For those say in their 60s or 70s here. When you were in your 30’s or 40’s did you have the feeling that the world was a fucked up place? So much has been going on since I entered adulthood in the early 2000s and I feel like it’s getting more and more intense. It’s never ending.
Is it unique? Or has it always been this way?
It’s a stream bank in an urban neighborhood, so it’s probably Asian stuff some idiot upstream previously put in their yard for ornamental purposes. But it’s in the Southeast, so it could be native.
On a related note, the A. gigantea article mentions use by the Cherokee, Seminole, Chickasaw and Choctaw specifically. My city used to be Muskogee Creek territory (I think). Given that they were neighbored by and related to those other tribes (in terms of language etc.), is it safe to assume they’d have been making stuff out of it, too?
I can only speak for the Cherokees but as far as I know all of the tribes from the southeast including the Mvskoke (Creek) used cane as a building and crafting material. These tribes also traded these objects and materials worldwide. This is why traditional Cherokee dress from the early 19th century includes a turban and kurta. (See picture of Sequoyah.)