Posted on 07/06/2005 3:53:12 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
ARCATA, Calif. — Jason Wilson was just 21 when a Lakota elder gave him a spirit name.
Wilson, she said, was destined to carry a heavy weight. He would need the medicine of the name she offered, she told him, "to carry that weight in a good way, a strong way and as far as it needs to be carried."
Three years later, on a September day in 1998, the bearded redhead from Missouri lay in a fetal curl on the floor of a Humboldt County forest, rocking and sobbing in the duff. Next to him was 24-year-old David Nathan "Gypsy" Chain, his head cracked open by the blow of a tree felled by an enraged logger.
Chain had inspired Wilson to disrupt old-growth logging on private land. It was Wilson's first act of civil disobedience. Now, Chain was dead.
The legacy of that death, Wilson soon decided, was the weight the Lakota elder had warned of. He vowed to carry it with honor. From that day on, "Shunka" would be his forest name, joining the list of adopted monikers that give Humboldt's logging protesters a blend of anonymity and fairy tale folly.
Shunka's long struggle to redress Chain's death would depend, more than anything, on a 700-year-old tree the protesters had named Aradia.
Aradia towered on a ridge up the hill from where Chain fell, its crown jutting above the other treetops. Activists had named the tree for the daughter of the Greek goddess Diana, dispatched to the physical plane to teach long-forgotten spiritual magic.
The fight to save the tree would become inextricably linked with the one to build meaning from loss. Scarred by bear scratches and burn marks, Aradia also would serve as a symbol of the broader battle waged against Pacific Lumber Co.,.......
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Parents mourn children killed during protests
New tagline. I couldn't help myself.
Lest anyone think religion is not at the core of environmentalism.
Too bad that logger didn't score a two fer.
They love the tree so much let them get a collection and bid for the land.
Coincidently, that also was the sound that the tree made when it cracked his friend's head open.
I'd be sad if any of my kids died of a case of stupidity, but I'd be too embarassed to talk to the news about it!
The three s's that will save our country
Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up
"his head cracked open by the blow of a tree felled by an enraged logger."
I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack, but I do know to stay out of the way of falling trees.
Diddy doo wop oh oh oh oh oh
Diddy doo wop
Shunka shunka shunka shunka shunka shunka shunka shunka shunka shunka shunka at the top
Well, it starts in my head and it ends when I stop
Shunka faw down wid a gweat big plop
Diddy doo wop
I hear the voices
Reminds me of ferret.
I happened to drive through Arcata several years ago on the Fourth of July. There on the courthouse lawn stood perhaps two dozen liberals all dressed in black and all trying their best to look meaningful. They had no message other than being dressed in black and having that weird expression on their faces. But that's how it is with liberals.
Thank you for giving me my first laugh this morning :-D
Reminds me of Rush's song "In a Yugo."
What's with that weird expression anyway? Do they teach that somewhere? Maybe they have "how to" posters or something.
A man who calls himself "Willow"
But his friends all know him as "Pussy"
Society of Environmental Journalists - SEJ members envision an informed society through excellence in environmental journalism -
Poor ferret. He was fun to read and too smart to stand under falling trees. I don't think he would taunt an enraged logger carrying one of those huge saws. Come to think of it, I have never seen an enraged faller either. Wonder how they can keep their rage and still cut through.
When the Lakota elder gave him his spirit name . . . Pizzahead.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.