The Daily Boost #509

We turn to stone

Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon actually runs 40-plus miles across a remote eastern stretch of the state. It has been called “the world’s longest art gallery” because its rock surfaces are adorned with 10,000 Native American petroglyphs and pictographs spread across around 1,000 distinct sites. But nearby natural gas development now threatens these centuries-old images.

Local Zuni elder and ancestral farmer Jim Enote humbly but firmly reminds us in this short film that these images—sacred to his people, and part of the shared cultural heritage of all humanity—deserve the same respect and reverence accorded to non-Native holy sites, burial grounds, and celebrated artworks.

To borrow some of Jim Enote’s words, I wonder if we “have the right eyes” to stop “clouding [with dust] our collective heritage”? Can we learn to care more about what’s truly important?

(My thanks to Zuni elder Jim Enote, film director Dane Christensen, and RadioWest Films, via Psyche and RadioWest.)

---

The Gentle Nudge

Join other Rafters today for . . .

• Poetry Pick-Me-Up (Zoom, 12:00-1:00PM Central, at this link)

• The July Show & Share (via our Chat space at this link)

View the full Raft calendar.

---

🧡 Thanks for reading! As part of The Raft, this newsletter is kept afloat by beautiful readers like you. If you like my work, please support it by becoming a paid subscriber, buying my books, or inviting me to speak. And remember to add your 2¢ by leaving comments!