Stuck on a word

I WILL !!! I WILL DO THAT

some of my favourite indigenous artists, in no particular order:

Inuit artists:

the jerry cans (esp their album Inuusiq)

beatrice deer

twin flames

Māori artists:

jordyn with a why

Indigenous australian artists:

tilly tjala thomas (i particularly love ngai yurlku nhiina)

kardajala kirridarra (srlsly check out ngajabu (Grandmother's Song))

And one of her own:

Oh and of course there's also the HU and Bloodywood for people who like more rock and metal mixed in:

Darkaside is a Papuan metal band

Shepherds Reign is a Samoan metal band

it’s been 9 years since i wrote this. i was experiencing 24/7 anxiety so badly that i needed serious medication. these days in the back of my car is an “emergency party box.” when people admit they no longer really celebrate their birthday; i tell them to put the sash on and queue up kesha, we’re going bowling or something. these days i can’t spin around without finding something i am enamored with. these days i list 3 things i’m grateful for before i fall asleep. you’re probably one of them, just by virtue of you existing.

at the time i wrote this, i was suffering through a severe panic attack literally every night. i tortured my brother with constant 2 AM calls just to hear someone else breathing, because i couldn’t be alone in the silence.

i rarely wish i was still 23 even though ironically i had more hope back then. what i can tell you is this: i love the same way, but bigger now. i’ve worn the velvet cape to several business meetings. i spent thursday in a crop top without caring what my stomach looked like.

i told her i like her; i often dress as a witch. i still got glass in my foot this morning. i’ve kissed maybe a thousand people since then and met a million more than that; passing like the shadow of a hammerhead in trains and planes and buses.

i saw you, beloved, there, maybe, on platform in south station. you didn’t speak, but you said: i struggle to give the nothing meaning. the nothing fills up everything. it is just loud and yellowed panicked silence. i can’t stop shaking.

on the roof, birds curl together against the chilled spring wind. the sky outside of the craft store was an iridescent pink. the nothing already had meaning; you are giving it meaning by witnessing.

It’s Erica with your new dose of Feel Good News — stories to remind us the world’s not so bad after all.

1. Appeals court blocks Republicans’ bid to dismantle Grand Canyon national monument

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously dismissed every argument from the Arizona Legislature, including claims about lost mining revenue, in a lawsuit challenging the creation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The court ruled that the legislative leaders lacked standing to bring the lawsuit because all of the harms they claimed the monument would cause were speculative. The monument was designated by President Joe Biden in 2023 in response to advocacy from Native American communities whose ancestral homelands are located in and near the Grand Canyon. The court rejected the legislature’s claims about lost tax revenue, water supply, and energy prices, and found that the legislature failed to show any concrete injury from the monument’s creation.

2. Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom in attempt to reverse declines in reading, math, and science.

Sweden is moving away from a heavy reliance on digital technology in schools and returning to more traditional teaching methods, including the use of physical textbooks and handwriting. This shift is in response to declining test scores and concerns that excessive screen time and digital distractions have hindered students’ learning, especially in foundational skills like reading and writing. The Swedish government is investing heavily to provide every student with physical textbooks and has also announced plans to make schools cellphone-free. While digital technology is not being completely removed from classrooms, the goal is to introduce it more selectively and at later stages of a student’s education, after basic skills have been firmly established. This recalibration of technology’s role in education reflects a growing debate, not just in Sweden but also in the US, about the potential drawbacks of excessive digitalization in schools.

3. Carney announces $3.8B to protect nature. Government plans to create new national parks and marine reserves.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced $3.8 billion in new funding to protect nature, as part of the federal government’s goal to protect 30% of Canada’s lands and waters by 2030. The government plans to create new national parks and marine reserves, including the Wiinipaawk Indigenous Protected Area and National Marine Conservation Area in eastern James Bay, and the Seal River Watershed National Park in Manitoba. Up to 14 new marine-protected and conserved areas and up to 10 new marine conservation areas would also be created, aiming to protect 28% of Canada’s waters. The federal Conservatives criticized the announcement as “illusions”, arguing that the government has failed to meet its own environmental targets in the past.

4. Despite claims of his death spreading on social media, the world’s oldest known land animal, a giant tortoise named Jonathan, remained alive and well on Wednesday, April 1, the reptile’s caretaker said.

Despite claims of his death spreading on social media, the world’s oldest known land animal, a giant tortoise named Jonathan, remained alive and well on Wednesday, April 1, the reptile’s caretaker said. Jonathan the tortoise is very much alive, and the account claiming his death is a fake. Jonathan has spent most of his life living in St. Helena, a British territory in the South Atlantic Ocean, and is thought to have been born around 1832. He holds the records for the world’s oldest living land animal and the oldest chelonian, the category of reptiles including all turtles, terrapins and tortoises.

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That’s it for last week :)

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'Not What You Saw' [2024-ongoing] by Keerthana Kunnath

Shot across beaches, fields, and village edges in Kerala, India,

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