Mountains should be called by indigenous names, not colonized names

ical debt; while 17.2% of white households have medical debt.

According to a survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, two-thirds of Americans under the age of 65 (roughly 116 million people) couldn’t afford a medical bill or had medical debt, went without care due to the cost, were uninsured, or were underinsured.

Medicine should not be as expensive as it is.

My prescriptions all range from $50 to $100, and then insurance brings them down to the $10 to $20 range. I’m really glad that the cost is brought down, but why do I need insurance to be able to afford my prescriptions at all? Do people without insurance not deserve medicine?

The cost of insulin is way too high. According to NBC, Insulin costs an average of $1000 per month if you don’t have ‘good’ insurance. One-in-five adults skip or ration insulin due to a cost.

This is life-saving medicine. Let me repeat, life saving medicine. It should be inelastic in cost, and affordable to those who need it. It’s not a luxury. It’s something people need. There is no reason people should have to skip doses of a medicine that keeps them alive because of concerns that they can’t afford it.

Health should not be a commodity. Human life should not be a commodity.

Mountains should not be called by their colonized names. We need to call them by the names the indigenous communities gave them, their original names. Natural landmarks have been called by many names over the eons. In North America, most structures have had two names, one given by the indigenous people who lived there, and the the other given by the people who later claimed the land as their own.

The indigenous names for these mountains tell a story, a meaningful rendition of the history of the stone giants. The colonized names don’t usually hold much meaning.

Coming from Oregon, Mt. Hood was a huge part of my childhood. I always thought that Mt. Hood was named that way because it looked kind of like a hood (if you squint your eyes and tilted your head).

However, Mt. Hood was named after the man who “discovered” it, British Admiral Lord Samuel Hood, in 1792.

Mt. Hood’s indigenous name was Wy’east, and it was named by the Multnomah tribe.

The tale is told of two brothers, Wy’east (Hood) and Klickitat (Adams). The two fought over the beautiful maiden Loowit (St. Helens). She could not choose between the brothers, and their fight buried many people and forests. Their father Salahe was upset with all their destruction and struck them down, erecting massive mountains where they lay.

To me, at least, this story gives these mountains’ names so much more value and meaning. They tell the tale of the people who called this land home, and personify the region.

Mt. Rainier is the tallest mountain in Washington. It was named in 1792 after Admiral Peter Rainier of the British Navy.

What a boring name for the highest peak in the state.

Prior to 1792 there were multiple names for the mountain. One name was (anglicized as Takoma or Tahoma). This means “mother of waters” as a reference to the amount of rivers on the mountain. The other name that was commonly used for the mountain was , which means “the one who touches the sky.”

But no, let’s name it after the British soldier who tried to stop the American Revolution.