Day 3,869 —to the River! And the Origins of Words —

I headed directly to the Meramec River, which, at a little over 5 miles, is the closest river to my house.

I love sitting by the river and noticing the stillness of the movements. Today, the river looked placid, but it was moving fast like it always is. There is so much to learn from a river. It can somehow do so much and be in so many places, but at the same time looks like it is not moving at all.

The Meramec is my favorite to visit because as much as I like going downtown and being by the river close to the Arch. It just isn’t as pleasant because of how the river can smell at times, which just makes me mad about all the garbage that gets dumped into the rivers.

You would think a once such used river as the Mississippi River would be more protected, but there have been nothing but different types of industry plants by most of the river for years.

The name Meramec is an Algonquian Indian word meaning “ugly fish,” and the state of Missouri was named by the Illinois Confederacy, and it means “those with canoes.” I have lived here since I was four, and no one has ever talked about the origins of all the names that I use every day. It is kind of crazy when you think about it. How almost all the names of places where I live in St. Louis come from the names from the native people who lived here before the French settlers, yet it is never covered in history classes or even acknowledged by the locals. I imagine that only a handful of people in Illinois have awareness that their state is named after a group of 12-13 Native American tribes who lived in the Mississippi River Valley. I could be wrong, maybe they spend some time on it, but most classes don’t cover local history at all, which just seems so misguided. Local history is something that gives you so much information about how peoples beliefs and values of impacted the environment and the society. 

When you understand the origins of words; it makes it much more difficult for people to lie about history, but they still try. It is not like when we talk about the days of the week that we talk about the different gods that they are named after and why. 

It is beyond relevant, but it is not covered because it doesn’t fit the model that Westerners want to believe.