Dark Angels, Moniack Mhor 2015
1.
Sherman Alexie | Sonnet, with Bird
1. Seventeen months after I moved off the reservation, and on the second plane ride of my life, I traveled to London to promote my first internationally published book. 2. A Native American in England! I imagined the last Indian in England was Maria Tall Chief, the Osage ballerina who was once married to Balanchine. An Indian married to Balanchine! 3. My publishers put me in a quaint little hotel near the Tate Gallery. I didn’t go into the Tate. Back then I was afraid of paintings of and by white men. I think I’m still afraid of paintings of and by white men. 4. This was long before I had a cell phone, so I stopped at pay phones to call my wife. I miss the intensity of a conversation measured by a dwindling stack of quarters. 5. No quarters in England, though and I don’t remember what the equivalent British coin was called. 6. As with every other country I’ve visited, nobody thought I was Indian. This made me lonely. 7. Lonely enough to cry in my hotel bed one night as I kept thinking, “I am the only Indian in this country right now. I’m the only Indian within a five-thousand-mile circle.” 8. But I wasn’t the only Indian; I wasn’t even the only Spokane Indian. 9. On the payphone, my mother told me that a childhood friend from the reservation was working at a London pub. So I wrote down the address and took a taxi driven by one of those cabdrivers with extrasensory memory. 10. When I entered the pub, I sat in a corner and waited for my friend to discover me. When he saw me he leapt over the bar and hugged me. “I thought I was the only Indian in England,” he said. 11. His name was Aaron and he died last spring. I’d rushed to see him in his last moments, but he passed before I could reach him. Only minutes gone, his skin was still warm. I held his hand, kissed his forehead, and said, “England.” 12. “England” in our tribal language, now means, “Aren’t we a miracle?” and “Goodbye.” 13. In my strange little hotel near the Tate, I had to wear my suit coat to eat breakfast in the lobby restaurant. Every morning I ordered eggs and toast. Everywhere in the world, bread is bread, but my eggs were impossibly small. “What bird is this?” I asked the waiter. “That would be quail,” he said. On the first morning, I could not eat the quail eggs. On the second morning, I only took a taste. On the third day, I ate two and ordered two more. 14. A gathering of quail is called a bevy. A gathering of Indians is called a tribe. When quails speak, they call it a song. When Indians sing, the air is heavy with grief. When quails grieve, they lie down next to their dead. When Indians die, the quail speaks.
– from What I’ve Stolen, What I’ve Earned, by Sherman Alexie. {Hanging Loose Press}
Postscript: This sonnet form was introduced as a writing exercise at Moniack Mhor just recently to the Dark Angels collective. Proved deeply powerful. Try it yourself.
Bonus: Watch a Sherman Alexie interview with Bill Moyers
Read more about Sherman here >>
2.
The Big Empty | Torridon, Scottish Highlands
On the trail: Allt a’ Bhealaich
On the trail: Allt a’ Bhealaich
On the trail: Allt a’ Bhealaich
On the trail: Allt a’ Bhealaich
Torridon is epic. Majestic. Incomparable. And has lodged itself in me forever. You should come.
From Steve.carter.com:
The hills of Torridon are the oldest in Europe. Rock visible in the Torridon area is between 2600 and 3000 million years old – that predates life itself. Volcanic outpourings, massive climate changes, movement of the earth’s crust, erosion, forestation, and finally the influence of mankind have all played their part in the scene that we view today. The landscape is in a permanent state of change and not, as we sometimes think, here forever.
The layer of ‘Torridonian Sandstone’ which settled on the ancient rock and now makes up the bulk of the mountains that surround the area is actually rising at present, and has risen by about 70 metres since the end of the Ice Age when sea levels separated Britain from mainland Europe.
3.
Chanting in your own voice | Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
In the storytelling circle on summer solstice, the Dark Angels did chant.
Herbie Hancock talks about chanting:
One night on a certain tour in mid-1972 we played a club in Seattle, Washington. It was a Friday night and the club was packed. We were all exhausted because we had only gotten a couple hours of sleep because we had been hanging out all night before. But we could feel the energy in the air—these people were really into this far out kind of music. They were ready for it. I asked the band to play “Toys,” a song that I’d never called to play, which starts with a bass solo—acoustic bass, which is the softest instrument in the band by its very nature. Un-amplified bass. Read the whole thing here >>
The Voice
From Soka Gakkai International…on chanting and voice: Many people associate Buddhist religious practice with silent, interior meditation. But the practice of vocalizing, reciting and chanting various teachings has played a vitally important role in the history of Buddhism. To voice one’s innermost conviction and vow in prayer is an intensely public act. The emphasis on audible chanting, as opposed to silent meditation, reflects a core stance of Nichiren’s Buddhism. Rather than simply exploring and withdrawing into the private realms of the inner life, religious practice is focused on bringing forth our highest inner potential in relation to and for the benefit of our fellow humans and human society. Nichiren often quotes the words of an earlier Buddhist philosopher that “The voice does the Buddha’s work.”
Using our voices to express and convey the state of our inner life–whether that be one of joy, gratitude, despair or determination–is central to our identity as humans. It is likely that the quintessentially human act of “prayer” grew from such semi-instinctual pleas, cries and thanks–directed toward the inscrutable forces of nature and prior to any consciously formulated system of doctrine or belief. Likewise, it is through song, the voice, that human beings have given primary expression to their innermost feelings of–and desires for–harmony with all life. The voice serves as a vital link between ourselves, our fellow humans and a universe that is itself vibrant with the rhythms of life and death.
3a.
Pictures from Moniack Mhor
Moniack Mhor is Scotland’s Creative Writing Center. It’s an afternoon walk from Loch Ness. Your correspondent just returned from an inspiring weekend there steeped in words and song, plans and stories, food, fellowship, and drink. Lovely, lovely hosts make all things possible. Favorite moment among many: A midnight solstice kitchen frenzy as Elen fired up bacon rolls for 13.
4.
Writing Exercise Heaven | A Periodic Table of Storytelling 
Story trope heaven. Have you heard of ‘Idiot Hero’ or, ‘Getting Crap Past the Radar’? How about ‘Sealed Evil in a Can?’ Hat tip to Dr. Moff Betts. Article below from Fast Company.
From Fast Company:
The Periodic Table of Tropes might be a better name for this interactive visualization: Although each box on Harris’s Periodic Table contains one storytelling element coupled with an atomic number, you probably won’t recognize many of these storytelling elements from creative writing class. Rather, the Periodic Table of Storytelling is filled with elements such as “Idiot Hero,” “Getting Crap Past The Radar,” and “Xanatos Gambit,” spread across groups that range from archetypes to metatropes. You should definitely visit Fast Company’s website to read more >>
5.
Pocket | Save Your Stuff
Brilliant and easy way to capture all the good stuff you find online. Especially useful if you’re travelling and don’t always have internet. Just save to Pocket and access later — offline or online.
If you love Todoist, you’ll love Pocket. In an earlier life Pocket was Read it Later,
which I could never quite get my head around. They rebranded it as Pocket, which even I now completely get. The power of branding! Pocket is here >>
From Pocket’s About page:
Pocket was founded in 2007 by Nate Weiner to help people save interesting articles, videos and more from the web for later enjoyment. Once saved to Pocket, the list of content is visible on any device — phone, tablet or computer. It can be viewed while waiting in line, on the couch, during commutes or travel — even offline.
The world’s leading save-for-later service currently has more than 17 million registered users and is integrated into more than 1500 apps including Flipboard, Twitter and Zite. It is available for major devices and platforms including iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac, Kindle Fire, Kobo, Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera and Windows.
THANK YOU
The River Tay, Scotland
Paris, France
Pears, Seatte, Wa
Lake Ozette, Olympic Peninsula Wa
Sailboat, Puget Sound
Space Needle, Seattle, Wa
The bass player
Cappuccino
Dream
