![\"\"](\"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/blueberries-150x150.jpg\" "\\"blueberries\\"")
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PICKING AT BLUEBERRY HILL<\/p>\n
\u201cBlueberry\u00a0Hill\u201d is both a song popularized by<\/p>\n
Fats Domino and an early 1970\u2019s memory of a place<\/p>\n
Where the daughter of a Jewish tribe<\/p>\n
Went picking blueberries with daughters of the Ojibwa<\/p>\n
On Wikwemikong Reserve, Manitoulin Island<\/p>\n
At night, the jewel-like stars twinkled in a black sky<\/p>\n
By day, the landscape was flat or<\/p>\n
Round shoreline or grassy meadow<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Girls picking berries was something to do<\/p>\n
A way to honour ourselves<\/p>\n
An expression of gratitude to our Earth Mother<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Working as clerk, singer, general factotum for<\/p>\n
The Ontario M\u00e9tis and Non-status Indian Association<\/p>\n
Garnered me an invitation to Wiki<\/p>\n
My looks were culturally ambiguous, plaited long black<\/p>\n
Hair and darkish skin tone – I could be anyone\u2019s cousin<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Off we girls went to the mound, the berry patch<\/p>\n
Each filling a little bowl with as much as we could find<\/p>\n
The berry patch wasn\u2019t very big and so the pickings<\/p>\n
Weren\u2019t very fruitful but I had never seen white,<\/p>\n
Greenish (unripened) blueberries<\/p>\n
Mother Earth would also reward us with raspberries<\/p>\n
The skill was to touch softly, lovingly<\/p>\n
If the berry was ripe it would come off the twig easily<\/p>\n
If not, leave it to ripen under a golden sun<\/p>\n
It was a sacred, spiritual experience<\/p>\n
Each berry was thanked, developing a dialogue between<\/p>\n
Person and fruit-life<\/p>\n
To this day, \u201cBlueberry Hill\u201d is not just a song<\/p>\n
But a tender, treasured memory<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Submitted by Honey Novick PICKING AT BLUEBERRY HILL \u201cBlueberry\u00a0Hill\u201d is both a song popularized by Fats Domino and an early 1970\u2019s memory of a place Where the daughter of a Jewish tribe Went picking blueberries with daughters of the Ojibwa On Wikwemikong Reserve, Manitoulin Island At night, the jewel-like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1660"}],"version-history":[{"count":99,"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}