Long John

It was American Thanksgiving on Thursday, so we pushed the release of this page due to the fact that it was going to be a slow day on the internet.

What that does is push the release of this comic to Friday, which happens to be Native American Heritage Day in the United States as well. I’m not here to push an agenda––I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving as much as I did (boy, I am still FULL)––but I can’t let the day go by without pointing out the importance of the Native American heritage to the country (of course) and especially to this comic.

The Mono People play an integral and inseparable role in the story of this comic, from Jonny Mono to Lady May to others, and it would be irresponsible to not bring up the people they come from.

Of most interest to me right now is an attempt by a tribe of Northern Paiute called the Kutzadika’a to become federally recognized by the US government in H.R.8208 – Mono Lake Kutzadika’a Tribe Recognition Act, which would extend services currently available to other federally recognized tribes to this one as well. It’s this tribe, in particular, that settled the Mono Basin, who proved again the tenacity of human will and community that life in what could otherwise be considered an unlivable clime.

I would encourage you to read more about the Kutzadika’a people on the Mono Lake Committe‘s site, and feel free to sign the petition to help get this bill passed.

Again, spreading this information is literally the least I could do considering how much the history of the basin––both of white and indigenous––have inspired me with this comic, and I wish I could do more. Unfortunately, since there don’t seem to direct charities or donations for this tribe, I figured spreading the word about them would be a good start.