<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">What Would An Indigenous Grandmother Do?</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div>
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<td valign="middle" style="width: 243.0px" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I don’t want to change</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">my thoughts.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I want to change</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">the way I think.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I want to think</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">in images, in stories</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">spun as threads</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">arising long and slow</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">out of culture and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">out of the Grandmother Spider</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">of indigenous mind.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I want to learn</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to live in the old ways,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">the ways of spirit.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I want to see</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">the signs and the</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">deep, precise wisdom</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">of the true ones –</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">ancestors, elders, any and all</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">trying to inform us that</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">there is a way -</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">there is a way</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to heal,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">there is a way</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to see,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">there is a way</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to change direction,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">there is a way</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to give the children</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">what they need</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to be safe</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to be listening</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to be healthy</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to be whole.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I, too,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">want to be whole</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">all the way into</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">death and, yes,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I’ll say it,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">beyond death,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">beyond it but not beyond</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">the cycle of being -</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">the ring, the hoop of</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">being together.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">This is the place where</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">Love remains, where</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">Love sustains, where</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">Love comes</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">into and through</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">all things.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">Love is spirit</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">flowing into the life</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">of the world.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">Knowing this</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">I am left with a question</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">to pose to myself:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">What would an</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 18px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);" class="">indigenous grandmother do?</div>
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</table><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> - Maya Spector</div></body></html>