American ME.

Photographer Vern Jensen captured Aliya Mathiesen 

at Pasadena City Hall, March 2016, rejoicing!

"… White American youth are enjoying their illusion of freedom, and their vindication from past misdeeds done by their people. As recently as the other month, when a young Black man was found hung in a trailer park in Virginia, yesterday became today. The lynchings have not stopped, and the cultural vibe of white people's right to take life to get other people's stuff is as vibrant and enforced as ever before. Their defensive structures are stronger under Trump's administration, and whether liberal, or conservative, the benefits extend to both kind of white people. 

It is an old story. It is the fabric of American life. What Black folks can do is the same, and slightly different from what the Red Nations need to do to do more than survive. The other ethnic groups know how to protect their individuality, their culture's dignity, and we all have access to how we gave up so much to recover from the ravages of white conquest, and not lose more in modern times. 

What did our ancestors have that we need today? 

That is all." 

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Feb. 01, 2019

Aunt Betty. She was the slave of Mr. Walker, at Faunsdale, and was the cook for Rev. Mr. Harrison, Rector of St. Michael’s. The picture, taken in Aunt Betty’s home, shows a typical cabin... - Joan Johnson 

Wisdom of an Elder, a Wise Woman

" I grew with Elders who administered Spirit Medicine to those suffering with these malais. Spiritual hygiene I call it ... keeping the Heart clean of toxic debris and being kind to ourselves in this great Spirit journey as Source Beings." - Mereana Taki 11/20/2015 


"Children of this realm are not property or belongings ...nor are they your private slaves because they came through your body ...they have come with their own Spiritual Sovereignty ...their own Soul path ...be it upon your own head if you transgress that which existence has bestowed upon itself as Love pure and unconditional." - Mereana Taki May 19, 2014  

Mereana Taki in August 2015. 

Makutu ~ Sorcery/Occult/Lower Realm ritual and fetish ... all done in the name of Greed for power ... it's not clean or healthy or whole ... those elements in Life which grow in the shadows bent and misshapen * and what is the purpose of this energy in the larger Cosmic Why or is it simply without meaning and beyond the comprehension of other than the Soul? Positive and Negative energy fields run into each other and overlap with supreme accuracy. Do they belong to Humanity to fix and unfix? What happens when Humans have unravelled the fabric of existence, can they repair it? Howsoever it is begun is how it will end itself. That is Cosmic Law. What is begun in Makutu is itself subject to and restored to Makutu. - Mereana Taki August 25, 2015

CONNECTING INTANGIBLES for children



a beautiful woman's portrait of light.

Sydney Gurewitz Clemens said, "Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else."

Art also teaches children to merge; a concept essential to group dynamics that require listening, compromise, and understanding. The inability to merge adversely affects the way people drive. They are less inclind to understand their relationship to other things that seem inonocuous, but aren't. The inability to merge is a matter of life and death. Art teaches this art effortlessly. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/26/16




A biker chick's gentle spirit.

Hard to find: our First Lady

Strange how little comes from a woman whose voice is squelched.


No big deal: Melania Trump comforts student at event

Associated Press
April 9, 2018 


WASHINGTON — Melania Trump says spilled water — even on-camera in a famous house — is no big deal. 

It happened Monday in the Blue Room of the White House, which had been set up like a classroom. Mrs. Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos asked a group of 13 middle school students to write on a board how they were feeling. Toward the end, one student who had just written that he feels "energized," accidentally knocked a drinking glass off a table. He froze, but the first lady put a comforting hand on his back.

"No problem," she said. "Don't worry, it's just a water, okay?"

Mrs. Trump said she had gathered the children at the White House to hear about their thoughts and challenges, to "help children everywhere do their best."

She began the session by writing on the board her own feelings: "Excited."

The children, two of whom had been home schooled according to the White House, wrote that they felt, "respected," ''grateful" and "nervous."

The oval-shaped Blue Room can seem formidable, with its view of the South Lawn in one direction, the White House's North-facing front door in the other and the portraits of presidents on the walls.

The White House said children were ages 10 to 13. The Trumps' son, Barron, is 12. 

First Lady Melania Trump sits with 13 student at the White House listening to them. April 9, 2018. photo by Joshua Roberts for REUTERS.

50 years after Dr. King was killed we got. . .

Millennials. I don't call them that. Naming a group by a time period takes their humanity away. If anything they are the Unawares, and unable to figure out where they stand in relationship to anything around them near or far. Without childhoods of substance in the traditional, or ancient way of developing a child's spirit as their spirit settles into their bodies is the beginning of creating undeveloped adults. The complexity of what I just said, in person, leaves these children outside of understanding; so I as an Elder have to couch many things because these young people's lack of balance tells the story of their lack of substance needed to become human. -

There are remedies, but American culture is into quick fixes based in entertainment. It would be foolish in this medium to share, or teach what I know.  Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/03/18

Deep Spiritual Practice.

Little girl in Bagan, Myanmar by Hawah Kasat. February 2018.

Check out her hand positions and #gesture. Try the same right now with your right palm open and fingers perpendicular to your chest... line it up over your heart... and your left hand facing down toward the ground. It’s helpful to do this while you are standing. It’s actually known as a #Mudra in #Yoga. This little one is an #Ancestor. Her face is protected by #traditional and #Ancient #Thanaka which is a yellowish-white paste made from the wood of special #trees that are bountiful in #Myanmar. I’ve been seeing this everywhere on #children, adults, and both women and men. It is a distinctive feature of the #culture of this amazing #people. You’ll see so many people with it applied to the face. From what I’ve learned it has been used for thousands of years. Apart from the tribal beauty it’s known have many medicinal benefits and provides protection from #sunburn! - Hawah Kasat (Feb. 13, 2018)