What could have happened?

"I fought hard. But your guns were well aimed. The bullets flew like birds in the air, and whizzed by our ears like the wind through the trees in the winter. My warriors fell around me…. The sun rose dim on us in the morning, and at night it sunk in a dark cloud, and looked like a ball of fire. That was the last sun that shone on Black Hawk….He is now a prisoner to the white men….He has done nothing for which an Indian ought to be ashamed. He has fought for his countrymen, the squaws and papooses, against white men, who came year after year, to cheat them and take away their lands. You know the cause of our making war. It is known to all white men. They ought to be ashamed of it. Indians are not deceitful. The white men speak bad of the Indian and look at him spitefully. But the Indian does not tell lies. Indians do not steal."

This is the surrender speech made by Chief Black Hawk of the Sac and Fox Indians of Illinois after his defeat in the Black Hawk War and his people's subsequent removal by white troops. per the policy of President Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, 1832.

Why does the emotion in this passage strike such a stark contrast with the greed of white men in rampantly taking land for themselves across the North American continent throughout the early history of America? Why is it so obvious who was right and who was wrong? Why is these injustices never thought of? Why have we not done more to repent and express remorse for these egregious acts? What have we been doing these last one hundred seventy-six years to make up for our mistakes?

This past week the new Prime Minister of Australia, Kevid Rudd, made a public apology to the Aboriginal people of the continent for all the criminal acts and assimilation policies dealt upon them by the government during most of the 20th century (forcibly relocating "Stolen Generation" Aboriginal children to white families up until the 1970s!). Has any U.S. president done anything like this?

Another question: Could we have lived in harmony? If white men had been more respectful and peace-loving and sharing, could there have been enough to go around for everyone, Indian and white and black alike? I’d like to find out. Is such a utopia possible? Logistically, I wonder if whites could have settled next to Indians and worked together to create a new, peaceful society. Would there have been enough land and food to ensure happiness? Let’s try to erase history. Let’s go back and fix it. Let’s look for the perfect world.

Goodbye to a faithful friend...

Here's the lowdown on the threat of cancer-causing toxins leaching into your drinking water from your Nalgene bottle (which has caused major Canadian retailer Mountain Equipment Co-op or MEC to pull them off their shelves in December 2007, according to Yahoo! News on Dec. 23, 2007). A harmful chemical called bisphenol-A (BPA) was found to leach into bottle contents, not just in old, worn bottles or in bottles treated with harsh detergents as initially found in a 1997 Case Western Reserve University study, but also in new bottles at room temperature, according to a 2003 University of Missouri study. BPA is found to an imbalance in cells' genetic material, potentially leading to cancer, miscarriage, and birth defects. A Canadian group called Environment Defence tested a sample of Canadians for toxic chemicals and found that every single person had bisphenol A in his or her blood. (Which means I must be screwed).

So here is what to look out for: plastics marked with recycling symbol #7 (not all #7 plastics are harmful, but there's no way to tell difference so it is suggested to avoid them all). See this paragraph from an article in Non-Toxic Times, a publication of the non-toxic product company Seventh Generation, for specifics on plastic types (which I found pretty interesting, we use so much of this stuff every day, and how often do you pay attention to the little number in the recycling symbol on the bottom?):

Unfortunately, polycarbonate plastic bottles and containers are identified by the plastic recycling symbol #7, which is used for a wide variety of plastics and plastic mixtures that fall into the "Other" category. Unless this #7 symbol is accompanied by the letters "PC", there's no sure way to tell if the container in question is made from polycarbonate or some other kind. To be safe, environmental advocates suggest simply avoiding #7 plastics altogether and opting for safer choices for food and beverage storage. These better options include polypropylene (#5 PP), high density polyethylene (#2 HDPE), and low density polyethylene (#4 LDPE). No evidence has been found to suggest that these plastics leach toxic materials. Scientists advise against the repeated use of plastic water bottles made from plastic type #1 PETE as there is evidence to suggest that such bottles leach a compound known as DEHA, which is classified by the EPA as a possible human carcinogen, as well as acetaldehyde, which has received the same designation from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. (http://leas.ca/On-the-Trail-of-Water-Bottle-Toxins.htm)

Some friends were warning me about this, so I investigated and low and behold, I do believe them. Now I use a sleek-looking stainless steel guy. He's pretty cool. Sorry Nalgene, you have been a loyal, dependable companion to me for a couple years now. I will miss you!

let's.

let's make this a post that doesn't have to matter much. all that matters is the post itself, that it is here, regardless of whether it informs the world or the world informs it or anything along those lines. it's just a post about me sitting on the edge of my green bed with my legs crossed and my white puffy marshmallow-like slippers on my feet. with my dangling foot twitching or wiggling or whatever the most apt verb for that motion is. i am scrolling through the posts of the past week on saidthegramophone.com, my new music ditty-finder, with very cutesie whimsical unself-conscious posts kind of like this one. yes i guess i'm imitating them a bit. but i love it! that is how the voice in my head sounds. i'm playing "conquering kids" by throw me the statue, a band from seattle. note to self- theyre at the middle east corner on april 8. i'm sad that i'm missing the magnetic fields at somerville theatre on valentines day, so i will go to this show in compensation for that. this group sounds like belle and sebastian and magnetic fields. ok now this post is getting a little too topical. the next thing i should talk about is laundry. how i should do it. maybe the twitching foot and light, poppy music will help. let's be sure to turn up that thermostat to 67 first, though. cuz it's cold here.