The birdbaths have frozen here in Minnesota. I step onto the porch and pour some water for the birds. Winter came early and everyone seems a bit unprepared or in denial. It’s a worry because there’s a very large group of mostly Native people living in tents in what they’ve named the Haiwatha Encampment. The city promised help before it got cold. Lots of help came, but people will be there until mid-December. Two hundred human beings who need water, warmth, food, homes, help.
Before I am back inside my warm home, the birds dive for the water I’ve poured for them: blue jays first, then dozens of robins, woodpeckers, eventually starlings — birds I rarely see in numbers — land. I’ve responded to their need...