The COLORS They Move

Art by Steve Smith
October 2, 2012

A New Day

Art by Steve Smith
Nov. 16, 2012

There is a phrase commonly used that upon short examination is misleading. You use it. Most people do.  I understand why. It is the way the word 'technology' is used. All of a sudden (within the last decade) the word technology, and the evidence of technology and how it is thought of substitutes its vastness to simply refer to cellular phones, and IPADS, and such. The word usage has taken on a life force of its own. As an adult it either pains me or annoys me hearing children restricting language because of the narrow focus they are lead to believe is the totality of what technology encompasses. Men and women have been developing technologies since the earliest days of our arrival upon the Earth. The spiritual, scientific, pragmatic and practical technologies were dreamt and designed to answer questions and ease physical labor, or extend one's outreach beyond the narrow scope of the seen. In the 20th century the technology developed in the kitchen alone is staggering in its magnitude and to date has not stopped.

Technologies begin as an expansive dream, merge into ideas, and become the creative and often hard work of making manifest an idea from the mist of the intangible, but possible into the machines that work for us, or into the way of facilitating communication, which has been the drive of mankind for the length of our time on this planet. So, what is technology? It is the mechanisms that make our lives easier, our hands freer with the hope of giving us more time to meditate, explore, study and apply our knowledge. So much of our technologies took leisure from the hands of the wealthy, and gave to the poor the luxury of free time the wealthy believed was theirs alone. With such a gift it is often disappointing how free time and freed hands are today bound by a technology designed to offer some freedom to explore the other planes of our existence.  - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11.7.13

Raise a child wrong and at some point they will find a way to tell their parents to fuck off.
- dawn wolf, keeper of stories
Art by Steve Smith

A Passamaquoddy Story

How Partridge Built the Birds' Canoes

a Passamaquoddy story 

IN ancient days Partridge was the canoe-builder for the other birds. And after he had finished all the canoes, he called the birds together and each got into its bark and paddled off. 

Oh, it was a great sight! First of all came the Eagle, in his big shell, paddling with the ends of his wings. Then came the Owl dipping his wings in the water, like the Eagle. Then the Crane, the Bluebird, the Robin, the Blackbird, and the Snipe went sailing proudly after, uttering shrill cries or whistling and singing. And last of all came the tiny Hummingbird in a very small canoe; and for him good Partridge had made a pretty little paddle. 

And the Fish-Hawk, who lives on the wing, skimmed over their heads, crying with amazement, as he saw the proud little fleet of canoes put out to sea. 

"Why, O Partridge," cried the Fish-Hawk, "have you made no canoe for yourself?" 

But Partridge gave no answer, only looked mysterious, and drummed; and the noise of his drumming sounded like an Indian at work on a canoe. 

Then the birds sailed back to land, and all cried out, "Why, O Partridge, have you made no canoe for yourself?" 

But Partridge shook his head, and said that when he built a canoe for himself, it should be a wonder such as no bird's eye had ever beheld. 

This went on for some time, until at last every bird knew that Partridge was making a wonderful canoe for himself. 

Now Partridge thought, "If a boat with two ends sails two ways, why, then, a boat, that is round, will sail every way." So he built a canoe like a nest, perfectly round. And when it was finished, he called together all the birds to watch him put out to sea. And as they looked at the round canoe, they all cried out: "What a wonderful boat! We were not wise enough to think of such a thing!" 

Then Partridge, swelling with pride, stepped into the canoe, and dipped his paddle. But the boat made no headway at all, only spun around and around. And the harder he worked, dipping his paddle, first on one side and then on the other, the faster spun the canoe. 

And when the birds saw what was happening, they fell to laughing, and mocking Partridge. And he left his round canoe, and, flying inland, hid himself for very shame under the low bushes. 

And to this day he flies close to the ground, and hides under leaves and bushes. And the noise of his drumming sounds far and near like an Indian making a canoe. 

The Red Indian Fairy Book: For the Children's Own Reading and for Story-Tellers, by Frances Jenkins Olcott, with illustrations by Frederick Richardson, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917. Public domain.

"Above and Beyond by Steve Smith