Erica Violet Lee
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ericavioletlee.bsky.social
Erica Violet Lee
@ericavioletlee.bsky.social
5.7K followers 390 following 44 posts
nêhiyaw, Irish, writer.
raised by the prairies, homeward bound.

support my community: prairiehr.ca ☀️🦬

linktr.ee/ericavioletlee
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ericavioletlee.bsky.social
the river we call ka-kisiskaciwan.* Often we camp near the elbow of the South Branch, but sometimes we go even farther south to minatinähk, many nights from here. Or we go west towards the mountains to visit relatives. "This is our physical world. It is a good world, a world of plenty for the Nehiyaw, the Nehiyawak. Exact body. Exact body of people. It is the physical world in which we live. The old man grew more serious as he gathered his thoughts together. "The name Nehiyaw, Nehiyawak, the names of the places where we live and where we hold our ceremonies, the names we give these places, all these are spiritual. The Creator gave us life. Our land, which we call Mother Earth, nurtures us, gives us growth. The number four is sacred. There are four main spirit helpers, four directions, four seasons, and four stages of life childhood, young adult, adult, and old age." "The Sun, which we call kih-oskapewis, is the Great Helper of the Creator," the old man continued. "This spirit helper comes up from the east and it provides us with daylight. If it wasn't for kihc-oskapewis, who works for the Creator to give us daylight and warmth, where would the Cree be? In darkness. So we thank the Sun every morning as it comes up for this life-giving. That is the work the Creator gave the Sun. Kihc-oskapèwis never stops working for the Creator. It never did. "Okimaw-piyesiw, Chief Thunder that rumbles through the skies in the spring is also sacred. It shakes the ground and shakes the skies. Piyesiw gives people life with life-giving water, the rains that are needed for the body and the things that live on Mother Earth, the rains that are needed for the people. It gives water, which we call the milk of Mother Earth, so that Mother Earth can nurture us. The Creator planned it this way. Okimaw-piyesiw, who is in the south, gives us the water that we need to live…
March 11, 2025 at 3:31 AM
ericavioletlee.bsky.social
FREE HIM
A stick bug, cruelly entrapped beneath glass in a frame
February 26, 2025 at 6:43 PM
ericavioletlee.bsky.social
Trouillot from “Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History”
We are never as steeped in history as when we pretend not to be, but if we stop pretending we may gain in understanding what we lose in false innocence. Naiveté is often an excuse for those who exercise power. For those upon whom that power is exercised, naiveté is always a mistake.
February 6, 2025 at 6:02 PM
ericavioletlee.bsky.social
Saskatoon!

via Prairie Community Coalition (they’re over on Instagram).

Come out, get connected, get organized. ❤️🦬
A gathering poster: Urgent community call for action. Rally for the Unhoused - Wednesday, Dec 18 at noon, City Hall. 1500 last homeless count in Saskatoon. We demand: transparency with the homelessness federal funds! Indigenous and community participation! Culturally safe shelters now! No more words. Housing is a human right.
December 18, 2024 at 2:56 AM
ericavioletlee.bsky.social
Clearing the plains, c. 2024.
CBC News article: Number of homeless people counted in Saskatoon nearly triples. Point-in-time count identifies 1,499 people, up from 550 in 2022. Image of a dismantled encampment.
December 13, 2024 at 10:34 PM
ericavioletlee.bsky.social
Cillian Murphy looking at Prince Harry with some ancestral rage in his eyes and his hands in his pockets at a movie premiere
December 12, 2024 at 8:55 AM