A few days ago, a young man was referred to me via the public defender’s office in a nearby county. He’s scheduled for a court hearing. The 21-year-old is preparing, as best he can, for an encounter that will carry significant consequences. He gave me permission to pass along this portion of our conversation.
“It’s never been,” he said, “an easy or simple road for me.” The small harbor village where he grew up, once a thriving commercial fishing and lumber town, now struggles, like most of rural America, with alcohol addiction, high unemployment and illegal drug use.
He told me he’s spent five and a half years in confinement; group homes, residential centers and, most recently, 38 months in a state prison following a property crime and a parole violation. I asked him what he’s learned. We sat together quietly. Here’s what he told me. He chose his words carefully.
Walk confidently. Find inner strength. You’ll be targeted, exploited, if you don’t stand tall.
Be kind. Others will respond. It makes a difference.
Keep your word. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you don’t, there will be a price to pay.
There are many educated professionals still learning these lessons. Probably because we never needed to learn them the hard way. Behind barbed wire.
At the close of our meeting, I gave the young man a gift. In my office, I have a few small bags that hold pinches of cedar, sweetgrass, sage and tobacco known as the four medicines (plants), part of a spiritual tradition of the Native American peoples of our region. He graciously thanked me. As he got up to leave, he mentioned he had brought an offering to his grandmother who was in hospice care.
The next morning, I called him briefly to follow-up with some paper work. I was curious about his use of the term “offering.” I asked if he was part Native American. He said yes. I told him I’d forgotten to ask if he had any religious community that could stand by him through his transition ahead. He said, “I’d been in prison for over 18 months before I learned there were Native American religious services on Sundays. I decided to go. We sat together in a circle and prayed. It was good.”
I inquired if he’d known much about indigenous spiritual traditions before prison. He said, “No.” I asked if his grandmother, now in hospice care, was of American Indian descent. “Yes,” he replied, “I think almost full blood.” After a pause, I asked what offering he had chosen to bring her the days before we met. He said, “Cedar, sweetgrass, sage, and tobacco.”
At the close of our telephone conversation I asked him one last thing. “When your grandmother crosses over, if there’s a funeral, will you let me know?” He responded, “Yes. I appreciate your asking.” I replied, after a moment’s pause, “I’ll be there.”
Fall 2019 Equinox Newsletter
CONTENTS
- JOURNAL NOTES
- IN MEMORIAM
- THE INTERFAITH NORTHERN GREAT LAKES WATER STEWARDS
- THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION
- COMING UP THIS AUTUMN
JOURNAL NOTES
OUTREACH
Sixty friends and supporters of the ongoing work of the Cedar Tree Institute gathered at Marquette’s Presque Isle Park Pavilion in mid-July for our annual Midsummer Festival of Thanksgiving. Special thanks to Steve Mattson and Jim Elder, CTI Board members who have guided this adventure over the years with practical insight, encouragement, and extraordinary vision. Also, a special word of gratitude to tribal member Kathy Peterson, and representatives from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community’s Natural Resources Department, who joined us that evening with gifts of 100 “starter” seedlings of Michigan native plants.
On August 25th, CTI’s Director officiated at the wedding of Amanda Crockett and Christopher Killham on the shores of Lake Superior. The next morning, he joined CTI friend and supporter Ray Hasenauer in leading worship services for Escanaba’s Unitarian Universalist community. In September, he served as guest liturgist and homilist for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Marquette.
On August 6th, the Institute Director and Breanne Kinnunen (new ELCA Lutheran pastor at NMU) facilitated a board retreat in Houghton for the Canterbury House, the interfaith Episcopal Campus Ministry at Michigan Technological University.
In unprecedented prophetic action, the ELCA’s Lutheran National Assembly voted in August to identify themselves as “A Sanctuary Church.” Leaders and representatives from this denomination across North American have now officially been invited to stand alongside and provide resources and protection for immigrants who seek asylum in the United States. The Cedar Tree Institute lifts up a shout of support for this decision.
Our appreciation to Layne Kalbfeisch , PhD, Neuroscientist and Educational Psychologist from New Mexico, who served as facilitator for CTI’s June “Iron Butterfly” Mind/Body Workshop. Ten participants including artists, physicians, social workers, roofers, community college instructors and clergy met for an evening and morning. We explored research on the human brain and its connection to emotional and spiritual life. Practical applications and creative dialogue shaped the event.
A REFLECTION from CTI
Close examination of healthy secular organizations and faith-based communities reveal that small projects and high-risk experimental programs provide essential seeds for real change and lasting transformation.
Recently CTI received calls from an interfaith movement in Maryland dedicated to protecting Chesapeake Bay and from a Jesuit community in Kentucky. Both were seeking connections in hopes we could learn from one another. We are delighted and look forward to sharing on-the-ground lessons for community organizing.
IN MEMORIAM
REMEMBERING
William “Bill” Ryan
1930 – 2019
Son of the head cook and a horse trainer at the Huron Mountain Club, Bill was a teacher of mathematics at Marquette High School and a long-time member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. Last October, he invited a visiting guest Greg Gessay and myself to take a drive over to visit his cabin near Skanee. Bill was a keen observer of human nature and knew the back stories of the Big Bay community like few others. He was a man of measured words. He was always among the first recipients of the Institute’s bottles of maple syrup prepared each springtime in the melting snow north of Marquette.
June Rydholm
1930 – 2019
June was a friend and supporter of the Cedar Tree Institute over the years. Her son Dan and daughter-in-law Kathleen Heideman continue to bring remarkable, special gifts to the U.P. Together, June and her husband Fred, a naturalist, teacher, historian and former Marquette City mayor, raised two boys, Fred and Dan. June and Fred spent 15 years co-directing Children’s Programs at the Huron Mountain Club. There they forged deep and abiding friendships with members of the wilderness association. Their shared passions for nature and stewardship resulted in the building of a family camp on property which Fred purchased in 1949 on the Yellow Dog Plains. June and Fred would enlarge this property to 1000 acres, which culminated 70 years later in the establishment of the Mudjekewis Wildlife Refuge in partnership with the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve.
Alvin Flatt 1925 – 2019
Eldora Flatt 1931 – 2019
The interment at the Forest Home Cemetery in Newberry, Michigan for Alvin and Eldora Flatt took place on May 24th with the CTI Director assisting Pastor Melinda VanderSys from Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. Alvin and Eldora were owners of Newberry Florist. They carried a life-long love of plants and were deeply respected, deeply beloved in their small community. Married for 54 years, they died 17 days apart from one another. Alvin and Eldora’s daughter Kristi, a long-time friend and supporter of CTI projects and programs, served, along with her siblings, as hosts during the funeral and for the splendid celebration of food, music and story-telling that followed.
THE INTERFAITH NORTHERN GREAT LAKES WATER STEWARDS
A DREAM UNFOLDING
In July of 2016, the Cedar Tree Institute in partnership with Paul Lehmberg, a local Buddhist priest, coordinated the launch of a four-year (2016-2020) interfaith environmental effort to help preserve, protect, celebrate, and sanctify the waters and streams of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
BENCHMARKS
- 5 Community-wide gatherings sponsored by faith communities on the “Gift of Water” involving public presentations from physicians, ethnobotanists, Native Americans, mining engineers, African-American clergy from Flint Michigan working to safeguard their contaminated municipal water supply, and grass-roots community activists seeking to protect the Menominee River from proposed sulfide mining operations.
- 2250 Northern white cedar trees planted by 40 + volunteers for erosion control and stream restoration in the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve.
- 36 columns written by 36 authors with diverse perspectives on the “Gift of Water” for the Marquette Monthly Magazine.
- 3 years of a student chapter-led “Interfaith Water Stewards” established at NMU.
- 8 Public Service Announcements (PSAs) prepared and distributed by two student interns.
- 5 Presentations and dialogues on “The Gift of Water” for four congregations during Sunday morning and Mid-week services.
Our gratitude for the support from the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, the Center for Native American Studies at NMU, members of Temple Beth Shalom, ELCA’s Northern Great Lakes Synod, Unity Church (Marquette), the Unitarian Universalist community in Escanaba, the Marquette Buddhist Zendo, and especially the leadership of Messiah Lutheran Church who graciously made available their sanctuary for our public gatherings. They also contributed core financial support.
In months ahead we hope to find resources to train four parish-based volunteer teams to serve as stream and water monitors (identifying potential pollution sites) across the Upper Peninsula. For more information visit our website cedartreeinstitute.org
Thanks to Jordan Mattarella, recent NMU graduate, who continues to serve as our Water Steward Coordinator.
WATER RISING
October 14th–19th, 2019
“Before we fight to defend and protect a natural environment, we must first celebrate and enjoy it.”
-Edward Abbey
As part of the Water Stewards’ upcoming plans, we are collaborating in sponsoring a 5-day Artist Residency from October 14th to 19th. Our guest presenters and teachers are American writer Leila Philip and British sculptor Garth Evans. This event will include a month-long art exhibit at the Peter White Library. We are delighted to be able to work with area partners on this project including NMU’s School of Art and Design, the Fresh Coast Film Festival, the City of Marquette’s Arts and Culture Center and the Ray and Peg Hirvonen Foundation.
Special thanks to Pasqua Warstler, former Director of the Bonifas Art Center in Escanaba and Doug Russell, Marquette grant writer and CTI consultant, for leading the way with a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council to bring this dream into reality as an extraordinary gift to our U.P. community!
Watch the Mining Journal and local media for specific times and workshop opportunities.
“If we pollute the air, water & soil that keeps us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural living systems to function, no amount of money will save us.”
-David Suzuki
THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION
THE HORIZON PROJECT
A Mind/Body Health and Wellness
Initiative For Seniors
In partnership with the Superior Health Foundation, Kelley Mahar, MD, a community psychiatrist, and Mike Grossman, a family physician and hospice medical director, are working with Cedar Tree Institute staff to bring practical applications of mind/body medicine into the day-to-day lives of senior citizens of rural Northern Michigan.
A total of nine presentations and trainings will take place at three different senior centers in Marquette County in the fall of 2019.
These take the form of practice sessions and informal instruction in non-drug interventions to reduce stress, improve decision-making capabilities, and increase awareness of the dynamics between the mind, the body and one’s emotional life.
LEARN MORELunch is included. All sessions are open to the public at no cost. To register, please note the times, sites, and contact person at the following locations.
Ishpeming Senior Center
August 23, 30, & September 6
Contact: Elyse Bertucci
906-228-0456
Forsyth Senior Center (Gwinn)
September 13, 19 & 27
Contact: Brian Veale
906-346-9862
Marquette Senior Center
November 8, 15 & 29
Contact: Maureen McFadden
906-228-0456
COMING UP THIS AUTUMN
A THEOLOGY OF WATER
October 30 – November 2nd
We welcome Pastor John Rosenberg (Olympia, Washington) and moral ethicist-theologian Joseph Piccione (Peoria, Illinois) who join us for our 2019 Spirit of Place Retreat on the shores of Lake Superior. John and Joseph will be sharing insights and leading discussions on the challenge of protecting our water resources in the Great Lakes, helping us to understand the threats to this essential global resource that face our planet.
LEARN MOREBig Bay’s Historic Lighthouse and a remote cabin will serve as the two sites for this 4-day small group event. Participants registered from New York, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa.
TAI CHI For Fall Prevention and Arthritis
The Cedar Tree Institute will be facilitating three opportunities in 2019-2020 at no cost, to address those facing chronic health conditions. One site will be Messiah Lutheran Church A second will be for evening residents at Room at the Inn, Marquette’s homeless shelter. The third will be the community room at Snowberry Apartments in Marquette.
This program is supported by the Michigan State University Extension Office. Jon and Diana Magnuson have been certified for providing this specific application of Tai Chi Chuan principles as part of the Dr. Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Health Institute Program.
*This six week series at Messiah begins 11 AM -12 noon, October 2nd (Wednesdays) Join us at any time.
The Cedar Tree Institute, a nonprofit organization provides services and initiates projects between boundaries of medical institutions, faith communities, American Indian tribes and social action movements. One-third of our services are provided pro-bono.
CTI BOARD
- Jon Magnuson, CTI Executive Director
- Steve Mattson, Financial Consultant, Wells Fargo Private Client Services, Retired
- Jim Elder, Attorney, Elder Agency
ADVISORY COUNCIL
- Larry Skendzel, Physician, Hospice Care
- Gareth Zellmer, Consultant, Trainer
- Ken Kelley, Professor Emeritus, NMU
- Rick Pietila, Project Technician, Lebanon
- Jan Schultz, Botanist, USFS, Retired
- Michael Grossman, Family Physician
RESEARCH FELLOWS
- John Rosenberg, Lutheran Pastor
- Joe Piccione, Ethicist
For information contact us at 403 East Michigan Street, Marquette, MI 49855 or contact us via email. Telephone & Fax: 906-228-5494
The Fall 2019 Equinox Newsletter is brought to you by Cedar Tree Institute.
