The Writer
Come Along With Me
Image by Glow of the Lion
Hižąkiišąną Hįįnį Karagiwiną (Greetings to each and every one of you),
I’m so happy you’ve found my blog and thank you for taking the time to visit my website!
Here, I write about a variety of things that are a part of me. No matter how insignificant, embarrassing, strange, practical, mushy, overdone, nerdy, ludicrous, disgusting, creepy, paranoid, shocking, indecisive, overwhelming, etc., something may turn out to be for me, all kinds of colors and shades will eventually be here because my philosophy about life in general is underneath our experiences there are chances to grow.
Now, that’s not to say I ponder why I got that gnarly papercut when I tore into the package I’d rabidly been waiting for. I’m talking about when events hit me hard, and I don’t understand why they happened or why things got blown out of proportion and escalated into something that didn’t need to be so ugly in the first place. I’ll take the time to try to figure them out even though it can be challenging, frustrating and snail-like before I think I see it. Be that as it may, I like to think it’s worth the effort regardless of whatever light that puts me in because how else am I going to stop making the same mistakes if I don’t?
But first things first. What language did I greet you all in and where does Mimike M. Mountainwater come from?
Organic
Image by Mimike M. Mountainwater
The greeting and Mimike, pronounced mĭh-mee-kay (I left the stresses out as I am not fluent) are words from the Ho-Chunk Nation or part of the Hocąk language, or Hoocąk.
I chose it because I am a tribal member of this eastern woodland group, which is why I wanted the language of the People of the Sacred Voice to help me with my fictitious name. But in my very stunted experience with them, I haven’t met many others in our community whose first names reflect our tongue like this. Typically, their first names are like any other American name you will hear.
However, names are also obviously myriad.
Acknowledging I am a tribal member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, I’d like to touch on how important it is that my audience understands I do not speak for anyone but myself. Everything I share here will always be just my own feelings, experiences, thoughts, creations, etc., unless otherwise specified (i.e., giving credit for any photographs, writings, etc.) on my “author” website. I put author in quotes as I do not have any published books. But, one day, I hope to see Mimike M. Mountainwater on my own traditionally published book covers.
However that unfolds, I’ll just keep learning, reading and practicing.
A Monarch Butterfly Perched on Orange n Flowers photo courtesy of David Levinson
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Attribution License at Pexels
The butterfly is a beautiful insect, but I didn’t put it here just because it’s pretty. I wanted to share how I came up with my pen name because it didn’t happen overnight.
In my native tongue, I discovered mimike means “butterfly.” I know my tribal heritage is a big part of why I have much love and respect for nature, but butterflies are among one of my favorites. Since I’m well aware of some animals’ and plants’ edge of extinction status, I decided Mimike would function as a representative for all the aching wildlife out there. A gentle reminder to myself, because I know I can get busy and distracted in my life, that they are hurting and need all the help I can spare to ease their burdens in my part of the world.
One of my favorite resources with this is Tony Gomez’s Monarch Butterfly Garden website and how to “Bring Home the Magic of Monarchs,” which I’d like to say thank you to Tony for sharing his love and knowledge and making me feel that sweet wonder from my childhood.
Another resource I like is Scatterseed Project created by Will Bonsall. With 94% of seed varieties already lost, protecting the future of seed diversity has never been more crucial. However, the last time I checked I was unable to buy seeds from Scatterseed Project. I hope this changes someday but, until then, thank you to author Diane Wilson for referring other nonprofit organizations in her Author’s Note of The Seed Keeper:
Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance
These are great resources for preserving healthy seeds and also offer other wonderful information.
Stone M
Image by Mimike M. Mountainwater
When I was thinking of the pseudonym I wanted, I’d initially decided it wouldn’t encompass any part of my birth or native name.
In the curious way of how my mind works at times though, I actually came up with Mountainwater first. More time passed before I finally found mimike on the web. It wasn’t until I saw how the name was coming together that I acquiesced and went ahead with using the first letter of my birth name for my middle initial here to make the triple M.
I changed my mind because I ended up liking how it looked not just for its redundancy in being able to use the word “triple” with all the M’s but for its association with food and how we can sometimes feel when tasting something delicious… mmm. I really love this because I’m hoping I can eventually have this blog turn out to be a place where people can enjoy spending their time as they drink their beverage of choice and/or eat their favorite foods as they read through the many colors of my kaleidoscope.
Rocky Mountain Covered with Snow photo courtesy of Stein Egil Liland
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The way I came up with Mountainwater is similar and different to Mimike. When I think of mountain water, my mind goes to our requisite glaciers that are also vanishing, and I feel time being lost like sand through my fingers.
But I also think about how clear and refreshing and resounding mountain water can be. Though butterflies, wild seeds and glaciers are fading from our world, these are only a dash of the parts of nature I find beautiful, soothing and breathtaking. Ultimately, this is what I want to hold onto and what I endeavor my blog can be one day for anyone who wants to stay…
to make others feel something just as endearing, to maybe help them feel closer to whatever they may feel far away from, to create worlds others can get lost in and make them feel it all through the writing I’ve come to love. At the very least, I hope to make everyone laugh at some point when they stop by as I am also a big believer in finding something to smile about every day.
Woman Standing in Front of a Projection photo courtesy of Mikhail Nilov
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For anyone curious about how to say the above greeting (I’m not going to even attempt to try phonetically spelling that one), please visit the pronunciation video by Ho-Chunk Renaissance titled “Greetings.” The salutation I used is located at time marker 1:27.
I included the marker as I understand many of us can feel pressed for time, but I hope some of you will go back at your leisure and listen to the whole thing as it is an endangered tongue. While the Ho-Chunk Nation does have a language division in place to help revive our words, it is a slow process.
Maybe this all ended up being more than what some might have been looking for, or not enough, or even unusual. Whatever the case, this is what turned out to feel the best for me to have here. I hope something somewhere connects with whoever comes to visit my little world and that it’s enough to help more of you than not decide to stay.
Many thanks to David Levinson, Stein Egil Liland and Mikhail Nilov for sharing their pictures – they’re beautiful. And, finally, for anyone who’d like to learn a little more about my website you can find more information under “Website Guide” in my menu bar.
Until next time,
Pinagigi (pee-nah-gee-gee, thank you)
