2019 Beauty Way Tour Kicks Off

It’s time to go back. For nearly three decades we have been sharing your goodwill and generosity with resistors of forced relocation in the Big Mountain-Black Mesa-Sand Springs regions deep in the heart of the Dine’ (Navajo) Nation.

The age of coal is coming to an end.  They remain. The people who fought for the right to live on the land creator gave them are victorious in the struggle, at great cost.  Clean water, air, and land have all been compromised.  People have lost homes and years of life to the coal and uranium mining, processing and transporting of these resources. All across the reservation and beyond indigenous people have paid an even higher cost than the rest of us in the era of climate disruption caused by fossil fuel consumption.

The saga of the people as they stand against corporate power and massive degradation of sacred land as some of the first climate activists on earth and our story of using music and the power of community connection to support them has been well documented and woven into a compelling story by Shelley Muniz in the new book When The Creator Moves Me.

 

Shelley has been embedded with the band for several years, touring and making the journey to the reservation.  The book tells the story of our involvement with the Dine’ Resisters woven in with history and stories from the land.  It’s been getting some great reviews.

As we raise funds for this year’s journey we are offering a copy of When The Creator Moves Me to everyone who contributes $50 or more to this year’s Beauty Way Tour and Thanks Giving journey.  You will find the donate button on the Beauty Way page of clandyken.com

There is still so much to learn from those who walk the Beauty Way with language, songs, ceremonies and traditions that come from a connection to the land.  Your gifts help us bring food, firewood, warm clothes, dog food, and other supplies to those who remain.  It keeps our connection alive and reminds them they are not alone.  In our small way, we continue to support and honor them.

With all the people have given to hold on, our costs to show this support are relatively minor but expensive in the moment.  To get a cord of wood out to these remote locations is $250 and we need at least 20 cords – $5000,100 bags of dog food at $30 per 50# bag cost $3000, we spend over $10,000 on food and supplies. Add transportation the whole thing comes up to around $25-30,000.  This year we also want to start supporting reservation schools with no strings attached cash grants of up to $1000.

You can also contribute by coming to the shows and helping us build the energy for the journey to the land.  If you are up for the ultimate Thanks Giving experience you can join the caravan.  However you choose to be a part of this great exchange we are grateful and proud to be your representatives in delivering your support.

 

Praise For When The Creator Moves Me

 

“Reading with a effortless literary ease that is like listening to an extended conversation, “When the Creator Moves Me: A Story about Music, Resistance, and Creative Activism” is impressively informative, thought-provoking, emotionally evocative, and a valued contribution to the growing body of literature with respect to 20th Century Native American History. A deftly written and detailed account from first page to last, “When the Creator Moves Me” is an extraordinary, erudite, and unreservedly recommended addition to personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library collections.”

-Midwest Book Review

“After finishing this stunning book (When the Creator Moves Me), I contacted Shelley Muniz to let her know that saying I enjoyed it would do it no justice. I have been moved by its creators, to borrow a phrase.

Shelley is an extraordinary writer, storyteller – wait until you read the beauty of her stories within the story of this book – and historian, and it’s been my privilege to have gotten to know her better. It shouldn’t surprise you to know that she is also a dyed-in-the-wool activist now involved in building the sustenance of a local Resiliency Village through which to improve the quality of life in her local community.

It was quirky reading her book because I have wondered what it would be like to go on the Beauty Way tour, having known of it, and the work of its chief protagonist, Mark Dyken, for some years. (We met when he and another traveler, Catherine Lambie, attended a workshop I conducted on grant proposal writing many years back.)

With this book, I am getting to know in absentia, with a certain measure of longing, and a back-and-forth between admiration for courage in abundance among the travelers and those they visit, and a sadness beyond rage at the circumstances that necessitate gritted teeth in some of what I read. For example, Mark Dyken’s words:

“It’s hard to imagine what it might be like to face the end of your culture and way of life. To know that the government of this country, formed to protect the rights of all of its citizens, has betrayed you over and over, all for the benefit of profit. To watch the plants, animals, water, and the land itself disappear as the traditional Dineh dwindle in number. It has gotten to the point where the simple act of planting corn has become a major act of resistance against great odds. One of the Grandmothers, a friend of ours, often says, ‘the sheep are my children. The horses are our relatives too.’ This kind of logic, the simplicity, and basic truths – it’s hard to deny that we feel a calling, or that there is a connection for us. The land is everything. Water is life, You hear that over and over out there.”

I must confess to being one of a growing lot of us who is persuaded that we have ceded our capacity to control much of what the natural world has in store for us. This allows me to suggest time and again that best we can muster under the circumstances is a reasonable way to respond to what’s in the works. Nothing I have seen better embodies this than the actions around and of the annual Beauty Way Tour. It exemplifies what those of us in a mutual support group often refer to as doing the next right thing. You owe it to your heart to read this book.”

-Harvey Chess

When The Creator Moves Me Cover

 

“In the tradition of Jack Kerouac and Tom Wolfe and other great road trip chroniclers, Muniz embeds herself with a traveling band on a bus tour, to capture the intimate details of a unique cross-cultural experience. This adventure transcends “life-for-its-own-sake,” beatnik and hippie predecessors with highly purposed altruism, the band’s annual Beauty Way Supply Run to bring support to aging Navajo/Dineh resisters in the Black Mesa region of northeastern Arizona. The journey is full of antics and music, its destination a parched natural world you can taste and feel; along the way encountering the shame of history and culminating in the hope of activism. When the Dyken boys, a literal “band of brothers” from Wisconsin, migrate to northern California at the end of the nineteen-seventies, they form a folk-rock group playing Whole Earth festivals and protest events, meeting up with hippie icons such as Wavy Gravy. By the early nineties, now calling themselves Clan Dyken, their path leads to Big Mountain, where corporate interests and government action have partitioned the heart of the Navajo reservation to the Hopi. Navajo traditionalists, mostly elders, refuse to leave their ancestral homeland, despite decades of progressive harassment and ever-diminishing resources, particularly water. Muniz walks you across the desert highlands, through sand and sage, inside the hogans, to the looms of the grandmothers. You appreciate the art of Native weaving, the strength of ancient self-sufficiency, and witness the friendship and respect formed between the resisters and Clan Dyken over the past twenty-five years. Muniz’s vivid writing is interleaved with black and white photographs of cracked hands, weathered faces, hard lives, and celebration. A beautiful read!”

— Constance Corcoran, Librarian

 

“This book ultimately is about the possibilities when you bring together creativity and social justice. It’s a much-needed book in our times. Beautifully written and filled with gorgeous photos.”

— Dr. Kate Evans, author of Call It Wonder

 

“It’s often hard, in this day and age, to feel as if any of the world’s problems are within our ability to change and it is easy to fall into apathy or despair. This book is the story of how to change the world with love, music, and a willing listening heart. To quote the author “I have to believe we can make it better.”. Hopeful and heartbreaking at the same time When the Creator Moves Me is a beautiful history of people connecting and helping each other and the land. A must-read for anyone who is trying to better this world and feeling outnumbered.

–Lara Ford, instructor, Columbia College

 

“This book tells the tale of two brothers growing up in middle America, raising their families and becoming aware of the many challenging social, political and environmental injustices facing humans today. They form a band choosing music as their tool to bring folks together, educate them and motivate them to join the cause. The heart of the book centers on a group of the Dine’ (Navajo) people of Northern Arizona who have been resisting forced relocation from their ancestral homeland for nearly forty years. Mark and Bear travel to Big Mountain where they encounter environmental degradation, social injustice, and political corruption. The beautiful Dine’ people especially the grandmothers and their determined efforts to remain on the land where they were born inspires a decades-long effort of benefit concerts, food and supply runs, and wonderful friendships that continue today. You will enjoy the stories of travels to the rez as well as the adventures and friends made along the way. You will fall in love with the Grandmothers and their determination to Walk the Beauty Way against all odds. I highly recommend this educational and inspiring book.”

— Andrew Franklin

 

“Shelley Muniz, Mark Dyken, and Bear Dyken will touch hearts as they describe life, as they observe it, on a Navajo reservation, from basic human living conditions to environmental destruction. The authors portray the story of Big Mountain, Arizona, as well as the story of the Dyken brothers, whose passion for the environment and human rights led them to the reservation years ago. This compelling and disturbing documentation will make you both laugh and cry, but mostly make you angry as you learn of the injustice and struggles still being endured by the Navajo today. By the time you turn the last page, you’ll want to jump on the Silver Eagle bus, along with Mark, Bear, Shelley and the rest, joining them on the Beauty Way Tour, as they continue their effort to bring food and supplies to the elders of Big Mountain. When the Creator Moves Me is a powerful read that will bring consciousness and compassion to a people who have been neglected far too long.”

–Carol Dali

 

“Anyone who cares about humanity and Mother Earth needs to own this book. The story is riveting and very well written. I recommend it highly.”

–Jon Baumgartner

 

2018 Beauty Way Report

The 2018 Beauty Way Tour and Thanks Giving Supply Run is in the books. Thank you again to all of you who supported the effort. The individuals to thank are too numerous to list. A few of the jobs you covered – organizers, producers, promoters, musicians, sound, lights and stage techs, dancers, cooks, servers, drivers, equipment movers, cleanup crews, radio show hosts and guests, farmers who brought food, crafters, makers, and merchants who donated to silent auctions, and direct to the people and all who came to the shows, filling the blanket. Thank you to the online community that came through with an incredible showing.
After the tour, the journey was made by members of our core crew and as always, some new faces and some we haven’t seen in a while. We were hosted by the Yazzie Family in Sand Springs, and it was wonderful to be there. It is hard to describe all the magic and wonder this collaboration creates. It represents a lot of hard work, dedication, and generosity, and reminds me of what beauty we are capable of when we work together. This project is a special art form, a combination of creativity and activism that spreads joy and love in action from the communities that host the shows to the Dine’ Nation and beyond.
Your support made it possible for us to bring firewood, food, clothing, and other supplies to the people. We were also able to support home repairs, an economic development program, and other direct aid. We left dog food, cat food, and hay for the animals. You bought two brand new, high-quality chainsaws, and the supplies to operate them that have been left with supporters on the land to continue giving after we’re gone.
As generous as you all have been please understand this is not charity, it is an expression of the understanding we are all in this together. Our gifts are modest and small compared to what we get from being on the ground with the people. Our sisters and brothers on the land may not have the kind of material wealth or access to resources we have but they hold something sacred and beautiful for all of us. They are wealthy in other ways and if we are mindful and open the return on our humble offerings is great.
In this era of climate disruption, drought, massive fires, deadly pollution, habitat destruction and loss of species around the world it is clear indigenous wisdom is more valuable than ever. Had we been more respectful and listened all along there can be no doubt we would be living in a cleaner, more peaceful world.
There is also an element of sadness in each journey. There are fewer people in the disputed areas – elders are making their final journey and some are moving for a chance at other opportunities. Not many are currently coming back. The long war of attrition is taking its toll. Our crew found no one living in the community of Teesto and a lone elder with no neighbors for miles on Coal Mine Canyon. Let me tell you a little about Anna Begay.
To get to her place you turn off the paved Highway 264 between Hotevilla and Moenkopi onto a dirt road heading north into Coal Mine Canyon. About five miles of steep hills on this bumpy, beautiful ridge road, which is impassable when it rains or snows, brings you past the empty homes of former neighbors and into Anna’s compound. She has a well-kept corral with five sheep and one horse inside. Two other horses just hang around with the dogs and cats. They all looked well cared for, fed and watered.
This year we arrived shortly after sundown to see a single lantern light in a window of her hogan. We had to knock loudly, she doesn’t hear well and to get to her door and open it she has a string tied to the door frame from her living space that she holds on to as a guide because she is nearly blind. I don’t know how old she is, but we’ve been visiting her for over 20 years and she is most likely in her 80’s. She sits in the quiet dark, alone. There is no electricity, internet, television or radio. She can’t see to read or weave anymore. It’s just Anna and her thoughts, the stars, and the animals.
For some people it is sad to see her like this, others wonder why she doesn’t leave or live in a care facility. But she is not blue over this. She is where she wants to be, on her beloved land with the animals, perfectly content.
The sorrow for me is knowing she is one of only a few left from her generation. She looks like the land; she cares for it as she was taught. Part of that sadness is also understanding we don’t have enough time to learn what she knows.
She was happy with the visit and company. We brought food, firewood – yes, she keeps her hogan warm with wood despite being blind- clothes, a jacket, fleece-lined boots, dog and cat food and hay for the horses and sheep. We had some children traveling with us on this run and even though she doesn’t speak English, Anna held the hand of one of the girls and told stories. She laughed and smiled as she entertained the crew. Like anyone who’s ever been here on one of these trips, those who met her for the first time fell in love. It’s always hard to leave her place but some of Anna’s medicine and strength is passed on to anyone in her presence. It lingers as trucks rumble off into the night and eventually finds a place in the heart. It’s part of what brings us back. It’s part of why I can’t thank you enough for sending us.
There is so much going on in this world and we are bombarded with images and stories of people in crisis and need every waking minute through unlimited media sources. It can cause compassion fatigue, especially for those who have hearts like yours. I know many of you are involved in other important causes and some work in the fields of service where secondary trauma is a real job hazard. That’s why it’s so impressive we’ve been able to keep this project alive for 27 years.
The forced relocation of indigenous people in the name of corporate resource extraction -particularly coal, which has done so much damage to the environment and is a leading cause of climate disruption- doesn’t make headlines or nightly news feeds but is an injustice of epic proportions, a representation of so much of where we’ve gone wrong.
Over and over when we make deliveries and talk to the people they tell us how much it means to be remembered and acknowledged. By staying connected to these front-line earth defenders we help to kindle the flame of hope.
Every single volunteer and contributor was with us on the journey, feeding the flame and in those moments, walking in beauty with the people. You make Thanks Giving possible.