Holidays Without Ned

You read about the holidays being a difficult time for people and yes, I've experienced the stress of self-imposed consumerism ("What am I going to buy for Aunt so and so to show that I love her?"), but now I know the bottomless pit of sorrow that people face having to deck the halls and cook turkeys and all that crap when they are feeling, well, like crap!

Maybe I'm obsessing about it a little too much! For the November holidays, Mom and Dad will be driving up to Nancy's in Smith River near Crescent City. Vicki is not sure what she will do and neither are we. It would be good to be all together, but at the same time, nothing is the same and maybe it is ok to just mark that difference by doing something completely different. 

After selling Uhuru Pies (you can buy yours today), maybe I'll go to the sunrise ceremony at Alcatraz. The American Indian Movement occupied the abandoned remains of Alcatraz prison for 18 months as a public statement against the U.S. policy towards indigenous peoples. Every year they have this "Unthanksgiving" sunrise ceremony. I think it is really a prayer (that in my view should go with activism) for a better world with the peoples who took care of these lands. Anyone want to go? It's on Thursday, November 27th really, really early.