Re-Gain

​Saving Our Land ​Rejuvenating the American spirit comes from our connection with our land, water, and air. Saturday, September 26th, is National Public Lands Day, when we celebrate our parks and all those who care for them. As the nation's largest single-day volunteer effort, it honors the bond between people and nature while caring for our shared spaces. ​Two hundred and fifty years after the birth of the United States, it is worth remembering that one of our most powerful acts of national renewal didn’t happen during the Revolution. It happened in the 1930s, when a country reeling from economic collapse used the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to restore not just American landscapes, but the physical memory of America’s origins. Today, more than fifty museums and interpretive centers remind us that keeping our outdoors healthy is critical to our future. ​Growing up in Washington, D.C., I always found tremendous tranquility in the woods. Today, I live nestled betwee...

​Thirty years ago, I drove a neighbor home as she vented her outrage over the sheer number of billionaires and the obscenity of their wealth. Ironically, her own home housed roughly $80 million in inherited artwork—including Picasso sculptures and multi-million-dollar paintings—which she later donated to the National Gallery of Art. ​Even among those with substantial fortunes, the true scale of inequality is hard to grasp. Teachers, firefighters, construction workers, and nurses face an economy where the top 1% holds over $40 trillion in total wealth, far outpacing the bottom 99% combined. ​The middle and upper-middle classes feel the pressure, too. While households in the 80th to 95th percentiles hold significant wealth compared to those below them, many in this bracket still feel financially squeezed. Meanwhile, the broader middle class remains distinct from those living in poverty, yet what little wealth they possess is largely locked up in home equity, offset by mortgag...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbKIPSdjlh0 ​ The American spirit cannot truly thrive until it reconciles with truth and justice. ​My commitment to this reconciliation began in college. Driven by outrage over how our government historically treated—and continues to treat—First Peoples, I set out to study social welfare.  ​ My journey reached a pivotal moment in 1978 during the Longest Walk, a five-month, 2,800-mile peaceful march from Alcatraz Island to Washington, D.C. Marchers walked across the continent to oppose federal bills that threatened Indian treaties, eliminate reservations, and strip away tribal sovereignty. ​When the marchers arrived in D.C., I went to the Lincoln Memorial to offer my support. I donated my teepee—which became the sacred medicine tent for the gathering—along with my first car, a VW Bug I handed over and never saw again. ​ Years later, amid the heavy emotional aftermath of 9/11, I helped organize several sweat lodges with Richard Moves Camp, a Lakota med...