First I want to skip to the end of my notes, and then return to where i left off in part 1.
Dreds and Nursesquitos
On this elder white man’s dreds, of which one is quite unusually large and thick around, he says he got ’em originally when he was able to listen to what George said. “George?” i asked. “Yeah, Chief Dan George, who sometimes haunts me!” His Chief Dan George-“accented” voice starts to come thru into his own voice and that’s how he knows when George is around. But what got the proverbial ball rolling was a white guy who went by the name of “The Peace Wizard”. This guy passed on recently in his 80s, and pretty much rite up to his passing, he was known for walking around Salish territory with an oversized PEACE sign which he carried without much else. Our visionary was wandering around in some big woodz when he got a notion to “go back to the parking lot and look” and followed it. Walked back down the trail, across the river, about 1/2 mile back, and looked into the empty parking lot. “And in just a minute or so, there went his first glimpse of the locally well-known wizard! “It was getting dark and i thought he wouldn’t get any rides that late in the day, with hardly any traffic, so i invited him over to my camp spot. Smoke a little 420 with me and hang out. Well, he’s sleeping outside, so i chose to sleep outside of my tent –and WHOA!” He’s GLAD he did! “I was opened up to a whole new world!”
Because a medium-sized squirrel (he thinks) slowly began stalking up to him while his back was turned, and then, of all the uncanny things, “got up on my head and ACTUALLY BEGAN WEAVING MY HAIR!” To be fair, there was a smallish dred already started, which had begun growing, he thinks, due to his private desire to have it cover over a sensitive spot on his head. “But that squirrel was the one who brought THE WEAVE!” And when the critter (whom he never saw) was done, what did it do? “It put its tiny hand on my shoulder!”
And from then on, Annae has slept whenever they can, beyond the confines of tents! Finding that it’s mostly mice who weave and add weaves to their hair, tho an occassional medium-sized squirrel also visits. Annae has another story about going back to the original place to have the local critters “DO my hair”, but that time they did something wowfully different! But the clincher is, escaping the tyranny of tent life!
And this is where the “Nursesquitos” come in.
“If you don’t have a tent and sleep in the open, you’re apt to experience mounting numbers of mosquitos visiting for a free meal.
“I hate using toxic cancer-causing bug goop/spray,” so they began experimenting in places where they didn’t think the mosquitos would have diseases. “I think they’re more diseased around sewage plains, known homeless areas, and campgrounds, which i avoid like the plague. But of course, as author Harriet A. Washington exposed, the feds like to unleash tainted mosquitos for their severely alienated jollies and alleged scientific pursuit of weaponizing nature. “There was another library book I read back in the early 2000s that had a chapter about “war in 2010″, but i lost track of that book and haven’t been able to find it since.” Basically, it spoke about future war being made to look “as tho nature did it.”
But anyway, Annae has experimented, and noted that they only get some strange breathing issues when around Indigenous rezes, or around well-known ‘radical’ enclaves. “Like just this last spring when i was bikin around the Blackfeet Rez.” But this is where Mullien comes in: “That wild plant, smoked or made into a tea, clears up my lungs every time i’ve had problems! So too when I think I had covid once!”
Annae “got 420’d up” the first times they experimented with “Letting the girls have their way with me.” The girls being NURSEsquitos, in their mind! (only females are known to bite humans) “I mean, if you ‘get’ the pattern of settlerdom’s hype against experiencing nature meaningfully, you have to wonder if MAYBE the mosquitos (and other biting insects) are actually like Slugs!” That is, CLEANERS of the forest. “Cleaners” being the kicker. So Annae wonders if mosquitos might actually be TAKING TOXINS OUT when they are in their natural, unmolested (by secretive feds) state!! And they have been going with that hypothesis for quite a number of years!
“Sure, I still squish ’em from time to time, like when they start overwhelming me. Then i like to have a bug-net to back me up.” But, it’s become a pattern of 420-induced intuitive listening that returns Annae to exploring an endurance of the pain (“the little bites are like having several tatoo artists working on you”) from the initial pin-prick. “And some are getting pretty big, and I can actually feel their tiny teeth (?) and THAT gets too unnerving, so i usually squish those ones. Maybe those are the c.i.a.-soaked ones,” Annae is not certain. But the bigger they get, the more Annae wants to try frying em up!
Now returning to where I left off from Part One:
Moving beyond Left-centric (and Europeon centric) confines, away from perpetuating demonization and war:
“World Indigenous excellences (W.I.E.) can teach us about escaping the perpetuation-loop of demonization, EVEN of the oft-flailing (i.e. drunken) oppressors and their oh-so-strategicly-challenged ideas about Everyone Else (planted in them from an early age, of course!). Escaping such perpetuation of war SOLVES THE PROBLEM!
“But the ‘Left’ (and ‘Right-wing’) are like the auto industry, they go only for incremental so-called “change”, and then play the Shell Game of Polytricks to keep anything from truly evolving. It’s all very so-called “scientific”, you realize, when you read authors like Christopher Simpson (book: The Science of Coercion) or Jeremy Seabrook (in globalization.icaap.org Vol.1, number 1).”
Didn’t we already mention this in Part One? Well, repetition is good!
Q: The ideology of the ‘Left’/’Right’ a colonial french model.
A: Actually, post-revolutionary france. But that’s ‘revolution’ for you, as Russell Means spoke about –you just go around in a circle. They circled away from open tyranny and into cammoflauged tyranny perpetuating itself. As long as our DIFFERENCES can be the only focus. But what if we focus on our COMMONALITIES? What if we steep ourselves in demystifying state coercions and all that, while focusing on commonalities? On meaningful community?!!
“The imposed ideology (imposed upon elites as well! –as KIDS!) does NOT want us all to start empathizing with each others’ trajectories!! Because they’re ALWAYS worried that IF we do, THEY will be SCAPEGOATED along with their whole families, like European history shows over and over.
“Only world Indigenous (?) folks (including pre-Roman Gaelic, Gauls, etc. as well as others, like Tibetan) dare speak this, it seems. “Looking behind” intensities (Lakotah), not taking shit personally (Toltec), trying to puzzle thru to MUTUALLY-beneficial solutions (world matriarchy)! While not tolerating tramplings and off-balance violence –EXCEPT IN FANTASY approaches to KEEPING poetic bridges WITH challengers! Comes back to the old addage “Dissent Welcome!” posted at the entrance to any community that is strong-enough!
“This is how we could be having loads of fun instead of loads of dreary ideation of stupidity! Imagine if we began making our own meaningful media, say, an anarcho-Star Trek show regularly on youtube?! Make sit-coms of union worker families and the polytricks of corporate sneaks! Etc.! Deal REAL all the way! And build up meaningful culture, WHILE OPENLY DEALING WITH THE COINTELPROgrams that seek to try to undermine and block us!!
“That is, systematically demystifying would-be bullies and their limited Funding and status once no longer needed! But NOT excluding them! Simply promoting that they join up with, first a dialoging-circle, and then possible acceptance into a ‘lodge’ of their (and our) ongoing choice. Where are these lodges? They are becomings within existing strong communities. Communities that feel strong enough to take on a few challenging persons, from youthful rebels to known spooks! To both impart their community knowledge AND learn from dissent!!
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from? How do you obtain these visions?
A: Well, it began when i was sleeping in the Unknown over many weeks or longer, while back-country backpacking and then bicycling. And then the 420-thing, and psychedelic shrooms, also helped open me up.
“But what made the most difference, i think, was listening to the suggestions of ‘the spirits’ (a.k.a. their intuition), to ART MYSELF. This ‘artiNg myseLf’ thing was basically a direct action/social intervention strategy –OF NOT GOING SILENTLY–while using creative intelligence to reach across ideological boundaries.”
Annae proceeded to “art themselves” as a form of vision quest, I think. They’d visit unsuspecting small towns, local forests, college campuses, big cities, you name it. Annae would do “mobile art shows” in their own form of “rodeo clown” regalia(h)!
“I was endangering myself, i thought, when i went out into those unknowns, and so i got to thinking that my wilde outfitz were really a form of regalia, something i would like to be wearing when/if i might be killed!”
Quite a “Big Step” for many settlers who want to uncolonize, to go beyond the Known of settler ideological corrals at all, much less venture out with ‘crazy’ notions to do almost a ‘super hero’ angle towards everyday folks.
But Annae has been “flabbergasted” because they have NOT been attacked, and usually even ignored by the cops! (Tho Annae knows hiz ‘Rights’ and often uses them even when groups like the ACLU say that ‘we’ no longer have any ‘rights’, “BECAUSE cops took an oath in their training; cops are still trained to have the Constitution on their minds, and they are often surprised in a positive way when one invokes their ‘rights’ at all. “On the street, in the moment, this makes all the difference!”)
Sure. Annae’s white privilege cropping up there?
But cops cannot always see Annae inside the regalia. So maybe there’s a grey area.
Only one time that Annae recalls were they were secretly shot with a hornet, somehow.
“But that was only once in my many –over 15– actions!” Mostly Annae would get “cat-called” by drunken men, but never much more. In Boston, one guy played like he wanted to fight, but soon moved on, when he realized i wasn’t playing along.
“I always showed up in sudden, unannounced style, no “P.R.” work or flyers before. It was PLAY. And working on my self-psyche process. And spirituality, due to the going into unknowns aspect. I’d jump in, loose all my “depth charge” flyers (full of root-oriented info not easily found) and then leave. Not getting involved in local politics, nothing like that.”
Q: Similar to that guy you like to mention, from the 1940s-1960s. What was his name?
A: Saul Alinsky? Yeah, Saul Alinsky-like in the basic idea of that author’s anti-racist confrontational nonviolence, i.e. “Mass Jiujitsu”. Tho most seem to say that we should go for Aikido instead of jiujitsu, as Aikido is supposedly less about violence and domination than jiujitsu. But my understanding is that jiujitsu users merely make use of the momentum of the aggressor in creative ways, not necessarily war-stuck. Where Aikido…well, I don’t frankly know!”
Q: You have no formal educational degree but some “clawledge” (college). Mostly an opportunist of public resources, not paying shit, while enjoying privileges designed for use by upper class folks.
A: Many universities are still quite open, even tho many seem to have curtailed the free use of their computers, these days. Their libraries are still open for self-educational pursuits, and the students, well, i love doing art shows specifically for them!
Q: You’re pretty interesting for a white man in his 50s. Queer-informed, uncolonizing hiz creativity while living hiz visions as much as they know how. What can you share with us about your idea, say, of real power?
A: Well, the first one that comes to my mind is what happened when i was solo bikin thru Hopi/Dineh territory, i forgot what year. i was going that day for the area of Tuba City, “AZ” and it was hot and dry even in the early spring when i went. i was still a large hill away from that rez town and i recall seeing what looked like a big storm way off in the north; well, i thought TO MYSELF, ‘wow, i’m glad it’s not where i am!’
“Next thing i know, A STORM appears OUT OF NOWHERE and holy sheeee-it, it gets HUGE very quickly, with all kinds of lightning and wind, and i was rite on the leading edge of it. And a Native dude stops his car and yells in the rising wind, asking: “You’re not riding towards THAT are you??” And i said ‘no!’ i was just positioning my bike that way, i think it was, because i could prop my bike up against a small bush and have a bit of protection, while i rested. The driver then took off but soon returned, and suggested i ride down to Tuba City with him (my gaydar went off for this 2-spirit’d man), and i wish i had in retrospect; becuz i might have had a really fun time gettin to know these NDNZ, y’kno?
“But i told him, i wanted to RIDE the long-anticipated DOWNhill! And regretted that once i found that the road was far from smooth and “easy” and very bumpy and challenging! Not fun!”
So Annae went with hiz intuition. Which then took hym to an area without trees or even shrubs, where no signs forbade hym from entering.
Annae made camp fo rthe night.
Q: Then what happened?
A: I noted that the storm was moving my way, even tho most storms die down at night in my experience. I had been looking at my favorite constellation, The “Barking Tuna” constellation, named after the shape of a favorite college radio MASCOT that is a “Tuna fish” in Black Lace. And i spoke my desire to keep looking at that constellation, which i had only just noted, and which i don’t often get to see, to the approaching storm! And in so speaking to the storm, in my intuition, i managed to avoid the main THRUST of the storm!”
Of which Annae learned later, had pelted at least one tent camper and fellow cyclist in a town about 20 miles away, with gusts full of gravel!!
“One or more spirits still blasted at my campspot for a few minututes, seemingly dancing around in a whirlwind, buffeting my belongings which i had intuitively tied up in case they got blown away (might find ’em easier). Then they left me alone to look at my fav star shape!”
Mayhaps that storm spirit had never heard of a human asking, without fear, to look at a star constellation before??
“I think it was the ‘even keel’ pyschicly, the non-Fear, that may’ve both surprised and miffed the spirit challenger who had rep’d the storm. Plus the fact that i was sleeping in the open without ANY ‘cover’. I’ve seen similar such spirit winds before, seemingly calculating to surprise and psychicly “knock” the usual suspects, only to then be surprised and kind of “knocked” themselves!!”
Like a time in northern “california” (Yurok area?):
“i was sleeping in tarpology on the coast, not far from Mendocino. And a spirit wind comes prancing up, shaking the sides of my tarps, but then suddenly dissipating upon seeing that i had one wall NOT up!! One area that did not have a wall! Seemed to surprise that spirit wind into sudden silence! And the scary storm approaching left me alone!!
Q: Okay, we’re approaching the end of this rather long interview, Annae, so let me get something off my chest, so to speak. Like, what makes YOU think YOU’RE so important and worthy of our (NDN) acceptance?
A: Well, world Indigenous folks recognize the values of one’s visions, one’s ‘dream’. We/they will challenge you/me, surprise ya, even prod ya, but if ya ‘hold fast’ to your heart-felt intuition/spirituality, all can see the value. Metis and white-looking guys like me take the risk of being directly and even cynically challenged. And that’s part of what we prepare for. i’ve dealt with that kind of thing in a variety of challenging scenarios. One that comes to mind was when AIM allowed me to join a sweatlodge one night after i waited a long time, and i found myself in a lodge headed by a woman whom had been especially volatile towards me from the beginning (i figured she had been given my intel by the usual hypesters that plague me).”
Annae had joined up with one of Dennis Banks’ Long Walks, starting in the Bay Area/Ohlone territory. They were then at a sacred ex-military base-turned Indigenous traditional college, a few days away from starting the main walk. Annae had been carrying some NDN paraphernalia (heh) that a 2-spirit friend had given hym, left it there, and found it missing when they returned.
“So this lady AIMster began pouring some REALLY hot blasts on the fire. BUt i didn’t run out in fear, as she might have wished for, but instead, saw in my mind/spirit, how all that firey, searing HOT somehow brought out my wings!”
That is, Annae got a vision of large, angel-like wings spreading out from hiz back!
“I’m not a christian –i’d walk WITH christ if they ever show up–not follow! Christians are followers of christ. But it has been put so deeply into me that i find myself falling back into that paradigm when faced with overwhelm. Similar to the time that a chief and a religious-seeming Native got me going to my knees!”
That was back in the early 2000s at a pow wow in michigan/3 fires territory, when Annae had entered a city pow wow in their own style of regalia.
“I had texts stuck on my regalia(h) which was a big no-no for the pow wowers, and was leaving it after secruity challenged me, when this guy with religion written all over his vehicle approached me and i found myself flanked on each side by this female chief and him. And the lady chief wanted to know if i was trying to “make fun of” her people. And that’s when they were able to “MAKE ME” fall to my knees to say that NO, that was NOT my intent!! And to explain.”
And that was a form of power Annae had not encountered before!
Then there was what happened in Eugene, OR:
“In that curious town known for anarchist uprisings, there was a concerted SPOOK (covert action agent) effort to apparently counter what they seemed to assume was my ‘activist’ intention there. So this metis (?) female spook and her Native-looking female co-hort “OUTED” me with an open verbal challenge at the late end of a hippie music celebration [at a place called “Whirled Pies”], and seemed to EXPECT me to cower and take flight (spooks love chasing their mice). But i didn’t.
“And then the metis-possible blonde-haired woman, i found, had published a large stack of a sensualphobic-pushing and perpetuating newsprint Native paper–a one-shot, i later learned–chock full of c.i.a.-style hype against a whole side of the truth that is being systematically suppressed in the bigger society. Apparently to counter some assumed-wicked intention i had, or something along those lines!
“Later, i’d see her at the regional Rainbow Gathering nearby, showing smartphone pics of me (apparently) to Rainbow elders in a curious attempt to hype them up against me. But there was nothing illegal, and so used to such hyping of emotions, the elders dismissed her without batting an eyelash. And refused to join her in trying to chase me out! (the ‘gladio’ try to isolate we who dare stand up when few others dare)
Gladio is a word Annae picked up during the self-education process. A heavier word for what Philip Agee called “the jackals”, or in general dissident parlance, the “spooks”. The well-paid (for now) dupes of statecraft used to try to scare dissent back into more easily manageable places.
“This spook was working overtime to try to trap me in various ways, i recognized. Paranoid i am, and yet, learned a lot from authors like Brian Glick. She went further, certainly involved in one aspect of the State’s move to crush Rainbow Gatherings, “finally”, but i’ve probably taken up too much space already.”
Q: So, with all of that experience, you seem to be saying that you’d bring serious praxis to Indigenous stands?
A: That and my “radical honesty”. And creative flair. And exuberance for life and REALLY living. And…
Q: Well, THAT should whet your appetite for the next (?) interview, eh?!
A: Yeah, so i’ve been on a WILD ride, like i said. And even tho i continue to be a target for usually only psychological pressure (perhaps due to my not being armed), with threats coming a little more intense (i.e. a recentish one Told me i would only have one day to live if i ever become famous) –like i WANT to be ‘famous’ so that they can more freely attack! NAH!–and crank calls a norm for my ma, well, i keep ‘at it’ (standing up strategicly somehow), creatively. Such as some comix i put out to certain groups. Or the article i wrote up demystifying this war on one aspect of homosensuality that statecraft needs to keep ‘under wraps’ for reasons that i think i now ‘get’, even tho those reasons are lost and stuck in war.
Q: So this is why you remain solo, 99% of the time.
A: Yeah, what already beseiged nation wants MORE trouble? Rite? I ‘Get It’. And yet, to stay solo and aloof and atomized, that just ‘plays into’ the meta-war-game that these koyanisqatsi’d-challenged dupes push!
Q: It’s a quandry for sure. But you’ve found meaning in W.I.E., like no other approach, not even only-anarchist approaches, and thus you stay around in this life, not taking yourself ‘out’. And wanting to stay around here –including becuz of your ‘mutt’ status–where it’s not so easy to pick a ‘homeland’ and return.
A: And the part of me that’s allegedly tied to my DNA-connection with the Blackfeet, tugs at my ankle to keep returning to pow wows and the like. (There are so many levels to pow wows!) This part of me that DOES keep an influential role over my other nation-spirits!
Q: Tho you’ve had surprising experiences in Ireland?
A: Yes. But.
Q: Any last words? (so to speak)
A: Thanks for the EGO strokes!!
Well, this is where i end this for now. Inputs of all varieties welcome!!