Sunday, October 11, 2009

A Tree Falls in Queens

Posted by Mickey Z on 10/11 at 05:09 PM
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  1. I think that may have been felt the most beautiful, impassioned piece you’ve written for Planet Green so far, Mickey.

    Posted by Charles from Jersey City  on  10/11  at  10:52 PM

  2. The street where I grew up backed onto the site of a Victorian era railway line that has long since been disused. The tracks had been pulled up and the whole length of it turned into a countryside public walk called the Wirral Way.

    At one point near my house it went across the top of a steep sided embankment that was covered in trees and bushes. Near the top was an amazing tree that branched out from a point only three or four feet off the ground and went up high and wide. The possibilities for climbing were amazing and between the ages of 12-18 we visited it again and again. Ever as late teens it was one of our favourite hangouts on an evening or lazy weekend.

    When I was 18 it was 1990 and there was a full range of video games available. It just so happened that outdoor stuff was part of our upbringing.

    Anyway, one year after I’d gone to college in a far off city, I came back to find the tree had been ‘trimmed’. All the lower branches were off and the upper ones were shortened to stumps.

    The tree was no where a property, off the path, and surround by low lying thorny bushes etc. It was no danger to anyone in any state.

    Once I couldn’t interact with that tree anymore, it was like part of the area had died. I had a deep seated relationship with the land around there.

    If they dug up the paving and you couldn’t drive a car down my road anymore I wouldn’t give a sh*t.

    Capture sez ‘return’ one day we may not be able to.

    Posted by Andy from shanghai  on  10/12  at  02:16 AM

  3. Thanks, Charles and Andy.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  10/12  at  11:10 AM

  4. Columbus Day: An Indigenous Perspective
    http://tinyurl.com/yl5alug

    Posted by rickg from columbus, ohio  on  10/12  at  11:23 AM

  5. Nice link, rickg

    Sorry about all the typos in my first comment, everyone.

    Posted by Andy from shanghai  on  10/12  at  11:43 AM

  6. Great tree article, MZ.

    Cooking The Ocean Dept: http://tinyurl.com/yj4slv8

    Crimes Against Humanity Dept: Growing up in the area of the Pequot Slaughter, the propaganda was laid on thick and it wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I learned more about the killing. That is, genocide by Puritans...not “refugees seeking religious freedom,” “inevitable tensions over land,” or “the course of history.” Happy Mounds of Bodies Day, America.

    Posted by Zen Prole from Pac NW  on  10/12  at  12:26 PM

  7. Hi Charles, Andy, Zen, Mickey, rickg, and all…

    Today is “Time to Pay Reparations to Native Americans Day”... A few years ago, my best hi school friend was dying from pancreatic cancer. He was refused any medical help because when he got sick he lost his job and health insurance. The Indian tribe in Connecticut came forward and paid for all of his pain medication until he died.

    Great article there Mickey. Your timing is perfect for it up here. Today is the peak of leaf peeper season. They arrive from all around the world by the bus loads. They stand in the middle of the roads with their cameras. They are amused by the covered bridges, BUT mostly they are loving the trees.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  10/12  at  12:48 PM

  8. People love trees but don’t fight to end clear cutting. They love animals but allow laboratories and slaughterhouses to thrive. They love the beach but think nothing about ocean floor trawling.

    Humans...can’t live with ‘em, can’t (well, you know the rest).

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  10/12  at  03:44 PM

  9. Great comments from all.  It’s very heartening to be in the company of folks who don’t celebrate what Zen calls, “Happy Mounds of Bodies Day.” I like to take time on (Canada’s) “Thanksgiving” to remember that I am indeed living in an occupied country.  I think I need to do that more, perhaps daily.  This summer a Chilcotin friend of ours dropped by, and during the course of our conversation I felt disgusted at myself for ever having partaken in a colonial election.  Why breathe life into a system that has systematically displaced or annihilated the people who lived here sustainably for thousands of years?  I don’t typically vote, but why even contemplate it at all if the SYSTEM is the problem? 

    Note: I also have major issues with the fact that, at present, I derive my living from the public school system. 

    Cold as fuck in the Cariboo.  The temperature plummeted to -9C (record low, I think, for this area) and we’ve been scrambling to get our carrots, potatoes, and celeriac out of the ground.

    Rock on

    Posted by Mike from Cariboo, BC  on  10/12  at  10:57 PM

  10. Thanks, everyone. Captcha sez: together.

    FYI: A new post is up. See you there.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  10/13  at  04:29 AM

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