Autumn By the Creek

. . . Minnehaha Creek, that is!

As anyone who follows this blog would know, since January 2012 I've lived by Minnehaha Creek in south Minneapolis. It's a very beautiful part of the city, and I feel very fortunate to be living here.

A tributary of the Mississippi River, Minnehaha Creek starts at Gray's Bay at Lake Minnetonka and winds 22 miles through the cities of Minnetonka, Hopkins, St Louis Park, Edina, and Minneapolis before flowing into the Mississippi just beyond Minnehaha Falls.

I've come to greatly appreciate and enjoy spending time walking and exploring along that part of this beautiful ribbon of water as it winds through the area of south Minneapolis where I live.

And, of course, it's been an especially wonderful thing to experience the changing seasons – winter, spring, summer, and autumn – when living so close to Minnehaha Creek and its surrounding parkway and areas of urban wilderness.

And so today, the day before my 52nd birthday, I went for a solitary walk along the creek. Most of the images I share in this post were taken during this walk or in the past week. Enjoy!

Above: Standing alongside the tree I've come to experience as my "Prayer Tree."

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:

• An Autumn Walk Along Minnehaha Creek
• From the Falls to the River
• Autumn Beauty
• Autumn Leaves
• O Sacred Season of Autumn
• "Thou Hast Thy Music Too"
• Autumn Hues
• The Prayer Tree
• A Magical Time and Place
• Autumn: Within and Beyond
• Autumn Dance
• Minnehaha Awash

Related Off-site Link:
Autumn Beauty – The Leveret (November 15, 2008).

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Catholics Recognize and Celebrate the Truth of Transgender People: “Their Quest for Authenticity Is a Quest for Holiness"

The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, recently published an article focusing on “the transgender ideology and the church.” Written by Jonathan Liedl with contributions from Maria Wiering, the purpose of this article is to attack what it labels “transgender ideology.”

This label, “transgender ideology,” is key. Why? Because it tells us that this article, one published in the official mouthpiece of the hierarchical church, is not about transgender people but rather about a certain way to look at and frame the discussion about them. What this article is really about is denying and marginalizing transgender people's reality. Thankfully, though, as you'll see, there are Catholics who recognize and celebrate the truth of transgender people and their lives and journeys.

But before we get to those voices, what exactly is the agenda and ideology that the article in The Catholic Spirit is pushing?

Well, Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, is quoted throughout the piece, saying that “transgender ideology is the latest part of the push to create a gender-neutral society.” Adkins believes that same-sex marriage and feminism are “other currents in this movement,” one which is all about “eras[ing] all societal distinctions based on sex,” replacing them with a concept of sex as something interchangeable and subjectively determined. Hmm . . . I think this gives us a fairly clear indication of the right-wing ideology fueling the writing of this article . . . If only we could go back to a world and time when women knew their place, when gays and transgender people were to scared to show their faces, and men where totally in charge! (Father knows best, after all.) And what it is that the men would be in charge of? A a society that respects (i.e., asks no questions of) the all-male clerical culture of the Roman Catholic Church.

Sorry, fellas, that ain't happening. And the vast majority of Catholics are grateful for it. For one thing, such a patriarchal fantasy world contributes to all manner of abusive structures and practices, including the sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Still, stenographers for the architects of the ideology that supports such a fantasy, men like Adkins, for instance, are insistant: “Transgender ideology rejects the truth that we are a body-soul composite and that our biological sex is not incidental to who we are as people, but is a gift from God.”

Actually, it does no such thing, but Adkins has some very powerful allies providing him his script. Indeed, The Catholic Spirit article quoting Adkins also quotes Pope Francis who has frequently condemned so-called “transgender ideology,” characterizing it as “the annihilation of man [sic] as the image of God.”


Catholics respond

Many Catholics are deeply troubled by the official church's stance on the reality of transgender people; and here in Minnesota, many are upset by The Catholic Spirit's recent article, one that implies that with respect to gender we know all that needs to be known. With the development of the science of gender formation, many contend that it is premature to condemn transgender consciousness as "fake", "unreal", or illusory. Such terms are insulting to transgender people.

Two of my Catholic friends, Joe Kruse and Paula Ruddy, have written responses to The Catholic Spirit's article on so-called “transgender ideology.” Joe's was published in The Catholic Spirit as a Letter-to-the-Editor, while Paula's was shared on the newspaper's website as an online comment.

My heart broke reading “Switching Sexes?: Transgender Ideology and the Church” (Sept. 28). Tragically, your paper published this article the same week that Ally Steinfeld, a transgender teenager in Missouri, was tortured and murdered, becoming the 21st transgender person killed in 2017. Despite what the Minnesota Catholic Conference would like us to believe, it is empirically true that transgender individuals are a persecuted minority. In light of the real physical danger that trans people face, it’s hard to see validity in the “fear” and “confusion” of Catholics in the article. The torture endured by Ally is not comparable to the discomfort experienced by Emily Zinos and her family. Any Church that calls itself “pro-life” should do everything in its power to protect the sacred lives of transgender people. Publishing an anti-transgender article full of marginal psychology is decidedly not pro-life. This rhetoric fuels an ostracization of trans people that has repeatedly proven to be lethal.

– Joe Kruse
Minneapolis Catholic Worker

Do I read this right? The Catholic Church's position is that there is no objectivity to the experience of transgender people? They are pathological or lying or following a craze? They are pressured by political "activists" to claim a different gender than their biological gender in order to create a genderless society? Corporations, government, educators, and health professionals are all intimidated by the "activists"? And Jason Adkins advocates for heart over mind in approaching this issue? God has determined each person's gender and it is our gender that makes us in His image and likeness? The generalizations and lack of moderation in judgment, the lack of respect for individual experience leave me aghast. How did we get to this point in our Archdiocese?

– Paula Ruddy

Finally, I share a well-written and insightful response by Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry to Pope Francis' recent denouncement of what he calls the “biologic and psychological manipulation of sexual difference."

Pope Francis has once again entered the discussion of transgender issues with a statement that reveals the pontiff does not yet comprehend issues of gender identity.

In a statement to the Pontifical Academy for Life’s general assembly, he said: “The biologic and psychological manipulation of sexual difference, which biomedical technology allows one to see as open to free choice – which it’s not! – is thus likely to dismantle the source of energy that nourishes the alliance of man and woman and makes it creative and fruitful.”

By referring to transgender people’s desires to transition as “manipulation” and a “free choice” Pope Francis shows that he does not understand that for transgender people, a transition is a discovery and affirmation of who God created them to be. Gender is more than a biological reality. It also includes psychological, emotional, cultural, and spiritual dimensions. When some people seek surgery to confirm their gender identity, they are celebrating their God-given identities. A decision to transition is often made after many years of confusion and turmoil, as well as many forms of discernment with medical, psychological, and spiritual authorities.

In another section of his talk, the pontiff said that men and women “were created, in their blessed difference; together they have sinned, for their presumption to replace God; . . . to honor the care of the world and the history that He has entrusted to them.”

Transgender people actually acknowledge the importance of gender since they recognize how important it is for them to live as their authentic gender, not by the gender assigned to them at birth which was based on the minimal evidence of external genitalia. Transgender people see this difference as “blessed,” as God-given, not something that they chose. Their quest for authenticity is a quest for holiness. They seek to “honor the care” of the identity and life that they have been given.

To say that transgender people are acting against the plan of God is actually itself a rejection of God’s plan for these sacred human beings.

– Francis DeBernardo
New Ways Ministry, October 6, 2017

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – September 21, 2016
• Quote of the Day – August 25, 2015
• Standing with Jennicet Gutiérrez, “the Mother of Our Newest Stonewall Movement”
• Signs and Wonders Continue
• Lisa Leff on Five Things to Know About Transgender People
• Shannon Kearns’ Transgender Day of Remembrance Message: “We Are Beloved Children of the Universe”
• Putting a Human Face on the 'T' of 'GLBT'
• Living Lives of Principle

Related Off-site Links:
Transgender Catholics Hope to Build Bridges in the Church – Michael O'Loughlin (Crux, March 7, 2016).
What is Gender? Or Why the Term is Both Meaningless and Indispensable – Anna Magdalena (The Catholic Transgender, August 16, 2015).
Transgender and Catholic – Nick Stevens (The New York Times via The Progressive Catholic Voice, May 24, 2015).

Image: Reuters/Tami Chappell.

Photo of the Day

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• I Knew It!
• Photo of the Day – March 23, 2011
• Out and About – March 2011
• Out and About – Autumn 2012
• Photo(s) of the Day – December 7, 2012
• Photo of the Day – September 18, 2014
• Out and About – Summer 2014
• Sleepy Eddie

Related Off-site Link:
Dogs May Understand Even More Than We Thought – Knvul Sheikh (Scienticfic America, August 30, 2016).

Image: Eddie (10/15/2017) by Michael J. Bayly.

A Visit to Gunnedah

My sharing of images and commentary on my time in Australia during July and August continues with this latest installment – one which highlights a visit with my parents to our hometown of Gunnedah. (To start at the beginning of this series, click here.)

My parents have lived in Guruk (a.k.a. Port Macquarie) since 2002, and the drive from this town on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales inland to the rural town of Gunnedah takes about four-and-a-half hours.

In traveling across the mountains from the coast to the New England Tablelands, the towns and villages one passes through are Wauchope, Walcha, Bendemeer, and Moonbi, and the city of Tamworth.

Above: In Tamworth I caught up with my friend Julie, with whom I went to primary (elementary) and high school in Gunnedah. Julie now lives and works in Tamworth and it was great to catch up with her as we hadn't seen in other in over 20 years!

. . . In fact, I'm pretty sure the last time I saw Julie was in Gunnedah in January of 1994, just before I relocated to the U.S. That's when the picture above was taken. In this photo Julie and I are pictured with three of our school friends. From left: Julie, Michelle, me, David, and Joanne.

Above: With my mum, Margaret, and my Aunt Ruth (mum's younger sister) – Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Above: Mum as a child holding an even younger Ruth. This photograph was taken in Gunnedah sometime in the early 1940s.

Above: Ruth graduating from the Royal Women's Hospital in Paddington, Sydney, in 1968. Pictured with her are her parents (my maternal grandparents) Valentine (1890-1971) and Olive Sparkes (1906-1997).

Above: Mum with her cousins Ron, Betty, and Joan – August 16, 2017.


Right: My Uncle Michael (mum's brother) with his cousin Ron (left).


Gunnedah and its surrounding area were originally inhabited by indigenous Australians who spoke the Kamilaroi (Gamilaraay) language. The area now occupied by the town was settled by Europeans in 1833. Through my maternal grandmother’s family, the Millerds, my family can trace its connection to Gunnedah back to the town’s earliest days. For more about the town’s history and my family’s connection to it, see the previous Wild Reed posts, My “Bone Country” and Journey to Gunnedah.

Above: My dad, Gordon, with his good friend (and our family's former next-door-neighbor) John Sills – Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

Above: Dad and John in the 1950s.

Above: Another photo from the archives! That's Dad third from left and John at far left. In scanning and saving this photo onto his computer, dad named it "The Untouchables."! I guess they were quite the team!

Above: Good friends (and former Gunnedah next-door-neighbors) John and Heather Sills.


Left: My childhood friend Jillian and her husband David. Jillian is John and Heather's youngest daughter.

Above: With Jillian – August 16, 2017.

Left: With family friends Gwen (right) and her daughter Denise.

Right: Wendy (another daughter of Gwen's) and her husband Gary.

Above and below: Scenes of Conadilly Street, Gunnedah's main street – Thursday, August 17, 2017.

Above and below: Mum and Dad, catching up with many of their Gunnedah friends – August 17, 2017.

Above: Mum and Dad with friends and former neighbors Jan and Stan Wallace.

Above: With Sister Gabrielle (left) and Sister Christine, two of my former high school teachers. Both women are Sisters of Mercy, which was the order that founded my high school, St. Mary's College.

Above: On the evening of August 17, I met up with a number of my old high school friends at the Gunnedah Golf Club. Back row from left: Louise, Paul, and Joanne. Front row: me, Mick, and David.

NEXT: Last Days in Australia

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Australian Sojourn, May 2016: Part 9 – Gunnedah
• Australian Sojourn, March 2015: Part 12 – Gunnedah
• A Visit to Gunnedah (2014)
• Journey to Gunnedah (2011)
• This Corner of the Earth (2010)
• An Afternoon at the Gunnedah Convent of Mercy (2010)
• My "Bone Country" (2009)
• The White Rooster
• Remembering Nanna Smith
• One of These Boys is Not Like the Others
• Gunnedah (Part 1)
• Gunnedah (Part 2)
• Gunnedah (Part 3)
• Gunnedah (Part 4)

Photo of the Day

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Autumn . . . Within and Beyond
• O Sacred Season of Autumn
• "Thou Hast Thy Music Too"
• Autumn Beauty
• Autumn Leaves
• Autumn Hues
• The Last of Autumn Hues
• From the Falls to the River
• Autumn Dance

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Michael Greyeyes' "Role of a Lifetime"

An artist I greatly admire – actor, dancer, and choreographer Michael Greyeyes – is set to portray the Hunkpapa Lakota holy man Sitting Bull in the upcoming film, Woman Walks Ahead.

The film, directed by Susanna White, tells the real-life story of 19th-century artist and activist Caroline Weldon (Jessica Chastain) who in 1889 traveled from New York City to the Dakota Territory to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull.

Left: One of four portraits of Sitting Bull painted by Caroline Weldon.

Woman Walks Ahead has been getting decidedly mixed reviews. IndieWire's David Ehrlich opines that "as a self-contained story . . . the film suffers enormously from its slippery grasp of history, all of its narrative thrust slipping through the cracks between fact and fiction." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter offers a similar critique, noting that "the story never comes to convincing life and doesn’t, in the end, have anywhere particularly surprising or interesting to go."

McCarthy does, however, concede that Steven Knight's screenplay presents a "plaintive look at a highly unlikely relationship dotted with moments of connection and mutual sympathy." He also writes that Greyeyes ("lithe, tall and handsome") delivers "all that the script allows, which doesn’t include deeper feelings or subtext that would have made the characters more complex."

Katherine Murray, writing for Pop Matters, also takes issue with the film, noting that "it confuses different types of oppression, and seems to propose that people who’ve experienced misogyny are uniquely qualified to understand racism and vice versa. In the process, it glosses over the specifics of each situation in favour of recycling the message that all suffering is the same."

Above: Michael Greyeyes as Sitting Bull and Jessica Chastain as Catherine Weldon in Woman Walks Ahead.

Nicholas Olsen shares a more positive review and, in the process, offers high praise for Greyeyes' portrayal of Sitting Bull.

[Director Suzanne] White keeps the drama taut while positioning it beside a raw aesthetic, perhaps a bit too unpolished. It’s a quiet endeavour with uneasy surges of emotion throughout. Greyeyes’ presence is astounding, overshadowing every inch of the screen when he appears. The larger than life fighter and holy man, forced into submission but his heart still strong and his body physically mangled. He mentions the bullets lodged in his torso and how they dance inside him. Sitting Bull at the end of his run is fascinating, a ghost of the past not yet joining the dance of the dead.

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw also praises Greyeyes in his write-up of the film, noting that:

Michael Greyeyes . . . is a calm, yet brooding figure as Sitting Bull, almost like Napoleon at St Helena, the great military commander reduced to a quasi-retirement, digging potatoes and accepting a future of farming, rather than hunting ­– on land given on the white man’s say-so. He meets cute with Caroline: she patronisingly tries to address him in a kind of pidgin English, talking about coming over many rivers and valleys to see him. “So – you came here on the New York train?” asks Sitting Bull sardonically. It is an amusing scene. (I wonder if Steven Knight was inspired by the moment in Crocodile Dundee when the native Australian tells Sue that she can’t take his photograph: “You believe it’ll take your spirit away?” – “No you’ve got the lens cap on.”)

This Sitting Bull, so far from being the noble savage condescendingly imagined by the well-meaning white, is in fact a complex leader and savvy operator who agrees to be painted for a $1000 fee, which he in fact returns to Caroline and which she uses to buy their provisions. He also is an artist himself, having drawn autobiographical scenes from his own life.

Speaking in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last month, Greyeyes said the following about his part in Woman Walk Ahead.

It's the role of a lifetime, certainly. And to play a real hero [is really special]. Sitting Bull is a legendary figure and I have an obligation as an indigenous person and as an artist who cares about representation. I'm there to represent a community and a family – his family still lives and Standing Rock is his home. So I felt a huge obligation and responsibility to play him with integrity and compassion.

In another interview, Greyeyes said that he approached playing Sitting Bull in a human – rather than political – way.

[It's a portrayal that] reflects the contemporary understanding of our world and politics, that Sitting Bull was an enemy of the state. . . . I was playing what at the time would have been considered a terrorist. I was really conscious of that because he was a hero to the people. In this case, the state is on the wrong side. That was a really important way in because of the counter-narratives.

I close with a video interview from last year's Toronto International Film Festival in which Michael, co-stars Jessica Chastain and Sam Rockwell, and director Susanna White share their thoughts on Woman Walks Ahead. Enjoy!





Related Off-site Link:
Director Susanna White on the "Anti-Western" Woman Walks Ahead – Nathalie Atkinson (The Globe and Mail, September 10, 2017).

For more of Michael Greyeyes at The Wild Reed, see:
• Michael Greyeyes on Temperance as a Philosophy for Surviving
• A Warrior's Heart
• Visions of Crazy Horse