Wildflowers 2025

4/7  Home, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Prairie Trillium (Trillium recurvatum) leaves are up
• Dutchman's Breeches (in galvanized tub)

4/7  Kalamazoo Nature Center, Maple Beech Trail, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa)
• Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
• Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)
• False Rue-Anemone (Enemion biternatum)
• Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
• Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)
• Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica)
• Trout lily (Erythronium americanum)
• Common violets (Viola sororia)
• Canada violets (Viola canadensis)
• Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris)
• Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)
• Scarlet elf cup (Sarcoscypha coccinea) fungi

4/1  KalHaven trail to F and 8th, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Scarlet elf cup (Sarcoscypha coccinea) fungi
• American Columbo (Frasera caroliniensis) - plant takes 3 years to flower - we saw the 1st year basal leaves and the 3rd year dead stalks
• Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)
• Hepatica, sharp lobed (Hepatica acutiloba)
• Dutchmans breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

3/23  Kleinstuck Nature Preserve, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) blooming

3/21  Source Pond Trail, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Wild Leeks up

3/17 Bishop's Bog Preserve Trail, Portage, Kalamazoo Co., MI: 

• Purple Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia purpurea), although not blooming yet!

Birding 2025

4/3/25 Fort Custer Recreation Area, Blue Trail, Augusta, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Heard Phoebe

4/1/25 Kal-Haven Trail (trailhead to F and 8th, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Pair Trumpeter swans
• 1 Carolina wren
• 2 Canada Goose
• 1 Wood Duck
• 1 Mallard
• 1 Wild Turkey
• 1 Mourning Dove
• 1 Turkey Vulture
• 4 Red-bellied Woodpeckers (2 pair)
• 3 Downy Woodpeckers
• 1 Hairy Woodpecker
• 1 Pileated Woodpecker
• 2 Northern Flickers
• 6 Blue Jays
• 4 American Crows
• 4 Black-capped Chickadees
• 7 Tufted Titmice
• 6 Golden-crowned Kinglets
• 3 White-breasted Nuthatches
• 2 Brown Creepers
• 6 American Robins
• 1 House Finch
• 4 American Goldfinches
• 5 Dark-eyed Juncos
• 2 White-throated Sparrows
• 7 Song Sparrows - "dee dee dee" lead in
• 6 Red-winged Blackbirds
• 8 Northern Cardinals

3/30 Home, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Yet another flock of 25 or so Sandhill Cranes ascending in circles over the house before flying onward

3/19 Home, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Flock of 24 Sandhill Cranes ascending in circles before flying onward

3/17 Bishop's Bog Preserve Trail, Portage, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Grackles

2/1, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo, MI

• pair of Northern Flickers

1/26, southern Kalamazoo Co., MI

Went birding in a Audubon Society of Kalamazoo caravan yesterday in southern-most Kalamazoo county (Schoolcraft, Vicksburg). Thanks to Amy Ranger for driving and scribing! Species listed in order of sighting:

• Red tailed hawk
• Mute swans
• Juncos
• Bluebirds: several different flocks!
• Downy woodpeckers
• Red bellied woodpecker
• Cardinal male
• Goldfinches
• Hooded merganser
• Canada geese
• Mallards
• American Tree Sparrows (a flock)
• Great blue heron (in a drainage ditch)
• Bald eagles: 2 (one a juvenile, still in dark plumage)
• Northern harrier male
• Sandhill cranes

We also saw a red fox dancing (aka hunting) in a field and loads of white tailed deer.

1/28, traveling in MI, OH

Near Galesburg and Battle Creek on I-94:

• 2 Turkey Vultures at each place

OH, along I-80:

• 2 Bald Eagles (1 adult, 1 juvenile); a 3rd one in a huge nest at the top of a tree, further along

1/30, traveling along I-80 in OH

Flock of Snow Geese flying over

Friend-enemy vs Pluralism and Peaceful Activism

French, David. "Us and Them Is All the Rage." New York Times, January 26, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/26/opinion/trump-maga-schmitt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sE4.gD60.FTpUuocWWEgj&smid=url-share

Fascinating opinion essay. French quotes Carl Schmitt, a German political theorist who described "the “friend-enemy distinction.” ... "One of liberalism’s deficiencies, according to Schmitt, is a reluctance to draw the friend-enemy distinction."

I disagree - liberals' enemies are those who express hatred (verbally, physically, etc.). Liberals make it impolitic to express hatred overtly.

But French goes on to discuss the founders of the U.S.A.: a metaphor of John Adam's means that, "Pluralism requires both law and ethics to function, and without ethics the law will fail." French describes Jeffrey Rosen's book The Pursuit of Happiness by writing, "the founders envisioned the pursuit of happiness not as the pursuit of pleasure or wealth, but rather as 'the pursuit of virtue — as being good, rather than feeling good.' Benjamin Franklin, for example, listed temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquillity, chastity and humility as indispensable elements of virtue."  ... "The virtues Franklin listed...are universal moral obligations that apply to our treatment of everyone." ... "That's the social compact of pluralism. ... And in all circumstances, your fundamental human rights must be preserved." [all emphases mine]

However, the "friend-enemy" model sees kindness as immoral: "In the world of the friend-enemy distinction, your ultimate virtue is found in your willingness to fight. Your ultimate vice is betraying your side by refusing the call to political war."

French states that in the "friend-enemy" model, loyalty supercedes political idealogy: "Friends can get away with violent crimes." People who "publicly criticized Trump" are "now ... enemies who have to pay the price." ... "Any deviation from orthodoxy is perceived as evil, and evil must be utterly eradicated. ... And there’s no humility...." In this model, people see kindness as evil and cruelty as good.

In my view, thus the difference between passive resistance or peaceful activism and the "friend-enemy" viewpoint! Passivists engage others with dignity, respecting their human rights, while protesting the "enemy's" actions in nonviolent ways.

Exploring Kalamazoo 2024-

3/17/25 Bishop's Bog Preserve Trail 

Saw Purple Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia purpurea), although not blooming yet!

3/11/25 West Lake Nature Preserve

Went for a walk here 3/11/25 - pretty small, 110-acre park with wetland bog and lowland forest, alongside West Lake. Unfortunately, the largest 2 boardwalks are closed because they need to be repaired. Kind of boring, at least for a mid-March day.

3/9/25 Kleinstuck Preserve volunteering

The Stewards of Kleinstuck meet every 2nd Sunday to work from 10:00-noon. They meet at the Maple Street YMCA tennis courts. I used my loppers to cut bittersweet sprouts and (small) vines. Brought my work gloves and own tools. Climate scientist/birder Susan Schneider, a fellow named Rick, a couple of high school young men, an aunt (Bea) of one of the teens were my fellow volunteers, and we were led by Colin. Susan said Kleinstuck is the BEST place to see spring warblers migrating!

3/8/25 Maple Festival at Kal Nature Center

Went with Karen and Mr. B - had pancakes with maple syrup first, then walked the Maple Trail, which had educational stations set up. Best parts: 3 kettles for boiling down sap to syrup - ladelled from large to small as the sap boiled (water evaporated) down to syrup; and the Native American experiments with making sugar from sap in a hollowed-out elm log. The syrup segment happens inside the log, and a molasses-like substance comes out the bottom of the log, which might then be dried and crushed to make sugar.

Crane Park

Walked up to Crane Park and back - pleasant 25 minutes.  

6/2/24: Unitarian Universalist Community Church; Portage Pride

We went to visit the church in Portage and to hear Levi Rickert's talk about the boarding schools. Unfortunately, Gy wasn't there. Afterward, Amy showed me Bishop's Bog, then we went to the Portage Pride picnic, sponsored by the churches.

6/7: Kalamazoo Arts Fair; Kalamazoo Pride

Went to the arts fair at Bronson Park - lovely as always. Then we walked over to Arcadia Creek Festival Place (park) and sat in the shade while we waited for Pride to open - we didn't have to stand in line or pay for admission but got to people watch. We ate dinner at La Piñata bar & grill on Drake & W. Main - pretty good.

6/8: Berries Pancake House; Bishop's Bog

Berries on Westnedge - loved the pancakes! Open every day 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Bishop's Bog Preserve Trail was lovely. I didn't spot any Purple Pitcher Plants, Orange Fringed Orchids, or Stemless Pink Ladyslippers, but I did see lots of Tamaracks, Spatulate-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia), Southern Blue Flag (Iris virginica), Blueberries, and the Sugarloaf Drain. Enjoyed the bounciness of the plastic floating boardwalk.

6/13: Kleinstuck Preserve

This morning I parked off Chevy Chase and walked on the main trail in Kleinstuck. It makes a loop around the marsh. Interesting that there are 4 separate habitats - all had wonderful aromas.

6/22: Wolf Tree Nature Trails; Husted's; Sawall; bakeries

Walked the Blue trail (3/4 mile) at Wolf Tree, on the south side of KL Ave just east of 4th, for about 20 minutes this morning. Tons of black raspberries, Sassafras trees, and flowers. Also a ton of poison ivy, so I was very careful. Their site says that, "Its ancient 'wolf trees' – characterized by widespread branches – are evidence of the savanna habitats that were here in pre-European settlement times." I didn't see the pond - maybe it's on the Green trail. I did see White False Indigo! I heard a bird that I couldn't identify - didn't have my phone with its Merlin app - perhaps could have been the Hooded Warbler?

Visited Husted Farm Market - got banana chocolate chip bread - not as good as mine - Concord Grape jelly, and a few other items. It seems weird for it to be so far west, on W. Main just east of 2nd, as I remember it at its original location on KL Ave.

We had gelato at Amorino Gelato Al Naturale inside Sawall's - both chocolate and carmel were amazing. Also got some deli items to eat cold on a hot, humid day. I continue to love this store!

Sarkozy Bakery: Polliwantza Cracker!

Victorian Bakery: Ginger Molasses cookies!

7/1: Lillian Anderson Arboretum; Oshtemo branch of KPL

Went for a walk at the L.A. arboretum. It's just west of the Oshtemo Fire Station, the entrance an unmarked driveway. I took the 1st part of the Fern Oak trail to the Wetland Boardwalk (another recycled plastic floating boardwalk!) and heard a Common Yellowthroat warbler, then along Chestnut Point to the powerline, then Bernie's Landing - heard a Towhee - then backtracked on the powerline to Not-so-Magnificent Pines. Went by the Batt's Pavilion and up Pavilion road to the parking area. 50 minutes of moderately slow walking. Bee balm / Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) was just starting to bloom along with Joe-Pye Weed, and I also saw Yellow Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) flowering! Lots of other trails to explore in the future.

I had worked as a page at the Oshtemo Branch of Kalamazoo Public Library while in high school, but hadn't really gone to it since it had been rebuilt. If you read the history linked above, my mom attended the 2-room Old Chamberlain/Hurd School. I don't remember the library being there, but do remember visiting the building once. I worked in the New Hurd School building for Betsy Watts 1980-1982. I can still see the shelves in my memory, especially the children's section, adult fiction around the edges of the nonfiction shelves, and nonfiction sections of the 200's, 636's, and 921's).

7/6: Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery 34270 County Road 652, Mattawan, MI 49071. Trail map. Saturday bird walk with Audubon members.

Picked up Gail Walter. Cool morning - cloudy for the first hour, then the sun broke through. Saw: a female Wood Duck and her 6 ducklings, Kingbirds with their fancy flight, Tree Swallows, a Barn Swallow, a Trumpeter Swan which trumpeted, Song Sparrows with the dark spot on their breast, 2 Sandhill Cranes, a Chimney Swift, a Warbling Vireo, a Great Blue Heron wading, and a muskrat swimming. There were 44-45 people, including the Audubon leaders, with varying levels of experience; we went in smaller groups with 2 leaders per group. I met Shelly from West Michigan Birds on fb, which was fun!

I want to connect with the Kalamazoo Area Wild Ones' programs/field trips.

7/12: Blueberry Picking

Brookside Farms, 34448 44th Ave, Paw Paw. Went with Karen & Mr. B. Hot & humid but big, lucious, sweet berries, and a blueberry-red raspberry pie for only $15.50!

7/16: Sapphoasis Dinner Out

Wonderful time with lesbians our age (& older)! Ate at the Thunderbird (ok).

7/18: O'Duffy's Pub

It's below Cosmo's Cucina. Went with Angel, Chris, and Peter. Good hamburger - very lean, so next time order it medium well instead of well done.

7/20: Bee Friendly Nursery; Delano Homestead trails

Noelle at Bee Friendly had a "buy 3, get 1 free" sale today. I got 4 Jacks-in-the-Pulpit, 2 Columbine, 3 Cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis), a Tall Meadow Rue, and a Wood Poppy. They're all for the east side of the house.

At Delano, part of the Kalamazoo Nature Center, I walked to the Source Pond, fondly remembered since my first visit 50 (+?) years ago! It was incredibly peaceful. On the way back, I walked on a Wilderness path (with a fox on the sign) that I remember loving too - a broad, mowed trail with wild raspberries and blackberries on each side. Stopped at the pioneer log cabin and barn. Probably walked a bit over 2 miles. I was glad I had downloaded the map to my phone!

7/28: Kalamazoo Valley Museum

The Museum had a special exhibit on the Kalamazoo State Hospital. My Great-Grandma, Myrtle Mae Bupp (née Thomas) got her nurse's training and then worked there, perhaps as early as 1908 or 09 to 1917 at the latest (the Kalamazoo City Directory says 1912-1916). 

(Born January 1889, she left home at age 18 and came up to the Woodland area in Barry Co. to stay with her Grandma Mary Catherine Hollar/Holler. Then she and a girlfriend went to Kalamazoo to "take their nurses training.") 

There was a gurney in the exhibit, which made me remember Grandma telling me that when a patient died on her shift, she had to transfer the corpse to a gurney and wheel it down the street to the morgue, at night by herself. When I asked if she'd been scared, she said, "No." I also remember her telling me that she turned down a promotion because she didn't want to supervise her friends, and that the conditions were awful - some patients screamed and had to be tied to their beds or chairs because they didn't have the medications we had. 

Also enjoyed the "Kalamazoo Direct to You" permanent exhibit. I hadn't realized that there had been 5 companies making windmills in the 1880's, making Kalamazoo the "windmill center of the world!"  There was also a set of Flinch cards from 1903, like the game I inherited from Grandma Bupp. She taught me to play when I was young and never let me get away with anything. When I got good enough, we played a variation where some of the piles ascended (Ace-Fifteen) and some descended (Fifteen-Ace). Flinch is like the precurser to the more recent Skip-Bo game.

8/10 Delano Homestead trails:

Source pond, then a tiny bit of Headwaters trail connecting to Trout Run. I was glad I had downloaded the map to my phone! Need better signage at trailheads, especially on #15 Trout Run! There's a mown tractor path that goes outside the property, to Westnedge - I was tired and was mad that there was no sign. Then, I wanted to take the shortcut to the Source Pond trail but again - no obvious path or sign. I think I walked about 6 miles that day. Lots of memories came back in flashes from when I attended summer day camp (somewhere between 8-10 years old). 

8/15 1918 Flu Epidemic in Kalamazoo

Amy, Tullio, & I went to an interesting talk by Sharon Ferraro about the 1918-1921 flu, sponsored by the Oshtemo Historical Society, in the Oshtemo Township Hall (behind the Fire Station on W. Main).

I saw Joyce McNally, the mom of Don, a former boyfriend of Jill's, and spoke to her - she was really sweet. She recalled how Jill came over one night to hang out with her, and rearranged her spice rack in alphabetical order! 

8/17 Washington Square Library, KIA, Kazoo Books

Went to pick up a MeL book from the Washington Square branch (1244 Portage St.

Kalamazoo, MI 49001) - I want to go back and take photos inside and outside! 

Then we went to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts' exhibit 

Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass. I enjoyed it! There was a nice exhibit book but we didn't get it, so I requested it via MeL.

Then picked up a book I'd ordered from Kazoo Books: Sunbeams and Raindrops by Dorothy Rice Bennett (2023), about older lesbians. Actually # 3 in the Lives Intertwined series, but looks good.

8/18 Lake Michigan beach

We went to Pilgrim Haven Natural Area to play in the waves (red flag day, strong undertow, so I only went up to my knees). South of South Haven, north of Van Buren State Park.

9/14 Connecting Chords Music Festival: Migratory Music

Around the Kalamazoo Nature Center Arboretum and Visitor Center Bridge were, in the order we heard them:

• Members of Bahar Ensemble: Traditional Middle Eastern music
• Norse Code Norwegian Fiddlers (Hardanger fiddles, a married couple, Karin Loberg Code & David Code from Portage) 
  
  
  
• Birdseed Salesmen Euro jazz (instrumental jazz in the tradition of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli)
• Selkie Sounds Celtic Music (the best group!)

9/21 Dr. Nathan Thomas House - Underground Railroad
613 E Cass St, Schoolcraft, MI 49087

Met the Green Pastures Quarterly (Friends) Meeting there - several folks from Ann Arbor as well as many from Kalamazoo, and Jana Norlin from GRFM. Interesting history! It was his wife who wrote about their work in the URR. Nathan Thomas' memoirs (Nathan M. Thomas, birthright member of the Society of Friends, pioneer physician, early and earnest advocate of the abolition of slavery, friend and helper of the fugitive slave; an account of his life written by himself) and Pamela S. Thomas' A Station on the Underground Railroad (p.107) is in HathiTrust and in my Ebooks folder.

9/22 Paw paws

I ate a local Paw paw (Asimina triloba), also known as the American custard apple, from Bonamego Farms! It was quite similar to the Cherimoya (Annona cherimola).

9/25 Asylum Lake Preserve

Went in the south entrance, made a loop north through the woods with Little Asyum Lake on the east, then north to the big lake and west to the peninsula observation area, south through forest and meadows. Beautiful! 

Next walk: go in the west entrance!

1/20/25 Ayasofya Restaurant

New Turkish restaurant in the old Bruno's Pizza building. Interesting flavors - a lot of tomato and onion, and perhaps sumac? Seemed like they weren't quite ready for the crowd they had. Loved the stuffed grape leaves - drier and spicier than the traditional (veggie) Greek grape leaves. 

Birding 2024

9/25, Asylum Lake, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., MI

• Little Green Heron
• Kingfisher
• Double-breasted Cormorant

9/24, Home, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., MI

• female Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the flat feeder

7/23, Home, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., MI

• Wild Turkey hen and 3 juveniles in our yard!

7/6, Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery, Mattawan, Van Buren Co., MI.

• Wood Duck hen and her 6 ducklings 
• Kingbirds with their fancy flight
• Tree Swallows
• Barn Swallow
• Trumpeter Swan which trumpeted
• Song Sparrows with the dark spot on their breast
• Sandhill Cranes (2)
• Chimney Swift
• Warbling Vireo
• Great Blue Heron wading 

and a muskrat swimming.

7/4, Bishop's Bog, Portage, Kalamazoo Co., MI

• juvenile Baltimore Orioles
• Catbirds
• Towhee

7/1, Lillian Anderson Arboretum, Oshtemo township, Kalamazoo Co., MI

• Common Yellowthroat warbler
• Towhee

5/8, traveling 131 N between Kalamazoo & GR:

• Black Tern flying!
• GBH flying

5/7, Blandford Nature Center, Walker, Kent Co., MI

• Merlin sound app identified Parula warblers, but eyes identified 2 male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks!

5/3, Blandford Nature Center, Grand Rapids, Kent Co., MI: 

• Baltimore Orioles
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak

4/30, Home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

• Yellow-rumped Warbler at the pond

4/29, Blandford Nature Center, Grand Rapids, Kent Co., MI: 

• Rose-breasted Grosbeak

4/27, Home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

• Chipping Sparrow pair

4/18, Home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

• Barred Owl calling
• White-throated Sparrow calling

         Blandford Nature Center, Walker, Kent Co., MI

• Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• Blue-headed Vireo calling

4/16, Blandford Nature Center, Walker, Kent Co., MI

• Brown Thrasher calling

4/15, Blandford Nature Center, Grand Rapids, Kent Co., MI

• female Hooded Merganser

4/9, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• Catbird

4/8, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

As the eclipse progressed, the birds stopped singing and frogs got quiet. My eyes kept trying to adjust to the dimmer light, as if dusk were coming on, and the light had an eerie quality. The shadows got longer.

3/29, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• Golden-crowned Kinglets (many)
• Killdeer

3/21, Blandford Nature Center, Walker, Kent Co., MI

• Fox Sparrow calling
• Cardinals
• Robins
• Crows
• Blue Jays
• Red-winged Blackbirds
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Tufted Titmice
• Chickadees
• Grackles
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Juncos
• House Finches
• Goldfinches

3/16, home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

• Phoebes calling
• several groups of Sandhill cranes

3/2, traveling (ponds on Maynard), Kent Co., Grand Rapids, MI

• Turkey vultures
• Sandhill cranes

2/26, Blandford Nature Center, Walker, Kent Co., MI or Aman Park, Ottawa Co. ?

• Brown Creeper

2/23, Blandford Nature Center, Walker, Kent Co., MI

• Pine Siskin

Wildflowers 2024

11/26 Lillian Anderson Arboretum, Oshtemo, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Bearberry / Kinnikinick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) - berries

11/7 Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• False Rue Anemone! Yes, November 7.

7/4 Bishop's Bog, Portage, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Tufted Loosestrife (Lysimachia thyrsiflora)
• Pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata)
• Wild blueberries
• Clustered-leaved Tick Trefoil (Hylodesmum (Desmodium) glutinosum)

7/1 Lillian Anderson Arboretum, Oshtemo Township, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Yellow Jewelweed (Impatiens pallida)
• Bee balm / Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) 
• Joe-Pye Weed

6/8 Bishop's Bog, Portage, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Arrow arum (Peltandra virginica)
• Southern Blue Flag (Iris virginica)
• Spatulate-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia)

4/29 Blandford Nature Center, Grand Rapids, Kent Co., MI: 

• Wild geraniums

4/22, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• Buttercups (common / Ranunculus acris)
• Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
• Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)
• Early Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dioicum)
• False Rue-Anemone (Enemion biternatum)
• Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica)
• Spring Cress (Cardamine douglassii)
• Squirrel Corn (Dicentra canadensis)
• Trillium (common / Grandiflorum)
• Trout lilies (Erythronium americanum)
• Violets (common)
• Violets (yellow / Viola pubescens)
• Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
• Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata)
• Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)
• Wintergreen berries (Gaultheria procumbens)
• Wood Betony (Pedicularis canadensis)
• Large-flowered Bellwort budded but not quite blooming

4/9, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• Trout lily
• Buttercups

4/8, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI (Eclipse!)

• Bloodroot
• Mayapples are up but still furled

3/29, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
• Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) in the shelter of a fallen log
• False Rue-Anemone (Enemion biternatum)
• Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)
• Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica)
• Wild Leeks/Ramps (Allium tricoccum) are up

3/28, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana)
• Pink Spring Cress (Cardamine douglassii)

 3/16, Blandford Nature Center, Grand Rapids, Kent Co., MI

• Spicebush
• Violets

Professional Development 2024

5/1/24

Here are some great thoughts by one of the best info lit teachers: 

Badke, William. (April 2024). Finding Stuff Out: The Curse on Student Research. Infolit Land. Computers in Libraries, 44(3), 43–44.

Basically, Badke says that research questions need to explore, evaluate, and propose solutions to a problem. More specifically, propose one solution that seems best, based on the evidence.

2/16/24

Bardwell, Belinda, and M. Megan Woller-Skar. "Challenges and successes of using Two-Eyed Seeing to teach Indigenous science at a predominantly white institution." Journal of Great Lakes Research 49 (2023), S78–S83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2023.01.003 

Discusses designing a 1-credit Biology seminar that incorporated 6 Indigenous Knowledge Keeper presenters in Fall 2021. They got a FTLC Teaching Innovation Grant to pay each speaker a $500 honorarium. Then the Bio dept and the CLAS Dean's office paid for the honoraria. Now there is a long-term commitment from Inclusion and Equity and the CLAS Dean's office (personal email from Meg, 2/15/24). Monica Johnstone also wrote about the project in CLAS ACTS January 2022: "The Joy of Multiple Ways of Knowing."

So this is the pilot for incorporating Native teachers (without PhDs) into courses. We want to have Indigenous teachers co-design curriculum for additional courses, and to pay them honoraria for that process, which is more sustainable long-term. But to do that, we need to entice GV faculty to participate in developing or redesigning courses. (The grant we get might pay for the Indigenous co-designers, I hope.) 

2/15/24

From May 2023: Cotto, Jannan. "The Problem of Pretendians: The Academy and Beyond" presentation at the Inclusive Pedagogy Retreat, GV University Libraries.

Pretendians she listed:  Margaret Peschel,Wendy Makoons Geniusz, Andrea Smith, Susan Taffe Reed. 

Jannan recommended the research of Kim TallBear. 

Looks like I should be browsing this journal periodically: American Indian Culture and Research Journal (AICRJ). 

Also, Lin Bardwell reminded me to read Decolonizing Methodologies : Research and Indigenous Peoples by Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2021)

1/23/24

Littletree, Sandra, Nicola Andrews, & Jessie Loyer. (2023). Information as a relation: Defining Indigenous information literacy. Journal of Information Literacy, 17(2), pp. 4–23. https://doi.org/10.11645/17.2.8  

This is a fantastic article! The authors define Indigenous IL as using info to gain or create knowledge while practicing relationality, reciprocity, and respect (p.4), and the "skills needed to conduct respectful research with Indigenous peoples, materials, and lands" (p.5). The Indigenous librarians are "accountable to ancestors, future generations, and the knowledges they are reclaiming" (p.18), and they "serve to position libraries as welcoming spaces where Indigenous knowledge systems, sovereignty, survivance, and joy can all flourish" (p.18).

Things to remember when working with Indigenous students: 

• Pay attention to their physical, emotional, and spiritual health. As librarians, we are caregivers, and need to care for students outside of classes too. E.g., provide food and drink in the library or in our offices, inquire about how they are/their lives, be open about our own views/lives (p.14-15).
• Help them plan for the times when the info they find in library research is harmful, asking how they will cope when that happens. (E.g., ceremony, spending time in nature, consulting elders/family, listening to their dreams, creating art....) 
• Remind students that Indigenous info also includes "oral histories, songs, dances, ... and...beadwork, drums, wampum belts, winter counts, etc." (12) and the land itself, food ways, weavings, jewelry.... 
• Do they know what their own "protocols for using and receiving information" (p.5) are?
• We have to also ask permission to share these types of info (p.13), in what season/s, and how info sharers want to be acknowledged. What are the boundaries, respectful ways around info? 
• How can they respond to the info? We all have "a reciprocal relationship with information" (p.16), and "their perspective is just as important as all the other Western research" (p.12). How will students help their communities with what they've learned? How will they practice accountability to "ancestors, future generations" (p.18)? "[R]esearch is a conversation with their communal histories made personal" (pp.16-17).
• Should we have Indigenous IL outdoors, "to hear protocols for sharing knowledge" (p.13)?

Here's an interesting assignment by Jennifer O'Neal, interviewed in this article: "find five to ten sources by Native authors or from Native sources...requires students to determine if the author is Native, and if they are, to describe what tribe they are from as well as their perspective" (12).