Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

A writer takes a minute for a closer look

recent posts

  • Honoring the Kalapuya

    “The Kalapuya Communities” map, c. 1850. Center for Columbia River History

    I want to spend some time this month considering the people who called the Willamette Valley home for thousands of years. Congress and then-president George Bush in 1990 set aside November to recognize the contributions of Native Americans, and I appreciate that effort as a reminder for me to learn more.

    Here in Oregon the Kalapuya have been recognized for uniquely melding both coastal and plateau cultures, according to an overview by the Oregon Historical Society. The society’s articles are worth reading:

    https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/kalapuya_treaty/

    https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/costume-of-a-callapuya-indian/

    In a nutshell: Two deadly epidemics decimated the Kalapuya before white settlers arrived, reducing a population of around 20,000 to fewer than 500 (note that sources vary on these numbers). Treaties and broken promises, removal onto reservations, the loss of official tribal status all tell a familiar chilling tale. But the Kalapuya — along with dozens of other Pacific Northwest nations — persevered.

    Among my favorite sources for learning about Oregon’s indigenous cultures is the website of Oregon State University professor David G. Lewis, whose Quartux Journal, has a wealth of information.

    I particularly appreciate the brief history specifically focused on the Kalapuya.

    Kalapuyan Tribal History

    Another good website for learning (from a full North American perspective) is Wisdom of the Elders, which preserves and shares cultural history, arts, language and ecological knowledge, seeking to enhance cultural sustainability, multimedia education, and cultural reconciliation.

    https://wisdomoftheelders.org/

    I loved seeing one of our local Kalapuya leaders, Esther Stutzman highlighted on that web site, where she tells the wonderful creation story of Le-lu, First Woman.

    It’s yet another thing to be grateful for this month.

  • A two-fer

    Laurie Bass dancing Amethyst at Niaondemand.

    Yesterday, after posting about sitting less, I went to Dael Parson’s Nia class — we danced Deep Dive — one of my favorites. When I got home I had a note from instructor Val Wetmore, inviting me to join her afternoon class at the local Y. So I did! Very energizing. (A fine thing about retirement: veering off the day’s plan because I can.)

    This morning I tried the new routine just posted online. Amethyst with Laurie Bass: 30 minutes focused on core movements for conditioning the spine. A thing I’ve struggled to do in Nia, thanks to wrist and hand issues, is bring my hands together in the prayer position. Today I managed it just fine. I can’t remember when I noticed that I can do this position without discomfort. I think it’s been a slow and somewhat seamless process of improvement. My body my way.

  • Get up

    Who invented chairs? Wikipedia, of course, delves into that question, which intrigues me. What did people do before chairs? Sit on the ground. Sit on pillows, walk around a lot, stand. Be active. Then chairs became a thing.

    So how much time do I spend sitting? Short answer: Lots.

    Harvard researchers recently came up with some data on how much time people spend sitting daily, as part of a study on how movement (or the lack of it) may impact heart health.

    Here’s what they found:

    Based on a week’s worth of data, the average participant’s day consisted of 7.7 hours sleeping, 10.4 hours sitting, 3.1 hours standing, 1.5 hours doing light physical activity, and 1.3 hours doing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Note that the participants probably didn’t do 1.3 hours of structured moderate- or vigorous-intensity exercise per day. Rather, the trackers recorded and added up all their short bouts of activity, such as walking up a flight of stairs or running to catch a bus.

    They used computer modeling to conclude that swapping out even brief amounts of time — 5 minutes, for example — of sitting with some form of exercise could improve heart health.

    This has me curious about how much time I spend sitting. This morning, for example, I’ve been at my computer for an hour and 15 minutes and it’s not even 8:30 yet.

    I think I’ll keep tabs on my sitting for a week, get a base line, and then consider modifying my behavior. As a writer, sitting is built into my life, but I do have a height-adjustable desk, so standing-writing isn’t out of the question.

    I like how a daily Nia practice is sufficiently embedded in me that 5 minutes (which I did on Monday) or 20 minutes (which I did yesterday), gets me off my chair.