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ininewcrow

@ininewcrow@lemmy.ca

Indigenous Canadian from northern Ontario. Believe in equality, Indigenous rights, minority rights, LGBTQ+, women’s rights and do not support war of any kind.

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ininewcrow,
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This phone is made out of spaghetti and it’s emitting a large amount of radiation.

ininewcrow, (edited )
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I’m Indigenous and I’m actually more afraid of other people in a populated place … you never know what these damned humans will do next.

I have a cabin in the woods with no internet, phone or communications … it’s even out of cell phone range and I feel safer there than anywhere else.

I grew up with stories of Windigo … my parents used to freak us out with campfire stories in the dark and then pat us on the head and tell us to go to bed staring into the dark. My grandmother used to warn us not to make such dirty smoky fires because Windigo might see it from far away and find us.

I spent many nights alone out there and never had a problem … or maybe that is just want Windigo would like you to think.

The stories go hand in hand with stories of cannibalism in my culture. Many of the stories suggest that during times of famine, which regularly occurred before our modern era back about a hundred years ago, people would go mad with hunger. You have to realize that families of about five to ten people lived alone out there alone for months at a time or even years. And when famines occurred, the families would disappear and there would only be one lone survivor and everyone would quickly realize what happened. The legends suggest that over time, those people who had tasted human flesh eventually just started seeing others as prey to be eaten and consumed … they had been taken over by the spirit of Windigo.

And the stories get better because there is no one description of Windigo because it’s a legend that any one who has ever seen very few ever live to tell. One description we were taught as kids is that it is covered in mounds of animal furs and layers of human skin to misshape its human body into a giant monster. The other feature was the teeth and mouth … before it gets to the point of eating actual people, the famished person first starts eating themselves. They start ripping off portions of their lips and mouth to eat. It exposes their teeth and they can no longer close their mouth properly. So now you have this big hulking thing wandering around in the bush and when it looks at you, all you see is human teeth.

This is the Ojibway-Cree version of Windigo in the mushkeg and northern lake lands of Ontario. The descriptions vary from tribe to tribe throughout North America but this is the one I grew up with.

After many years of being in the bush … I’ve yet to see one … but late at night next to my camp fire in the wilderness, I always think of these stories.

ininewcrow,
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lol … this is a great thread for this kind of stuff for me. I’m Indigenous Ojibway-Cree from northern Ontario and I grew up with these stories.

My uncle was born the raised in the bush for about the first 20 years of his life without much. This would be about a hundred years ago now. He said he learned to hunt and trap before his family could use firearms so he knew how to live out there.

He used to tell us stories of how our people used to have a ceremony called the ‘shaking tent’. It’s a small little shelter about four or five feet high where an Elder, spirit leader or shaman would go in, go into a trance and be able to communicate with the spirits or other shamans far away or even see family, friends or enemies. When we told my uncle about the internet, he wasn’t surprised, he used to say, our people were already doing that a long time ago.

I remember one story he repeated often when we were kids. It was about how a young man upset a leading shaman who was too proud and boastful and the young man called him out. The shaman told him he was wrong to do that and that he was being warned that the young man was no in danger. The young man went away from them all with his family and days away and hundreds of miles away he went about his life. Late one night as they sat around his teepee resting … a sudden flash appeared and a spear appeared out of thin air … the young man was swift, caught the spear mid air and threw it back into the light. They said that mitchi-mindoo, the evil spirits were playing tricks again.

Months later, they learned that the shaman that had threatened him had suddenly died. They were told that he was found in his shaking tent one day with a spear in his chest.

I always just ignored this story as a kid … but a few years before my uncle died, he repeated the story to me. He said the young man was his father, my grandfather and that he claimed that he remembered as a little child seeing that flash of light.

I was never able to really believe or disbelieve what he said or what he claimed. It was my uncle who was full of stories like this and we could never really ever tell if what he said was truth, legend, historical fact or just embellishment.

ininewcrow,
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I don’t know … but I can hear the thunder

ininewcrow,
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I guess OP was just slack jawed with not much to say

ininewcrow,
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Where women glow and men plunder?

ininewcrow,
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https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/5e11b6c1-c9ad-4129-b1a6-1102d6a04282.jpeg

ininewcrow,
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Don’t forget old was once new Trek and people didn’t like it back then.

I’ve met people who watched The Original Series as teenagers in the 60s, loved it and never wanted to watch anything else again and say they will never watch any of the new stuff.

Personally I love it all … warts and all.

There is just so much now and it’s not easy to find the time to see it all.

My dream now is to see all of DS9 from beginning to end. I’ve only ever seen a handful of episodes in random order never from beginning to end.

ininewcrow,
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Like a blind man at an orgy … I was going to have to feel my way through

ininewcrow,
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That’s the paradox tho… if they go through, they fulfill the timeline of the future. If they don’t, they break the timeline and now there is a new chance for control to reappear and restart.

The other thing is … these are time paradoxes so whatever happens creates a new universe and we will never become aware of the alternate versions.

But you do have a great point … I was so excited watching the finale that I didn’t think of that.

There are plot holes everywhere that you could fly a star ship through … but I still enjoyed it.

ininewcrow, (edited )
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Which is why I just watch it on my own now. I’ve given up trying to share experiences or convince people to appreciate things I like.

I like things I like and I share them with others who are willing to share that experience with me … I’m not going to try to convince anyone.

When it comes to entertainment I won’t bother disagreeing much any more … but when it comes to real life experience, especially war and death, I’ll argue and fight.

But when it comes to Star Trek, I’m starting to realize that there is no shortage of friends out there like you who I can enjoy all this with.

My only complaint with you is that you are freaking making me so excited to see more … you’ve infected me! What have you done!!!

ininewcrow,
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https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/b536d232-0d97-45e3-b07c-9524bdaa9e51.jpeg

ininewcrow,
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https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/9c06db33-2ee1-4fc1-b181-c2ce664cafa3.jpeg

ininewcrow,
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Take it easy guys … I’ve watched Star Trek for so many years now … I really don’t care what they get right or wrong any more … I just love the series for what it is, it’s been so much part of my life now that it’s like looking at a family member who is decent, has their flaws but I still love none the less.

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/4a3aa56f-5c58-44a5-93eb-ee21a9dce98c.jpeg

ininewcrow,
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Yeah … any sharper and it might cut someone

ininewcrow,
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So many losers, it’ll collapse into a loser black hole

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