Exciting Launch of Kickstarter Campaign!

This morning, I pushed the magic button, launching the Kickstarter campaign I've been working on for what seems like, years.  I started to do this a few years ago, but it didn't feel like the right time, so I waited. Concentrating on my writing, photography, and just the process of gathering stories, narraitves, research, and living along the rivers.  For years I have immersed myself in this project. It started when I was working on my doctoral dissertation, and I wrote a huge chapter on the history of the indigenous and mixed indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. The chapter was way too long for the purposes of the dissertation, but in that work were the seeds of this project, Ancient River Trails: Voices and Visions of N'chiawana, the Columbia River and Her Tributaries.   

As you probably know, when you're in the middle of a major project of any kind, it's so very important to take breaks, set the work aside, and move our bodies and focus from the work at hand. For me, that has always been to head to the nearest body of water, the place where the water runs, ebbs and flows, and where the sky, land, and waters meet.  Another passion of mine is going back, behind the last known fact or statement, to discover what came before, what was said or done before, and to find the patterns that remain the same in our lives and the ones that seem to have disappeared. The stories of my family were incomplete. There were pieces I knew and large chunks that were mysteries. Some still remain so.  In a naive effort to find my Grandmother's burial site, I found myself tramping through muddy pioneer cemeteries up and down the Columbia and the Willamette Rivers. As I became more aware of tribal and cultural practices of clans and tribes along the coast and rivers, I realized the story of my grandmother lay elsewhere.

While gathering narratives for both my graduate projects (thesis on immigrants and refugees and dissertaion on mixed indigenous peoples in the PNW), I discovered the truth that all of us come from somewhere else, and our roots are spread out through multiple layers of narrative histories, events, shifts in consciousness, and perceptions...our stories change as we tell them, and our stories take on new meaning as we live and continue creating new visions of what has been and who we are. This book that I've been working on began as an attempt to find out about my own inidgenous heritage, but has become something much more. Ancient River Trails: Voices and Visions of N'chiawana, the Columbia River and Her Tributaries, is chronicle of some of the stories that are told of those who lived along these rivers before, of those who live and work these rivers now. It is a living, moving piece of the much longer story of thousands of years of life along our waterways, and how, at this point in time we are seeking to preserve the cultures, languages, stories, and life of the past with the way we are living along, working with, taking care of, and preserving the river and life along the rivers.

I invite all of you to take a look at the video I made to launch my Kickstarter campaign. This campaign is to help me raise awareness and funds needed for completing the book and short film I'm making on the rivers. This winter and spring I will be traveling up the rivers past The Dalles to explore the rivers further east and north. I want to photograph the Snake and Yakama Rivers as they meet the Columbia, and explore more of the smaller tributaries and the lands around the rivers. My desire is to continue meeting people, learning more about the past and the present of life on the rivers, and to preserve some the beauty and some of the cultural narraitives, lore, stories, and language through this book and film. I also wish to encourage others to look beyond what appears to be, to discover the hidden, sometimes forgotten, sacred narrative of life...narratives that deserve to be remembered and honored.

Thank you for supporting me was I continue this leg of the journey, and I welcome your ideas and whatever support you can give me through the Kickstarter campaign.  Keep following the journey, and I will be sharing more as we move into the colder, rainier seasons along the rivers.  Today the fog lays heavy over the river, and the sun that woke us up today, has disappeared behind the dense fog bank. The Wallapa Mountains to the north, appear as only a vague, dark outline against the sky, the ships anchored in the river channel sit like silent giants, their orange line on the ships' hulls, the only color to be seen.  Living by the river is one of the greatest gifts a writer and photographer could ever wish for. This beautiful river, N'chiawana, the Columbia, is life to me, and sharing some of her beauty and stories is my passion. I need your support, and welcome you to share your questions and your interests about the rivers. Think about that which you are passionate about, and step out in some way, no matter how small, towards allowing that passion to grow.  Sometimes we think we are waiting, when in fact we are growing into our passions, and readying ourselves for the next leg of the journey. Letting life unfold, in perfect order and time, allows us to live fully in the truth of the present.  How fortunate we are. 

Rainy Day Pier                                                                                                                                                  Catherine Al-Meten

To view my Kickstarter video and support my project, Ancient River Trails: Voices and Visions of N'chiawana, the Columbia River and Her Tributaries, visit my website or my Kickstarter site.