Welcome to Gallery VI – Click here to return to Gallery I
Click here for the start – Gallery I – Chiron’s Museum of Marvelous Memes
Half a Century Later: My Odyssey in Journalism
A HALF CENTURY LATER – From the Sandia foothills of New Mexico, I send greetings to all, and a brief message about the art and craft of reporting. I’m a graduate of Boston University’s 1975 journalism program at what is now the College of Communication (COM). I’m still standing. Still writing. Still passionate. Still reporting on the Beauty Way paths integral to our land and our lives.
Fifty years ago as a student, I had the good fortune to be a small part of The News, a valiant student newspaper that in my era had been defunded and kicked off campus. The paper’s great offense? Reporting facts and opinions that embarrassed what we regarded as an increasingly authoritarian BU administration. In other words, putting the skills we were learning in the classroom to the test, and learning that they were often unwelcome.
Vibrant and cheeky, The News persevered through the late 70’s as I recall. Then soon enough – scorned by the admin and depleted of resources (yet possessed of unforsaken integrity) – The News faded away into the vast and ever-expanding morgue of yesterday’s stories. For me, though, the excitement and learning that came from having been part of that honorable student effort endures as a soul satisfaction, a pearl of great price.
This snippet of COM history comes to mind for me now in parallel as the current Administration in Washington intensifies its attacks on all forms of media that exercise their First Amendment Rights (and Responsibilities) by reporting facts or opinions that do not conform to government desires. The stakes are obviously far higher now in the present challenge, far more consequential. The attacks are real, immediate, and impacting every communications professional.
I expect that there’s much ongoing discussion and debate at journalism schools about all of this: the many systematic, focused efforts to muzzle or otherwise control the press. There better be discussion and a great many waves of wise courageous journalism, or we’re in for a long, hard season of thought control, domination, and abuse of power.
My COM professor for JO 101 was Jeremiah (Jerry) Murphy, an affable old-school writer for The Boston Globe. In various ways over that first semester in 1973 he asked us to ask ourselves, “Who am I as a professional? What do I stand for? How can I best fulfill my mission?” Damn good questions.
I’ve had five decades to engage. At age 76 my responses are known: I’m a maverick independent journalist; I stand the best I can for honesty, caring, sharing, and respect for all the people and all the creations in the Sacred Hoop of life; I best fulfill my mission by asking, listening, and reading carefully, then deliberating to sort out what I have found to be worthy, ennobling, and possessed of potential to endure in goodness for the next Seven Generations of our children, and more.
Thus now at graduation season 2025, as is the prerogative of elders, I hereby raise my medicine song into the ethers, extending my blessings to the COM community, to those who are studying and graduating, and to all working journalists. May your education, Jeremiah’s questions (and a thousand other meaningful ones), serve you in cultivating worthy insights and good work for yourself, your colleagues, your communities, and our world. We need you to be strong and true.
Good luck, Steven McFadden
HALF A CENTURY LATER PHOTO – While digging in the garage over Memorial Day 2025, looking for a family photo, I came upon this one. It shows some fellow staffers at The News (Boston University) late one night in 1975. It’s a photo that I took as a deadline was looming for the next edition. I was completing a photojournalism assignment for a group photo. Just about everyone else on staff had the same homework, and the group had already been assembled over and over again as the week went on. I think I was about the last person to implore folks to get together so I could complete the assignment. They were tired, fed up with posing yet again, and wanting to get it over with and go home. But they let me click the shutter and record their exasperation for posterity.
Odyssey of the 8th Fire accelerates in 2025
Mythic, illuminated Sirens sing out from eras ancient, present, and forthcoming, We are all being invited once again to make a journey through time, space, and spiritual fire. Big changes are afoot.
Beginning on Christmas Day last, 2024, the hashtag #Odyssey went viral. Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) had just announced his next project: a film of Homer’s enduring classic, The Odyssey.
The Odyssey hashtag came immediately alive on the Internet, and will likely remain astir at least through 2026 when Nolan’s film will be released. My hope is that in their personal digital journeys, many Net pilgrims will, by use of the hashtag, also come upon the true, online story, Odyssey of the 8th Fire .
8th Fire is an epic tale of a inspired, contemporary journey by people of all colors and faiths. This odyssey tells of an eight-month walking pilgrimage. The multicultural band of men and women were guided, eventually, by dozens of traditional spiritual elders of North America. The long walk took place 30 years ago in 1995-96. It took 230 days to take the steps from the Eastern Door at the Atlantic Ocean toward the Western Gate at the Pacific. Along the way, from sea to shining sea, elders met with the 8th Fire walkers and gave them messages to carry.
Over the last 30 years I’ve remained steady in the view that the long walk of the 8th Fire pilgrims can be regarded as a sample, or an archetypal expression of the great challenging journey that all of us alive are on, right now as the Earth shakes, the winds howl, and governments mutate.
This is an odyssey that we are all on, everyone on Planet Earth. Moving fast now. It appears we are going to go a lot faster, Soon.
What the written story of the 8th Fire Odyssey offers to readers is an opportunity to grasp some of the foundational teachings of this Turtle Island American continent — teachings that have been tried and tested on this continent not just for five or six centuries, but over many thousands of years.
Through this freely-offered nonfiction saga, readers will engage an opportunity to hear and to consider the words of many traditional elders of this Turtle Island continent we now call America.
That has always been my devout intention: to create a bridge of communication and understanding between the ancient, core knowings of this land and our current, forward-leaning civilization. The forthcoming Odyssey film from Christopher Nolan and creative company will help with this, my intuition suggests.
With the wisdom of the elders for support, we are readied for what lies in the present and future. Onward now along our individual and collective odysseys, to and beyond 2025 along the Beauty Way that is indigenous to North America. 
Time of Transition: Flowers of Possibility
We’re in transition, that’s for sure. By that I mean the rate of change around the globe–climate, business, education, technology, etc.–is cracking along at a wildfire pace: in our faces. We’re moving decidedly toward some new state of life.
To add to the wealth of speculation about what some qualities of that new state may be, I offer yet another descriptor–one with mythic unifying attributes: the Age of Flowers. The concept qualifies as an aspect of deep agroecology.
But rather than lay the whole tale out a second time on this blog, I created a permanent page on this same website. Here’s the link. Give it a click and it will whisk you along to the page with the floral essay.
Note: I wrote this material in the mid-1990s as a facet of Legend of the Rainbow Warriors, an exploration in nonfiction mythology. Now in the summer of 2024, it feels relevant and worthwhile to publish it online and to thereby make it more widely accessible. – S.M.
Oeuvre Moeuvre: The earthwise works of Steven McFadden
Oeuvre Moeuvre – On the occasion of my 75th birthday, Elizabeth helped me produce this short movie concerning the body of my writing work over the years. That is my output or oeuvre as it would be formally known.
She also suggested that this inaugurates a new artistic genre: the moeuvre (movies about oeuvres). OK. So be it.
Likely in response to our grandiose language, Amigo and his beloved tennis ball get into the background of this clip for notes of necessary comic relief.
Author interview with Steven McFadden – November 2023
Steven McFadden is an independent journalist based in the Southwest of the USA. In the early 1980s he initiated Chiron Communications as an umbrella concept for his varied interests and pursuits. Chiron is a bridging figure, and bridging is what he has mainly been interested in over the years. What follows is the transcript of his 2023 interview with Heena at The Reading Bud.
Welcome to The Reading Bud (TRB).
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
In the early 1960s, upon my older brother Mark’s urging, I took typing class. I was in the 9th grade, and my brother said it was a foolproof way to meet girls. Ha. I did make a few friends, but no teen romances. Just as well for that moment in time, I suppose.
We learned on clanky old manual machines, and back then I felt it was a complete waste of time, although my hands and fingers did become knowing of the keys. By the end of the year I could type perhaps 25-30 WPM. Not impressive, but enough to get by. As school ended and summer began, I thought it likely that I’d never see a keyboard again.
Wrong.
Here it is now, some 60+ years later and I’m still typing on a keyboard, albeit on a far superior machine, the digital age having dawned for me in 1990 with my first computer. Through the decades typing has been my core skill, a reliable tool for the fulfillment of my dharma – the soul impulses that have guided me along the path of my destiny.
What more to say beyond my bio? I’m happily married to Elizabeth Wolf. We’ve been together 16-plus years, and our relationship deepens. Our dog is Amigo, and our cat Lily. We are grateful to be together, to have shelter and food, and to be purposefully engaged in life.
Please tell us something about your book other than what we have read in the blurb.
Beyond the blurb, the main thing that occurs to me is to let readers know the profound depth of feeling I experienced in Spring 2023. That’s when I was moved to update this little book, Native Knowings, and make it available to readers in a print version as well as an ebook.
I’m glad I followed through. As the environmental, social, and political climates intensified, I understood with calm certainty that the voices of learned elders and tradition keepers could be steadying for many people. So those were my main motivations for compiling this version of Native Knowings: steadying the people, and giving readers an opportunity to engage some of the deeper roots of Turtle Island (North America) as we pass through a turbulent era of transition.
Why did you choose this particular theme for your book? What is that one message that you’re trying to get across to the readers in this book?
Author Steven McFadden – circa 1985
Since graduating from Boston University in 1975 with a degree in journalism, my personal and professional interest has been to explore intelligent and spirited ways of living on the earth, and then to explain in writing what I’ve been able to understand.
The contemporary tradition keepers of the North American continent are part of an unbroken chain of practical and contemplative understandings (knowings) that go back many thousands of years, long before immigrants came to the land and began calling it America. It is altogether worthwhile to listen to what the learned elders have to say.
From my point of view, considering the condition of our world, listening is critical, deepening, and enriching. The elders offer keys to survival and well-being for all who now call America home, and in many respects for people all around the world.
What inspired you to write this book? An idea, some anecdote, a dream or something else?
My response to question 3 also addresses this question in general. But to add context: I first became interested in learning about our indigenous relatives and neighbors in the late 1970s. I was awakened by a bumper sticker on the back of a beat-up VW in a parking lot of my small village. It said something like “Broken Treaty Score: Red Man 0, White Man 370.”
When I looked into what that might possibly mean I learned that in fact the USA had broken or violated virtually every single one of the solemnly sworn treaties it made with various Native nations. Recognizing that track record of faithlessness by my own government raised an persistent series of questions for me. What? How? Why? And so forth. As a citizen, I felt a share of responsibility for the agreements my government had made and broken. As a journalist, I felt compelled to pursue answers to the questions. What’s going on here? What’s the story. Where does honor lie, and how can honor be advanced? That’s been my career, and Native Knowings is but one concise expression of what I’ve experienced and heard along the trail.
As the years of my life unfurled I began to write about clean, sustainable farms and food (so important), and also to engage the native knowings that were at the heart my personal mission as a messenger: take care of the earth and each other.
How long did it take you to write this particular book?
In terms of compiling the words and photographs, then dealing with layout, cover and other technicalities, it took me just over a month. But to get to the point in life where I had the experience, the tools, the material, and the artistic discernment to express them, about 75 years.
What are your writing ambitions? Where do you see yourself 5 years from today?
Good question. I’ll be 80 in five years, and of course one never knows…At this mature stage one has seen so many souls come and go, and thereby inevitably one has passed through many enriching stages of emotion and understanding about life and death. I’m at peace with whatever comes, although I’m staying fit and actively writing, aiming to live into my 90s. We shall see.
Of note, I had a clear perception at age 40 that I had fulfilled my dharma and could sail off into spirit if I so desired. It was a profoundly peaceful and satisfying sensation. A knowing. For me that knowing was pronounced and enduring. But at the same time I recognized that I could contribute more to the world, that it had potential to be benevolent, and that I was not ready to release. All these years later, I still feel that way.
Are you working on any other books presently?
Yes. I’m nearly finished writing a full-length biography. The title is “Wind Walker: The Sacred Journey of Naa t’áanii Leon Secatero in concert with Ni?ch?i Diyin (Holy Wind).” Leon (1943-2008) was a talented and dedicated leader, a servant to his own Navajo community in the Southwest of the United States, as well as for the world at large. His story presents a great and uplifting vision for the world, and also offers a model of exalted courage and leadership. The book should be in print some time in 2024.
Do you dabble in Fiction?
No.
When did you decide to become a writer? Was it easy for you to follow your passion or did you have to make some sacrifices along the way?
My mother’s brother–good old Uncle Paul–was a writer. He once wrote an article for True Magazine. It came out when I was about 11 or 12. The title was “Why I poach deer” and the byline was not my uncle’s name. He instead used my father’s name (Edward Leo M.) as a pseudonym, so no game wardens could read the article and then come hunting for him.
The article made a notable impression in our household. Among other things, it started me thinking that writing could be a job; it could be what a person did in life, among all the possibilities – engineer, builder, doctor, teacher, etc. So many possibilities. And now, for me least, writer was also among that range of possibilities.
While it has not been financially easy to be an independent journalist, and it has required many sacrifices, it’s been worthwhile. I’ve been able to write not what others assigned to me, but rather what called me from both within and without.
What is your writing ritual? How do you do it?
At this stage I’m not sure I’d call anything I do a ritual. Beyond my first cup of coffee, I’m very much in the moment. If I feel it’s time to write, I write. Time to research, I research. Time to hike along the river or climb a mountain, then I’m off to do that.
Always in the back of my mind I’m aware of deadlines, and I am faithful to them, but I’ve no set times or procedures. When the juice is flowing, I write. Otherwise I am called along the trails of One and also Ten Thousand Things.
Is writing your profession, or do you work in some other field too?
Writing is my profession, yet it has not provided sufficient income over the decades of work and marriage. I’ve been able to create hundreds of newspaper and magazine stories, and 15 or more nonfiction books, but I’ve also scrambled for income, working intermittently in a number of occupations: tree surgeon, groundskeeper, cook, yoga teacher, home care for elders, laborer, babysitter, pipe fitter, and more.
Can you recommend a book or two based on themes or ideas similar to your book? (You can share the name of the authors too.)
I recommend Basic Call to Consciousness, published by Akwesasne Press.
How do you deal with Writer’s Block?
Having started my career writing for newspapers for several years, I never experienced the luxury of being able to surrender to a writers block. There were always deadlines to meet, and the job was on the line. Meet the deadlines, or find a new career. That early conditioning has, thankfully, remained more or less consistent for me.
The mantra in my mind: my job is to tell verifiably true stories that offer a compelling and practical vision of the future. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” – Proverbs 29:18 “ If you don’t have a dream, how can your dream come true?” – South Pacific
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Pay attention to your breath. Master your breath, and you will more readily remain centered and capable through all you meet in life and in your profession.
With mastery of the breath you will be inspired: both literally and figuratively. Your personal inspiration will add light to your soul, to your words, and to the truths you strive to reveal through writing.
Thank you, author McFadden, for taking out the time to answer our questions and for all your thought-provoking and interesting answers!
About the Book
Native Knowings: Wisdom Keys for One and All
This original compilation–a small treasure of 72 pages–offers a concise and contemporary compendium of some key North American (Turtle Island) wisdom teachings to help support people through this era of transition.
“I ask you to listen,
not just with your minds.
I ask you to listen with your hearts,
because that’s the only way
you can receive what it is,
what we are giving.
These are the teachings of our hearts.”
– Frank Decontie, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg
What do some of the venerable, deeply rooted wisdom teachings of the Americas offer in our era of transition?
This Soul*Sparks small treasure offers an array of thoughtful messages, a compilation of keys that everyone has opportunities to turn. We’d be wise to understand and then to weave their enduring insights into the fabric of what we are creating for ourselves, our children, and our children’s children
The words of contemporary elders, in particular, sound notes of urgency.
Native Knowings: Profound, Eloquent, Soul-stirring
My small-treasure gift book, Native Knowings, has earned high praise from The Reading Bud. Here’s the text of the review:
“Native Knowings: Wisdom Keys for One and All by Steven McFadden is a profound and soul-stirring journey into the heart of North American indigenous wisdom. This concise book, though just 84 pages, is a treasure trove of timeless teachings that are more relevant today than ever. As I delved into its pages, I found myself deeply moved by the words of wisdom that have been passed down through generations.
“McFadden’s writing is both eloquent and accessible, making the profound teachings of the Native American elders resonate with a contemporary audience. The book masterfully weaves together teachings from various tribes, offering a rich tapestry of wisdom that speaks to the heart as well as the mind. The quotations and teachings from elders like Frank Decontie are particularly impactful, urging the reader to listen not just with their minds, but with their hearts. This approach brings a deeper, more intuitive understanding of the messages conveyed.
“One of the most compelling aspects of Native Knowings is its relevance to our current era of transition and uncertainty. The book highlights how these ancient teachings can guide us in creating a more harmonious and sustainable future. It’s a call to integrate these insights into our daily lives, for the sake of ourselves and future generations. The sense of urgency in the words of contemporary elders adds a poignant note, underscoring the importance of heeding these teachings now.
“In conclusion, Native Knowings: Wisdom Keys for One and All is a must-read for anyone seeking wisdom, guidance, or a deeper connection to the Earth and its history. McFadden has created a powerful compilation that not only educates but also inspires. It’s a book that I will undoubtedly return to, as its messages are timeless and its wisdom, inexhaustible.”
NOTE: The Reading Bud also conducted an Author Interview with me.
You can read the interview by following this link.
Native Knowings now in paperback and eBook formats
Many years ago I compiled a concise eBook with some key native knowings about the earth, and about the era of transition we are living through. Much of that book came from my notes about meetings with traditional native elders, and other people learned in the ways of earth and spirit. Our current national and global circumstances prompted me this past month to update the eBook and slso to publish it in a paperback edition for the first time.
With that background and intention, Light and Sound Press, LLC hereby announces an important addition to the Soul*Sparks collection of gift books–-small treasures recognized for their enduring insights. As of late May 2023 Native Knowings is now available in a slender, handsome, and impactful paperback edition as well as the eBook edition.
Indisputably and on many levels of experience and understanding, profound changes are underway in the world. My hope is that this small volume will in some ways help us to move through the changes more wisely. The root teachings of North America—native knowings—can truly help. This I know in the core of my being.
The words of contemporary leaders in particular bear notes of urgency. They share a sense that the time for us to make profound changes in our attitudes and our behaviors is short. As Native Knowings makes explicit, they encourage us to consider their voiced offerings promptly and carefully.
The back cover of this small treasure gives a sense of what lies within:
Literary Lights and ChatGPT shine on Deep Agroecology
Thanks to the enterprise and good graces of the New Mexico Book Association (NMBA), I’ve been invited to a reception Celebrating New Mexico Writers at the convention center in our stucco-studded capital city.
The New Mexico Writers’ Reception is an opening event for the Santa Fe International Literary Festival.
My book Deep Agroecology: Farms, Food, and Our Future is what secured the invitation—an invitation I was honored to receive, and pleased to accept. The reception will perhaps afford opportunities for wider understanding of agroecology and what I regard as its essential role in our raucous era of transition.
Over the last several years my attention has been focused on completing the biography of the late Navajo leader, Leon Secatero (1943-2008). I’ve not given a lot of thought or energy to agroecology or deep agroecology. Yet I still regard them as the Main Chances for positive action in our unavoidable reckoning with climate crisis, food security, earth care, and worker justice.
For the sake of digital experimentation I asked an online Artificial Intelligence (AI) program to declare what it might about “deep agroecology.” Here’s a calculated response from ChatGPT:
“Deep agroecology is a term used to describe an ecological approach to agriculture that encompasses the social, cultural, and spiritual aspects of farming as well as the economic and environmental dimensions. It recognizes the interdependence of all living things and emphasizes the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems, biodiversity, and cultural diversity.
“It is a holistic approach to agriculture that recognizes the interconnectedness of social, cultural, ecological, and economic systems and strives to create a more just and equitable food system for all.”
There you have it, the computer brain at work. Fair enough for a start, I suppose. But it’s not enough to cause me to abandon my vocation and stop doing my own writing on this or any other subject.
One fundamental understanding of agroecology in general and deep agroecology in particular is that being directly in touch with the earth promotes good physical, mental, and spiritual health for people, animals, plants, and the whole. There’s nothing artificial about that earth-based quality of intelligence, qualities naturally intrinsic to full health.
Traditional peoples long ago recognized that in times of great personal, family, or community trauma, human beings could find emotional and psychic stability by going to the land, by deliberately touching or lying upon it, relaxing, breathing, and releasing the trauma to the embrace of Mother Earth. That creates a simple, cost-free opportunity to be filled with grounded peace, even if just for a moment. This is one of the many gifts of our home planet. In reciprocity we have the opportunity to complete a circle by offering our gratitude.
As earth changes intensify, we will always have opportunity to anchor ourselves in strength and wisdom, and then to take positive steps forward. That’s true, now even in the context of the authoritative final warning so recently delivered to the world. Positive action is still possible, still the key.
Our Main Chance: Agroecology
The phrase main chance generally refers to the most advantageous prospect available, the opportunity for the greatest progress or gain in any given set of circumstances. I use the phrase now in regard to our tempestuous environmental, climatological, social, and spiritual circumstances.
In a historical context, playwright William Shakespeare employed the phrase main chance memorably in a speech by the Earl of Warwick in Henry VI, Part 2:
“There is a history in all men’s lives,
figuring the nature of the times deceased,
the which observed,
a man may prophesy, with a near aim,
of the main chance
of things as yet not come to life…”
With my nearest aim, I now prophesy for the future that our main chance would be wisely grasped in reference to collective ambitions that we must of necessity awaken in ourselves: ambitions for survival and well-being through climate chaos and more, for a clean Earth, for health, for respect, for purpose, for the next seven generations, for beauty, for spiritual maturity.
All of this is what farms are for, what they can be for if we set our minds and hearts to make it so. Farms and food are the key to our physical, moral, community, and spiritual survival and evolution. Our main chance to realize all of this lies in the realms of agroecology and deep agroecology.
For your consideration, here’s a sample of five memes I was inspired to create by the main chance theme:
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