WannaskaWriter

  This is the first channel wide moving water I've seen since the spring of 2023 --and it's in February!       On maps, the creek (or ‘crick' depending on your dialect) is spelled ‘Mickinock’ for the Anishinaabe man who lived at the Indian camp at Ross, but had seasonal camps around Wannaska and other places. The Euro-American immigrants who homesteaded here in Roseau County called him ‘Chief,’ but he may have been just a spokesperson who knew enough English to get things done peacefully and simultaneously meet the needs of his people; the word, ‘chief' was often used in derision of any Indigenous male adult.      I spell Mikinaak the Ojibwe way, in a gesture of respect; what the Dakota, who were here before the Anishinaabeg/Chippewa, called this place, this body of moving water I don’t know; just as I don’t know who came before them exactly.  I was told that one of Mikinaak's camps were here on our place in Palmville Township. Its locat...

    Landfill Fodder I found several old books like this in a tumbledown house on a farm that  I was invited to walk before the land was cleared of trees, antique farm equipment, and two old houses. The place proved to provide a treasure trove of stories over the years. Many of the books were moldy; the pages stuck together until I dried them in the sun several days. I carefully pulled the pages apart that I could; these were just a sampling, poor as they are.   I think "Jack and Alice" preceded "Dick and Jane." This page reads 'ORAL EXERCISES.' "How many persons do you see in this picture?" "Is the boy's name Jack?" "Is the girl's name Alice?" "Jack is Alice's brother." "What relation is Alice to Jack?" "Where is Alice sitting? What does she hold in her lap? What is she doing?Is Jack sitting or standing? What is he doing? How does he do it? What other way is there of spinning a t...