It is a really difficult, grief- and anger-filled time for communities of color in Maine and around the world as we witness and are affected by mass-violence on multiple scales. Given all that, it was an immense gift to spend this weekend fishing, sharing, and dreaming in our Radical Nourishment space.
In the Parable of the Sower, Lauren Olamina learns that to survive, we need land, water, and each other. We had all three this weekend, and a whole lot of love for it all. As someone said in our discussion, white supremacy tricks us into thinking we are separate from the land and water around us, or that it’s better off untouched by humans – but we can and must find our right relationship with nature to sustain health ecosystems. For some of us, this is knowledge that’s been carried through generations of survivors; for others, it’s skills that our parents fought so we wouldn’t have to learn, but can learn by choice; and for others, it’s something we’ve deeply craved but been severed from for most of our lives. When we gather like this, we can learn from one another and support each other’s healing, reclaim these traditions together.
Thank you so much Tony for sharing your encyclopedic knowledge of fishing with us, you were an incredible teacher and this wouldn’t have happened without you!
This space felt like a utopia, but should just be what life is like. We can’t wait until the next time we come together. Look out for future workshops on fire-building, foraging, and maybe even metal working!
