It All Begins with the Stick

Every September, when the festival rolls around, it is one of the happiest times of my life, and it is my favorite event of the year. Going to the shores of Onondaga Lake to sit with the rough beauty of the sacred lake once pristine, now profaned. Here I am reminded of the duality of how Indigenous resilience and ecological flourishing reside alongside settler colonial extraction and pollution. Where celebrations of those who honor the Creator’s Game occur alongside trash pickup along the shores of Onondaga Lake. Where a lake that once nourished and sustained a region struggles against pollution, trash and raw sewage dumped into it, as people celebrate the lake and call for healing.

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