The Lodge

Last night I went to sweat lodge here in Salt Lake City. This is a wonderful part of the world. There are many reasons to love it here. There is great natural beauty and no matter what your “thing” is, there’s more to do here than can fill the week’s calendar. Since I spend a fair amount of time in New York, LA and San Francisco, I do notice that there are fewer choices, but that’s the difference in a city of eight million people and a city of a million (and that’s the whole Wasatch front I think). But if you like to be outside (and I do so love to be outside), Salt Lake is a great place to live. When it comes to things like hiking, and rock climbing and biking and so forth, you’d be hard pressed to find a better place to be. And of course, as the license plates say, we have “the greatest snow on earth.” Another thing to love about Salt Lake, and about the region in general is the access to Native culture and wisdom. Native Heritage people, people of immigrant descent and those of us who are some combination of both, gather weekly at sweat lodges, drum circles, pipe ceremonies and pow wows. There will never be anything that can “make right” the genocide of the indigenous peoples which began this country but at least the culture gets to survive (some, and so far).
The place where I went to Lodge last night is the home of Bruce Frazier and Jerry Buie. I’ve sweated there a few times now.
I generally don’t speak about what happens for me in Lodge. But I will say that last night I got exactly what I needed. I’m more clear and focused on at least the next couple of steps down this path of Life. And I am now at peace with Alex’s death.

Aho Mataqui Oyasin