Balancing in quicksand

As a writer, I hope for my work to be meaningful. There are not a lot of Pulitzer Prizes given away to journalists of community newspapers. (Although I would be extremely honored.) So sometimes, I feel like I am treading water in a sea of quicksand. No matter what I do, I just get sucked into a vortex moving from one story to another.

I honestly try to give every story 100% of my attention and sometimes, it seems to my editor, they get more. When I am truly inspired, I dive right in to the story and begin to feel what my subject may be feeling. Because to me, that is how I try to make you, the reader, feel something, too. I take something away from every interview and every story. I learn something new all the time. I try to put in parts of the story or certain insights that other people would skip. And if what I write ends up meaning something to someone, or someone learns something or is inspired, I feel I have done a good job for the day.

I have felt a sort of quiet honor a couple of times when I have walked into a business or an establishment and saw something I had written framed and hanging on the wall.

I have felt a stronger, yet still quiet honor when I have gone to some one's house and they have saved an article I previously wrote, or a photo I had taken, and hung it on the wall in the garage or stuck it to their refrigerator.

I am always humbled when someone thanks me by a note, or card or personally, for something I have written when it is accompanied by heartfelt words of "Thank you." Hugs are even better.

Those things make me feel like something I did actually meant something, to at least one person.

I wrote a profile article about Denny Johnson, a local Garrison man, a few months ago. During the interview, he told me his life's story, like only Denny could. While his voice spoke of interesting tales, his face and his eyes held his emotion, escaping for brief moments scattered throughout our interview.

Denny passed a way a couple of weeks ago. His funeral was last Monday. Denny was a presence in Garrison that will be greatly missed. I was surprised to tears, honored and humbled when during the service Pastor Chris said, "The family asked me to read this. . . ." and he began reading from the article I had written, several months prior.

My words sounded different when read allowed from the pulpit of a church. I wiped away tears that I tried hard to keep inside. Some tears were for Denny. Admittedly, some tears were for me. I was proud that what I had written meant something to one man and his family.

I don't want to sound like I feel like everything I write is worthy of such honor. I know that to not be true. But every once in a while, something comes along to remind me of why I chose to write.

"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say." ~Anaïs Nin

My friend Mark, called me a day or two after the funeral, just to remind me of that very thought. He made me cry again. But this time, I had found some sort of equilibrium.

And I haven't worked out all of the bugs yet but I am learning to balance in the quicksand.

Rest in peace, Denny Johnson. And thank you.

Peace.

Welcome spring!

I wore my sandals for the first time in Minnesota yesterday — actually outside without socks. I even went bare-foot for a little while. It was nice to feel grass between my toes. Of course, we were a little south of the Brainerd Lakes area. We were spending quality time with my family at my brother's house in Jordan. They have said good-bye to the snow and all of the lakes south of Princeton, it seems, are free from ice.

It is only a matter of time before we can say that up here.

I love holidays. I love holidays for the meaning of the day whether it is Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays or the 4th of July. But also, those are times when families gather. At least my family. We try to make a point of getting together as much as we can. It seems lately, we need a holiday to do so.

We were missing a few members of our family this year due to work and other family events, but the majority of us were together. And we had a wonderful time. We have not been together since Christmas. That is just wrong. But understandable.

Thanks to Louie and Jeanne for hosting our Easter celebration. I hope those last two eggs are found before too long. :-)

It was so nice to be able to spend so much time outside without snow. It is so nice to have warmer weather returning. It might even make it up north here. When it does, I will welcome spring!

Peace.

Presumption of innocence. Something to ponder?

There are many issues historical and current in American government with which I simply do not agree. On the other hand, there are many that I do believe are fundamental to our survival. Our law makers turn issues into laws, which are made a part of our statutes. These laws are created, and then often times amended, bended, molded, modified, interpreted, reconstructed and often times distorted to no resemblance of the the original. It is all part of the system.

There are "good laws" and there are "stupid" laws — laws that make sense to the average person and laws that do not seem to make any sense to anyone and the principals of the judicial system are even more confusing.

But there is one issue that makes sense to me. One that is fundamental to all human rights. That is the presumption of innocence.

According to our United States legal system, those who are accused of a crime are innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof lies on the prosecution, which must collect and present enough evidence to convince a judge and jury (who are ordered by law to consider only the facts, testimony and evidence) that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If there is any doubt, the accused must be acquitted.

The presumption of innocence has been quite popular in the 20th century. The United Nations incorporated the principal in 1948 into the Declaration of Human Rights. In 1953 the principal was added to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

On April 3, 2009 the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Band Assembly group consisting of chief executive Marge Anderson, secretary treasurer Herb Weyaus, district 1 rep. Sandra Blake, district 2 rep. Marvin Bruneau and district 3 rep., Harry Davis each signed their names to a letter to all Band members stating the complete opposite of this very basic fundamental human right.

The letter states: "The former Chief Executive has still not proven her innocence in tribal court..."

In other words, the government of the Mille Lacs Band believes that people are guilty until they prove they are innocent.

When I asked the solicitor general Rjay Brunkow about that, I said it sounded backwards to me. He did not agree with the word backwards. So I changed it to opposite. The result was the same. He told me in no uncertain terms, he believed that is the law. That when the Band created their statutes, it was originally innocent until proven guilty. But that changed sometime in the 80s or 90s he said, to be more in lines with tradition.

His explanation sounded more backwards to me than the original thought, so I did some research.

My sources tell me that at one point it was tradition for the accused to be guilty until they proved they were innocent. The accused had to basically run a gauntlet and if they survived, they were found innocent.

That tradition was changed and deleted completely in the 90s because it was such an extraordinary violation of the Indian Civil Rights Act.

Current Mille Lacs Band Statutes annotated Title I, Civil Rights Code, Section 12, states in no uncertain terms:

"In any criminal legal proceeding each person shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty."

Read it for yourself at: http://www.millelacsojibwe.org/statutes.asp

So, here it is in everyday language: everyone should be considered innocent until it can be proved that you are guilty. If you are accused of a crime, you should always have the right to defend yourself. Nobody has the right to condemn you and punish you for something you have not done.

I just wonder which interpretation is opposite? The April 3 letter to the Band, or the Mille Lacs Band statutes?

Now that is something to ponder.

Peace.

I am back

Well, I am back from New Orleans. It is apparent that I again, thought I would have all kinds of time to write while down south, obviously I was mistaken. There are only so many hours in the day. We worked hard towards our goal of saving the world, one house at a time. And evenings were busy experiencing down home Cajun everything.

While I have so much to tell you all, for right now I will be brief. The most important lesson I learned on this trip is summed up in a quote. Author unknown to me: "Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain."

The people of New Orleans are survivors, but they certainly know how to dance in the rain. The last half of the week we worked in the upper 9th ward -- an area hit hard by flooding and most people are not back in their homes. Those who are living in their homes, are doing so because it is their home. It is their neighborhood. It is their life.

As far as neighborhoods go, this is one that we were warned not to keep valuables in the vehicle, lock the doors and don't go wandering off by ourselves. While we did lock the doors, I never felt threatened by anyone. I didn't wander too far away from our job sight, because we were busy working, but did take every opportunity I could to talk to the neighbors and other local workers.

I just love the people of New Orleans. They are so alive! They are happy. Which brings to mind what my mom has told me since I was a little girl. The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; but they make the best of what they have.

Life goes on in New Orleans and the people continue to dance in the rain.

More to follow with a recap. For now I say...

Peace, baby.