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I'm a Floridian that moved up here about a year and a half ago for two reasons: 1) I've always had a fascination and desire to live in a place that had a much better climate (I hate 90 degree heat 6 months of the year) and much more similar political and religious views and tolerance to my own. 2) I'm an aerospace engineer. You can guess the other reason.
Since then I've completely fallen in love with the entire area. Well, maybe not all of it, but definitely most of it. So my question is pretty straight forward: How do you, as a group, feel about non-californian transplants? I get the Californian thing.. It's very similar to Floridian views of snow birds and transplants from New York, Ontario, and Quebec.
Floridians generally have a weird but tolerant view of them since most people in Florida weren't born there. (I was born in Illinois for example)
Oh, and for the record, don't blame me. I didn't vote for the Shrub either election. *grin*
Since then I've completely fallen in love with the entire area. Well, maybe not all of it, but definitely most of it. So my question is pretty straight forward: How do you, as a group, feel about non-californian transplants? I get the Californian thing.. It's very similar to Floridian views of snow birds and transplants from New York, Ontario, and Quebec.
Floridians generally have a weird but tolerant view of them since most people in Florida weren't born there. (I was born in Illinois for example)
Oh, and for the record, don't blame me. I didn't vote for the Shrub either election. *grin*
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Re: How do you feel about transplants?
Thu, September 6, 2007 - 11:38 AMI think one of the defining characteristics of this bioregion and the cultures that spring up in it, extending as far back in spoken history as one can go at this point, is the welcoming, calm and relaxed nature of the area.
I for one welcome all transplants from everywhere ;-}
Welcome to Cascadia, Daniel!
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Dwellers in the Land
Thu, September 6, 2007 - 1:43 PMMany years ago when Peter Berg was beating the bioregional drum, an author named Patrick Sale had a few books, including "Human Scale" and "Dwellers in the Land: A Bioregional Vision." In keeping with the concept of "reinhabiting" a place by learning more about it and adapting for its continued and sustainable health, I try to judge people by what they do rather than where they came from.
A lot of the worst damage that has been done to this place is by people who were born here and sold it for quick cash. I welcome people who are working toward sustainable, bioregional visions now, and would gut a dozen natives who actively work against this, save the penalties.
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Re: How do you feel about transplants?
Fri, September 7, 2007 - 5:27 AMI think transplants can damage the scalp and in general tend to not look like the hair normally on the scalp.
oh wait you mean .. transplants as people moving from one place to another. Well personally I wish everyone everywhere would live within their bioregion be it Cascadia or the Great Lakes or whereever. I admit grawling as I saw suburbia grew with more and more "consumers", but ultimately bioregionalism should be about "what we do and how we relate to the ecosystem" NOT who specifically you are by place of birth or by language or by religious affiliation or how you open your hard boiled egg. Bioregion is about our interaction and our interrelations within Nature and not the superficial aspects of our being. On that note let add I do wish people would stay where they are only just to contribute to the bioregional paradigm shift needed everywhere. Escaping from one place to another may not help the whole of Gaia. That said I will also add that I am writing this in self impose exile in Europe after a year of being underemployed in Cascadia and nearly homeless. But even as I live in self imposed exile or as a economic (as well as political) refugee I try to educate those around me on ecologically sustainable economy and bioregionalism. So where ever you dwell then dwell in respect, reverence and responsiblity to Mother nature and please try to inform and educate others.
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Re: How do you feel about transplants?
Sun, September 9, 2007 - 4:09 AMFor me, it all depends on the intention in coming here. I know a lot of people who have moved to Seattle seeking a more "Ecotopian" kind of experience. As a 5th-generation Seattleite I welcome those transplants with open arms. And then there are some who come here with a desire to make this place more like the place they came from. I tend not to like those transplants so much, especially if what they're bringing here is expensive condominiums that all look alike.... ;) -
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Unsu...
Re: How do you feel about transplants?
Mon, September 10, 2007 - 11:58 AMgood topic...
i like the new mexico bumper sticker that says... " if you love new mexico, go home!"
in europe for ages... nationalism sort of came out of this innate tribal solidarity and idntification with the land... people that were nomadic or not originaly from a place were out casts and not soem times allowed to own property, jewish people and gypsies being an example, these people were really given the shit end of the stick and bioregionalism sort of turned into ecofacism in socialist germany... and attitudes of not likeing or having biases against people who are not from ones bioregion originaly got mixed with racial issues in germany pre world war two and during world war two...
very interesting article about this here...
www.spunk.org/texts/place...0/peter.html
i am from the southern coastal upland area of cascadia and moved to tumwawa abotu 11years ago.. people born here consider me a towny or a local now... and so do i...
i live in a college town where lots of people move here give little to nothing back to the community and then leave... people live here for years and never leave the west side of town, dont know the area... dont get jobs or contribute to the community, alienate themselves from the community and there has been times when this has made me pretty angery almost to the point of being violent on the street with certain folks that seem to embody this not giving back to the community...
but this sort of exclusiveness that CAN come along with nationalism as well as tribalism and bioregionalism misses an oppertunity for cooperation, compassion and kindness as well as education...
i also remember seeing a bumper sticker that said "american brothers dont let brothers ride jap bikes"... this sort of attitude can be easy to bring about in the face of trying to cope with our current global economy...
at this point in the game though its not easy to live with the ideals of bioregionalism, and we can look around at people who are not from where we are from, we can look at implants and see globalization and have compassionand help find ways of cooperatively working with people no matter what the conditions... implants could be viewed as forced imigration or refugees brought about by global econimics and new cultural perspectives brought about by globalisation... i feel like crap that i cant find a good enough reason to live in the town i was born in... and i know it wouldnt be healthy for me to do so... people here in tumwawa warm up to people who want to give back to the community and when people keep an open heart i think the land welcomes people through them we all belong to the land we inhabit and that land is one with the whole earth... wee are one regardless of our regionality....
unlike many european countries and their relationship to jewish and romani people... we have to have an open arm policy in our hearts and accept that life is going to keep folks moving until there is more potential to support people and motivate people to make options work for them in their own bioregions, the potential and even if thats not a purely realistic notion we have to accept as well that migratory people can enrich our bioregions if proper understanding and relationship dynamics are encouraged...
i do think sometimes man it would be great if people would just make a stand where they live and make a go of it... but to be realitic its not possible all of the time, and can be an unrealistic expectation...
i kinda go by this general rule even if i dont fully know the science backing it fully... but i heard once that the body regenerates all of its cells every 7 years... so every 7 years you have a new body... when you move to a new area you body starts to become composed of that area ( especialy if your eating regional foods) the first to happen really quickly is that your bodies 65% water becomes water from that area... in essence you are the place where you live, land and sky... and it takes 7 years to do this, from the point when you move to another area... if someone is aware of this and really is personaly invested in this realization the way one relates to place and identity and social and economic relationships change IMHO...
if people of a place do not see people as adapting to the land they live and help people to do so, then they are ignoreing something important i think...
when you look at a neighbour and you look at an import or a family member, your also looking at the land, your looking at cascadia... cascadia is talking to you right now as a matter of fact on this here computer. i look at the bioregion and think hey i am that... and i look at others and say they are that too... i wonder if they know this? and alot of times i can tell if they dont... -
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Unsu...
Re: How do you feel about transplants?
Mon, September 10, 2007 - 8:54 PMPersonally, I think we're experiencing what the indigenous people went through. Everybody here in Norte America (Turtle Island) is a transplant save the indigenous folks who have 8-10 thousand years on the rest of us. I'd like to ask them.
If the Native People had better immigration laws when the buckled brain folks floated over, things might be quite different.
On my Mom's side, I'm something like 15th generation Turtle Island resident .... and I'm still definitely a transplant, but I do try to enrich my community, rather than suck the life out of it.
Maybe a better question would be ... what do people contribute to their community. Just because one's butt has been on the same piece of dirt for a while doesn't mean they are worth a rat's ass.
Bambi -
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Re: How do you feel about transplants?
Mon, September 10, 2007 - 9:16 PMSo to summarize.. everyone is useless until proven otherwise. *grin* I can't say I disagree with that regardless of location. -
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boston man, king george man
Tue, September 11, 2007 - 1:07 AMi v heard the salish elders say their ancestors were created here.
although i subscribe to a scientific world view, i agree with them, because of the many peoples on the earth, the salish people of central cascadia have an especailly deep cultural connection to only one place. their cultures and languages have developed here since the ice age,
the english, all the european and asian people who created heavy civilisations have been moving around and conquering and influencing each other all the millennia that salish people have been learning to express the spirit of one place through human culture. the archeological record and the patterns of linguistic variation do not show big folk movements or invasions such has created the english language and the airport global culture. the geography is naturally exclusive and was late to be overrun by the global civilisation.
but now, all the nations of the earth are now floating like driftwood logs onto this beach this summer, that beach next. who is transplanted? who the hell is even planted?
i think that the few west coast people who have more than a generation of history here are quite proud of the fact and are not always welcoming to newcomers on a social level, but the canadian community i am also part of is the best experiment in multicultural communication and understanding. few of us want to acknowledge we are being generous with stolen property. -
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Unsu...
Re: boston man, king george man
Tue, September 11, 2007 - 5:01 PMgood points FOss...
i tend to beleive them when they say that they came out of the dirt here too...
i also find it interesting that there has been some new genetic studies of north american tribes where they found northern aisian DNA along with DNA from people that would now be identified as basque along with a flint napping finger print that is impossible to replicate that came from that area fo europe and is also found nearly in the same era in north america... these means ackording to dna and archeological evidence that all native americans are northern asian and far western europeans... there is quite alot of evidence to suppor this as well...
BUT i do still beleive the locals and their origin stories mostly because i believe that the collective thoughts of a people creates reality, and that its important to have cognitive pluralism in the world... its the only way i can respect both stories...
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Re: boston man, king george man
Tue, September 11, 2007 - 8:47 PMyeah bolt:
bioregional consciousness in our time has to flourish somehow within a globalistic economy culture context
we use english on the internet
but as we identify with our own valley
our songs would grow out of its echos, winds and birdsongs....
i ll check on your <d n a > angle but i have heard its really hard now to get d n a samples from "full-blooded" aboriginals for various interesting reasons
hey have you heard that finally a first nations person has become the ceremonial head of state in british columbia? -
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Unsu...
Re: boston man, king george man
Tue, September 11, 2007 - 10:37 PM"bioregional consciousness in our time has to flourish somehow within a globalistic economy culture context
we use english on the internet
but as we identify with our own valley
our songs would grow out of its echos, winds and birdsongs.... "
i agree whole heartedly...
i wrote somethign on that called transrational bioregional animist lingustics...lol
its on my blog an old post...
and much of the tribe i started on bioregional animism is focused onthat i wsh you would contribute aroudn there lots of folks talking there...
"i ll check on your <d n a > angle but i have heard its really hard now to get d n a samples from "full-blooded" aboriginals for various interesting reasons"
its intersting... but i see as well that its in the best interest of post colonial science to prove soem how that they have the right to the land some how with that data... all in all though... i still keep anopen mind and try to beleive and disbeleive in things equaly.. .thus the christians are as right as the salish and the scinetists... there is no reason why they cant all be right...lol
"hey have you heard that finally a first nations person has become the ceremonial head of state in british columbia?"
thats awesome! especaily seeing how it was their land to being with full circle... i wish you would pos tsomthing on tha tin the native peoples tribe and the aboriginal rights tribe.. people could really use that news these days as well as the perspective they coudl gain from it i think... most first peoples i know are getting tired of being the canary in the coal mine...
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