Yesterday was World Health Day, and it’s more important than ever to pay attention to our health and the health of those we care about, not just on World Health Day, but everyday.
The United States is losing a lot of standing in the world as we gut the CDC and the FDA, the NIH and HHS, and it will take time for someone else to take up the mantle of research, development, and whatever else we are quickly dismantling. The alphabet soup of our departments are more than initials, acronyms, and governmental “overreach.” They are what keeps our food from poisoning us. They are what checks on the viability of vaccines; that prevents the next pandemic; that cures cancer.
Visit my new page: Election Connection – Resistance and visit the first table where there are resources for knowing what health issues are going on in the world. Follow Canada Health Watch and get their weekly emails – at least it’s something. As for the title, for anyone who thinks that health isn’t political hasn’t been paying attention.
Please add your own reliable links in the comments. We are a village, and we are responsible for one another even if one quarter of the country doesn’t believe that.
In some ways, saying goodbye to 2024 is bittersweet. It is both a relief and a sadness. I’m still wearing my Harns/Walz bracelets and yearn for what might have been. Nothing was going to be perfect, but I have no doubt that it would have been better.
I spent yesterday looking back at this website, traveling from December all the way back to January to find which posts stood out to me. some were great; Some were not so great, but they all propelled my writing forward. A few of my favorites are linked below for you to also look back on. Tomorrow, I’ll begin with my intentions and actual resolutions for the New Year.
After 25 or so years home with my kids, I now have a job outside the house that I truly love. I never expected this to happen, and I’m so glad that the time was right, both for me and the place.
I have a good path forward for my book. I’m organizing the research and the photos, and I will also be presenting a program in the summer on St. Kateri’s Journey and her life.
I think when it comes to marginalized groups in this country, it is important to remember that even though we attempt to celebrate them and honor them, we can still do that on the other 364 days of the year, and not just on “their” day.
Native American Heritage Month officially ended on November 30th, and Native American Heritage Day was commemorated on November 29th.
In addition to the post last week with links to the American Indian Museum in Washington, DC, I’d like to share the following links and travel recommendations for you to consider over the next 361 days.
The Akwesasne Cultural Center is located on State Route 37 in Akwesasne, New York, near the Canadian Border. They are a museum, library, and cultural center focusing on the history and culture of the Mohawk people as well as protecting Mohawk culture and artifacts. The museum and gift shop are open T – F, 10-6, and Sat, 10-2. The library is open additionally on Monday, 9-5.
The Kanien’keha’:ka Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa Language and Cultural Center was established in 1978. Its mission is to preserve and enrich the language and culture of the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) of Kahnawa:ke. They are located in the Mohawk Territory of Kahanwa:ke, south of Montreal, Canada.
You can also find the Welcome Center, the Kateri Interpretive Center, and the St. Francis-Xavier Mission Church (on this site since 1716) in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawa:ke. I have toured all three of these sites and it is well worth the visit.
Bluesky Handle, Puff the Magic Hater has a thread of ways to support Native people, for everything from abortion care, defending voting rights, keeping Native families together, and more. Visit the thread here.
I’d like to close this post with the words of someone smarter than me. On Nov 29, 2024, historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote on Facebook:
This past Tuesday was the feast day of Hildegard of Bingen and below I share two links to her music on Spotify. The first is her music sung from her abbey in Bingen, and the second is her music as arranged by Richard Souther. They are both unique in how they sound, but convey the depth of Hildegard’s mysticism and faith journey.
Hildegard of Bingen was a Benedictine Abbess in Germany in the Middle Ages, living from 1098 to 1179. In addition to her role as abbess, she was a polymath, writer, composer, visionary, medical practitioner, and is considered the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. Her writings include theology, botanicals, and medical works as well as letters, hymns, antiphons, and poems.
She has more chants surviving the Middle Ages than any other composer in the Middle Ages. She is also the writer of both the lyrics and the music of her works.
My first introduction to Louise Penny was with State of Terror, the book she co-authored with Hillary Rodham Clinton, which admittedly was what drew me to the book in the first place. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in mysteries and state department/political thrillers. It’s taken me a few years since then to rediscover the author Louise Penny when her Gamache Series was recommended to me recently in a writing class.
I may have mentioned in a previous note, here or on Facebook, that I’ve become obsessed with Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series. I’ve read the entire series and am less than patiently waiting for the next book that will be released in October. I am about halfway through a second read-through – did I mention that I was obsessed?! I had recommended them to a friend of mine and it turned out she was already reading them! It is so hard to talk to her about them and not give her any spoilers. I had planned to write a proper review and recommendation for next week or the week after, however, today is a special day in the books (and in my own life as I’ll explain).
There should not be any spoilers not found in the synopsis on the backs of the books.
The Eucharist is the highway to heaven – Carlo Acutis
I had heard about Carlo Acutis several years before his relics and Eucharistic Exhibition came to my church. I was intrigued not only by such a young man who was venerated and declared Blessed, but by how recently he had died (in 2006) of acute promyelocytic leukemia. He was near enough to my kids’ ages that it was something that pulled at me. I had seen photos of him and read brief snippets, but when I was told that this exhibition and his relics were coming to our church for nearly a week during Lent, I began to read more. I volunteered to help during the exhibition, and I attended the talks given by the woman, Eileen Wood at Catholic Quest, who was custodian of this display and his relics as well as several of the liturgies held during that week. We also had our own resident expert give a couple of talks about relics in general as well as Eucharistic miracles in particular. It was a busy time at our church, and we had over 1500 visitors in the time we held the exhibit.
“Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending.”
Nearly one year ago, I attended the first of what I hope will be an annual event at the National Shrine and Historic Site of St. Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda, New York. It was World Peace and Prayer Day and was being held around the world on the same day, the Summer Solstice.
Please watch this video as told by Chief Arvol Looking Horse about how the day came to begin, starting with his own life history and the tragic past and present of the reservation system. The words are weighty, and the music only adds to the chills I felt, and I think you will feel as you watch:
In 1994, Miracle, a rare white buffalo calf was born in Wisconsin. It was the first white buffalo calf born since 1933. White buffalo calves are sacred to many Native American nations in the US and Canada. The World Peace & Prayer Day began in 1996 and for a time, rotated to different sites until expanding to individual events held at sacred sites globally. The Kateri Shrine is one of those sacred sites and why the administration decided to hold this interfaith prayer service. The Shrine is sacred to the Native peoples who lived and nurtured the land and there is a Mohawk community nearby as well, and it is also sacred to Catholics who believe the Saint Kateri Tekakwitha lived there in the village of Caughnawaga throughout her child- and young adult-hood. This village is the only fully excavated Mohawk village in the country. I’ve written before about my experience there and how profound it was for me and others who attended it.
The Shrine is planning a second World Peace & Prayer Day service on the Summer Solstice, June 21.
Two days ago, it was revealed that another rare white buffalo was born in Montana, in Yellowstone National Park and according to Lakota prophecy and tradition this foretells better times coming as well as a caution that more must be done to protect the earth. This new calf and Miracle are said to be true white buffalo and not albino – they both have a black nose, hooves, and dark eyes.
In the article I’ve linked about this recent white buffalo calf, there is discussion about the killing and removal of bison every winter to keep the herds at about 5000 animals. There is opposition to increasing the numbers in herds from ranchers and the governor, but I don’t see any input from local tribes or from across the nation. Perhaps because they also oppose transferring the buffalo to the tribes. I wonder why they can’t go back to having the Native tribes participate in their traditional hunting of buffalo which kept the population manageable naturally.
That political segue is important to be aware of, but a digression to this joyous event of another white buffalo calf.
Whatever you’re doing and wherever you are on June 21, take a moment to pray on the continuing vitality of the earth, our home, and all of those who live here. I will be at the Kateri Shrine in Fonda participating in the ceremonies and listening to the prayers both spoken through the participants and in the air swaying the trees.
Earlier this week, the Reverend James Lawson passed away at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 95. He was a large part of the non-violent civil rights movement, learning that hatred and violence are not the way to bring about change. He learned this from his mother when he was a child and she asked him “what good that [his hitting another child for calling him the N-word] served,” and from Gandhi when he studied in India under his philosophy. As his mother suggested, he found a better way.
I first heard Rev. Lawson speak as I watched Congressman John Lewis’ funeral, and I was spellbound by his words and his reach through the television screen. He used the word ‘providential’ and that is what I felt listening to him. It was providential. And inspiring.
In one week from today, North America will experience a total solar eclipse. The path will begin on the Pacific coast of Mexico at 11:07 a.m. PDT (2:07 EDT) and end at the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada at 5:16 p.m. NDT (3:46 EDT), crossing through several states and provinces of the United States and Canada. My husband has been very excited about this eclipse. I didn’t know how excited until a couple of weeks ago when he said he was going to drive two and a half hours to view it and would I like to come. We made plans and tried to get a hotel room in Syracuse. He always has a list of comic stores and places to visit all around the area, and so we made a plan for the weekend. Unfortunately, the hotels were way too expensive, so new plan. And a change of direction. Now, we’ll go to Plattsburgh. He checked out the comic stores (this is a thing for every trip we take, even visiting family) and I checked out the hotels. They were not too expensive. They were also not available. Not one hotel. They were all booked. What was the difference between Syracuse and Plattsburgh? Totality was my only guess. The amount of totality for Syracuse was 1 minute and 24 seconds while Plattsburgh’s amount of totality was 3 minutes and 33 seconds. Now what would we do?
Plot twist.
Montreal Canada is in the path of totality with a total viewing time of 1 minute and 51.8 seconds and it is only about an hour further north than Plattsburgh. And yes, there are hotels available, and they are significantly cheaper than Syracuse before factoring in the exchange rate.
For anyone considering this, just a reminder that you will need a passport to travel from the United States across the border into Canada, and according to the US Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol, the border will remain open although agents are expecting higher than normal traffic and delays should be expected.
The article also mentions that despite being legal in both Canada and New York state, marijuana may NOT be transported across the border. The municipality of Niagara on the Canadian side has already declared a state of emergency in preparation for the influx of what they believe will be one million visitors on top of their regular attendance in and around the Falls. Scrolling down to read the article, they offer a list of eight (useful) travel tips with their own links, so check that out.
Once you arrive at your eclipse viewing destination, remember the importance of eclipse glasses. They are special glasses that protect your eyes from the sun’s rays. Regular sunglasses are NOT safe during an eclipse. Do NOT look directly at the sun without special eclipse glasses. Many places are offering them for free, including libraries and (in New York) some Thruway rest areas. I bought mine for $2.49 at Staples.
Be aware of your surroundings. Act as though you would at any vacation destination. Keep your wallet in your front pocket, wear purses across your body, messenger bag style, don’t flash your cash, wear comfortable shoes, dress in layers, follow all laws and ordinances, and pay attention.
Here are some links to help plan your day for the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse:
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 