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Mark Trahant: Healing the world with totem poles
Sunday, May 22, 2005

"Lummi master carver Jewell James set out on a special healing journey a couple of years ago. His vision was carving healing totem poles that went to New York City in 2002, Pennsylvania in 2003 and the Pentagon last year.

That healing spirit has been public. Thousands of people from across the country have either read about James and the Lummi's House of Tears carvers or have visited one of the 9/11 healing poles.

But this is a story that did not begin with 9/11, nor did it end with the healing pole for the Pentagon.

The story is much older because images of terror, cultural divisions and a confused order of things are part of life for those who grow up in Indian Country. What's remarkable is the vision from people like James and those who work with him, to try and heal the pain that surfaces from those memories."

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: Can a symbol promote healing? (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 5/22)

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