To Be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers

Winter Count
ancestors and those to the west used to keep track of historic events on
My
wiigwaas, our bark, or Winter Counts — records inked on bu alo and
our
robes. Our ancestors would remember in these Winter Counts the winter
elk
the snow was higher than the tipis, when the smallpox came and when
when
the people were victorious in a battle.
ey would remember important
events.
this era, I am not sure how I keep track of these moments; maybe
In
or perhaps in my writing. I have yet to draw a Winter Count,
Facebook
on robe or perhaps hemp canvas. at may, however, be in the
recording
What I know now is that I write, usually each day.
future.
will remember this as the year that the Bat Changed the World.
We
at’s
for sure.
e fact is that a virus brought to us by a bat is changing the world,
world of the Wiindigoo. We have some stories of the epic bat in Ojibwe
the
and this will be a new one.
history,
has caused unprecedented social disruption and wreaked havoc
-19
the markets, but it has also resulted in lower energy demand and a
in
signi cant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.
is is where we
understand that crisis is opportunity.
is will be remembered, I am sure, as
time when we changed our direction, and that is because of a bat.
the
are long ago stories. Sometimes the changes come fast, and then it
ere
we slumber for years of solitude. We come to take a moment for
seems
a person for permanent. We are a transient bunch, myself
permanent,
We travel faster than perhaps our spirits can travel, and our
included.
of time change. When we return home, Giiwedinong, we look
perceptions
something familiar, or maybe, in some cases, an improvement, a healing
for
a horse, a person or a place; scar tissue remains. Travel changes your
of
perception of time.
ere is much that can be missed.
we are home, or perhaps when we return home, we remember the
When
of the land. at’s not digital, hourly or mechanical. e time when the
time
maple syruping season is when the crows gather; it’s called Aandeg Biboon,