I was having another slow day at the Miccosukee Embassy while doing Sanctuary and found a Brain Pickings post by Maria Popova re John Muir, the "Father of the National Parks" and founder of the Sierra Club.  She centers on the epiphany he had on his famous thousand mile walk through the United States following the Civil War to the Gulf of Mexico,  that all is connected in the Universe. 

"This star, our own good earth, made many a successful journey around the heavens ere man was made, and whole kingdoms of creatures enjoyed existence and returned to dust ere man appeared to claim them. After human beings have also played their part in Creation’s plan, they too may disappear without any general burning or extraordinary commotion whatever."

That made me think of an even earlier phrase inspired by the Bible (Genesis 3:19) found in the Book of Common Prayer (1662): "... our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."
 
Now we know that science has shown we are all stardust and I get it, that there is a continuation, that Nature wastes nothing and the Universe is the primo recycling machine. But when I think of my father-in-law's passing, the founder of the New Seminole, I would have to argue that Busimanolotome Osceola's  death was a "general burning" and  did make an "extraordinary commotion" in the Universe.  Especially in the Everglades where we fought Uncle Sam's Army Rangers for Gaia and lost big time. 

​But at least we tried and I think the Universe took note, that it wasn't a complete waste of time and lives.  

I was having a slow day at the Miccosukee Embassy where I am doing Sanctuary when I began surfing the web and read a post on Brain Pickings about the poet John Keats.  Dead by 25-- a year that is racing towards me-- he was writing about his relationship with solitude, something that he came to embrace, something I'm working on putting my arms around and pulling it closely. Although I have been blessed with a beautiful little girl who is as sharp and single minded as Greta Thunberg, I still yearn for the company of my husband Nokosee Osceola, the "First of the New Seminole." I think my love for him keeps me from fully embracing Keats' "sublime" surrender to Solitude.  But I'm working on it. Looking out the windows of the Embassy over the rush of traffic on the 836, I close my eyes and remember when it was just Nokosee and me deep in the Everglades where its eternal silence is only occasionally pierced by the sound of a mosquito's wings as it rushes by your ear to get to your blood. I took that special time all for granted, thinking it might last forever. But if you read my books you know it didn't. That great silence soon exploded in a war with the Outside and we were on the run, always looking over our shoulders, wondering if Uncle Sam was still hunting us down. 

The inspirational singular protests started by Swedish 16-year-old student Greta Thunberg that grew into an international movement of teenage girl demanding action on climate change, successfully convinced the European Union yesterday, February 21st, to spend hundreds of billions of euros combating climate change during the next decade. You go, gurls! To read how it all began, please click here. 

Update 3/14: Greta nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

When Belgium stepped back from ambitious plans to limit carbon in December, DeWever realized that she wouldn't be old enough to vote on these matters in the Belgium and European Union spring elections. She believed by the time the next elections came around, it would be too late for Gaia. 

So, what's a girl to do? Well, she and her best friend, Kyra Gantois, posted a video on YouTube urging students to show up for a protest. They expected "only a handful" but got 3,000. In four weeks they have grown to 30,000.

Sadly Thunberg and DeWever have also been the brunt of overwhelming hate mail-- and DeWever has received death threats. 

But something good has also risen out of these marches and their ever growing numbers. On March 15th climate strikers are organizing an international day of action. Jamie Margolin, 17-year-old founder and executive director of Zero Hour, is  organizing the U.S. events. 

Oh, God, how I love these girls and wish them well. Although I can't be with them with protest sign held high because I'm doing Sanctuary at the Miccosukee Embassy, I-- and my darling Haalie-- will be with them in spirit.

To learn more, please click here.

Update 3/14: Greta nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. 

I was barely 18, pregnant, and certifiable because of the hormones raging through my body when I decided to get both sides of my head tattooed with spears. Oh yeah, "love" had something to do with it, too. After I abandoned Nokosee at the end of Book 1 because I couldn't see myself living on the run with him in the sweat inducing mosquito infested Everglades, it was my way of asking for forgiveness and showing my devotion to Nokosee and, which I thought at the time, was the cockamamie New Seminole cause.

Anyway, re the excerpt below (legible if saved to your desktop and opened), I had ran away from home to join up with Nokosee in the Everglades but before I got there, I got into an altercation with a high school football player on the way down. He dissed me and I put him down with a few choice and effortless kicks and jabs. Unfortunately, his classmates had recorded it all on their smartphones so by the time I got down to Miami, I was already "trending" and wanted by the police-- which I learned while sitting in a barber's chair in a tattoo shop.