Thursday, September 11, 2008

Le Conte lodge


le conte lodge
Originally uploaded by chasingbluebirds
this lodge is a tribute to the man who started the sierra club (with john muir.)

much as i hate patriarchy, it's very heartening to see these beautiful tributes to the men who helped save yosemite.

women were so confined back then and so limited; it gets frustrating reading history which obliterates women's contributions. you just know as old joseph le conte was ready to set out to save nature, his wife (saw a pic of her at their 50th golden wedding anniversary) was cooking biscuits, caring for the children, doing the wash, and making ends meet.

i sat here for hours in the hottest part of the day and read book on edward curtis' native american photographs. they are such powerful images.

at the same time that the american government was committing genocide on the indians, environmentalists were building ahwahnee lodge in native american style, with the hopes that the culturally and wealthy elite who came there would work to save yosemite. how ironic america is! we celebrate the heritage of these people we wiped out. go figure! i wish i could go back in time and stop it all - the ruthless carnage. the broken promises, the land grabbing. our racist history saddens me no end.

but they did save this place. and i'm here now. and it's beautiful. and i'm so grateful.

i especially enjoyed reading the history of yosemite which involved a fellow unitarian, thomas starr king, who helped create the national park system through his advocacy for yosemite. yay!

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