INTERESTING TIMES

Just finished this book by Annette McGivney.  I ran across it because of a review in the Boatman's Quarterly, and got it from the local library.  It tells three parallel stories which all intersect: that of a young Japanese woman who was murdered, a young Havasupai man who killed her, and the author's story.  What brings the three stories together, aside from the murder, is a history of trauma.  Annette gives a rich and sympathetic review of the horrific history of indigenous tribes in the US and lands at the end on generational trauma which impacts the modern culture of all of our tribes.  She is respectful of Japanese culture and the drivers that brought the young woman into contact with the landscapes and people's of North America.  And she is honest in telling her own tale, superficially at first then deeper as her memories return of her own childhood abuse.  This is a worthwhile read for all those who enjoy broad cultural perspectives and those wishing to grasp the origins of violence in our culture today, and specifically that of the tribes.

Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon
by Tom Myers and Michael Ghiglieri

This book logs all the mistakes you can make at the Grand Canyon.  There's an interview with the authors here.  There have been some changes since the first edition.  There are more environmental deaths, climbing deaths down in the canyon, and suicides than when the book was written. There are fewer deaths overall and fewer falls from the top of the canyon. Perhaps the park has improved safety and access to cliff tops to cause this change.

Q: What are common risk factors for death at the Canyon?

A: "Men, we have a problem," Ghiglieri said to an audience at NAU's Cline Library this winter, displaying a graphic with a skull and crossbones.

Being male, and young, is a tremendous risk factor, he and Myers found.

Of 55 who have accidentally fallen from the rim of the canyon, 39 were male. Eight of those guys were hopping from one rock to another or posing for pictures, including a 38-year-old father from Texas pretending to fall to scare his daughter, who then really did fall 400 feet to his death.

So is taking unknown shortcuts, which sometimes lead to cliffs.

Going solo is a risk factor in deaths from falls, climbing (anticipated or unplanned) and hiking.

Arrogance, impatience or ignorance also sometimes play a part.

SOURCE
http://azdailysun.com/news/local/canyon-deaths-and-counting/article_ba588a05-e816-55be-87f6-80f15b76f744.html

In Beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.
With Beauty may I walk.
With Beauty before me, may I walk.
With Beauty behind me, may I walk.
With Beauty above me, may I walk.
With Beauty below me, may I walk.
With Beauty all around me, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of Beauty,
lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of Beauty,
living again, may I walk.
It is finished in Beauty.
It is finished in Beauty.

(From the Blessing Way Ceremony of the Navajo)

--photo by Suzanne

SOURCE
photographer: George Breed
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OLrOBJLJVs0/TRPGQXY8HOI/AAAAAAAAFSw/HqS-qik6-Kw/s400/san%2Bfrancisco%2Bpeaks%2B005.jpg

She probably had even less fun than the guides who took her down the Colorado on a motor rig.
FYI: "Left Brain" is her husband.

It's already been hard pulling myself together to leave Flag. I want to stay longer but my temporary truck registration expires later this week so I must go. Tomorrow I head for Utah.

So. I didn't think I'd get this sucked into Flagstaff. Been running around visiting and hiking and shadowing Dr Welch, MD down in Sedona. Haven't even managed to spend a night in every guest room offered. It's kind of nice. Feeling really tired, though, in between all the activity. Perhaps I should lay around more and read another book.

Finished reading The Fifth Agreement (Ruiz) and really enjoyed it. It is so nice to read something that takes human health and sanity beyond dogma. I still highly recommend The Four Agreements to all humans. Wonderful book that brings me up a little higher every time I read it. Now I'm back to reading Dr Mate's book Encounters with the Hungry Ghost, about addiction. Great book.

I guess I won't be posting much, yet again. It's time to cook grits and eggs for breakfast.