. . . I have been following Thomas Davis’ blog since 2012, and feel so fortunate to have found his blog. “With billions of humans on this earth, it’s not easy to connect with poets who express the human experience so worthy of being a poet’s poet. Thomas can open the door to why we exist!”
Meditation on Ceremonies of Beginnings — The Tribal College and World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium Poems was recently by Tribal College Press. Davis sees the book of poems as “an introduction to the tribal college movement and the world of Indigenous nations.”
These poems tell the story of the tribal college movement. Davis writes, “They record history in a different way. History is not just made up of facts and events, as momentous as those events may be, but also of emotions, dreams, striving, failing, tragedy, struggling against long odds, laughter, joy, and personalities that make significant differences even as those contributions are lost when historians begin to shuffle through dust bins of primary sources.“
In March, 2003, Robert Martin invited Davis to Tohono O’odham in southern Arizona. While there, he wrote “A Visit to Tohono O’odham Community College as It is Being Born, 2/6/03.”
Thomas Davis Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette
The poem begins:
Perry Horse said, looking out to saguaro cactus, palo verde trees, bone- white trunk of an eucalyptus tree, brown dryness of desert, steep dirt sides of an arroyo, “can you smell this place? It smells different from your country with its trees, big water, and winter’s deep cold.” The arroyo channeled toward large skirts of a mountain that raised brown earth, dark rock into rare clouds that looked as if they might hold rain. Green smells of Tohono O’odham Nation were as pale as trunks of the palo verde trees.
The last paragraph in the poem reads:
American has always been a nation of peoples, of nations. In desert air at night stars hover bright and close to dark mountains that shine and breathe as we sing into another time.
Davis, 74, lives in Sturgeon Bay and is the author of the award-winning novel “In the Unsettled Homeland of Dreams,” and other works. He still serves in leadership roles at several tribal colleges.
Tucsonians in support of Wisconsin public service workers — Images by kenne
As a nation, we see a people wanting the best in public safety and education, but when budgets get tight, they are the first areas to be cut. We are losing ground to many western nations. This weekend, Joy and I were part of around 700 people shows their support for public service workers.
. . . children of illegal immigrants born in the US would receive special birth certificates that would make clear that the state does not consider them Arizona citizens.
. . . illegal immigrants would be barred from driving in the state, enrolling in school or receiving most public benefits.
. . . in Tucson, a community group was so enraged by what it called the extremist nature of the proposals from Phoenix that it proposed severing the state in two, creating what some call Baja Arizona.
. . . there is very little in Washington that can’t be explained by an episode of the original “Star Trek,” and Boehner is playing out the one where the Romulan captain prefers the ways of peace but is saddled with a crew that will mutiny if he fails to follow through on the plan to blow up the galaxy.
. . . Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) budget repair bill has focused on the section that would strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. Less noticed is a provision in the 144-page piece of legislation that could dramatically change the state’s Medicaid program.
. . . a Wisconsin bill would grant the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) sweeping authority to making changes to the state’s Medicaid program — which covers one in five residents — with virtually no public scrutiny. According to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Walker’s plan would use “emergency” powers to allow DHS to restrict eligibility, raise premiums and change reimbursements — all moves traditionally controlled by the legislature.
. . . at a town hall meeting this week, angry supporters of O’Donnell confronted the chairman of the state Republican Party , who had defected against O’Donnell during the campaign last year, saying that she wasn’t capable of being elected dog catcher.
Two years ago, Joy and I took her mother (Virginia) on 10 day road trip to St Paul and the northwest Wisconsin area, where she spent her childhood. This Tuesday, she will be visiting us here in Tucson, which is a lot hotter than northwest Wisconsin — to say the least.
Images Taken In Fredric Wisconsin (2008) by kenne
As a nation, we see a people wanting the best in public safety and education, but when budgets get tight, they are the first areas to be cut. We are losing ground to many western nations. This weekend, Joy and I were part of around 700 people shows their support for public service workers.
kenne
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