A superior view
19/04/08 19:21
The views
from our motel rooms just keep getting better. Moving
from Green Bay to Ashland also meant moving from a
view of Lambeau Field to a view of Lake Superior. The
surface is still frozen, and just a few weeks backs
it was even dotted with tiny shacks. Local fishermen
would go there to punch holes in the ice and fish -
and to get a bit of respite from their wives. So our
friends up at Northland College tell us. They live in
a house on campus called Gaia's Craddle. The house
used to be a designated gender studies house, and one
of the rooms is reserved for distressed women seeking
shelter from abusive husbands. Apparently, that is
how you come full circle up here. The men take to the
lake, while the women take to Gaia's Craddle.
Ashland
is a small community of some 8000 inhabitants. Most
of them used to be in the iron mining business, but
since resources became depleted back in the 1960s,
students and tourists are all they have to go on. Big
wooden villas line most of the broad streets, but
their size betray the average income in the area.
Still, though money are scarce except for the tourist
season, you can easily see why people should choose
to live here. Lake Superior is always in view from
the many streets that slant down towards it, and
everywhere you go, nature follows with you. The area
used to be occupied by Native Americans who were
guided here by prophecy. The prophecy spoke about
"the food that grows on water", and that food turned
out to be the wild rice that grows not only on the
surface of the lake, but also on the moving bodies of
water in the surrounding rivers. Today, Ashland is
flanked by two Native American Reserves - Bad River
and Red Cliff.
We drove through Bad River Reserve coming here from
the east on Highway 2, but all we saw was a big
casino. Maggie from Gaia's Craddle tells us that the
reserve is mostly off limits to non-natives. However,
one of her professors at Northland is a Native
American, and she is trying to arrange for him to
show us around the reserve. If that comes through,
you will be sure to hear more about it soon. For now,
just sit back for a moment, and enjoy the peaceful
tranquility of the frozen lake.
