Lauren’s Reviews > Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants > Status Update

Premed students don't care about plants because you only like plants or nature if you're studying it... Goo to know that my vet school choice means I can't get it. Her own biases are so frustratingly deep and I know it's supposed to be some deep thing that we don't get without her help but it's repetitive and frustrating.

I really liked where she took the discussion of immigrants becoming naturalized, so I take back most of my complaint except to note humans aren't plants, and everyone on this side of the world immigrated here.

And last, buying into stereotypes about any group is harmful in the long run. Every time I sort of settle into this slow, rambling read and start to enjoy it, some absolutely foolish nonsense crops up. I get why white people love this - it's the very stereotype that makes them all claim to be 1/16 Cherokee - so they can feel magical and "at one with the earth." Newsflash, you can be white as snow and do that too.

The research wasn't even groundbreaking - as stated, anyone who works with grass knows grazing/removing some of it grows it back lusher. That is not to say the sweetgrass study wasn't important - we do studies to prove that what we "know" isn't based on bias but a repeatable finding even when scrutinized. It just wasn't something ecologists should have pooh-poohed and it felt disingenuous at best.

The scientists who just don't get what you're trying to do because they don't love the earth like you do, so they question you - if they let you do the study? They're doing what they do for every study and poking holes in your idea to make sure you know to plug those holes before you present. Again, the shorthand for "science is too hidebound to get us," like scientists aren't squeeing over their work every day.

Time to keep a running track of frustrating things: the clearly carefully chosen anecdotes that are really just tropes. Including my least favorite: the girl who dresses up and can't handle a bio class. I had that fancy dressing girl in my bio glass, she was brilliant, she just liked to dress up for class. I really hate the shorthand of "this clothing means dumb woman out of her comfort zone."

The author just referred to a man who considered the place he felt most at home as his car. It gets him where he wants to go, it plays his favorite music, etc. She then tells how he attempted suicide in his car because (according to her) he never grew a relationship with the land. What a myopic, self-centered view of the myriad reasons people struggle with mental health.

The author just referred to a man who considered the place he felt most at home as his car. It gets him where he wants to go, it plays his favorite music, etc. She then tells how he attempted suicide in his car because (according to her) he never grew a relationship with the land. What a myopic, self-centered view of the myriad reasons people struggle with mental health.

Hoo boy... I don't know what I was expecting with this book but probably not a rambling memoir of anecdotes, opinions, and find memories. It's an enjoyable enough read but it's starting to sour on me.