the language."
From me to the cyber world, Foxy told me that he didn't see Anna or Tommy living much longer.
Man, when I had heard him relate this, i was floored. How could someone even think of such things and to say such a thing, is not a traditional concept. So, this related to my Spirit and helpers, that, damn-this dude has many things to learn........was i the person to teach him this.................I hardly doubt it, i have no letters attached to my name...........
To be continued

Aboriginal Youth-Can you blame them? Part 1

I am both an advocate and messenger for the youth and the elders. The elders who are presently walking with our youth, I would like to say are the last trail ends of true energies; wisdom, compassion, humility, love and devotion.All the energies that are needed to seek true Anishinabeg bimadiziwin.
The youth that we are blessed with upon the earth are constantly being assaulted with the most sophisticated form of communications westerners have conjured up. What do i mean? Take a look at our life's as Aboriginal people. Do you ever stop to imagine where you are in the mix of the Aboriginal and western-linear worlds? When an unknown elder stops to admire and observe your actions, what will this elder walk away with? When a youth of today walks past you on the street, at a powwow or in the classroom, what type of energy are you going to allow them to see? What energy is a Youth of today going to witness about you and throw back at you, when they do not feel as if you are being "straight" up with them?
As an Aboriginal man of this world, I see many things that our elders have been forced to live with and be "pacified" with. Do we blame our elders for witnessing our babies to leave our homes on a daily basis to go and become one with the educational monster? Do we continue to allow our babies to be poisoned by "immunizations" in which does more harm to them,rather than benefit them? As this child grows, do we shelter them from life's daily assault of lies, betrayals and deceits all which are geared to have them not think of their aboriginal cultures and values? Do we continue to only listen to elders who have found their voices? Do we walk past the elders who have never found their true voices and fail to see them as if they do not exist? I am sometimes guilty of this- not because I deliberately take this action, but because time and the natural laws of the earth-do not allow me to be on every part of Turtle Island.
I wish I had all the answers. I wish that all of our elders and youth of today had the same choices. What if we had our Anishinabeg languages intact and many cultural norms that go hand in hand with the language? Would we continue to allow the linear-western world to possess our beings with inanimate wants, desires and energies?Dangerous energies and wants on many precious levels-that never get the chance of being dealt with, because, oh, hey-wait a minute-I have a call coming on my cell phone or I can't deal with all this crap-I need a mood relaxer!



Jay