Gila Remembers

Lyrics

Saturday night, Jan. 27, 2018.

I wrote a song and created a music video about the Gila (pronounced “Hee La”) River: Gila Remembers. Just finished last night.

Me being verbose-me, I wanted to explain my feelings about this little Gila Remembers song.  It has 3 parts.

First, just the river.  She is utterly beautiful. She doesn’t need us to be so. Her water is the heart of the complex ecosystem that thrives around her, a rich thread of life that evolved to live in harmony with her, her rhythms and cycles.  

The second part is about the Native peoples whose ancestors lived along the Gila’s banks before the Spanish, the Mexicans, and then the United States invaded their homelands.  Through attending the Gila River Festival, JT and I took a hike guided by a Diné Forest Ranger, and the Fort Sill Apache tribal historian, Michael Darrow. I did not know the history of the Fort Sill Apache at all before that walk. It was the story of a strong people who fearlessly defended their way of life and homeland. They were attacked by the Spanish, the Mexicans, and then United States. Michael made a "humph" sound when he was asked by a woman in our group if it was true Apache women could be warriors. The essence of his reply was that the people did what needed to be done. Men and women: warriors, hunters. Men and women: minding the kids, tending dinner… Michael was very gentle with the plants around us.  He knew them so well, and could often say their names in many ways: Genus species, Apache name, common name, human use, each like an old friend.  Walking with him for day opened my eyes to a dimension of the forest that usually was hidden from me.

After the Chiracahua Apache finally surrendered in 1886, they were taken from their homeland, shipped to prisons, first in Florida, then to Alabama, finally to Oklahoma, and they were all kept as prisoners of war, for 27 years. 27 years!? Their children were taken from their families. How did I not know their story? It is a story that should be remembered. American history 101 should honor Native peoples stories, the stories of people of color, immigrants stories, as we are all woven together in this nation. The human costs of the very violent, often heartbreaking, parts of our history should be understood so we can better understand their consequences and stand up now for peace and compassion. Here is a fine telling of a bit of the Apache story, worth a listen:

and more information:

https://fortsillapache-nsn.gov

Perhaps through recognizing wrongs of the past we can learn to better recognize when justice is calling out to us now, in our own moment. This moment. So remember Lozen, her humanity, her dignity. But also think of the courage of the water protectors at Standing Rock – they helped us all to remember that water is life, that the Earth is our home. Some of these brave people are facing trials and time in prison. So, today, remember Red Fawn Fallis, and Rattler (Michael Markus).  Its Red Dawn's time in court.  Hope and pray that her trial is fair. 

Water Protector Legal Press Release, Red Fawn Fallis

Denver Post 2018/01/19/ Red-Fawn-Fallis

Esquire: Still fighting at standing rock

Finally, the third part is about Aldo Leopold. He was a foundational thinker in terms of our modern understanding of ecology. My esteemed friend Jimmy Killingsworth encouraged me to read Aldo’s Sand County Almanac. So I did, and learned, among other things, about Aldo’s land ethic. Beautiful ideas! Much of what I grew up believing about the environment and land management, ideas I had just accepted as given, were notions first articulated by Aldo. He had the capacity to learn from the lands he lived in, and animals he lived among, as well as from great thinkers that came before him. He folded this all together with a great clarity into poetic and practical guidance for agriculture and land management, and for stewardship of the Earth. He spent much time in New Mexico, and we have the Aldo Leopold wilderness and the Gila wilderness as a physical part of his legacy; these are places one can contemplate his land ethic, revealed.

Also, if you're here, you likely know I’m not a native person, but I love Native American music.  I attended and loved witnessing some Montana pow-wows growing up, this followed by many decades of happy listening to Singing Wire on the radio, living near Pueblo people and hearing their music, Robert Mirabal concerts, all shaped my musical sensibility. (I’m thinking that this is likely obvious.) So this song was influenced by a mishmash of Native musical traditions, but also founded in my own family’s folk music traditions, and my sister Dorothy's wonderful singing, and a bit of the Irish  (though I'm not a bit of Irish, either, in my heritage, just my music). The beautiful deep frame drum sound in the song was the voice of a Taos pueblo drum. This song was created with a very sincere hope to honor the river and her history, and I hope I've not inadvertently offended anyone. Respect for long history of the Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache in Gila River country made it seem impossible for me to write this song without singing them into it, so there they are.  Their ancestors lived in harmony with the Gila and her mountains for generations, and some survived the unimaginable when they were forcibly taken away from their home; and their strength should be honored and their loss remembered.  

In the autumn of 2016, Fort Sill Apache dancers came to Silver City and danced the their Mountain Spirit dance in their homeland for the first time in 130 years. They welcomed the Gila River Festival folks to attend. It was wonderful! Their dance was mysterious, ancient, beautiful, and playful at times. After they danced, they invited everybody to join in for some social dancing. Giant circles, DRUMS!, spinning lines of people linking arms, facing forward, backward, forward, backward, a happy human geometry around a bonfire under the stars.  James and I were back and did this again in 2017.  Hoping for a 2018 repeat!

I also particularly want to thank: Lisa Carman, who enables me to write songs, and tolerates my singing very well; Sky Korber, for that fiddle, who frees me up to make music with his kindness and his cover; Peter Oviatt for his amazing banjo, his water music; and Ron Chee for allowing me to include his beautiful paintings in the video; Ron is a native artist, though not Apache, still they to particularly to echo some of the history. I love his work, deeply appreciate his letting me include it.

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It’s a critical time to be thinking and learning about the Gila, the NM legislature is in session, and there are two bills that could impact the future of the river being considered this month (Funds for non-diversion Gila River projects (HB127 and SB72)). 2019 is looming, an important year as New Mexico has a deadline for finalizing a plan regarding whether federal funding will be sought for diversions of the Gila River, or alternatively for water conservation and restoration projects. Our farmers could have more opportunities to implement state of the art techniques in water conservation.  I would like our beautiful state of New Mexico state to lead something powerful good rather that always being 49th or 50th. With water conservation, we have a head start, with our amazing Acequia system, shared by communities and flowing to our crops, and Albuquerque's incredible reductions in water use since the 1990s as inspiration. Lets build on this! The upper Gila could remain a wild river, with all of the ecological diversity that fosters. 

The issues are complex, and important in our state. Look up into our mountains; there is so little snow, it's January. Worried? I am. It’s our responsibility as citizens to think about the best way to go forward together, but the issues are complex.

You can read more in the links I included below. Also, I shared a link to the Gila Conservation Coalition, a great resource. They host an amazing festival in Silver City each year, a long weekend end of September, I highly recommend it if you want to learn the history, walk with people who know the botany and the birds, and get into some wild and beautiful country that will refresh your spirit.

Some “Gila diversion” links:

Gila Conservation Coalition

Times Opinion: Philip Connors, on the Gila

NM political report #GilaRiver 

Some rough approximation of the melody, I'm not very good at this.  I play it in open D.
The song was written though 2017, finished most of the recording at Palace Sudio, Santa Fe, Dec. 2017. (c) Bette Korber, Dec. 2017.

Putting the Public back into the New Mexico Public Education Department

I had an old op-ed piece submitted to the New Mexican on public education and science standards. It was printed today, Jan 8, 2017, several months after it was submitted. Better late than never. I was happy, if surprised, to see it:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/education/changing-the-way-n-m-s-ped-does-business/article_1695f49c-b31b-5c56-b5a6-c4764b4df8de.html 

Take 2: Here is the next one I wrote, submitted to (but not accepted by) my favorite newspaper, the High Country News. This piece moves on to subsequent education issues related to End of Course (EoC) testing content. I attended the Legislative EoC discussion to speak up for immunizations as part of Health class EoC testing. As it turned out, carving up US history was the main issue of the day. Unlike the science standards, we the people did not win the EoC testing battle. But I have some links included in the article, if you’re moved to write a letter to NM PED, welcome into the fray.

At the EoC hearing I was graced by good fortune. I got to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with luminous and luminary educators, Esther Kovari and Margo Batha. They just can’t help themselves, one learns by their proximity.  So it was a good day to learn, listen, and  march on.

bette

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Putting the Public back into the New Mexico Public Education Department

by Dr. Bette Korber

Dr. Korber works the fields of evolutionary biology and vaccine design

The New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) recently made a series of disturbing proposals towards limiting the scope of ideas and knowledge that public education would provide to the children of New Mexico. Their modus operandi has been the omission of important educational content, ostensibly to simplify the curriculum requirements. The nature of the omissions, however, seems politically motivated, all the more so because their decision-making process is secretive and opaque. This needs to change.

NMPED initially tampered with science standards. Rather than joining 18 other states in adopting rigorously developed national science standards, they modified these standards by striking wording on evolution, the age of the Earth, and human impact on climate change. As their nefarious intent became public, a wave of outrage swept New Mexico. A hearing was held on October 16^th. Hundreds gathered from across the state. 250 signed up to speak, although only 94 got their allotted 3 minutes before the day was through. People were reasoned and eloquent; clearly many hours had been spent finely honing each of those brief, impassioned talks. Every single speaker opposed NMPED’s corruption of the national science standards. Soon after, a second meeting was convened at the State Capitol by the bi-partisan Legislative Education Study Committee. No one from NMPED bothered to attend. A series of experts spoke, public comment was accepted, and New Mexicans again spoke in resounding unity for good science education. Under great public pressure, NMPED finally conceded, and adopted the complete unadulterated national science standards.  Viva New Mexico!

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the NMPED’s shenanigans. They next unveiled blueprints for statewide End-of-Course testing. New Mexicans were becoming familiar with a new verb: blacklining. It is not yet in Merriam-Webster, but as far as I can tell from usage, it means to literally draw a black line through an important truth, resulting in depriving students of an idea that would make their lives richer and help them become stronger, more thoughtful citizens. Topics blacklined in US history included dropping atomic bombs in Japan, Roe v. Wade, and Rosa Parks. Heath blacklining included Immunizations, nutrition, and a healthy diet.

So the Legislative Education Study Committee held another meeting at the Capitol, on Nov. 16^th, with End-of-Course testing blueprints on the agenda. Again, they invited and questioned experts, and provided an opportunity for public input. Over 60 citizens attended. When asked if they were there because that had issues with the blueprints, every single hand in the chamber shot up.

The Education Study Committee members were eloquent, and as a body they were not pleased with the PED’s blacklining.  Particularly eloquent was G. Andres Romero, Representative from Bernalillo County (D), himself a teacher; his vigilance brought this issue into wider public discussion. And also, Senator Patricia Roybal Caballera (D). She spoke with the kind of quiet power that rivets, summoning both tears and strength. She spoke of the people who had died and suffered prison during the civil rights movement, who changed our country for the better by their sacrifice, who created that part of our shared history through their courage, and who created the legacy through which this history can and must be taught. She spoke about how the blacklines were through her own history.

One brave soul from the NMPED attended, Matt Montaño. To his credit, he came knowing he would be facing stiff opposition. He defended their process, explaining that a wide net was cast to solicit teacher input. But ultimately only 5 teachers led the revision of the US history blueprints, and how they were selected remained unclear. All were highly qualified teachers, but all 5 hailed from conservative Republican counties south of Albuquerque, and as far as one could tell, guessing from names and photos, all were white. The rich diversity of our state was not represented.  Mr. Montaño was asked if there were no qualified teachers of color, or teachers from Albuquerque, Taos, Santa Fe, or Los Alamos, who could have been part of the team? He didn’t have an answer. Back in November, Mr. Montaño said the blueprints could still be changed; however, as of this writing (Jan. 8, 2018), the heavy black lines remain in place:

http://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Health-Blueprint.pdf

http://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/US-History-Blueprint1.pdf

There is something seriously wrong with the way the NMPED conducts business. They are paid by the taxpayers to provide a crucial public service, we entrust them with our children’s education; what could be more important? Their process regarding changes which influence curriculum should be transparent and open. Instead they work behind closed doors promoting what appears to be a political and corporate agenda. The Public Education Secretary designate, Christopher Ruszkowski, appointed by Republican Governor Susana Martinez, has been conspicuously absent from all three public discussion forums/hearings on curriculum that I’ve attended. He and the NMPED claim to have consulted many (anonymous) stakeholders on their first misguided attempt to impose their own science standards; what they came up with was so bad it became a national embarrassment for New Mexico.  If appropriate professionals were indeed consulted on science standards, there was no public documentation of their credentials, perspectives, or potential conflicts-of-interest.  

The upside of these events is that people of New Mexico have been amazing and relentless in defense of education, although our story is still unfolding. Rosa Parks is a great inspiration for not only women of color, but for all of us; she is part of our shared heritage. Some of her strength and dignity accompanied each New Mexican to the microphone as they straightened their shoulders, and spoke out in defense of the gift of knowledge we owe to our children.  Our democracy depends on us getting this right. 2018 is here, a year for voting in change, for remembering who we are.

If anyone wants to write to the PED, here is where to do it: http://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/contact-us/