This Kind Of Plant Care Will Be Real Handy In The Long Run, Especially If Used Alongside Such Programs

This kind of plant care will be real handy in the long run, especially if used alongside such programs as Ecosia & #TeamTrees. Now if such was to be used alongside a version for kelp & coral, imagine how handy versions of the Diasugi technique could end up being if usable for such.

The Japanese have been producing wood for 700 years without cutting down trees. In the 14th century, the extraordinary daisugi technique was born in Japan. Indeed, the daisugi provide that these trees will be planted for future generations and not be cut down but pruned as if they were giant bonsai trees; by applying this technique to cedars, the wood that can be obtained is uniform, straight and without knots, practically perfect for construction. A pruning as a rule of art that allows the tree to grow and germinate while using its wood, without ever cutting it down.

Extraordinary technique. ''.

Sir David Attenborough.

A heartening thing to find.

AINBO: Spirit of the Amazon - Official Trailer

In the spirit of Moana and Frozen, “Ainbo – Spirit of the Amazon” is the epic journey of a young hero and her Spirit Guides who embark on a quest to save their home in the spectacular Amazon Rainforest.

I know this is not exactly Brazilian politics, but this movie, to be released on April 21st 2021, was written by Amazonians, and given how frequently I post here about environmentalism, the Amazon Rainforest, and indigenous rights, I figure this could be of interest to many of you :3

Here's some examples of how horticulture & agriculture have helped us since time immemorial.

Someone I know not well enough to voice my opinion on the subject said something like why didn’t God make potatoes a low-calorie food so I am here to say: God made them like that because their nutrition density IS what makes them healthy. By God I mean Andean agricultural technicians. Potato is healthy BECAUSE potato holds calories and vitamins. Do not malign potato

Here's a pretty good selection to start off with.

10 Books by Indigenous Authors to Stock Your Shelves

Last week I needed to skip a post in favor of getting my classwork done for my deadline--so I'm back for this list!

Like last time, this list has summaries and cover pics from the book's publisher's or author's sites. Unlike last time, I ended up choosing a variety of demographics so I didn't just rip off other lists of indigenous authors/books. We've got books for adults, young adults, small children, chapter book readers--a book for all the readers in your life!!

If any of these interest you and if you are able, please support your favorite independent bookstores when purchasing these and other books!

I will say that if you're interested in an Indigenous author who talks a lot of fun stuff, has more recs, and has an incredible book out it '23--check out @/AriTison on twitter!!

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

From New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones comes a novel that is equal parts psychological horror and cutting social commentary on identity politics and the American Indian experience. Fans of Jordan Peele and Tommy Orange will love this story as it follows the lives of four American Indian men and their families, all haunted by a disturbing, deadly event that took place in their youth. Years later, they find themselves tracked by an entity bent on revenge, totally helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

Rain is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Cassidy Rain Berghoff didn’t know that the night she decided to get a life would be the same night that her best friend would lose his. It’s been six months since Galen died, and up until now Rain has succeeded in shutting herself off from the world. But when controversy arises around Aunt Georgia’s Indian Camp in their mostly white midwestern community, Rain decides to face the outside world again—at least through the lens of her camera. As the new photographer for her town’s newspaper, Rain soon has to decide how involved she wants to become in Indian Camp. Does she want to keep a professional distance from her intertidal community? And, though she mourns, will she be able to embrace new friends and new beginnings?

Fire Keeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug. Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims. Now, as the deceptions—and deaths—keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

I Sang You Down from the Stars by Tasha Spillett-Sumner; Illustrated by Michaela Goade

As she waits for the arrival of her new baby, a mother-to-be gathers gifts to create a sacred bundle. A white feather, cedar and sage, a stone from the river . . . Each addition to the bundle will offer the new baby strength and connection to tradition, family, and community. As they grow together, mother and baby will each have gifts to offer each other. Tasha Spillett-Sumner and Michaela Goade, two Indigenous creators, bring beautiful words and luminous art together in a resonant celebration of the bond between mother and child.

As We Have Always Done by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson locates Indigenous political resurgence as a practice rooted in uniquely Indigenous theorizing, writing, organizing, and thinking. She makes clear that the goal of Indigenous resistance can no longer be cultural resurgence as a mechanism for inclusion in a multicultural mosaic, calling for unapologetic, place-based Indigenous alternatives to the destructive logics of the settler colonial state.

Murder on the Red River by Marcie R. Rendon

A murdered man in a field. The sheriff calls on Cash—an almost-twenty-something tough, smart Indian woman with special seeing powers. Cash and Sheriff Wheaton make for a strange partnership. He pulled her from her mother's wrecked car when she was three. He's kept an eye out for her ever since. It's a tough place to live—that part of the world where the Red River divides Minnesota and North Dakota.Cash navigated through foster homes, and at 13 was working farms. She's tough as nails—barely over five feet, jeans and jean jacket, smokes Marlboros, drinks Bud Longnecks. Makes her living driving truck. Playing pool on the side. Wheaton is a big lawman type. Scandinavian stock, but darker skin than most. Something else in there? Cash hasn't ever asked. He wants her to take hold of her life. Get into junior college. So there they are, staring at the dead Indian lying in the field. Soon Cash was dreaming the dead man's HUD house on the Red Lake Reservation, mother and kids waiting. She has that kind of knowing. That's the place to start looking. There's a long and dangerous way to go to find the men who killed him. Plus there's Jim, the married white guy. And Long Braids, the Indian guy headed for Minneapolis to join the American Indian Movement.

The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer by Traci Sorell; Illustrations by Natasha Donovan

Mary Golda Ross designed classified airplanes and spacecraft as Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s first female engineer. Find out how her passion for math and the Cherokee values she was raised with shaped her life and work. Cherokee author Traci Sorell and Métis illustrator Natasha Donovan trace Ross’s journey from being the only girl in a high school math class to becoming a teacher to pursuing an engineering degree, joining the top-secret Skunk Works division of Lockheed, and being a mentor for Native Americans and young women interested in engineering. In addition, the narrative highlights Cherokee values including education, working cooperatively, remaining humble, and helping ensure equal opportunity and education for all.

Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young

When Nathan goes to visit his grandma, Nali, at her mobile summer home on the Navajo reservation, he knows he’s in for a pretty uneventful summer, with no electricity or cell service. Still, he loves spending time with Nali and with his uncle Jet, though it’s clear when Jet arrives that he brings his problems with him. One night, while lost in the nearby desert, Nathan finds someone extraordinary: a Holy Being from the Navajo Creation Story—a Water Monster—in need of help. Now Nathan must summon all his courage to save his new friend. With the help of other Navajo Holy Beings, Nathan is determined to save the Water Monster, and to support Uncle Jet in healing from his own pain.

Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley; Illustrated by Tara Audibert

Hello/Boozhoo—meet Jo Jo Makoons! Jo Jo Makoons Azure is a spirited seven-year-old who moves through the world a little differently than anyone else on her Ojibwe reservation. It always seems like her mom, her kokum (grandma), and her teacher have a lot to learn—about how good Jo Jo is at cleaning up, what makes a good rhyme, and what it means to be friendly. Even though Jo Jo loves her #1 best friend Mimi (who is a cat), she’s worried that she needs to figure out how to make more friends. Because Fern, her best friend at school, may not want to be friends anymore…

Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s magnetic story collection breathes life into her Latina characters of indigenous ancestry and the land they inhabit in the American West. Against the remarkable backdrop of Denver, Colorado—a place that is as fierce as it is exquisite—these women navigate the land the way they navigate their lives: with caution, grace, and quiet force. In “Sugar Babies,” ancestry and heritage are hidden inside the earth but tend to rise during land disputes. “Any Further West” follows a sex worker and her daughter as they leave their ancestral home in southern Colorado only to find a foreign and hostile land in California. In “Tomi,” a woman leaves prison and finds herself in a gentrified city that is a shadow of the one she remembers from her childhood. And in the title story, “Sabrina & Corina,” a Denver family falls into a cycle of violence against women, coming together only through ritual. Sabrina & Corina is a moving narrative of unrelenting feminine power and an exploration of the universal experiences of abandonment, heritage, and an eternal sense of home.

Sorry for such a wide range of books, but I've been really excited about these titles and wanted to share them will y'all! Next week I'll try to do a specifically kidslit list.... maybe for Asian authors?!!

This should be a reminder that outside of (possible) cases of Indian religious scriptures, specialised eating (vegetarianism, veganism, etc) is a first world luxury many take for granted. As such, like your beliefs (whether in spiritual paths or group forms), it should be done for your own needs instead of for the groups because you’d be fulfilling your own needs, as opposed to any kind of peer pressure you may face (even you’re from the majority group). In my homelands, neither vegetarianism nor (especially) veganism would at all be easy outside the capital UB, especially during the winter months because that’s when the meat seasons predominate (in contrast to spring & summer being dairy leaning with very little meat).

If you do make the changes to your eating, let it be gradual so as not to shock your system & minimise any problems that may come up (learned that firsthand before). I support ye who do go through with it if ye do so for something other than for trends or other superficial reasons. Especially so if it’s for cost and/or health reasons, or if you’re saving the chosen ingredients for certain times.

Alright.

I was a vegetarian for 7 years, from the September after my 15th birthday to the October after my 22nd. I purposely and knowingly ate meat for the first time in 7 years last Friday.

Now, with that being said.

The vegan, vegetarian, and animal activist communities are BUILT on lies. They’re built on blatant lies, propaganda, misinformation, and faulty studies. A lot of these communities and groups are scarily cult-like, encouraging isolation and discouraging questioning.

Children like me are preyed on at young ages, when we’re most vulnerable and trying to figure out who we are and what we stand for, using scare tactics like slaughterhouse videos (many of which were staged) and edited photos of supposedly “tortured” livestock. 

We’re discouraged from doubting or questioning what we’re told, guilted for every rethinking our decision, and encouraged to join incredibly isolated groups of other vegans and vegetarians. A deep sense of guilt and self hate and disgust is instilled in us; logically, I know that there’s nothing wrong with eating meat. But it still terrifies me after years of telling myself I was disgusting for even craving meat.

People who started eating animal products for any reason are viciously attacked, often by former friends from the community. 

People with medical issues are told that they didn’t try hard enough and that they just needed to fix their diet. 

People with eating disorders are mocked, told that our experiences are wrong because obviously eating disorders should be fixed by being vegan or vegetarian. 

People who can’t afford that lifestyle anymore are told that they don’t know their own income and restrictions, that a vegan/vegetarian diet is affordable across the board and that if it isn’t, then they can survive off of things like rice, potatoes, bananas, and nothing else. 

People of color and non-white people who miss their cultural foods and food practices are viciously attacked with racist comments about how “tradition isn’t an excuse to be barbaric” and that “cultures that depend on killing animals to stay alive should be left to die”. We’re also compared to other non-white vegans and vegetarians, even attacked by vegans and vegetarians from our own cultures and communities just because our experiences and needs are different.

People who feel isolated by their diet face…  a lot of scary things tbh. The thing no one ever tells you about being vegan or vegetarian is how isolated it makes you from your friends and family and community. Most of us don’t have family with similar diets, so family events rarely have food that we can eat and it’s usually nothing filling. A lot of non-vegan and vegetarians don’t think to plan get-togethers and events with their friends’ diets in mind. A huge majority of restaurants and community events have no options for vegans and vegetarians. We end up missing out on so much, and when we get upset about it, other people in the community tell us that we’re better off, that our family and friends aren’t worth it, that something without vegan or vegetarian options isn’t worth going to anyway. We’re encouraged to isolate ourselves further from the “disgusting carnists” in our lives.

And people like me, who are just tired, are the worst in the eyes of militants. We’re the ones who could keep being vegetarian or vegan for years, possibly for the rest of our lives, but we just don’t want to anymore, for a variety of reasons. We’re deeply hated for our supposed lack of compassion and selfishness.

And then, when we start eating meat again, our states are taken advantage of! So much information from vegans about eating meat again depends on the idea that the initial reactions are because meat is terrible and evil. Over the last few days, I’ve been feeling nauseous and tired and I’ve been suffering from terrible mood swings and emotional instability. According to information from militants, that’s because meat is unhealthy and evil and I’ve completely lost the ability to process it. In reality, my body just needs time to adjust to a sudden and extreme diet change.

Over the last 7 years, I went from being a militant vegetarian who had plans to be vegan to a militant vegetarian who had decided against veganism to a vegetarian who was becoming more jaded about the propaganda and misinformation to a jaded vegetarian who was just tired of it all. Now I’m not a vegetarian at all and I don’t regret that.

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, do NOT depend on ARA groups for your information and opinions because I promise that when you start to dig into it, the vast majority of that information is going to be proven false. Do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

While I haven't heard of the last show here (not even from my editor), these all seem like good shows. Sometimes, adult animation really does live up to its name beyond crassness & am quite glad this is happening more outside of the 'western world' & my mother's home country (where it's long been done in seinen & jousei form).

adult animation appreciation post bc we've got some good shows lately

Bojack Horseman

a lot of us know it and love it, but for the ones who never got around to it, PLEASE watch it at some point in your life. it has so many good storylines centered around depression, addiction, sexism, repercussions of child abuse, and the daily struggles of living in this messed up world that we all know and can relate to. it'll punch you in the gut with some of the most unique storytelling you'll see in your life

Tuca & Bertie

created by the lead character designer of Bojack, this show may seem like a spinoff from the look but it isn't in the slightest. created and starring amazing women and letting women be funny in their own unique way that feels so genuine and following the story of these two crazy bird friends, I cannot tell you the emotional rollercoaster this one took me on. our mains struggle with anxiety and sexual harassment, with some great queer rep, and the stories are so fun and inventive that you can't help but have a blast

Final Space

I could talk about this show for DAYS, but I already have in this post so I won't go on a massive rant rn. it may look like a normal little scifi comedy show at the beginning, but this show'll blow you away with plot for days. if you want an action show that has consistent storylines, here ya go. it's so heartfelt, and it has stories revolving around coping with loss and loneliness by building new connections and new families, and it rips your heart out while leaving you shook over how great the animation and the soundtrack is

Castlevania

this one is insane. it is super gorey and violent with tons of swearing, but if you like that stuff you'll love this one. vampires and action with some stunning animation drags you in quickly, and the plotline is actually really good and you'll end up feeling for the characters so hard. their struggles are so investing and even if there's blood every second, it still manages to hook you quickly and wanna know what happens next. still haven't seen the new season yet, but I bet it's great

Primal

created by Genndy Tartakovsky, the legend behind Samurai Jack, so you already know this one is good. it's a short miniseries but whoo boy is it good. the animation is so nice, and this one is so unique. following the story of a caveman and a dinosaur becoming unlikely companions after loss, there is no dialogue. that makes it such a unique experience and it gets so emotional with some pure raw emotions that just crush you

The Midnight Gospel

the newest addition to the family, created by Pendleton War, the genius behind Adventure Time, this one messed me up in ways that I can't even put into words yet. it's an animated podcast with crazy trippy animation behind it and holy shit it is so unique. it takes time to process everything going on, but once in you get in the flow of it it hits you with emotions. following a guy who goes into a simulator to different worlds to interview people for his spacecast, expect for some great discussions of the struggles of hoping, coping with loss, and meditation. take your time with this one, it is so beautiful and funny

adult western animation is finally swinging up, and these are only some of the good ones. thought it would be good to advertise how not adult animation is ugly and just gross humor all the time, because people are finally telling stories that only adults can understand and relate to and feel, and I for one am absolutely here for it