#Prairie Creek Productions

[finishinglinepress]

FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: Regarding Us by Terri Drake

PREORDER NOW: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/regarding-us-by-terri-drake/

Regarding Us is a song cycle addressed to the absent beloved. In it, the river becomes a living, breathing entity – a confidante to whom grief is expressed. Here the present and the past coexist in simultaneous dimensions The poems explore what it is like to live in a physical body that interacts with the natural landscape and how that interaction and the power of story shape and define our world.

Terri Drake is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of Regarding Us, At the Seams (Bear Star Press) and Singing in a Dark Language (New CollAge Press). Her poems have appeared in Crab Creek Review, Poets Reading the News, Quarry West, and Online Journal of Arts and Letters, among others. She has also been published in the Chicago Review. She is a practicing psychoanalyst and lives in Santa Cruz, California.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR Regarding Us by Terri Drake

“Incantatory and lushly imagistic, Terri Drake’s Regarding Us is a haunting elegy for love and landscape lost—a pilgrim’s journey through distances both temporal and geographic. From the stark space of the midwestern prairie to the abundant and imperiled vineyards of California, Drake tracks the currents of fire and water that ravage or sustain, revisiting a complex history in the wake of a beloved’s death. Though memory conjures “sentence after sentence of disquiet” and “unwritten stanzas//trailing like the tail of a comet/in winter’s darkness,” the poet forges a path through grief, past the “shrill anthems of the world.” Regarding Us reflects a fierce vision of restorative wisdom rooted in the elemental. “I believe” Drake writes, “the live oak bears witness/to our losses. That our grief/is equal to our love.” These are poems of remarkable beauty and uncanny grace.”

–Jane Satterfield, author of Apocalypse Mix

Weaving grief into celebration, the relentless, transcendent lyricism of Regarding Us hurls readers into another world where loss is sutured to song. Drake invites the reader to celebrate the “I” of the collection’s desire for the “you”—triumphally constituting the “us” of the volume through empathy and irresistible image. Surviving fire, distance, and dysfunction, the poems weave a poignant trajectory that creates the “us” that is retrospectively lost—such that readers too cannot but hold them both in highest regard.

–Dion Farquhar, author Just Kidding

Please share/please repost [PROMO] #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry #chapbook #read #poems

[wefixitweprintit123]

Website Development Services In Grande Prairie & Dawson creek BC

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[weather-usa]

Climate of Kansas

Kansas, often depicted as a featureless plain, actually boasts a diverse topography. The terrain gradually ascends from around 680 feet (210 meters) above sea level along the Verdigris River in the southeast to over 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) near the Colorado border, with a mean elevation of approximately 2,000 feet (610 meters).

See Weather Forecast for Kansas today: https://weatherusa.app/kansas

See more: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/27/weather/plains-midwest-storms-tornadoes-climate-saturday/index.html

In the far western region, Kansas features high plains characterized by sparse vegetation and a seemingly endless flat expanse. However, these plains are intricately creased with shallow gullies known as draws, which have been formed over millennia by erosion and are home to some of the state's most remarkable geological formations.

Castle Rock, located south of Quinter, showcases chalk spires that soar above the surrounding plains, while Monument Rocks, a few miles to the west, resemble sphinxes rising from the earth. Horse Thief Canyon, near Jetmore, offers a miniature version of the Grand Canyon, with its impressive rock formations carved by the forces of nature over time. Despite its reputation as a plain state, Kansas harbors a wealth of geological diversity and scenic beauty within its varied landscape.

In southwestern Kansas, irrigation has transformed the landscape, allowing for the cultivation of truck crops and sugar beets. This region, once characterized by aridity, has become productive farmland due to the availability of water for agriculture.

Northeastern Kansas, on the other hand, bears the marks of glaciation, with its hilly terrain and abundant timber. Creeks and springs dot the landscape, providing water sources and contributing to the region's scenic beauty.

The southeastern part of the state lies near the foothills of the Ozark Mountains and is rugged, with scrub oak covering parts of the area. This terrain contrasts sharply with the flat plains found in other parts of Kansas.

See more: https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-66751

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-66762

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-66839

In south-central Kansas, near Medicine Lodge, the Gypsum Hills stand out with their mesa-like formations, resembling landscapes found in the Southwest. These hills derive their name from the gypsum deposits present in the area.

East-central Kansas is home to the Flint Hills, stretching from north to south. These hills are characterized by gentle, rolling terrain, largely devoid of trees, and covered with bluestem grass. They represent one of the last remaining extensive tracts of true prairie in the United States, offering a glimpse into the country's natural heritage.

See more: https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-66861

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-66966

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-67009

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-67024

Millions of years ago, a significant portion of Kansas lay beneath the waters of an inland sea. Over time, sediment and organic matter carried by streams feeding into this sea accumulated, gradually building up the land. The resulting residual soil, enriched with limestone and gypsum deposits, ranks among the most fertile soils globally.

This fertile soil has played a crucial role in supporting agriculture and sustaining life in Kansas. Additionally, due to its geological history, Kansas soil holds significant scientific value, with numerous prehistoric fossils of great importance discovered within its layers. These fossils offer insights into the region's ancient past and contribute to our understanding of the Earth's history.

Kansas experiences a temperate but continental climate, characterized by significant temperature variations between summer and winter but relatively few prolonged periods of extreme heat or cold. The state's annual average temperature is around 55°F (13°C). See more: https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-66218

The growing season typically extends from mid-April to mid-September, providing ample time for agricultural activities. Precipitation patterns vary across the state, with western regions receiving less than 20 inches (500 mm) annually, while the southeast receives more than 40 inches (1,000 mm). The statewide average precipitation is slightly over 25 inches (635 mm).

These climatic conditions play a crucial role in shaping Kansas' diverse ecosystems and supporting its agricultural sector. While temperature extremes are moderated by the state's continental positioning, precipitation variations influence agricultural productivity and water resource management across different regions of Kansas.

See more: https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-66935

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-66226

[netmaxtechnologieschandigarh]

Flyer Printing In Grade Prairie

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[overlandparkduct]

Facts About Air Duct Cleaning

Your HVAC system works hard all year round to make your home conducive and comfortable to live in. However, many individuals don’t value the importance of ducts that supply clean and fresh air throughout their homes and commercial spaces.

The Truth About Air Duct Cleaning

Whether you’re cleaning your air duct regularly or still thinking about scheduling it soon, here are some interesting facts about air duct cleaning that you need to know.

The Air Circulating In Your Home Might Be Dirty

The level of indoor pollutants drastically increases because of many factors. This includes dirty ducts, household cleaning products, smoking, bad ventilation, mold or mildew growth, infestation, and more. Although air filters can get rid of ample amounts of dirt from the home, air duct cleaning can thoroughly eliminate piles of debris that block the air. Regular HVAC cleaning can enhance the overall air quality while reducing health risks associated with filthy ones. 

Dust Piles UP Fast

If you neglect cleaning your air ducts, all of the dust, debris particles, and mold in your home are constantly being recirculated. If someone in your family has health problems they might be vulnerable to indoor allergies or asthma. That’s why getting rid of these allergens from your property is critical to ensure your living spaces are clean and safe.

Insect Might Be Hiding in Your Ducts

This is very true, especially during the cooler months when air ducts become the favorite lurking spots of various crawlies. Moths, mosquitos, spiders, millipedes, and cockroaches can thrive in your vents and ducts. While some of these creepy crawlies may not cause any harm, they might become very pesky.

Mold and Mildew Problems

If your home has a lingering smell or your mold allergy acts up when you’re in living spaces the culprit could be mold or mildew infestation. If you’ve addressed the mold issue in your bathroom and kitchen but haven’t checked out your air ducts yet, well maybe now is the time. If you get rid of the mold but neglect to eliminate the spores inside your vents then, your mold problem won’t be properly addressed.

Best Things To Do in Olathe, Kansas

If you are looking for a new place to visit that will give you the “wow effect” then you don’t want to miss out on Olathe, Kansas. The city may not be as popular compared to other places in the United States, but the place has something to offer. 

Olathe is your next tourist destination that is worth a visit whether going solo or with a group. Plan a few hours of side trip while visiting Kansas City and be mystified by some of the fun things to do and places to explore here in Olathe.

Here are some of the most favorite places to include in your travel plans and you will be thrilled you did so.

Advanced Laser Tag

If you are looking for an activity fit for your family, then Advanced Laser is for you. You can come here alone or with the fam bam for an awesome party experience. You can have a sumptuous lunch as you can choose from a great selection of the best chicken preparation as well as Mongolian BBQ.

This place is highly regarded among kids as they can explore the game section here.  Elevate your family time through video arcades and laser mazes as you can get the chance of winning prizes from them. You may book your tickets online in advance or visit Advance Laser Tag to avoid long lines and rush.

Ernie Miller Nature Center

Find your inner Zen by visiting Ernie Miller Park & Nature Center in Olathe, Kansas. This nature center boasts a three-mile nature trail and 116 acres of woods and terrains. If hiking is your thing, then gear up and hike in this stunning park.

During hiking, you can discover that some part of the park is covered with native grasses and prairies. You can also find the famous Cedar Creek that flows through this park. If you wish to explore this nature center you need to pass Cedar Creek through the stepping stones. 

Your little ones will enjoy it as they will discover various species of animals and birds such as rabbits, squirrels, snakes, owls, etc. can be seen in this park.

Black Bob Park

Step into the heart of nature by visiting Black Bob Park in Olathe. This is a very friendly park as it boasts plenty of facilities made for all age groups. Black Bob Park is operated by a friendly staff who ensures the security and cleanliness of the park.

You can also enjoy more amenities such as a baseball court, waterpark, walking trails, and a spacious playground arena and pools for kids. Whether you want to stroll around or stay fit, there are places in the park where you can exercise or do yoga. 

Olathe, Kansas has something in store for you that’s why don’t forget to add this charming city to your travel list. So whether you are planning your next adventure or looking for a place to spend your weekend Olathe, Kansas won’t disappoint you. 

A Kid-Friendly Tourist Attraction in Overland Park, Kansas

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Located inside the Oak Park Mall, your little ones will enhance their imagination as they engage in Build-A-Bear Workshop! Featuring a wide array of furry friends that you can customize through their famous looks. You can also dress them up as you can choose from a wide array of outfits and accessories to choose from. Each Build-A-Bear is a unique experience, and your child’s creation is genuinely unique.

You can also include a special recorded Build-A-Sound message to make it even more unique. After building a bear make sure to drop by another indoor play area in Oak Park Mall such as the carousel. 

[tomballsignagecompany]

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[thorsenmark]

The Air Up There by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking along the Prairie Creek Trail with a view looking up and to the southeast at nearby coast redwoods in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. My thinking in composing this image was to capture the height looking from the near base to the tree crown caught in the sunlight of the morning sun. The rest was metering the image so as to not blow any of the highlights in the upper portions and tree crowns of the nearby redwoods while still being able to pull out the more shadowed areas later in post production.

[memorieesofthetime]

happy Christmas Eve !!!!

Christmas At Plum Creek 1974 

[buildsoil]

This thread was a response to questions about how to build soil. I look at the big picture what helps soil grow & end with a discussions about how towns & cities might be designed to help.

So there’s so much to cover in how to repair things. I’m going to do a slow thread on how the designed and built environment can be directed to soil building and climate repair.

1st thing to think about is what is soil? For brevity i’m going to say soil is the culturing of weathered rock with a food web of microorganisms that leads to making rock nutrients solvable &stores them along with organic carbon. (Soil scientists i know i’m over-simplifying)

I’m talking about aerobic souls formed with oxygen rather than anaerobic. Wetlands souls are amazing and do good. But there are reasons to focus in aerobic for now. (I’m a huge fan of wetlands and pond systems too)

Too much water and too much compaction removes oxygen. The system switches to anaerobes that live by yanking Oxygen off of soil nutrients, making them smell bad and able to leave the soil. They also produce alcohols that prevent plant roots from growing.

So this kind of soil needs: enough air, water, contact with plants (that feed it with sugars and proteins made with photosynthesis and CO2 exuded from their roots.)

Rock weathers into subsoil without a lot of big life, when plants interact with it they build living subsoil through their roots and the accumulation of organic matter on top.

Living soil is protective. So it actually protects the subsoil from some of the processes that speed up formation. Which is why in natural conditions it can settle into a very slow rate of production.

We have been running civilizations in the use of this built up soil. Turning it killing fungi and structure to get bacterial blooms that feed out Annual crops.

This leads to Erosion rates more similar to mountain systems then the low lands where the soil formed. We are burning through our soil to grow and crash quite a few civs

You have to understand. The buffering capacity of our plants souls* could have handled the CO2 from fossil fuels. Only what we used fossil fuels for was to increase erosion, change the balance of water runoff, deforest, and plow over the grasslands every April. 8/?

*Sorry about the autocorrect to soul. Lol

I have to be off-line for a spell but I’ll continue with a discussion about how we design to accelerate that soil building process. Including some references in case studies

So i want to introduce a few puzzle pieces. The first is the work of this man PA Yeomans. He was a mining geologist who retired and starting thinking about soil care from a Geomorphologist POV

When he set off to tend his land, the Australian gov provided soil conservation literature focused on contour plowing. Based on the view that soil is precious(it is) but that it’s impossible to speed its production (it’s not)

The main problems with contour based design can be seen from this image by PA. On land contours are not parallel. This slows water but it drains ridges and concentrates water in valleys. Overdrying and overwriting soil at the same time. Can even blow out.

PA developed a way of understanding topographic features to organize landscapes so that: water is infiltrated, spread, extra collected stored as high as possible to re-hydrate during dry times. He realized this could be used to organize everything on broad acre farmland

This prob is too dense for Twitter. But imagine land as big ridges between streams and they have smaller ridges and valleys. Imagine the inflection point in those smaller valleys where the land nicks in like a clavicle * in the pic 13/

PA called them keyponts and they are : the highest water concentrating point in land, where soils thicken, & any line parallel to this on the land concentrated water above but spreads water below

Now he had a way to organize features. First he placed ponds at those points. Collection drains could be set to collect overland flow and move it into those ponds. Then any roads could follow those drains with minimal impact actually helping water collection.

And bellow, the land could be plowed with a subsoiler that sharpers the subsoil without turning the soil. And he would plow down on ridges and up on valleys which means water spreads.

PAs land:

And here in red are plow lines (or how to organize and water receiving element such as tree rows to spread water along ridges)

Roads, buildings, pasture, agroforestry- whatever could be designed. Roads can also be placed along ridges, Trees get planted along ridges & in valleys and along streams with complete connectivity. And humans move out of valleys to ridges, leaving valleys for soil and wildlife.

This planning process is like adding sourdough starter to flour and sugar and adding just enough water. The subsoil can be reached by water, roots, inoculated by microbes. you can rapidly add feet of topsoil. Keyline farms are amazing. They stop flashy creeks & can repair land

And it should be viewed as appropriate for where people live and farm. Ag land not the giant ranges that could be bison prairies.

So there is more. PAs last book was on how these design methods could be applied to cities and towns. That towns could extend along ridges,roads could direct water into Catchment which could water yards then agricultural & reforested lowlands. He called it “the city forest”

The City Forest by P.A. Yeoman hosted on SoilandHealth.org

Library Rules and Copyright Notice

Think about what this would mean. Human settlements designed so they are collectors of water, human labor, and even humanure, directed towards the generation and care of soils and forestry.

So let’s talk examples. Frederick Law Olmstead designed a number of Stormwater collecting parks Into towns. One of the most famous being Boston’s Emerald Necklace. /24

His son John Charles did something similar when he designed Portland Oregon’s water collecting neighborhood of Lauralhurst. Before the current Stormwater system, Laurelhurst Park was the detention basin.

Next step in the journey Is Davis California in the 80s where Mike Corbett designed village homes a neighborhood designed to handle Stormwater by soaking it in Swales and orchards rather then management systems

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Homes

Here’s a video of Mollison touring the place in the 1990s. https://youtu.be/v_05oRQxssQ I’ve heated that they have managed several very large storm events that flooded their neighbors. All while building the soil and restoring the water table.

Village Homes with Bill Mollison (improved audio)

So:,remember this and this question: what if we really looked for a city that took this approach?

Well, here's Siena Italy which started as a number of little settlements and converged in the hills of Tuscany: that big public square is the Piaza Del Campo- built in the key point of the landscape, The roads collect water into drains and reservoirs under the piazzas.

Link to tweet with 3 Images here

28/ if you look at the landscape you see how this hilltown stayed on the uplands and collected water to irrigate the lowlands.

Link to tweet with 4 Images here

Underground passages for water, the 'fountain of the earth' sits at the keypoint, and the lowland valleys are irrigated and saved for soil...

Link to tweet with 2 Images here

more images of siena form GIS models im building

Link to Tweet with 12 Images here

[exactlyzealousperson]

I wrote a professional Essay on the Topic: “The importance of impact of horse acquisition by Native Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes in the 19th Century’s Colorado”

Introduction

Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes happened to choose the “horse” to support their equestrian lifestyle at the dawn of the 19th century in the Colorado region. The most interesting element for these nomadic equestrian people was the ‘horse’ that was tagged with offering a broad-based system of economic production. However, the acquisition of horse by these tribes was easier said than done because this acquisition acted as a catalyst for bringing the levels of violence and noticeable stress between the two tribes. Both of these tribes could not afford to lose their grip on the acquisition of horse because not only horse supports their nomadic equestrian lifestyle, but it was also a great source of a path to acquire wealth and a source to maintain an ecological relationship with the prevailing environment during those times. The benefits of the acquisition of horse were almost unlimited. Not only horse was being used as a carrying capacity coupled with rifle and goods, but it was also being utilized for fueling their nomadic lifestyle through the grasslands of the Great Plains. Furthermore, these tribes were able to kill adult bison thereby accumulating lots of venison through this mode of transport. There are lots of other lifestyle factors that were associated with horse acquisition.

Furthermore, the new American expansion in the 19th century brought a stressful situation where both tribes had to negotiate with the new influx of American settlers and to compete with them by acquiring the most critical material good i.e. horse. The acquisition of horse was also vital for fighting with the American settlers if an instance of violence occurs. Horse acquisition became so much important that both tribes used to fall prey to high levels of violence with the American influx previously unknown by them. Having said that, this essay states a thesis statement i.e. “The acquisition of horse by native Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes was inevitable thanks to the nineteenth century’s economic advantages in a nomadic lifestyle, domestic and foreign affairs, and the challenges brought by American expansion.”  Do you have piles of pending work to complete, and someone just added another long assignment to the “to-do” list? We are here to help! At essaysonly

Essay Body

The nomadic equestrian cultures of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes

           When Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes started moving to the Great Plains, they had a choice to select the best option for them i.e. to grab the opportunities offered by a culture of equestrian horse wherein the benefits were more than the anticipated risks. The impacts of horse acquisition were genuinely revolutionary[1]. Horse gave them a burst of affluence and power, a kind of re-alignment with the then environment, and horse altered their material lives in every sense of the word. The culture of horse flourished at a breathtaking pace, thereby allowing them to maintain their equestrian lifestyle on the banks of Red Rivers, Sheyenne, and Missouri. Despite the built-in advantages of farming and the related benefits, their life without horse would have been a great destruction thanks to their susceptibility to intermittent violence, warfare, and raiding. Therefore, the acquisition of horse was essential for their survival as a whole.

The perfect combination of rifle and horse

           The nomadic equestrian cultures of Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes forced them to fully embrace two things that are referred to as “rifle” and “horse”. The reason being, these native tribes had to depend on horse for their mobility so as to cut their time of travel, and when horse was combined with a rifle, it offers them to facilitate their mobility with a proper defense. As stated by Hilger “The horse offered native communities a life of mobility and cut their traveling time in half. Combined with the rifle, the animal granted Native peoples the possibility of transforming into mobile fighting forces.”[2] It was the combination of horse acquisition, as well as the rifle which made their hunting wild scenarios more efficient and effective. It also helped them in the case of warfare or fighting with the other tribes or with other native American settlers during the 19th century.

The impact of horse acquisition from economic standpoint

           The acquisition of horse was also feasible from economic standpoint because the efficiency and increase in their carrying capacity were also dependent on horse. In the past, these native tribes were familiar with dogs’ acquisition but dogs with a travois could not carry their luggage more than 80 pounds. On the other hand, a single horse was capable of carrying 200 pounds of luggage, and if accompanied with a travois, it could carry 300 pounds in addition to that 200.

           Secondly, horse remained a pivotal but cost-effective source for the reason that it only needed the widely available and free energy in the shape of grass on the Great Plains. By directly consuming the grassland energy, both tribes were able to fuel their equestrian lifestyle in the best possible way.[3] It was again horse that used to help these tribes to follow and kill herds of bison, thereby helping them to procure the greatest wealth in those days. Bison was extremely important prey for the survival of these tribes thanks to its sheer mass with calories/kg equals to 2,100 when compared with the other prey such as bighorn and deer for only 200 calories/kg; it was surely a good resource worthy of investing energy and time.[4]

The political influx of Americans and the importance of horse

           When it comes to fighting with the American influx in the event of any violence, horse acquisition becomes extremely important in every sense of the word. According to Karr, … “American foreign policy authoritatively deemed all Indians of a particular tribe "hostile" when an instance of violence was incurred against an American settler, justifying brutal assaults against an entire tribe of Plains Indians rather than only the individuals responsible.[5] In the early 19th century, a gradual influx of Americans forced the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes to collectively join hands on the Great Plains so that they could fight back the imminent challenges of the new American settlers. Their first objective was to cover the Arkansas River Valley related verdant prairie for the reason that their horses and bison were both dependent on these grasslands, which in turn, vital for maintaining their nomadic equestrian culture. These two tribes also joined hands with military clout, the Lakota Sioux in a bid to strengthen their defense to the south and north, and to secure their prominent sources of firearm trade and horse. History reveals that their alliance with Lakotas made them one of the powerful tribes on the Great Plains.[6] While fighting the influx of new American settlers, horse acquisition remained the top-most priority because acquiring a horse means an extension of the person. That is to say, owning a horse reflects owning everything for these tribesmen. For instance, if any economic profit was secured due to the horse, then that economic profit would be given to the owner of the horse, and not to the person who used that horse to earn the profit. If an owner gives his horse to some rider to use in the battlefield, then whatever that rider captures during the battle will be considered the property of the owner of the horse.

           Regarding the influx of American settlers, the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) is worth mentioning. Both tribes were called in to enter a peace treaty that was deemed to be benefiting for all.[7] After both tribes were endowed with gifts and feasts, they agreed to talk to the intermediaries of Americans at Fort Laramie. That treaty resulted in an agreement wherein the Cheyenne's and Arapaho tribes were given a claim of the region of southern Wyoming and present-day Colorado. These two tribes dealt well with the American settlers during those times as they claimed the Front Range as their territory because the said territory was extremely important for upholding their horse resources and the wild game so as to continue and maintain their equestrian lifestyle. Americans attempted to inculcate an executive control system on the tribes, and in response, Arapaho carefully dealt with the situation to promote their own culture by choosing an intermediary to deal with Americans.[8] [9] Arapahos intelligently maintained their political relationship with the American influx by using the Americans to frighten their enemy tribes regarding their claims to the Front Range. At the same time, they also had problems with American settlers. For example, the Plains Tribes were prevented to hunt buffalo, and as result, they started hunting the trespassing Americans. This raised many issues of these tribes with the American settlers as well.

As a consequence, history recorded the famous “sand creek massacre” as well as many more fights wherein the influx of new American settlers significantly damaged these two tribes. All in all, horse acquisition remained the most important resource for these tribes during those times, and the horse remained a proven fact and strategy they utilized from time to time to strengthen and elongate their equestrian lifestyle on the Great Plains.

 Conclusion

           This essay acknowledges the very fact that the acquisition of horse for both Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes at the start of the 19th century was an unignorable and undeniable reality. It was the horse that used to fully support their equestrian nomadic lives, and its combination with a gun/rifle used to make them strong warriors on those Great Plains. Additionally, the horse acquisition had dramatically increased their carrying capacity plus their defense mechanism during their fights with the new American settlers. The essay also acknowledges that horse remained the primary resource and motivation for these tribes to deal with the new American expansion in the 19th century, as well as for fighting against these Americans in the wake of any potential violence. This research essay investigates the importance of horse acquisition for both these tribes and reaches to a conclusion that the acquisition of horse was vital to preserve and uphold their nomadic equestrian culture, to sustain their wild hunting scenarios by combining horse acquisition with rifle, and to have economic advantages by utilizing such an economically viable resource of horse that only feeds on the free grass of the Great Plains. All in all, horse acquisition remained their popular and viable choice to not only deal with the new American influx during the 19th century, but also to fight back with Americans and other adversarial tribes if any violence occurs.

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 Bibliography

David, Lavender and Sievert Lavender David. Fort Laramie and the Changing Frontier: Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Wyoming. Vol. 118. United States Government Printing, 1983.

Elliot, West. The contested plains: Indians, gold seekers, & the rush to Colorado. University Press of Kansas, 1998: 54-57.

John, H, Moore. John H. The Cheyenne. Wiley-Blackwell, 1999.

Karr, Ronald Dale. "'Why Should You Be So Furious?': The Violence of the Pequot War."

 Kornfeld, Marcel. "Pull of the Hills, Affluent Foragers of the Western Black Hills." PhD diss., Ph. D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, 1994.

 Loretta, Fowler. Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978: Symbols in Crises of Authority. U of Nebraska Press, 1986.

 Loretta, Fowler. Tribal sovereignty and the historical imagination: Cheyenne-Arapaho politics. U of Nebraska Press, 2002.

 Stephen, Hilger. "Strategies of the Arapahos and Cheyenne’s for combating nineteenth century American colonialism." PhD diss., Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009: 22.

The Journal of American History 85.2 (Dec., 1998): 882-883.

[1] West, Elliott. The contested plains: Indians, goldseekers, & the rush to Colorado. University Press of Kansas, 1998: 54-57.

[2] Hilger, Stephen. "Strategies of the Arapahos and Cheyennes for combating nineteenth century American colonialism." PhD diss., Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009: 22.

[3] Ibid., 1.

[4] Marcel, Kornfeld. "Pull of the Hills, Affluent Foragers of the Western Black Hills." PhD diss., Ph. D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, 1994.

[5] Karr, Ronald Dale. "" Why should you be so furious?": The violence of the Pequot War." The Journal of American History 85, no. 3 (1998): 882-883.

[6] Moore, John H. The Cheyenne. Wiley-Blackwell, 1999.

[7] Lavender, David, and David Sievert Lavender. Fort Laramie and the Changing Frontier: Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Wyoming. Vol. 118. United States Government Printing, 1983.

[8] Fowler, Loretta. Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978: Symbols in Crises of Authority. U of Nebraska Press, 1986.

[9] Fowler, Loretta. Tribal sovereignty and the historical imagination: Cheyenne-Arapaho politics. U of Nebraska Press, 2002.

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A 10-pp. selection of poems

Personage The terrace offers a point. From this point a view. It's only a stop-off; it assumes the motion requisite for temporary stays will continue. The speculative friction required to stop those passing through would require planned extinction; would require war against generations of persistence across biome, suffering & misery magnified it remains threatened always. Building requires digging. Digging creates hollows to be filled. A move past botanicals—it doesn’t exist. A pulse in the web. Walk toward beyond the view: journey’s luck to close in on production. Pace picks up, dusk’s dis- appearing light invites one in: welcome.   Prelude Tonight the act of naming fell through the floor. We speak permeable solids inflected by light. Skull’s grid moves units indistinctly: windshield & palette cross paths, hatch an Ovidian shift, difixiones to devotio; the faux-gorithm teases pantheon from closet, traces flotilla’s down, hot air balloons, celebrating you or prairie fair. You’ll learn to kill that hunger for thunderhead drift. I follow shapes of your speech, attend to your syntax, taste your configuration; to keep up I sketch stick figure, code hypertext script cascading in style, the result of which confirms, again: we’re lost. Plot is a plait’d plat, flatland destination & another assemblage? I want aura to invite aural meiosis, aurora splitting into rural roads, for the bassoon quartet to be forgiven for plastic bag reeds on my direction, for aria to, moody, move into a different mode & travel out through spring’s open window; I want the racket splenetic melancholy, for dynamic accompaniment fit for unfashionable passion, the like. That state of exilium you described as a quantum between. Always pain hover triangulated. Frame Matisse with me, guilty stokes both— say the magnolia blooms shall remain & not at the expense of any other but they do not. Creek diverted, river dead: suck’d dry wax & cone though still dragonflies are purple, abdomen metallic sets of curvature & husk. Nearby: field of lightning. We walk through fjords of light forking down, resisting electrocution, naturally. The taste of our nakedness waking in early in your bed, black walnut leaves catching first October light. If I leave the house or library I sit on benches in Walmart or go to the Coralville mall alone, growing frosting in my chest & English ivy in my sinuses, scribble notes with my fork-tongue alone. Walk with me this once, again, into notional forest, ash-grey landscape dotted in umber, newborn beetles radiating, cobalt blue.   Skykomish in Summer In Goldbar Washington boys crossed river with driftwood staves feet slick-step between slime & rock, underbelly of serpentine but liquefied, algal nets stretch’d between toes, Like scales without edge—stiffened Cold after crossing they crawl’d up & into caverns allowing in fractions of sun but they felt cradled in a way shielded, intimacies there before they dove into round pools spun by spit current’s swirls, the bank of the cove gritty enough for a grip as they’d climb out out of sorts, alive they’d look at the congregation from which they just emerged tangle of nets, sunken conflagrations their bodies against the wake pressed a force there, quiet, endless, sound moving through medium beckoning, shape taking a form inky jar, turbine spat out from the bottom of an oil well.   Grass Cuts Nyanza Street. South Tacoma—we’re on A hill & approach it, tall grass, foreclosure. Blackberry brambles thick on the lawnslope purple, thorns & stickers, irritable touch. Boss climbs roofs with too steep a pitch; Hauls mowers from mud when I mire it Good in a ditch. His daughter today works with us, we weedwhack waist-high grass, rake clippings & tufts long enough to be hay in neat quadrants. They steam mornings we make it out as early as seven. A canopy borders the two-acre lot. I stare – emptying’s substance against nothingness of total inattention’s default setting. Metal asphalt shingles, roof’s pitch steep Low ground valley & everywhere: unhinged Botany thrives. Ivy plaits helices Around five-feet in diameter firs, in follow some twenty feet up when Jamie grabs a pitchfork. See something. It skitters through raked mounds, Goes through tunnels punctured By tines or cleat-roller aerating the lawn She shanks its body up against weed- blocker & brick. A metallic pling rings fades, she scoops it somewhere— this brought up her enjoyment killing, dressing, & cooking fowl. We move more grass I looking for insects, think of meat saws yawning day & night do they Day & night, fumbling—sound like chain saws or Colorado cattle feedlots, cottonwoods standing by during a drought, the sugar factory’s honey-butter burnt hair & soccer cleats left for week in a car. Mulch, juncos, midmorning sun on, sun off, Rake, return, pile, killing rabbits once we snapped their necks wrong, twice partial Breaks, botching it, both shaking we Shared an acute horror in our optics. Then we crushed their skulls with a hammer, But that’s when we lived near the volcano, when the halcyon sensation when standing at the bottom of Nisqually glacier, the sheaves of receding rose-grey gravel in aggregate felt like meteoroid field sent to grave resting place, armatures of old growth First & hemlocks in steep fractals jagged landings in glaciated river so thick with silt it looked an ash-blue sleeve. We take HUSKY 55-gal. trash bags of grass to the organic waste dump. We smell like gasoline & two-cylinder oil & grease. When I get home my house mama says Pew-whee! You smell like Marty; you smell like something that kills.   Shards What was it that came out the water in a sled a Wayward gesture young-&-stuffed Mess to common rendition Duchamp’s Pearl Neckless? In his version The sledgehammer fell square to carcass/shard/caress. You wanted/saved like anyone else wanted, A sequence of diadems, diamondic scales on A yellow python’s back. Be-figure, a mole Amongst slag pits, a slog truce from igneous slab. Bats tunnel boroughs, funnel rigmarole We keep one ray or dot of spun molybdenum— Torque at the end of the…—that glint relieves Grog, luster, a clutch lets cable go its single, slackening line. True fundament! come to the party— From up there, from below? Come beat through this bog’s Excrement, creakily swung skew joints, fallen centurions, Carve away gluttony,—an economic model Levels the field of every thistle’s purple demarcation. Remains disappear. Binary caskets Glisten polyurethane on oak grab it… If - you – get – to – the – place To – get – you – the – records: Prefabricated dirt tastes discard bottles, Skittling crevice, crick or face, collections Binding fractures. That which goes unseen. Make & model, blue castes. Signature mummies. Huffing. That kinetic thrill Pushing hammers through Masonite, Bulls snorting horns at a flag The very requiem of the horse’s eye A black so dark it blued the muscle in deafening Postures of grey fog: a way: body: yes, a shard, Blight-bit, a descending distend, steep bends— A weather system approaches Centripetally, a large unformed cat, To distillate—nothing—to pray to the grommet, One ventricle, alas—poor valve, the idea Of the river. The river. Is. Itself. Course vessel in a Losing resonance a tributary vacillation tip-toed beyond A materiality that is, is not, any old trick.   Spilling the Flour Began not thrush’s stamp, nor cardinal blue whistle but The sour flack going out, the waist line spilt. Emptying cylinders combed in sheet metal corrugate, Fill another vision, the conveyor belt muscle Persuasion. Sometimes a harvest sits like pheasants Before buckshot, freeze-frame, promise cannon— What will be. Corn stalks chopped at maggot root twist Wind crowing a parade, sans confetti, sans soleil. Platoon the distant mist, forgetting it’s metal multiplied In numbers not quantity. Not fog. That’s fire But the wound continuum in ears splits hair mimics a mime Brown cerumen flax spreads flat lays down in- To a line. Elements bind fetch needle & borrow thread Stitch from denim you see the voices hear. Spiders don’t mean to. Bats garner a wick of light Against normalcy of shadow. When is not Important. Con memory commemorate ingrown toe- Nail sunk into rib-line fleshed out for sake Of sake of being. Forsaken lake: equivalent to constrictor Vine, not theorem. Carpet moves imagined Equestrians run between alder beetles the abandoned Horses heaving in the meadow along the orange Vector. The chemilume incision furcates the dark shells Guarding liquefied innards, the many legs.   The Awful Cutlery Traveling by Greyhound between Dominguez- Escalante and Grand Mesa National forest, We’re full enough In the filled up four-wheel lurch on blacktop I-70 elegantly swung across Secluded Rocky Mountain scrag. “This shit’s too country” a woman remarks. You see what she means. The rosaries Of apricot, peach, cherry, and plum disintegrate Vineyard to vineyard to bottle To California, mid-stride Maybe she means. Maybe Damian The off-shore welder tells me about hanging above The water, rigged up, slung out, strapped in, Gluing thousand-degree metal to solid stack Rigs, working twelves till three months pass So he can go—“I go everywhere”—to complicate Home—“Love Alabama but I need to see it all The whole shit.” Dusk is a disk with a predictable arc. I’m here twenty years, this red land. From bottom canyon ditch combs Of bygone eon drag across mesa, leaving scar, Evidence of water, wind, shaggy coats left To bear, bear themselves, on other creatures Pitching, tent-by-tent, a story, a new story, old. The mother tells you, you & me, of Rocky Mountain Flats, the Climax Uranium Mill, A fire beginning with a crack, croaking a Groan to a glow, plutonium then, dizzied in dust, Vapored amoeba flung across the whole Front Range. Cows were the first to show up Without usual parts: eye, ear or triple-tongue. Do I believe anything I say anymore? Set that head against Plexiglas. Feel the chill— A lavender fork makes an albino tarantula Of sky, yet there’s a merge, the speech Corks off. Into each direction, asymmetry Between passengers a music nonetheless, The hiddenness behind tall sediment walls Now, this cutlery mass Stalking hungry movers, clawing at the dirt To reveal the intact pores of a distant femur.   Safe/Way Courtesy Clerk In the aisles of nondescription halogen baleen Sifts shop-cart rift-racket & geriatric dances. Old/new toothpick paradigm cues a mist/turn: Old is to new as young is to old, meaning Painting the urn in synthesizer blue still undoes. The unheard chambers are sweeter. Polyethylene is a mon-on- monomer ladder of Chain-stacks, bindings, writes the blurb We’re all in this together. Savings save you From it, from it you’ll be saved the lapse: Western tanager memorizes its own memory Launched in citrus beneath the varied canopy. Really: in this Safeway a woman chutes Hundreds of one-liters into the re/cycle Machine. She leans on cart rail, no wheel. Her child helps he laughed he threw them into The bin, the coins emerged. Someone said Music moves from a fix-point fence post, studded Down into ground. He’s right—what is there to do But do, bag up a customer’s purple cabbage Dreams stuff them sweet potato mush- Room into room, sacked. They’d blister From oxygen’s lack they’d try to make it, try To survive. Wouldn’t it be courteous To curtsy before bags bulge as balloons stuffed With vision? Even in tulip & rose section I Hand out the foxtail elixir, all the loot; were they Bodies turned down, turned into what now, soup? The day is butternut squash but wouldn’t A lizard do today let’s get all the gutter newts Recalling now how Scooby returned From a long drive he threw an iguana On the chopping block on the counter top In the apartment he was making soup He sawed off its head. What was inside The eyes? Nothing much. Eye cones con, resemble The black glass of a tick’s back. You’ll try To reach in & what — find out who looks back Tell yourself that’s you looking back. A gaze. Scooby ran cool water over the head, on it. Its jaw opened and closed again & again. “This is good soup that’s what happens After the head’s cut off.” What would the body Do after, what voice would reclaim itself, Would reconvene re — gather protest against scores Settled, dust made fall silk, unnoticed? What takes when taken back, how’ll things Exactly as they are be exactly as they’d been? What music shapes the marina, the guitar Rustling out a poison ivy arpeggio to become The place and the things of things as they are? How do you bargain or take the lead For the dreaded duet? The mouth opens cilia Tongue juts out pink premonition the sky boom Nitro’s paisley maize radished in the Word-Ward. Blue pollen doesn’t exist but when the man Who looks one-hundred buys the dyed-blue orchid & says “it’s for my” I cut him off & ask but He just laughs & says “it’s just a flower it’s just An empty bag” & walks out, away, toward Automatic sensor doors, glass partitions that open Like megafauna with a belly full of a world on fire.

[mst3kproject]

910: The Final Sacrifice

I grew up in Calgary, which means that the riff about Edmonton being kind of like hell but less so is at least six times funnier than it would be otherwise.  My sister did her IT degree at the same school (the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) as the people in this movie were taking their film classes. I’ve probably been to places where they shot scenes and didn’t know it… all of which makes The Final Sacrifice particularly dear to my heart, even by MSTie standards.

Seven years ago, young Troy’s father was chased down and murdered by armed luchadors in the woods somewhere.  Now, grown into a man of at least twelve, Troy is determined to find the killers.  In an attic he discovers a mysterious map and a bunch of information about the ‘Ziox’, but before he can puzzle it out the luchadors attack! Troy escapes by climbing into a truck driven by Canada’s second-greatest hero (after Wolverine), the one, the only Zap Rowsdower.  Together, the two of them set out to conquer Zap Rowsdower’s car trouble and uncover the secret of the Ziox, a lost civilization that once ruled the land of Fish Creek Provincial Park!

First, some Canadiana.  The Lemon Mine is a legendary lost gold deposit supposedly found by prospector John Lemon. Also, Maple Syrup Rustling is a thing that goes on in Canada.  Over the winter of 2011-2012, nearly three thousand tonnes of it were stolen from the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, one barrel at a time.  Canadians regard this in the same way as other countries might think of big art or bank heists, with the perpetrators becoming folk-culture heroes.  Also also, Brain Guy was wrong.  The worst thing ever to come out of Canada is, hands down, our geese, which attack livestock, destroy aircraft, and don’t even taste good.  They are the worst of all birds and we apologize.

Second, some racism.  According to the movie, the Ziox were a lost civilization who lived in Southern Alberta eleventy thousand years ago, “way before the Indians” and built cities of gold in the middle of the prairie.  Since Sartoris and Zap Rowsdower, among others, are descendants of these people it appears they were supposed to be white.  Because there’s no way anybody who wasn’t white could have built huge cities full of golden pyramids, right? It’s not like there were entire cultures in the Americas who were known for exactly that!

Those peoples didn’t live in southern Alberta, though, for the excellent reason that there’s nothing here.  This area is miles upon miles of rolling grassland, from the foot of the mountains all the way to Manitoba, with not much in it but buffalo and buffalo by-products. There’s some sandstone you can build quaint town halls with, but not pyramids that will last thousands of years.  The wildlife aren’t suitable for domestication.  There’s no meaningful amount of gold.  There weren’t even very many trees until Europeans started planting them as windbreaks.  For as long as there’s an archaeological record, the indigenous peoples around here have been nomadic hunters.  Permanent settlements couldn’t get started until the railway arrived to bring in supplies.

On to the movie.  When you want to tell a big story but have only a little budget, one popular way to do it is by having most of your adventure happen in the middle of nowhere so you can save your money to make a big impression in only a few key scenes. Take, for example, The Princess Bride, which is mostly just a few people in the wilderness but put enough into the palace sequences to make us believe we were in a Renaissance-era world.  The Final Sacrifice is a stellar example of a film that’s too damn cheap to even get away with that.  They wanted demonic idols and spectacular caverns and an ancient city rising from the earth but all they got is a bunch of toothpick models and papier-mache, almost as pathetic as the dinosaur puppets in Future War.

The nail in the coffin is that The Final Sacrifice can’t even do wilderness very well.  The outdoor scenes are in very open scrub, which are rather desolate but don't give the impression of somewhere miles from civilization.  It looks, like I already observed, a lot like Fish Creek Park, which is about a twenty-minute walk from where I grew up and sees a steady stream of picnickers and brownie troops all summer.  Any given shot in The Final Sacrifice looks like if you moved the camera three inches to one side you’d see a bunch of little kids making s’mores.

I’m pretty sure the writers originally had something much grander in mind, and had to tone it down a lot to get it to the screen with the money they had – because when you think about it, it’s obvious that The Final Sacrifice is a story about the lost continent of Atlantis.  You’ve got an ancient advanced civilization that was punished for its hubris and blasphemy by sinking, and which promises untold power and wealth to whoever can find its remains.  That’s a tale that ought to span continents, with adventurous archaeologists and deserted isles and plane crashes and such things… but all anybody had was a small town and some back woods a few hours’ drive out of Calgary, so they had to make do. The result feels like a story trying to be bigger than it is, as if the events in the movie only think they ought to have world-shaking implications but actually don’t matter to anyone.

Adding to the impression that there’s something missing from this movie, the story depends an awful lot on some very odd coincidences.  I can buy that Troy lives only a couple hours’ drive from the site of the Ziox city – that’s where his father lived and worked, and since Troy’s aunt didn’t know about the cultists there was no reason for her to move.  But then the truck he climbs into just happens to belong to a former member of the cult?  Zap Rowsdower is supposed to be an alcoholic drifter who just wants to get away and forget, so why the heck is he still in the area?  Canada is big.  Go to Halifax.  Go to Resolute Bay.  Hell, leave the country.  Why stick around within a few miles of the evil cult that threw you out?

Then there’s Pipper.  He’s been hiding from the cult for years, he says, but he’s doing it in a cabin about ten meters (that's thirty-five feet for the Americans in the audience) from the site of the idol! That might make sense if he were guarding it, but he doesn’t know it’s nearby and professes to believe it’s just a legend.  So what is he doing there?  Movie audiences can handle magic and aliens and all kinds of other ridiculous things, but too many coincidences will kill suspension of disbelief in a way the overtly fantastical never can.

When you want to tell a big story in your movie, it’s also helpful if the audience knows what the characters want and what will happen if they fail.  On the first count, I guess The Final Sacrifice does okay.  We do know that Troy wants to find out why his father died and what’s up with all this stuff he left behind, and Zap Rowsdower just wants to get away from this distasteful part of his past but is sucked back into it by Troy whether he likes it or not.  On what will happen if they fail, however, the film is much less clear.  Sartoris talks about raising an army of invincible warriors and conquering the world, but it’s not clear how making a sacrifice to the idol in the woods will bring that about.  Does Sartoris believe the city will arise full of undead soldiers or something?  The only version of the associated legends we get comes from Pipper, who says nothing about any such thing.  We’re obviously meant to believe that at least some of the population escaped the sinking, since they had to go give rise to descendants like Zap Rowsdower and the luchadors.

The ending is clearly supposed to be ironic, as it is Sartoris’ death that satisfies the idol and raises the city from the ground.  This would have been more effective if Sartoris himself had lived long enough to appreciate the irony, but that much works well enough.  The rest of the events at the end of the film just leave way too many questions.  What happened to all the luchadors?   They pull off their masks and walk into the light and out of the movie.  Why did Zap Rowsdower’s tattoo disappear?  Does Sartoris actually have some kind of magical powers, since he seems able to telepathically contact Zap Roswdower in his sleep? Did the city actually blast off into space, possibly taking the luchadors with it?  Because there are definitely shots that make it look like that’s happening.  What’s going on there?

Honestly, that’s not a bad explanation.  Throwing some Erich Von Daniken, Pumaman or Hangar 18 bullshit into this would actually have made way more sense.  Wow, is that ever sad.

It’s easy to be really hard on The Final Sacrifice because it is so very cheap, but on the other hand it was literally made by first-year students at a polytechnic not known for producing filmmakers. When you think of it that way, it actually looks surprisingly like a real movie… but still not enough that it should ever have been released into the wild.  The fact that Tjardus Greidanus’ imagination was so much bigger than his budget makes it seem like he had some honest potential.  He’s still making both narrative and documentary films, and I’m kind of interested to see some of them.

[virtchandmoir]

THIS JUST IN: TESSA VIRTUE, SCOTT MOIR AND PATRICK CHAN ANNOUNCE FIRST ANNUAL ROCK THE RINK TOUR

April 9, 2019

TICKETS ON SALE MAY 3rd AT ROCKTHERINK.COM

Toronto, ON – April 9, 2019 – By the half-way point of last year’s sold out Thank You Canada tour, it was clear to figure skating superstars, Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir and Patrick Chan, that they were far from done creating and developing a new style of skating entertainment.  Conversations then began in earnest to focus on the next logical step.

Today, Virtue and Moir appeared on CTV’s Your Morning, to announce Rock The Rink – an annual tour that focuses on being more than a figure skating show. Combining the highest level of on-ice superstar talent with an ever-evolving touring production, Rock The Rink will produce the highest value of entertainment. This year – along with upgrades to lighting, video and interactive technology – live music will be introduced to the show, with featured special musical guest, Birds of Bellwoods.

“Last year, we rode the Olympic wave and carried the momentum through the Thank You Canada tour – a fulfilling project that truly allowed us to connect with fans coast to coast,” says Virtue. “This year, it’s critical that we elevate the production and generate authentic entertainment in new and creative ways. Scott and I have spent our career striving for more, taking risks, and daring ourselves to be better…our approach to this is no different.”

Adds Moir, “The goal for Rock The Rink is to be something that fans of skating and live entertainment will look forward to year after year, knowing that it will always be a can’t miss night,” adds Moir.

“We want to give people a memorable experience and broaden the scope of what can be done in the show skating realm,” continues Virtue. “We are ready for fresh and innovative ways to share our passion with audiences across the country!”

"I'm honored to be a part of such a unique and innovative production,” reflects Chan. “Anyone that has followed our careers understands our dedication to creativity and entertainment. We want each and every person to be a part of an experience and not just a ‘show’. What we're creating hasn’t been done before and I can’t wait to show it to the fans."

The production will tour from coast-to-coast across Canada, and will include a few select U.S. cities as well.  The cast will again feature Canadian greats, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Patrick Chan, Kaetlyn Osmond and Elvis Stojko. The show will also be bringing some world-renowned skating talent from Europe and the U.S..  Italian Olympic Medalist and World Champion, Carolina Kostner, and Italian World Champions, Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte, will each tour in North America for the first time, while Olympic Medalist and four time U.S. National Champion, Jeremy Abbott, will return to Canadian touring for the first time in seven years.

Tickets will go on sale Friday, May 3 at rocktherink.com. The cross-country tour launches Saturday, October 5 in Abbotsford, BC and will hit over 30 cities before wrapping in St. John’s, NL.  The tour, which is presented by Round Room, is proud of its continued relationship with Bell Media as the official tour media sponsor.

For a complete list of tour dates and to purchase tickets, please visit rocktherink.com.

ROCK THE RINK TOUR: October 5 – Abbotsford, BC – Abbotsford Centre October 6 – Penticton, BC – South Okanagan Events Centre October 7 – Vancouver, BC – Thunderbird Arena October 10 – Red Deer, AB – ENMAX Centrium Arena October 11 – Dawson Creek, BC – Encana Events Centre October 12 – Prince George, BC – CN Centre October 13 – Grande Prairie, AB – Revolution Place October 16 – Calgary, AB – Stampede Corral October 17 – Lethbridge, AB – ENMAX Centre October 18 – Regina, SK – Brandt Centre October 19 – Medicine Hat, AB – Canalta Centre October 20 – Brandon, MB – Keystone Centre October 29 – Sault Ste Marie, ON – GFL Memorial Gardens November 1 – Sudbury, ON – Sudbury Arena November 2 – Kitchener, ON – Memorial Auditorium November 3 – Kingston, ON – Leon’s Centre November 6 – Mississauga, ON – Paramount Fine Food Centre November 7 – Ottawa, ON – TD Place November 8 – St. Catharines, ON – Meridian Centre November 9 – Oshawa, ON – Tribute Memorial Centre November 10 – Cleveland, OH – Quicken Loans Arena November 13 – Peterborough, ON – Peterborough Memorial Centre November 15 – Quebec City, QC – Videotron Centre November 16 – Moncton, NB – Avenir Centre November 23 – St. John’s, NL – Mile One Centre

*more dates to be announced soon

—The Lede

[thorsenmark]

My Navigations in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking along the Prairie Creek Trail with a view looking up and to the east at nearby coast redwoods in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. My thinking in composing this image was to take advantage of an opening in some nearby trees and capture an image of the sun. I closed down on the aperture to create more of a starburst look and used some of the leaves and branches to help filter the brightness of the sun. The rest was metering the image so as to not blow any of the highlights in the upper portions and tree crowns of the nearby redwoods while still being able to pull out the more shadowed areas later in post production.

[polyamorousmisanthrope]

Does it Work?

This is a paper I wrote in 2009 trying desperately to find the line between healthy, in-group behaviors and cult.  It was inconclusive as hell.

In studying the alternative lifestyles and communities of the US in the past 200-odd years, there has been an attempt to judge whether or not these communities are good.   That’s fine in the context of a rigid social system or system of morality against which it present a background or framework.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view, the United States of 2009 simply doesn’t have a single, unified code by which to judge the goodness or badness of a lifestyle.  Oh, we agree that child molestation is wrong and revile the more excessive behaviors of a Warren Jeffs of the FLDS church, or a David Koresh.   But for things less extreme than rape and murder, the line between “good” and “bad” becomes far more fuzzy.

Social traditionalists might bemoan the fuzzy line, cry “declining family values” or even “lack of faith in God”.   This is a difficult point of view for a thoughtful student of social history to take seriously.  Even as recently as the 1950s, the Leave it to Beaver snapshot of a household wasn’t exactly the real world that people were living.  The author’s own grandfather worked three jobs during that time-period to support a family of six, and when the children were in school, his wife also went to work to be able to pay the expanded expenses of a household with four pre-teen and teenagers.

If people can idealize and romanticize times they actually lived through, how much easier it is to romanticize times of more than a century ago.   We remember the family solidarity of Little House on the Prairie, but fail to internalize the desperate poverty of a family that could only afford two dresses for each child, that counted on fish from a creek three times a day to get through a summer, and a rearing that caused one of the children to feel she must go to work to pay her parents back for the expense of rearing her.

In the face of this romanticism, it is easy to cry “Traditional Family Values!” when confronted with a new problem of living such as Polyamory.  However, that sort of answer, when faced with the realities of our changing society and its mores is worse than useless, as Traditional Family Values hearken back to an age that never actually existed.  If it didn’t exist and work then, how could it be possible to make it exist and work now?

Polyamory is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary thus:

The fact of having simultaneous close emotional relationships with two or more other individuals, viewed as an alternative to monogamy, esp. in regard to matters of sexual fidelity; the custom or practice of engaging in multiple sexual relationships with the knowledge and consent of all partners concerned.

This definition isn’t entirely accepted by everyone in the polyamory community, but as a writer in the polyamory community herself, the author personally considers it good enough to be going on with.

Polyamory, then, can just be considered an open alternative to sexual exclusivity.  This is practiced in many ways by different people.   Many married couples who are polyamorous might have their marriage, household, dog, kids and white picket fence, but also engage in romantic/sexual relationships outside of the marriage relationships.   Others take it in a different direction – eschewing pair bonding and forming non-formal relationships.   Yet others form group marriage.   This relationship is often called a PolyFamily, and is probably the least common form of polyamorous relationship practiced.

So, does it work?

One could answer “yes and no”, but it would hardly be conclusive.   Sometimes not.  Margaret Hollenbach (Hollenbach)  did not find her life in the Family in New Mexico very workable.   Hollenbach had to be just about the classical “hippie”.  College kid, white, from a relatively well-to-do background though with divorced parents – somewhat less common in the late 1960s and early 1970s than now.  She joined the Family in Taos, New Mexico and found that the lifestyle and therapy sessions[1] reminiscent of the brainwashing techniques used by the Chinese government (Hollenbach  166).  She also comments that her own experience did not include coercion in the classical sense.  One was free to get up and walk away and there were no physical attempts at restraint.

However, one of the serious problems with any long-term live-in relationship that may or may not be workable is the fact that while one might not be physically restrained from leaving if it becomes unpleasant, unworkable or difficult, there are matters of social isolation, inertia, and the simple financial ties anyone has in a household that one must contend with.   Historically, some communes, in a deep desire not to be coercive when it came to group membership have had a way to pay out members that wished to leave so that they would not feel financially tied to a group that they did not want to be with.   The Shakers would allow a member who left to take any property that he had brought with him upon joining away, or give a monetary allowance to those who joined empty-handed.   Few modern communes, poly or otherwise, have had such a forward-thinking view.

There is also the social isolation.  If one lives in a group where the internal culture is “different”, there is an increased tendency towards Groupthink.  Groupthink is generally characterized by premature concurrence seeking – high conformity pressures, self-censorship of dissenting ideas, mindguards and the maintenance of the image of unanimity (Forsyth  370).  The ideals of marriage say that the happy, effective couple presents a united front.  However good or bad this idea is, it becomes problematic in a group marriage situation.

At first, it might not seem so. That united front can be useful.   Imagine being a car salesman and negotiating a loan among four people who can play off of each other and come together with the precision of watch gears while you have to answer each and every one of them all by yourself[2].  To be a member of such an effective team can be pretty heady.

But there’s a dark side.  That groupthink?  It’s very real.  In the interests of the unified front, one can suppress one’s own dissenting opinions, find oneself weary of discussion and abdicate opinion in the interests of quiet.  This is an example of something that doesn’t work for long.

The social isolation is often a problem as well.  If one lives in a group marriage or other alternative relationship, one often finds that the internal frame of reference of the group is the one that’s turned to for a “reality check”.  Choosing the left-hand path means that one occasional faces outside disapproval.  The “us against them” view that one can develop within such a context, while entirely human and natural,[3] can be counter-productive for the individual health of individual members of a group.

In observing group relationships that work out well, a primary characteristic of any of them seems to hinge around personal privacy and, oddly enough, a high value placed on individuality.  “The two (or three or four) shall become one” does not wear well in a polyamorous situation.  The relationship and personal dynamic must be very different for it to work.

The Oneida Community had an inkling of this when it built its group home.  Each adult member had his own small room.  While they professed to value the group over anything, and diaries of the time talk of struggles with selfishness (Herrick 62), there was an understanding that a certain level of personal privacy and personal choice are very necessary to the happiness of a person within a group.  Within the Oneida Community, there were people with varying interests and these interests were encouraged.  Children were sent off to school away from the O.C., people often made trips to visit the “Outside”, as they called it, and there was a tacit understanding that one would choose for oneself how much to participate in the “social life[4]” of the Community.  While it ultimately dissolved, keep in mind that the Oneida Community lasted for thirty years – a Methuselah among communes.

Modern marriage counselors now talk about this more and more often.   In modern mental health literature, there is a strong theme of taking responsibility for one’s own needs instead of depending on another to meet them.  This isn’t to say that we must blow off others’ needs and desires, nor that we have no responsibility to the people with whom we’ve formed relationships.

Each human being has freedom of choice over his or her own actions; all of us are accountable for our choices and their consequences.  No other person can be responsible for the feelings that result from our choices, be they happy or sad. (Paul and Paul 212).

Recognition of this individual responsibility seems to be the key to happy interpersonal relationships of all sorts.  While it might seem that it means that one could callously assert that if someone else is unhappy in the face of what’s going on that it’s his own problem, that extreme isn’t quite the way accepting personal responsibility for one’s own feelings and actions work.   While it’s impossible actually to be responsible for another’s feelings, it’s also impossible to have a good relationship without caring about the other’s feelings as well.  It’s an important balance.

Also required for good balance is the “what’s in it for me?” factor. There has to be some incentive for people to devote time/energy/money to almost anything, and they have to feel like they’re getting a good trade out of it.  A housewife, putting in long hours to create a beautiful and comfortable home, might be compensated by a spouse with more free time to earn a higher salary.  That spouse might be glad to have a well-run home and be relieved of housekeeping responsibilities.   While a very “traditional” view, it’s one that works out in practice as well[5].   In communal situations larger than a family, a credit system where work means something tangible tends to work out better than an “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” situation.   The founder of Twin Oaks in Louisa, VA commented, “Nowadays, I think you need some personal incentive to put out your best in the work scene.” (Kuhlmann 126)

The poly families that work out the best do seem to be families where there is a high regard for individualism and privacy, as well as a strong vested interest in each member of the group finding the relationship a fulfilling, perhaps even profitable, one.

Works  Cited

Forsyth, Donelson R. Group  Dynamics. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2005.

Herrick, Tirzah  Miller. Desire and Duty at Oneida : Tirzah Miller’s Intimate Memoir. Ed. Robert S. Fogarty. New York: Indiana University Press, 2000.

Hollenbach, Margarget.  Lost and Found : My Life in a Group Marriage Commune. New York:  University of New Mexico Press, 2004.

Kuhlmann, Hilke. Living  Walden Two : B. F. Skinner’s Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities. New York: Univeristy of Illinois Press, 2005.

Paul, Jordan and  Margaret Paul. Do I Have to Give up Me to Be Loved by You? Grand  Rapids: Hazelden & Educational Services, 2002.

[1] They used a form of Gestalt therapy as a means of social cohesion.

[2] This actually happened in my own quad.  One of the former members still owns and drives that car!

[3] There are few things better for group cohesion than a common “enemy”, as history has proven more than once.

[4] The expression “social life” in the Oneida Community was a euphemism for sexual relationships.

[5] When I worked full time, while I did do housework at home, having a housewife there for primary childcare duties was a great boon to my ability to focus on my job!