Lessons in whiteness
Even well-meaning opinions by voices presuming to be immune from the racist elements of their whiteness cannot avoid the histories embedded in their language, attitudes, and perspectives.
Morning on the Riverwalk along the San Antonio River
I greet the day with delight in the cool air of dawn. I am happily surprised to find a sliver of solitude along the San Antonio riverwalk.
Are national parks really America’s best idea?
The “best idea” of creating national parks involved eradicating the previous meanings and uses of these places that had sustained indigenous cultures for centuries.
Colonizing tourists
Claims that tourism involves colonization, terrorism, dispossession, commodification are valid, but these are reasons to take tourists more seriously and study them more carefully.
Mesa Wisdom of the Hopi People
Though a product of colonial violence, Frank Waters’ Book of the Hopi offers an alternate vision and a critique of our ultimately self-destructive assumptions, values, and modes of living.
Border walls have a long history in America
Border walls are rooted in a colonial way of thinking about territory that has been fundamental to American claims to land. Even George Washington suggested that we needed one.
Dreaming of Christopher Columbus with an Ache in Your Heart
Christopher Columbus has become more symbol than historical person. As both inspiration and tragedy he remains part of our national tale.
Painted Ghosts on a Rock Wall
The ancestors painted their ghosts on this rock wall, marching through a dream beneath the twin suns fleeing the robed one who came to crucify an older way of believing.
Detourist in a Holy Land
On a sojourn to the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, author Tom Fate discovers the detourist’s novel ways of seeing, being, and relating.