Settlers

For the first time yesterday, I self-identified aloud in a roomful of people as a settler.
The entire workshop day was instructive, eye-opening, and necessary.
My ancestors invaded this land as refugees, but that doesn't make them any less settlers or any less responsible.
So much to consider, digest, and own ...
I  took a few moments during the session to write a few lines:

I am a Huguenot settler:
my people fled religious persecution.
They crossed the ocean to claim land
that was not theirs.
Moments before they arrived,
the Acadians were forced off the land
that they had farmed for generations.
My husband's people are Acadians.
My people stepped onto the land
to take over the land
to possess the land
that was not able to be
not available to be
possessed
the land of
the home of
The Miꞌkmaq
the original people.

The moai of Rapa Nui

A longstanding fascination of mine is Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.
I admire the moai of Rapa Nui. The Rapanui people carved those gigantic statues beginning around 1100.
I will never visit the moai, but I feel a strong kinship with the statues as though they were actual people. I catch myself imagining a strong Pacific wind, as I stand near a giant moai and stare at its face while the sun traverses the noonday sky. I imagine that moment so often that it starts to feel like a memory.
Virtual travel.
The brain is a marvel.