Pages 38-64, 420-424

In this assignment, we are asked to analyze and connection as many allusions to historical references as possible. Upon my first read in the previous assignment, I found the constant changing style of the book quite unnerving, and daunting. It was no simpler this time round, so I hope that my writings are accurate to the proper interpretation of the text.

Dr. Joseph Hovaugh and Dr. John Eliot
One of the most obvious allusions in the book is the subtle connection of Dr. Joseph Hovaugh to Jehovah. In reference to both characters, it becomes clear the Hovaugh is a representation of a colonizer, and Eliot is a man that advocates rights against those who have been colonized. This becomes clearer when we look at the positions of each individual, both in reference to their job, and their thoughts. Hovaugh works at an asylum to keep the four Indians inside, which becomes an allusion to the dominant issue of many First Nations both past, and sometimes present. This is the issue of the colonizers versus the natives, or the colonized. It becomes clearer in Jane Flick’s analysis where Dr. Hovaugh hospital is on the same site as the prison in Fort Marion, Florida that the old Indians go to for prison. This connection helps to further mind Hovaugh’s role as the colonizer, imprisoning and oppressing the First Nations.

Another direction of characterizing Dr. Joseph Hovaugh and his allusions, is to the subtle references to the Christian bible. We see that King makes reference of Dr. Hovaugh to be old and worn, as seen by his garden trees falling victim to blight, and must be replaced by new saplings. We see the parallel of Dr. Hovaugh’s garden to himself, being disconnected and confused, rather than powerful as wise. This becomes a major difference between the play-on-word connection of Dr. Hovaugh to Jehovah, the God, and how Dr. Hovaugh is represented in the novel, confused and worn. This take on King’s characterization leads me to believe that king is trying to allude to the fact that “Euro-centric societies [need] to re-evaluate the values that Dr. Hovaugh represents” (Eldatari, 2009) in order for people like the Old Indians, to be a part of society and create a forwards change for First Nations.

The Four Indians

Similar to Hovaugh and Eliot, I found that the four Indians are allusions that represent the idea of colonization. First, I found that the four Indians were split into two groups, those who fought for their culture, like Lone Ranger and Hawkeye, and those who are weakened, who did not protect their culture, like Ishmael and Robinson Crusoe. In Jane Flick’s analysis, it is said that Robinson is an allusion to Defoe’s hero, who was a shipwreck survivor that lived by cannibalism. When rescued, he was named a savage, similar to Robinson; this reference even goes as far to Crusoe’s shirt that references the palm trees, signalling the connection to the deserted islands. In the shipwreck, Robinson was weakened and left for dead, crushed. However, his tenacity and perseverance paid off in his life. This can also be said to be an allusion to the states of colonialized First Nations. Both Robinson and Ishmael in King’s story, show that they are weakened, but their tenacity may be the true key to prevail against colonialism.

Norma and Lionel

Norma and Lionel’s positions are two sides of First Nations adopted lifestyles. Norma feels that her nephew is abandoning his Indian roots by adopting with the Western ideals and ways of living, while Lionel is perfectly happy with his Canadian lifestyle. Norma is an allusion to the figures of our lives that remain to carry old traditions. I remember my grandma when I read parts of the novel where Norma appeared, because she constantly reminded of the traditions that my grandma would bring when she comes over. It becomes hard for me to distance my comfortable patterns of life as a twenty-first century Canadian. However, as her time with me moves on, my abrasion to these new traditions, slowly fade. I found my experience mirrored by Lionel, whose life as a TV salesmen made his stable. However, as he travels with Eli, his experience shift, and wanes. He decides that he wants to stay in the cabin. I find Lionel’s experience an allusion to the lives of many First Nations, where they struggle to balance their traditions with the lives that they live in the Christianized world.

Latisha and Alberta Frank

Lastly, Latisha and Alberta are examples of First Nations who have remained with the roots and traditions. Alberta’s name is an immediate allusion to the Canadian province and home of Thomas King. She is the “principal female character in the realist story” as Flick notes, and it is also possible that her name is derived from Frank, Alberta on the Turtle River; the town was the site of a major disaster and it was buried by the recognized Frank Slide of 1903.

Works Cited

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.”Canadian Literature 161.162 (1999): 140-72. 1999. Accessed. 18 March 2020.

King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: Harper Collins, 2007. Print.

“Lone Ranger”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., Accessed 18 March 2020

The CanLit Guides Editorial Team “ Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King” CanLit Guides, Accessed 15, March 2020.

Eldatari. “Dr. Joseph Hovaugh and Jehovah.” Words and Names, Accessed 17, March 2020.

8. Everyone is on the move in this novel, road trips abound and in order to hit the road what do we need? — a road map. At the same time, Lionel, Charlie and Alberta are each seeking direction in life. As Goldman says, “mapping is a central metaphor” (24) of this novel. Maps chart territory and provide directions, they also create borders and boundaries and they help us to find our way. There is more than one way to map, and just as this novel plays with conflicting story traditions, I think King is also playing with conflicting ways to chart territory. What do you think lies at the centre of King’s mapping metaphor? Marline Goldman, “Mapping and Dreaming; Native Resistance in Green Grass Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161-162 (1999). Web. April 04/2013.

“Green Grass Running Water” is a novel I much enjoyed reading, weaving the perspectives of many individuals into a single literature. Throughout the novel, it explores a common theme of land and borders, through the characters of Charlie, Lionel, Alberta, Eli, Dr. Hovuagh and Bobo. In the case of Charlie, he finds himself unable to travel due to having his vehicle stolen. His map becomes stopped and he is stagnant on his trip to seeing Lionel and Alberta. Alberta tries to map her own life in her own way. She wishes to start a family without a husband, something that can be seen as uncommon. Lionel, on the other hand, hasn’t found a path he’d like to take and he struggles with knowing what he’s really meant to do. These characters seem to foil Dr. Hovaugh well, in that he plans his life, almost to a T. Dr. Hovaugh maps everything, as seen by the heaps of maps, brochures and travel guides that surround him. However, Dr. Hovaugh seems to plan his mapping in a more Western style, listing out the directions and borders of land. Lastly is Eli, one of the few characters who truly knows his way around a map. Eli is different from Charlie who needs a map, Alberta who is making her own map, Lionel who is trying to find a map and Dr. Hobaugh who religiously abides by maps. In fact, Eli doesn’t need a map, which can be seen as a metaphor for no longer seeing the boundaries that has been placed on society. Eli takes paths that are far from the main road as seen by the instance where he takes Lionel to the Sun Dance. In this blog post, I wish to explore the metaphor of King’s mapping in his book, and uncover the possible truths or messages that King wishes to express through the characters described above.

Firstly, we must consider the question of maps, metaphors, Western and First Nations. The most obvious answer is the style and mode of thinking, exploring and dividing land between Western and First Nations philosophy. In Western philosophy, regarding structure and power (something previously discussed in conjunction to dichotomy) we see that Western prefers a system of distinct structures that outline and have concrete boundaries. Meanwhile, First Nations culture is often seen being more fluent with their systems. For instance the story of Charm versus the story of Genesis is a clear depiction of the firm boundaries of Western culture versus the open-ended style of First Nations culture. In the case of mapping, the characters have different approaches to mapping due to the traditions that they have, whether it is influenced by Western culture, First Nations culture or a mixture of both. It becomes clear that Western culture depicts the strict borders that are set on maps, and the home road taken by Eli is more of a representation of First Nations traditions towards mapping.

The second, less obvious analysis involves the approaches to story-telling where mapping is simply a parallel to the different views that are seen during story-telling. In a story of Western culture, it is strict, set in 3 parts. There is a beginning, a conflict (middle), and climax and conclusion. We see this in many televisions shows where programs are often structured in a way that we are able to easily follow along, and feel comfortable watching. The 3-act structure is representative of the linear style of mapping that is codified in Western culture. Meanwhile, the First Nations mapping doesn’t have a distinct path that it must follow to get from beginning to end. In fact, many stories from First Nations culture don’t put a heavy focus on an “end point”. Instead, it focuses on the head, the heart and the spirit (or emotion) of the journey. This reminds me of a movie that I had watched long ago called “Arrival” where the protagonist finds herself in a story, midway. The movie has an end, but in actuality, it is getting to the beginning. It reminded me that stories are not only to get to a point, but rather to get a point across. By changing the common 3-act structure and linear style that codified Western structure, Arrival allowed me to take time to enjoy the emotions and meanings behind the story itself, instead of waiting for an expected ending. Similarly, I found that the mapping metaphor in King’s book is also trying to express the same lesson. Western culture, far too often, places more emphasis on the boundaries and firm roads, that we forget what stands behind them.

Works Cited

Feinman, Amanda. “On Arrival, Circular Storytelling, and Not Arriving Anywhere.” BLARB // Los Angeles Review of Books, https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/reviews/arrival-circular-storytelling-arriving-anywhere/, Accessed March 7, 2020.

“The Map is Not the Territory”. Farnam Street, https://fs.blog/2015/11/map-and-territory/, Accessed March 7, 2020.

Government of Alberta. “Walking Together.” The Oral Tradition, http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aswt/oral_tradition/documents/oral_tradition.pdf, Accessed March 7, 2020.

Question: In the following paragraphs in her essay, Maracle answers her question describing what she sees to be the function of literary criticism in Salish society. Summarize her answer and then make some comparisons between Maracle and Frye’s analysis of the role of myth in nation building.

In Maracle’s writing, she writes on the traditional criticism in First Nation narratives, often made by Western culture. As Western culture continues to grow in power and prevalence, it becomes apparent how often we look down on items that do not reveal as similar to ours. Lee poses that European literature becomes a rule or law of standard that is compared to when addressing or evaluating traditional First Nations stories. Thus, there is a sense of superiority or supremacy imposed by the European culture over the marginalized communities of the First Nations people.

Theorists in the First Nations community apply analysis in connection to their society’s knowledge with consultation to the origin of the story, such as in cases of oral footnotes used by the Salish people. Criticism is done by individuals within the culture who understand its base and Maracle stresses that these criticisms cannot be done by members outside the community who do not have the contextual background needed to fully understand the impact of the story and the cultural implications behind it. Thus, Western members should not and cannot use their methods to define, criticize and evaluate the stories of the First Nations stories. One item of note is the cyclical manner of Western culture and its ability to slowly engulf the other cultures that attempt to life within the same space as it. As per the government, the education system is built upon the ‘winners’ which are the Europeans that reside in Canada. The newer and younger generation are taught these theories and teachings of the European society, which further separates them from the First Nations culture as a whole. It becomes almost impossible for First Nations to have a culture within a society where it becomes constantly less and less prevalent in the coming years. Without proper systems in place, First Nations culture becomes powerless as there are no individuals in place that have experienced enough of the sacred culture, to pass down the tradition, or become involved with the culture.

Another key note is the differences between oratory and story. Oratory is aimed to shape the understanding of the listener, carrying wisdom, theories and knowledge in the form of stories and myths. One particularly important and interesting point is the process of healthy doubt. In our culture, doubt is common, but it can be very toxic to how we interact with our own culture and cultures outside of us. In the Salish community, people are able to extrapolate on the old stories to judge and examine the stories that exist today. In this form, they birth new myths that allow them to change their own narratives that are not bound to time. I feel that this is very interesting compared to Western culture where we often look back on old texts and judge their inadequacies compared to modern theories.

Maracle’s writings can also be seen in Northrop Frye’s writing in regard to the role of myths in nation building. Unity is one aspect of the role that myths play in a nation. It becomes integral to the culture that surrounds it, by defining the common belief among the people and creating a sense of familiarity among the community members. This proves to be stark difference when Frye describes the position of Canada, with its barren and disconnected lands. Frye presents the large spaces between Canada as physical boundaries that show the disunity among the country, and it becomes metaphorically representative of our lack of  respect for the other inhabitants who occupy its space. Canada is not a land of myths, but rather a land that just so happens to have people. There exists history, but there does not exist a unity in the sense of creating an environment where all communities are shared and equally expressed. Frye claims that this is the consequence of constant revolutions. There is no time for a foundation to develop a refined myth for the nation and thus no unity can become of it.

At the end of the day, both writers recognize the importance that stories play in information a collective identity and the importance of unity that draws on proper a national literary foundation. I believe that this notion is something profound that I had never thought about. I often read about stories and myths of other cultures, but never stopped to ponder on the cultural myths that surrounds Canada. I believe that both writers realize this and ultimately advocate that stories are powerful constructs. Stories can bring upon happiness, hearth, but I can also bring madness and chaos, as is seen by the unit on stories. Thus, stories are important, and there is strength to the nationalism that is associated with a proper literary foundation that both writers agree upon.

Works Cited

“Nationalism as a Cause of World War I.” Alpha History. Alpha History, n.d, https://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/nationalism/, Accessed February 25, 2020

Frye, Northrop. The Bush Garden: Essays on the Canadian Imagination. Introduction by Linda Hutcheon. Concord, ON: House of Anansi Press, 1995. Print.

Maracle, Lee. “Toward a National Literature: ‘A Body of Writing.’” Across Cultures, Across Borders: Canadian Aboriginal and Native American Literature. Ed. Paul DePasquale, Renate Eigenbrod, and Emma LaRoque. Toronto, ON: Broadview Press, 2010. 77-96. Print.

Von Heyking, John. (2010) ‘Multiculturalism and problems of Canadian unity’ University of Lethbridge Research Repository

Hello readers!

For my midterm evaluation, I will be submitting the following three entries.

Assignment 1:3 – Question Response
In this post, I had summarized the main points I had found in the final chapter of If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? by J. Edward Chamberlin. Focusing on the significance of storytelling, I recounted the points Chamberlin makes regarding dichotomous cultures and the reasons we may tell stories. I also mention the truth of contradictions and reasons why some contradictions may exist, focusing on the notion that contradictions within stories are simply two sides of the same coin.

Assignment 1:5 – Stories
The origin of evil was the topic of this post, and it was instructed that we create our own stories based on King’s story on the origin of evil. In this story, we follow a tribe of storytellers, focusing on Leema, a young boy who ascribed to be the most unique storyteller among the tribe-members. However, in his pursuit for the best story, he had found one filled with horror and despair, changing the tribe forever. In my analysis, I had focused on the troubles I encountered while writing, rewriting, performing, and re-performing the story, emphasizing the problem of Western influence in regard to how I tell my story.

Assignment 2:4 – The Truth Behind Dichotomies
King is a writer who creates many lenses for us to see through, and that includes the dichotomous society that we live in. In the story of “The Earth Diver”, King focuses on the presence of dichotomy within the culture of stories and urges us to see through those dichotomies as different tellings of the same story. However, he also outlines the presence of dichotomy in particular to the Diver story and “Genesis,” emphasizing the tones of each. In my analysis, I highlight that he may be contradicting himself because he wishes to explore the reasons behind Western and First Nations stories and how they may differ. I also briefly mention that King may refer to these dichotomies as a means to highlight the parallels between stories rather than separate the cultures.

Question: “To raise the question of ‘authenticity’ is to challenge not only the narrative but also the ‘truth’ behind Salish ways of knowing “(Carlson 59). Explain why this is so according to Carlson, and explain why it is important to recognize this point.

Authenticity is a problem we deal with on a daily basis, as beings who survive off of the information provided to us on the internet. It comes to no exception that literature and even stories may also fall into the same pit hole. Countless times, we are told to question authenticity and analyse the context and purposes of text we read. However, this practise may, at some times, become too habitual to us, and we may end up questioning everything we see, hear, or read. Such as in the case of challenging the authenticity of Salish narratives and their ‘truths’. Carson highlights the notion of First Nations history and how they are often influenced by Western perspective as they mature and this may lead many First Nations individuals to question the authenticity of their own cultures or narratives. It becomes blatantly apparent when compared to how Westerners internalize their own culture. We rarely often question the narratives we grow up with or the stories or even truths behind them.

First Nations people are very important to the culture of Canada and we should strive to protect their culture and history as much as we can. Carlson explains that the above notion regarding challenging authenticity is extremely significant because Salish people, and many First Nations people, were mistreated due to their differences of culture, history and narratives. It becomes vital when we discuss the importance of Westerners understanding the culture and history, behind the story and narrative.

Another problematic pattern with our internalization of First Nations culture, and literature is how their differences are understood as challenges to our history. Conflicts arise because Western and First Nations traditions, cultures and stories differ, and we often question the opposing party in this situation. Thus, it ends up with the First Nations losing their sense of culture and history in order to assimilate with the cultures of Western society. Often, Western society puts a heavy focus on the accuracy of information, so far to the extent that there exist many forms of citation methods. In a sense, we put ourselves on a pedestal as the ultimate fact keepers, and this gets reflected in the ways we interact with other cultures. Histories are kept to the upmost detail with, acknowledging the victories of Canada, but we mention none of the people we had to step over to get thus far.

Carlson discusses the consequences of these actions with regard to Salish history and mentions that the Salish people are meticulous keepers of knowledge as well. The Salish people had their own methods of monitoring the authenticity and accuracy of their stories in their oral culture, the same we Westerners fact check the information written down. In their culture, oral footnotes were used to reference other forms of authority so that they could establish themselves as reliable and good storytellers. In this regard, it would seem that the Salish oral culture shares many similarities with the written culture of the citations we use in our written culture.

The purpose of mentioning these similarities is to show that Salish people do not value authenticity any less than Westerners. If there is a concern regarding the authenticity of their stories, then presence of the oral footnotes should alleviate this concern. But, by questioning the authenticity of their stories, we also question and harm the truth of their culture and their practices as Salish people. Their culture is no less concerned with the authenticity of their stories than Canadian historians are with the history of Canada, and by questioning the reliability or truth of their stories, we end up insulting and hurting them. And more times than not, we end up creating situations where we marginalize the culture and society of First Nations people because we misunderstand or even disregard their culture in order to maintain our own. In reality, both cultures are version of the same story that we should respect and take into account for the better future.

Joseph, Bob. “Indigenous Peoples Worldviews vs Western Worldviews.” Indigenous Peoples Worldviews vs Western Worldviews, www.ictinc.ca/blog/indigenous-peoples-worldviews-vs-western-worldviews. Accessed February 17, 2020.

Sellnow. Deanna. “Oral Footnotes,” The Process of Publics Speaking, https://www2.bellevuecollege.edu/artshum/materials/spch/Oleson/Fall2005/100/DocumentingSourcesOrallyDuringSpeech.htm, Accessed February 17, 2020

Question: First stories tell us how the world was created. In The Truth about Stories, King tells us two creation stories; one about how Charm falls from the sky pregnant with twins and creates the world out of a bit of mud with the help of all the water animals, and another about God creating heaven and earth with his words, and then Adam and Eve and the Garden. King provides us with a neat analysis of how each story reflects a distinct worldview. “The Earth Diver” story reflects a world created through collaboration, the “Genesis” story reflects a world created through a single will and an imposed hierarchical order of things: God, man, animals, plants. The differences all seem to come down to co-operation or competition — a nice clean-cut satisfying dichotomy. However, a choice must be made: you can only believe ONE of the stories is the true story of creation – right? That’s the thing about creation stories; only one can be sacred and the others are just stories. Strangely, this analysis reflects the kind of binary thinking that Chamberlin, and so many others, including King himself, would caution us to stop and examine. So, why does King create dichotomies for us to examine these two creation stories? Why does he emphasize the believability of one story over the other — as he says, he purposefully tells us the “Genesis” story with an authoritative voice, and “The Earth Diver” story with a storyteller’s voice. Why does King give us this analysis that depends on pairing up oppositions into a tidy row of dichotomies? What is he trying to show us?

King creates a genuine tone in his telling of the earth diver story while he uses a sober voice to recite the sense of veracity in the case of Genesis. In his first line, he already gives the reader a hint to the reason behind these styles of telling. In the Diver story, King uses a tone that highlights the story’s exuberance, but diminishes its authority, while, in Genesis, he uses a tone that creates a sense of authority. Examining the purposes of these stories, we see that the main aspect that both stories coincide with is the creation of the world and the origin of humans, but their purposes strike deeper than what meets the eye. The church of the medieval era was a position of great power and influence over the people at the time. “Genesis” was one of their holy scripture, which was a method to inform and pass knowledge to the masses. It would become less genuine if the Pope or the priests decided to recite the Genesis in the same manner that King had done with the “Diver” story.

Whether ancient or modern Western culture, it is a product of monotheism and hierarchies. A system of power that puts heavy emphasis on control, law, and order. The story of Genesis is a clear representation of this mode of culture with having a single creator who knows everything. The order is kept by spreading the belief if a single being, a creator of everything that rules and governs the world. Meanwhile, we see that the Diver story is quite the opposite. There isn’t a single creator, and Charm isn’t even the power that created the world. The world existed before Charm, and it is her two children that built the world up through the help of the other water creatures.

It is clear as day to see the differences between the stories. Although King urges us to see through the dichotomies between stories, I believe it is because of the innate dichotomies between Eastern and Western styles of stories that King tries to reveal the hidden purposes of each side. The stories that we tell ourselves are often a means to explain the unexplained, but this isn’t always the case for every story out there. The stories told by the Western cultures of the world aren’t used in the same manner as the ones told by other cultures. If we look at the stories of Jesus Christ and God, we find it clear throughout history that it was a means to control and dictate order, rather than a medium to pass down knowledge. For example, if we look at the story of the “Rainbow Crow“, originating from the Lenapé people, it a story that explains how the world obtained winter, fire and why our crows are black and squawk. On the other hand, if we look at Genesis, we see that strict powers of God govern the world, and God punishes those who move out of line.

King isn’t highlighting the dichotomies to undermine his message of blurring the lines between story; rather, he is encouraging us to look at the messages behind the stories, as well as the teachers who tell them. It is clear that the world is divided by many dichotomies, and it shows in the stories as well. For example, “Genesis” speaks of night and day, man and women, and the rotation of the earth, sun, and the moon. Similarly, the “Diver” story follows in a similar suite with the twins representing light and dark, winter, summer, sun and shadow, and chaos and order. Although these dichotomies exist, it also parallels each other between stories. King may want to highlight the fact that the dichotomies are shared values or beliefs between cultures, just like the Charm and Genesis stories.

Works Cited

Hìtakonanu’laxk. Rainbow Crow (Mànàka’has). Interlink Books, New York, 1994.

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This Is Your Land, Where Are the Stories? Vintage Canada, 2004.

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. University of Minnesota Press, 2005.

Marsden, A.J. & Nesbitt, William. “Myths of Light and Dark”. Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/myth-the-mind/201805/myths-light-and-dark, Accessed Febuary 7, 2020.

In the context of home, many of my peers who wrote on the topic, depicted the idea with a particular sensation. The feeling of comfy, of warmth, and of company all string like beads through the various stories that I have read. Many depict home to be being with family, being with people who you love, and being with those who care for you while others found hearth in the security of their house. Among the plethora of stories, I had found two general categories that home falls into, among the stories that I had read among my peers.

Home is something that is found, and adapts; home changes. Many of my peers report home to be something that they struggle to define, particularly because many of them come from a place outside of Canada, or BC. As they come to UBC, they must rediscover their home, and like many people around the world, they struggle to figure out what home is. Many of my peers wrote that home isn’t a specific location, and it isn’t always the same. They change their definition of home to accommodate their new lifestyle and they find comfort in their new lives.

In another director, a few of my peers also reported home to be a place within places. Most often, they agree on the idea that home is found inside us, and that it is a state of emotions. The idea of home isn’t a place, a city, a house, a country, a continent, or even the earth; home is a feeling. For some of us, it is our connections that we have; home is with a significant other, children, our parents, our siblings and our friends. And for others we may find home when we are among a certain community. Because home is not a specific physical location, we can carry it around with us, always finding home wherever we may leave to.

The stories that I read included a focus on their family or background. For some, home is where their ancestors are from. Many of the students in the class were raised with stories of their ancestry or immediate family. Many of these stories were a great read, but it differed greatly from how I had imagined home to be. I didn’t consider my heritage or the country that I was raised in, nor did I consider the country that my family was raised in. I don’t consider home a place, or a setting. For me, my exploration of home centers on my present life and who’s in it. It’s the people, the relationships, and the communities. Perhaps I don’t need my home to be my heritage because I have spent less time with my heritage. In an age where our culture is defined so loosely, it becomes easy to blend into the background. Home is very difficult to define, and it is different for everyone. Home can be a place, a person, a state of mind, or even a set of feelings. But no matter where home is, we should all be grateful for our homes, and be mindful of the land we tread. As citizens or neighbors of the Indigenous people, we should be responsible for what our past has done to them and their home.

Works Cited

Beck, Julie. “The Psychology of Home: Why Where You Live Means So Much.” The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/the-psychology-of-home-why-where-you-live-means-so-much/249800/, Accessed 1 February 2020.

Deer, Jessica. “Montreal non-profit launches toolkit on how to be an Indigenous ally.” CBC, https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/montreal-indigenous-ally-toolkit-1.4988074, Accessed 1 February 2020.

Write a short story (600 – 1000 words) that describes your sense of home; write about the values and the stories that you use to connect yourself to, and to identify your sense of home.

At the start of my experience in university at UBC, I found myself stumbling on this very question. I’m not particularly familiar with my own feelings, but I found it uncomfortably easy to transition from my lifestyle of living at home, to living alone in a dorm. It made me think why my personal experience may have differed from what I expected my reaction to be. The more I grew through the first couple of weeks at UBC, the more I realized that my personal definition of home drastically differed from the same word that I was taught all my life. Home, a familiar or usual setting: congenial environment also: the focus of one’s domestic attention, webster’s dictionary, noun, meaning 3a. I came to know why I didn’t feel homesick, and it was because I didn’t feel apart from my home at all.

Many people say that home is where the heart is, and I can’t say that I disagree with this statement. What gives me a sense of home are the people that I am surrounded by. As a child, I often moved around because my parents were busy, hardworking and aiming to find an appropriate place to live. I would find myself spending a good chunk of my time with my grandparents in Taiwan and another chunk of time with my parents in America. Not once during this time did I feel out of place or homesick, and I understand now that, that’s because I never left home. Coming to UBC made me realize what was important to me, and what I should treasure. I didn’t care that I was living far away from my house because I could still talk to my parents, siblings and friends. I didn’t care that I didn’t eat the same things as I did at home, because I could still sufficiently feed myself. And I didn’t care that I couldn’t go to my old park, because there was a wonderful rose garden to sightsee when I get stressed from work.

I found the time that I had during my first year of UBC to be one of the best experiences I had because if this revelation. During my time up until that point, I always became anxious at the fact that I would leave home, but the whole fact of leaving home to go to UBC made me realize that it’s impossible for me to ever leave home. Because home, and the idea of home is fluid to me. No matter where I live, or who I live with, or what I live in, I will always be at home if I cherish the memories of my family and friends. A story my friend told me during my first year of university made me realize how far my sense of home differed from the sense of home that was taught during my time in elementary and secondary. She told me of wonderous places, of planets and worlds distant in solitude. She explained that a girl in this world found sadness that her home burnt down in a fire, and the girl grew up, but she never had a home again. I question my friend why the girl never found a home in her time growing up, and my friend explained that the girl lost her mother and brother in the fire. She explained that without a part of her family, she also lost a part of her home, that left her empty. No matter what place the girl tried to find, to live in, and to call home, none of them could be considered a home without her mother and brother.

I’m bringing up this story because my friend learned it from her mother who had a different background from the western philosophies of Canada. Throughout her life, she refused to say that she is moving home, because, to her and her mother, there was never one physical home. Home is where she takes herself and where she is with her mother. And that made me realize that my sense of home is also different. Home is where I can connect to my family and friends, no matter the distance.

McAndrew, T. Frank. “Home Is Where the Heart Is, but Where Is “Home”?” Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-ooze/201508/home-is-where-the-heart-is-where-is-home, Accessed 26 January 2020.

Bologna, Caroline. “What Happens To Your Mind And Body When You Feel Homesick.” Huffpost, https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/what-happens-mind-body-homesick_n_5b201ebde4b09d7a3d77eee1, Access 26 January 2020.

The Origins of Evil

There once was a tribe of storytellers, nomads, and travelers who graze along the lands while collecting stories, spreading their wisdom as they moved. They were artisans of their craft and cultured future generations in the same manner. There were elders who knew the oldest stories, parents who knew the best stories, and children who knew the most fun stories. However, there was always a problem. Because there were so many people, almost everyone knew every story. They became solemn, for there were no new stories to be told.

The elders, sages atop their thrones of wisdom, called for every member of the tribe for an important meeting. “We need new stories! These which we hold dear, have become old,” the elder said. He told all the children, all the adults, everyone -to go out and look for new stories to tell. Outlandish stories, love stories, creation stories, anything, and everything was accepted. As time moved on, it became a tradition that every year, the tribe would go out and scour the lands for the best stories. Once they return, the member who told the most unique and compelling story would be crowned the best storyteller for an entire year. One child, Leema, desperately wanted to be a great storyteller, so he searched far and wide for a story that no one had told before, one where it would surprise even the elders!

After days of searching, Leema had found the most unique story in the world, but when he told it to everyone, Leema didn’t receive the response he had expected to hear. “Young child, that story is very unique, and you recited it with elegance and grace, but you must not speak of it again.” Leema was puzzled. He had told the most unique story in the world, but the elders do not seem happy about it. Nonetheless, Leema was crowned the best storyteller for that year; however, following the events of the storytelling ceremony, things around the tribe became odd.

Time passes, and the state of the tribe grew worse and worse. Leema didn’t know what was happening however and found it troubling that everyone was acting differently. Finally, Leema was visited by the elder one day, “Leema, it was an honor to hear your story on the night of the ceremony, but you must take it back, for the state of our people has become unstable because of it.” Although Leema had not known what the elder meant, he tried his best to take back the story. Days, weeks, months, and years pass… “I can’t take it back elder, I’m sorry,” Leema said. Unknowingly Leema had unleashed the stories of the wicked, of disease, of rot, of mortality, of fear, and many others. On that day, the tribe learned a new story -or, more accurately, a lesson. They continued as nomads and travelers who graze along the lands, collecting stories, but never once did Leema tell his story again. For once you have told a story, you can never take it back. So, be careful of the stories you tell, AND the stories you listen to.

Storytelling is a skill that I find quite amusing and valuable. In my personal time, I often write small snippets, short stories, or even quite synopses of events that I may string together to create a narrative later. As such, I much appreciated the way King moved through his stories, as well as his lessons of stories. I would be lying, however, if I said that I did not have trouble creating a story of my own when rewriting King’s convention of witches. As a consumer of stories, it is always a fact that I am deeply affected by the writings I read, and it influences how I see the world. Like a lens, it may become foggy or clear or even alter my perception or thinking.

During my time rewriting King’s story, I was influenced by the story of Pandora’s box, as I have deep-rooted fascinated by ancient Greek myths. But I was also influenced by the story of Eve and Satan in the fact that the evil was unleashed by an outside being. Nevertheless, I settled on something in between where Leema, an innocent child, had unknowingly released the stories of evil, in his pure innocent intents. This mirrors Pandora’s innocent in some of her retellings, and it mirrors Eve and Satan in the fact that Leema himself did not create the evil, but it was found instead. Lastly, I was influenced by King’s story of stories. Instead of a force that plunged evil into the world, such as in the case of Pandora’s box, or Satan, evil came from the knowledge that Leema spread in his stories. Akin to innocent bliss, stories can reveal to us things that we may prefer to keep hidden or unknown. For example, the Iliad had pathed the way for Alexander on his conquest.

Stories are hidden powers that people hold. During the retelling of the story itself, however, I found it quite challenging to remember the exact details themselves. I found myself changing the sequences of the events, as well as the minute details. Just as a story transforms as soon it is released into the wilds; I found myself changing the story during my time reciting it to myself. For example, the story had made Leema find a storybook in the wild, instead of discovering a story. Or, in another iteration, I hade made the elders exclude Leema from telling the stories, imprisoning him so that he could not spread the story anymore. I found these variations of the story too close to other archetypes of the origins of evils myths, so I wished to change it. I found that storytelling become more and more cumbersome depending on who I was telling the story to, as I had not wished to step on or impede on the cultures of others. However, at the same time, the limitations that I put on myself, as a result of reading King’s book made me look at a different way to tell the story of evil. Instead of following the western styles that I know of, where power exists because of a omnipotent source, I found it interesting to describe the origin of evil from the powers that humans hold. It made my look at cultures and origins in a different light, and the experience was mind opening.

Works Cited

Puchner, Martin. “How stories have shaped the world.” BBC, http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180423-how-stories-have-shaped-the-world. Accessed 22 January, 2020.

N.S, Gill. “Understanding the Significance of Pandora’s Box.” ThoughtCo, https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-pandoras-box-118577. Accessed 22 January, 2020.

Question: Write a summary of three significant points that you find most interesting in the final chapter of If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories?

The topic of this week’s blog post is with regard to Chamberlin’s book, “If This is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?” and how the points made in the last chapter connects to the culture, impressions and philosophies of today. As a general overview of my personal impression of the chapter, I found it quite stunning in both the literal and figurative sense. It made me think about how we process the interactions we have in everyday interactions and literally made me pause for a brief minute. Taking into account the standards society has set upon itself, as a primarily empirical system, it becomes quite difficult to stray away from this mode of thinking once we are met with something new or different from what we grew up with.

The Significance of storytelling
I think I speak for most people when I say that, as children, we are brought up with a very imaginative mind, creating, exploring, extrapolating, and examining the world around us. In our mind, reason that our tooth falls out is because tooth fairies exist to collect them and the reason that rain falls is because the sky is sad and is crying. These stories serve to help us to understand the world as we currently know it, in our own unique way. This can be said the same thing with the empirical sciences and the cultural stories of the First Nations people. As Chamberlin explains, two painters can paint the same thing, but from different angles. This becomes the same for modern society and the First Nation’s stories. The stories of the Gitksan and the Mediik grizzly bear, rampaging through the mountain valley, and the clay deposits found in the mountain valley both illustrate the same picture, but from different perspectives and for the same reasons, that is to warn future generations of mudslides and their dangers.

The Reality of Dichotomous Cultures
When we speak of cultural stories, we should understand that there isn’t a right or wrong when it comes to the empirical sciences and the historical traditions and stories of people long past. The reason stories exist is to warn and educate the newer generation so that they can learn and grow from the mistakes of the older generation. Just because the method in which this is done through is different, doesn’t mean it should be discredited.

Take, for example, a story my mother use to tell me. I would always be told that I should not swallow cherry pits as it would start to grow in my stomach and cause me stomach aches. As I grew older, I knew that this was false, but learned that swallowing cherry pits can still be dangerous, especially to young children, due to a toxin called cyanogenic glycoside (Government of Canada). In this sense, although the stories do not match, the purpose of both stories lead to the same result and function in the same manner, that is, to protect and warn children.

The Truth on Contradictory Truths
The idea of contradictory truths is something that is also explored in Chamberlin’s writing, and it appears in the story I explained above quite brilliantly. Despite the fact that my mother’s story seemed more imaginative, it isn’t necessarily wrong either. Chamberlin urges its readers to separate ourselves from thinking culture as different from each other, using the pronouns “us” and “them” as a result of this separation. For example, let’s take religion in the sense of different cultures. In ancient Rome, they believed in the great goddess Venus, of love and fertility. Meanwhile for the ancient Greeks, they believed in Aphrodite who was also the same goddess. Despite their different interpretations, they are both stories of one and the same thing. In fact, the origins of Aphrodite lie far back into the ancient Babylonian days where the present-day Aphrodite was known as Ishtar. In reality our stories and beliefs shouldn’t discredit the other, and are one in the same.

Works Cited

Government of Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 2019. Natural toxins in fresh fruit and vegetables. Retrieved from https://www.inspection.gc.ca/food-safety-for-industry/information-for-consumers/fact-sheets-and-infographics/products-and-risks/fruits-and-vegetables/natural-toxins/eng/1332276569292/1332276685336.

Overly Sarcastic Productions. “Miscellaneous Myths: Aphrodite.” Youtube, commentary by Red, 15 Feb. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIUq0pfAskU.