Not since Dan Quayle has either of the two major political parties put forth a candidate so easily dismissed as Sarah Palin. Her speech at the RNC last night was vitriolic, condescending, and cynical. Her appeal as an “every gal” may gain some traction with the far right wing, evangelical, redneck base of the current Republican Party, but the claim that she is somehow more qualified than Barack Obama to run my country because she has “executive experience” is absurd.

Wasilla, AK is a town of roughly 9,000 people according to 2007 Census estimates. Palin was mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, before running for, and winning, the Governor’s office in 2006.

Over and over the Republicans have heralded Palin as “the leader of the largest nation in the union.” Fair enough. From a geographical perspective, Alaska is the largest state in the union even though the majority of that landmass is composed of National Parks and Glaciers (and if Ms. Palin has her way all of that land will soon be on the chopping block for the relatively small amounts of oil contained underneath it. So much for dealing with our environmental crisis!).

Alaska is geographical the nation’s largest state. By population, however, Alaska ranks 47th in terms of population . That’s right, among the states that are more populated than Alaska: Rhode Island, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, and 41 other states of union, as well as the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

In fact, there are 16 US Cities more populated than Alaska and 85 counties with a greater population.

Presidential Nominee Barack Obama has served as a community organizer on Chicago’s southside (Chicago, Population 2,836,658), he was a state Senator in the State of Illinois from 1997-2004 (while Palin was the mayor of Wasilla), and he has served as an IL State Senator from 2004-2008 (Illinois, Population 12,852,548).

So, Ms. Palin, you can attack Barack for his views but when it comes to experience it would be in your best interest to let that sleeping dog lie.

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This weekend the husband and I went camping for the first time in Oregon. We drove about 60 miles southeast of Portland to the McNeil Campground in Mt. Hood National Park (you can see some awesome pictures from our weekend here ).

After a day of hiking we came back to the campsite, read until dark, cooked some delicious food on the fire, and sat by the campfire as night fell, talking until the firewood was used up and it was time to go to sleep under the stars.

I was mesmerized, this weekend, by the campfire. In this enclosed space, outside in the middle of the grand Oregon woods at night, it was easy to forget about the rest of the world. All of the debts and bills and deadlines and obligations just slipped away, and I was left with only the fire before me and my husband.

Our conversation this weekend was easy and deeply personal. Effortlessly, we were separated from the relentless nagging, complaining, and petty, loving bickering that too often finds its way into our daily life. But the connection I felt this weekend was more acute than simple escapism.

I believe that what I came to this weekend was a tactile, rather than a merely intellectual, understanding of how our ancestors lived and just how profoundly detached our modern world has become from the natural cycles of our world. For six years I lived in a city where you could barely see the sky at night; I had not realized how profoundly this disconnection had affected me.

In sitting by the campfire I reconnected to a sensation that is very old, very basic, and deeply revelatory. I have a couple of small things to share with you that have helped me to understand this feeling. The first is a short video that I made of the campfire. Watch how the flames emerge from the wood, how it flickers, and how it consumes with a devastating energy that is essential to our survival.

Second, I have been intrigued since moving here by the Native American mythology of this land. The tribes that lived in this region had a deep connection to the land, and it seems that every mountain, lake, river, and gorge here has a creation myth attached to it. Below is one of these myths, shared by several of the indigenous tribes of the area. Unlike our Western myths, which are hierachical and rigid in their construction, these Native American myths focus on community and collaboration with the natural world. In other words, man is not the overlord of nature but merely a small part of the natural cycle.

HOW COYOTE BROUGHT FIRE TO THE PEOPLE
from INDIAN LEGEND OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST by Ella E. Clark

…[This myth] was known all the way from the Karok along the Klamath River in northern California to the Plateau tribes of northern Washington.

At the beginning of the world, people had no fire. The only fire anywhere was on the top of a high mountain, guarded by evil sprits, or skookums. The skookums would not give any of their fire to the animal people. They were afraid that if people should become comfortable, they might become powerful—as powerful as their spirits.

So the people had no heat in their lodges, and they had to eat their salmon raw. When Coyote came among them, he found them cold and miserable.

“Coyotes, they begged, “bring us fire from the mountain, or we will die from the cold.”

“I will see what I can do for you,” Coyote promised.

When the new sun came up, Coyote began the long climb to the snow-covered top of the mountain. There he found that three old, wrinkled skookums watched the fire all day and all night, one at a time. While one guarded, the others stayed in a lodge near by. When it became another’s turn to watch, the ones at the fire would come to the door and say, “Sister, sister, get up and guard the fire.”

At dawn, when the air was chilly, the new guard was slow in coming from the lodge. “This is my time to steal a brand of the fire,” Coyote said to himself. But he knew that he would be chased by the three skookums. They were old, but they were very swift runners. How could he get away from them?

Though Coyote was very wise, he could not think of a good plan. So he decided to ask his three sisters who lived in his stomach in the form of huckleberries. There were very wise. They could tell him what to do.

But at first his sisters in the form of huckleberries would not help him. “If we tell you,” they said to Coyote, “you will say that you knew that yourself.”

Coyote remembered that his sisters did not like hail. So he looked up into the sky and called out, “Hail! Hail! Fall down from the sky.”

His sisters were afraid and cried, “Stop! Stop! Don’t bring the hail. Don’t bring the hail. We will tell you whatever you need to know.”

Then his three sisters told him how he could get a brand of fire from the three skookums and how he could bring it down the mountain to the people.

When they had finished talking, Coyote said, “Yes, my sisters. That is what I thought. That was my plan all the time.”

When Coyote had come down from the skookums’ fire, he called all the animals together, just as his sisters had directed. He told each animal—Cougar and Fox and Squirrel and others—to take a certain place along the mountainside. Each place was in a line between the people’s lodges and the fire guarded by the skookums.

Then he climbed the mountain again and waited for the sun to come up. The skookum guarding the fire saw him, but she thought him just an ordinary animal skulking around the lodge.

At dawn, Coyote saw the skookum leave the fire and heard her call, “Sister, sister, get up and guard the fire.”

As she went inside the lodge, Coyote sprang forth and seized a burning brand form the fire. Down across the snowfields he ran. In an instant the three skookums were following him, showering ice and snow upon him as they ran. He leaped across the huge cracks in the ice, but soon he could hear the skookums behind him. Their hot breath scorched the fur on his flanks. One of them seized the tip of his tail in her claw, and it turned black. Ever since then, coyotes’ tails have been tipped with black.

Panting and hot, Coyote reached the tree line and sank to the ground, tired and out of breath. There Cougar jumped from his hiding place behind some little fir trees. He seized the burning brand and ran down through the scrubby trees and the rocks. When he came to the taller trees, Cougar passed the fire to Fox. Fox ran with it until he came to the thick underbrush.

Then Squirrel seized the hot brand and leaped from tree to tree. The fire was still so hot that it burned a black spot on the back of Squirrel’s neck and made his tail curl up. You can see the black spot and the curled tail on squirrels even today. The skookums, still chasing the fire, hoped to catch Squirrel at the edge of the forest.

But under the last tree, Antelope was waiting to run with the brand across the meadow. Antelope was the fastest of all animals. One after another, the animals carried the fire. All hoped the skookums would soon be tired out.

At last, when only a coal was left, it was given to squatty little Frog. Squatty little Frog swallowed the hot coal and hopped away as fast as he could hop. The youngest skookum, though she was very tired, was sure she could catch Frog. She seized his tail, and held tight. But Frog did not stop. He made the biggest jump he had ever made. And he left his tail behind him in the skookum’s claws. Ever since, frogs have had no tails.

Still Frog did not stop. He made a long, deep dive into a river and came up on the other side. But the skookum leaped across. A second time she caught up with Frog. He was too tired to jump again. To save the fire, he spat it out of his mouth on Wood, and Wood swallowed it. The other two skookums joined their sister. All three stood by, helpless, not knowing how to take the fire away from Wood. Slowly they went back to their lodge on top of the mountain.

Then Coyote came to the place where the fire was, and the people came close, too. Coyote was very wise. He knew how to bring fire out of Wood. He showed the people how to rub two dry sticks together until sparks came. He showed them how to use the sparks to make chips and pine needles burn. And then he showed them how to make a bigger fire from the burning chips and pine needles.

Ever after that, the people knew how to use fire. With fire they cooked their food, and with fire they heated their homes.

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Our first weekend in Portland, Brandon and I hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls just outside of the city in the Columbia River Valley. Multnomah Falls is a gorgeous drop, the second largest year-round water fall in the United States.

At the top of the falls, we hiked back a ways from the other tourists and found a quiet little creek and some rocks where we could sit and read, write, and snap photos.

This little video is a meditation compiled from the pictures we took that day. It isn’t profound, but it’s my first attempt at such a project. The background music is I Ghost 1 by Nine Inch Nails.

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