I met Peter of Suffer Better this year when he got my name from a mutual friend. He asked if I would design the hat for the fall 2024 3k/5k/50k event. We got into the event and everything it means. We discussed land, water, air, and Staunton Park. It felt like a roller coaster ride in all the best ways. In short, Suffer Better aims to care for the land. I am always on board with this work. I was following along until he mentioned the fishslapping component of the run. (Insert record scratch). I suppose it made sense but it threw me for a loop initially.

We discussed everything in-between the skies and sea. Very often organizations are focused on one thing. In truth the ecosystem of our planet doesn’t really allow for that type of single focus. When we say restore the wolves, are we saying we shouldn’t care for livestock? This is a hot topic in Colorado. My natural tendency toward balance became curious when I saw the outrage toward wolf pups. What I know as a Native person is that nature knows best. We’re all doing the best we can from our place of understanding. So how do we care for all of the things simultaneously and in the right way?

I think we have to start with our motivation. Is our motivation to protect a way of being as it relates to profit? Are we truly informed on the history of the situation and how it came to be? (These lessons are well demonstrated in the removal of gray wolves from Yellowstone in the 1920’s. Spoiler alert: It was a disaster and the wolves were subsequently reintroduced.)

The imagery for the Suffer Better hat contains an ancestral rain cloud and fish. It feels like my mission is to continually bring forward a time when balance and reciprocity were at the forefront. If we are to care for everything in-between the sky and sea we cannot be divided in our efforts. However, our efforts must stem from the place of understanding that all things are living and share equal value.

Register for the October 5th event HERE.