Category Archives: environment

Water Unites Us

In 2014, the Milwaukee Water Commons began what was to become their annual celebration of water, “We Are Water” – an event that takes place in August on the shore of Lake Michigan. On the evening of Sunday, August 14, OLB joined the celebration of water set at the South Shore Park Beach. “Somos Agua,” … Continue reading Water Unites Us

Water People Unite: Reflections on Ice

Driving up highway 13 the other night, just north of Washburn, WI, you might have seen a strange sight if you looked through the willow and dogwood and cattails and reeds towards the beach. Weird lighted letters were dancing down the coast, lining up on the sand bar where the Sioux River cuts into the … Continue reading Water People Unite: Reflections on Ice

Listen More & Talk Less: A Veteran’s Reflection on Standing Rock

Editor’s Note: OLB invited writer, veteran and medic Jacob Thomas to reflect on his experience at Standing Rock in early December, 2016. He sent this manuscript en route from Tijuana, MX, where he is working to document deported veterans’ oral histories for the Library of Congress. For more information on this oral history project see the GoFundMe … Continue reading Listen More & Talk Less: A Veteran’s Reflection on Standing Rock

A Year of Water and Indigenous Struggle

This has been a year of intense activism focused upon water and indigenous rights in general, and we at the Overpass Light Brigade have tried to use our visibility to give focus to these issues. Last January hit hard and cold and the freezing weather was a match for the frozen hearts of our state … Continue reading A Year of Water and Indigenous Struggle

The Long Knives and the Seven Fires

Overpass Light Brigade invited Margaret Noodin, an Anishinaabe poet, to write a piece about the struggle at Standing Rock for this blog. This is what she has to say: This poem was written in the midst of the historic show of support for land, water and indigenous life and culture. We all need to raise our … Continue reading The Long Knives and the Seven Fires

News From the Sacred Fire

Writing and above photo by Barbara With Today, Chief Arvol Looking Horse held a ceremony around the sacred fire. The purpose was to hear a report from the UN representatives who have been investigating the allegations of human rights abuses and to bless the belongings of the people who had been jailed. The UN representative, … Continue reading News From the Sacred Fire

Standing Rock Will Prevail

By Barbara With, October 29, 2016 All photos by Barbara With, except “Boys On Horses,” by Joe Brusky Today I made my first visit to the Sacred Stone Camps, the now-famous water protector settlement in Standing Rock, North Dakota. I arrived at Standing Rock casino well past midnight and arose early the next day to get to … Continue reading Standing Rock Will Prevail

Echoes of the Ghost Dance

Memory is long in Indian Country and histories get obscured through the haze of stories untold or skewed in the telling. By the late 1800s, the nomadic Sioux had been relegated to 320 acre plots, their children sent to boarding schools for assimilation into Christendom, and the great buffalo herds all but extinguished. Their once … Continue reading Echoes of the Ghost Dance

Madison City Council Passes Resolution Expressing Solidarity with Resistance Against the Dakota Access Pipeline

The Madison City Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing solidarity with Indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline on Tuesday night. “WHEREAS, the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline would carry as many as 570,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day for more than 1,100 miles from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to Illinois, … Continue reading Madison City Council Passes Resolution Expressing Solidarity with Resistance Against the Dakota Access Pipeline

Sacred Stone and Peaceful Resistance

Since our visit to Sacred Stone Camp, we have been highlighting news and pictures of the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance fight on our Facebook page and in this blog. People are obviously hungry for news about this movement, but we were surprised to see our “total reach,” a barometer of Facebook’s algorithmic dispersal of pages … Continue reading Sacred Stone and Peaceful Resistance