A young Ora out exploring in the mountain woods of her childhood home. 🙜 {October 2020} Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! If you aren't from North Carolina or if you are, the governor just made the day officially Indigenous Peoples' Day. Very cool and smart, considering NC has the largest indigenous population east of the Mississippi. Here's a nice summary of the state-recognized tribes of NC and links to their tribe websites with donation information: [link!](https://americanindiancenter.unc.edu/resources/about-nc-native-communities/) I've been thinking a lot about [The Gift](https://americanindiancenter.unc.edu/resources/the-gift/) and [Senora Lynch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senora_Lynch). NC has a deep tradition of pottery; the soil is great to make clay. This piece is not pottery, but The Gift's turtle and dogwood motifs inspired them, in a vague, roundabout way. Something about molding the earth with your hands and escaping out of your shell into the shell of the forest.