Never trust a wizard

Moon & Venus: the companions l Yuri Beletsky

Common Grackle - 8x10" watercolor on Arches cold press

I kinda love Grackles. They can be obnoxious but they're so pretty.

Four more tipping point birds, including two that probably should be on the red alert list.

Long-tailed Duck

Black Swift

California Condor (red alert)

Whooping Crane (red alert)

I'm pretty sure the condor and crane are my best yet. I'm very happy with how they turned out. ---------------------------------------------

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Today, many scientists acknowledge the troubling attitudes that have long plagued research projects in Indigenous communities [...] But some Indigenous groups feel that despite such well-intentioned initiatives, their inclusion in research is only a token gesture to satisfy a funding agency.

Has everyone just believed this whole time that I bring it up for optics?

Everyone nods, "of course he mentions Indigenous people," because they believe it would simply look bad for me if I didn't.

In fact Indigenous knowledge is a constant topic of conversation and point of reference when I discuss my work as a scientist who uses Western science because my work is useless without it.

I work with endangered species which are endangered solely due to continual colonial violence against people and the land. I can follow the Western scientific method all I want and publish 100 papers on how to fix salmon populations—and get nowhere without Indigenous knowledge and sovereignty.

Indigenous knowledge is not an afterthought to reference as back up to Western science. Believe it or not, we can and should lead any number of scientific projects with Indigenous knowledge.

Back to doing couples and character sheets commissions! All info is in the forms 💖

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