Culture
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness
May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
https://youtu.be/bCZki3u-Ugs?si=wnDJd6XxTWN0ON76
Jalisco and the Refugee Crisis
Jalisco state in Mexico rings in the ears with mariachi music and brightly dressed dancers twirling, while onlookers toast glasses of tequila. Both this iconic music and the even more iconic drink fermented and distilled from the blue agave are said to have been born there. Nat King Cole and Elvis sang the praises of Guadalajara, Jalisco's capital, and the beaches of Puerto Vallarata will undoubtedly tickle the memory circuits of many folks from Central Wisconsin. Colorful and inspiring, Jalisco is also home to one of Mexico's brutal drug cartels and ...
A Need for Empathy
What is empathy? It is the capacity to “walk in another’s shoes.” To walk in another’s shoes means to understand, feel, and identify as an other. It is different from compassion, which is when one in a superior position feels sorry for a less fortunate other.
Empathy is a two-way street. The feeling of understanding for the unfortunate must go the other way as well. It involves understanding as well as being understood, and trust and respect that go both ways. I must understand who I am in my shoes, before I can walk in those of another. Empathy is a feeling of ...
Fifty Five Earth Days Later
2025 marks the fifty fifth Earth Day. The local chapter of the Citizen's Climate Lobby and our NAOMI friends invite you to celebrate another Beloved Community Earth Day in Wausau at Westview Terrace Park (1501 Bissell St) at 10 AM on Saturday, April 26th.
Wisconsin and Earth Day go back a long way together. Truth be told, without Wisconsin Earth Day might not even exist. Horrified by a disastrous oil spill off the coast of California in 1969, our own Senator Gaylord Nelson conceived and set in motion the gears that made Earth Day 1970 a phenomenon to be ...
Costs of Foolishness
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” Bertrand Russell (1872 –1970), British philosopher
The fools and fanatics currently in control of our country have no understanding of what government is about, how it operates, or the importance it has for people and society. But they are “certain of themselves” and their anti-government ideology. Many people are going to be hurt, and many will literally die from their ignorant, mean spirited, shortsighted actions.
John Adams ...
Immigration Lies
President Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, said, “If you are in the country illegally, you are on the table. We have millions of people with background investigations, paying a fee, standing in line to come into this country the right way,” giving the impression that people entering this country “the right way” would be safe.
At best he was misleading the American public.
Last week, 600,000 Venezuelan refugees with proper background checks and vetting by the Department of Immigration (DPI) had their Temporary Protective Status (TPS) classification cancelled. ...
Indinawemaaganidog – We are ALL Related
Many Native American tribes have a word meaning "We are ALL related". For the Ojibwe people that word is Indinawemaaganidog. It represents a concept foreign to English speakers in its all-encompassing inclusivity. Not only are all people part of a single family, but so is all of life on this fine planet, including rocks and mountains, rivers and lakes. Knowingly, living in a world full of family is rich with implications. We respect family, we honor and love our family. We are grateful for gifts given, wanting to give something in return. Most importantly, ...
A Little Poem for You
Starving child we’d once have fed
Lay her out with other dead
Once our flag meant “safe” and “free”
Now it means autocracy.
Diseases we could one day cure
Research ended, no one’s sure
Our secrets open, now exposed
To terrorists and other foes
Humble people, work on farms
Shackled, sent to unknown harms
Billions more for him and cronies
Starts to seem as if they’re phonies
U.S. IMMIGRATION
Under the U.S.Immigration and Nationality Act (USINA) of 1980 a refugee is a [person] who, generally, has experienced past persecution or has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Individuals who met this definition were considered for refugee status. That definition also applied to those who were already in the United States. Since the passage of the Refugee Act the United States has admitted more than 3.1 million refugees.
Prior to USINA refugee admissions ...