Coyote in the Age of Obama

See my blog of the same name in BLOGS above. Chime in if you're taking a lead in the Leave No Child Inside movement!

There’s a scimitar edge mowing into our cultural awareness, a revolving dawn chorus of common will to “Leave No Child Inside,” “Be Outside,” “Go Outside,” “Go Outside and Play,” “Get Outside. It’s Our Nature.” There’s my personal favorite: “Mud Up!” We have an edgy leader in our president. We have a Catastrophe to benefit from. We have Coyote at the helm! This Discussion group is a place for folks who hold Coyote’s Guide in their hand to network, talk, coalesce, and exert a sphere of influence.

Are you bristling with excitement to get something started? Please post your stories.

Tags: child, coyote, education, inside, leave, movement, no, obama

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Permalink Reply by Anna Bradley on February 17, 2009 at 9:45am: About two years ago my partner and I started volunteering for a local nature organization to lead kids on nature walks. Every Fall and Spring we would have a glorious two month spurt of weekly walks and mentoring. Though once a week is hardly enough to feed the soul, afterwards my heart would soar with the experience and possibility of re-wilding these children. And I would think to myself "I know I can help more".

Last Fall I was just about to start my final walk of the season. I had a group of eight fourth graders who were full of positive energy. Their energy level was a great relief as the last few weeks I had groups that I felt I just hadn't gotten through to.

I always start my walks going around the circle giving thanks and an opportunity to say what he/she would like to see or learn about. This particular walk had a theme - a Kalapuya Walk - which was about the Native people who lived in the Willamette Valley. On these walks I like to give the kids a glimpse of the life the Kalapuya once had, so I bring tanned hides, stone tools, hand drill etc. Since it was Fall I especially wanted to talk about food harvesting. The first plant we passed wasn't a native one but I explained that it was really useful for bee stings, wounds, and the leaves and seeds were edible as well. The kids were so excited to learn about it!

One of the games that I learned from the Coyote's Guide is Eagle Eye. I never see kids open up more when playing this game. This group of kids was no exception. My favorite outcome is seeing a child, previously afraid to get down in the grass, completely blossom with excitement about a bug she saw - or seeing the heron off in the distance while hiding.

As we moved on, instead of the group getting tired or complaining of hunger, the kids got more excited. We covered at least five plants - some native with red berries and thorns, or non-native - don't mistake that one with one of the most poisonous plants in North America! We came across a half-way made shelter and talked about shelter building. I couldn't pry them away from building a new one. One child proclaimed that when he got home he was going to make one in his backyard and sleep in it every night.

We even had deep conversations about harvesting plants and animals and how they really did believe killing plants was no different than killing animals. By the time we were headed back, I would point out a plant we talked about and they called out: "That one you can chew up and put on a cut!" "That one is wild carrot!" "You can make tea from the needles!" My heart soared.

After that walk my partner and I knew it was time to restart the traditional skills community we had attempted to start a year before. Over a year ago we were barely able to get one person to show up, but last October we tried again and ended up with 11 folks including kids to learn about shelter building. Since then ReWild Eugene has exploded. We are a community dedicated to the vision of serving as caretakers of our environment and ensuring the prosperity of future generations through the sharing of ecological knowledge and traditional living skills.

Eventually we want to begin an awarness-based mentoring program targeted to public schools in order to reach the kids who need it most - and with the support, vision, and mentoring of our friend Rees Maxwell, a nature-based school.

With President Obama's focus on Leave No Kid Inside we hope that this will be the right time to change the collective consciousness of our society to a more naturally connected, positive, sustainable life-style that will be passed on for generations to come.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nate Summers, finder of Paths, friend of bears, cloud-healer, 8-Shields Dancer, kin to wolverines on February 18, 2009 at 10:58am: Thanks so much for sharing, Anna!

It is so amazing when you start using hunter-gatherer tools, cultures, and awareness with kids and adults how deeply engaged they become so quickly. Congrats ony ReWild Eugene and good luck starting a nature-based school.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by deerwoman on February 21, 2009 at 8:41am: The Obama campaign and now, administration, makes regular use of the internet to keep in touch with constituents.They ask for your stories and thoughts. My sense is that they read these stories and work with them. If you care to be heard in this way, you can go to Pres. Obama's website and look for the contact page and make your needs and wishes known about the importance of refocusing our culture on native and natural ways- the ways we were meant to live as human beings. Clearly, having strayed by following the various paths of our own genius, born of a kind of 'madness', our culture, worldwide, has tipped and the cohesiveness needs some serious mending. Margaret Meade said 'Without nature, no society'. In other words, we cannot form a healthy society until we return to our nature-based heritage.

Blessings to all,
deerwoman; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by deerwoman on February 22, 2009 at 12:57pm: Here is the link to Pres. Obama's contact page:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rob Garman on February 22, 2009 at 6:19pm: I feel an onus to spearhead the movement in my area. I used the Action Plan from C&NN site. It gave me some ideas and direction.

I began a website, called Nature Connections, for this very purpose. It is still being built and not officially announced to the public. I belong to some local organizations that seem very interested and supportive. But I really need input from this community to make it effective. You are the folks that inspired me the most. Coyote's Guide has shaped my world-view in many ways. Please visit and mentor me if you have ideas.

Right now, all I can do is my small part. My Grand kids are under-wing. I'm also planning a series of Nature Awareness hikes for the summer through my hiking club. The club has a good relationship with the local media.

There are also a few kids in my neighborhood that seem to run in a pack and cause trouble. I don't see bad kids. I see opportunities! In the past, I would have just agreed with the gossip and dismissed their lives.

Connecting kids to nature gets addictive when I see the impact it makes on them. Small Children, tweenies, teens, adults -- They all seem to have the same reactions. Positive would be an understatement.

We have to "strike while the iron is hot"!; ▶ Reply to This