Write a blog that hyper-links your research on the characters in GGRW (Pages 162-177). Be sure to make use of Jane Flick’s reference guide on your reading list.

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When I read read my section I was shocked to note how many allusions and historical references were included in just a few short pages. The more research I do, it seems the more references I find, it seems impossible to discover all of King’s hidden allusions but I’ll do my best.

I’d like to first discuss the story of Eli and Karen, Eli seems to be a character based on Elijah Harper, Harper is best known for voting against the Meech Lake Accord, Harper prevented the accord from being passed based on the grounds that there had been no consultation with First Nations groups and that their rights were not being recognized.  Harper was voted Newsmaker of the year in 1990 because of his part in preventing the Meech Lake Accord.  Considering the strength behind Eli”s character I feel that the story of him and Karen does not portray him as being particularly strong willed or determined.

The story begins with how they met and discusses the relationship that develops through a sharing of novels.  Karen generally passes on books based on the lives of Indians although Eli prefers westerns. A part of this particular story revolves around a novel that Eli is reading in which a stagecoach is attacked by a notorious Indian named Iron Eyes who takes pity on a beautiful young woman and spares her life to show her the ways of his people.  The Indian in the novel is based on Iron Eyes Cody who was a well known actor who appeared in over 200 flims, he acted predominantly in westerns beginning in the silent film era.  Although he worked in Hollywood he retained his pride for his Native roots and he was a great supporter of many Indian affairs. This connection between Eli and Iron Eyes Cody is very interesting because in the story, Eli moves in with Karen who’s family is wealthy and the way in which Eli describes the home they share gives the impression that he does not really belong.  This is similar to the connection of Iron Eyes Cody who although he embraced his Indian heritage, lived outside of it. Although this only touches on this particular story I feel that these are the most interesting connections and if I wasn’t going to cut some details this post would be incredibly long.

The second story includes the Lone Ranger, Ishmael, Robinson Crusoe, and Hawkeye. These characters pop up regularly throughout the novel and according to Flick, “King purposefully plays with expectations about naming and gender.” (Flick 1) All of these names are very clearly referring to white characters, either from old television series or the bible.  By creating Indian characters with names that are clearly based on white characters it accentuates the importance of overlap between Native traditional stories and real life events.  Not only are the stories involving the old indians representative of traditional stories, by giving them white names it allows the reader to better understand the challenge of maintaining these traditional stories in a world where First Nations must constantly fight for their rights.

The third story that I would like to discuss in my section is that of Lionel and Alberta.  These characters seem to constantly be on different pages throughout the novel. Lionel seems to have had some bad luck throughout his life and although he generally means well he just cant seem to make anything of himself.  In this section of the novel Lionel seems to have made the decision that Alberta is the woman for him and his actions are those of a man who seems to know what he wants but just simply cant make it happen.  This is probably partly to do with the fact that although Lionel has decided that Alberta is the one, Alberta is still dating both him and Charlie but in her heart she knows that neither one of them is marriage material.  Flick states that Alberta Frank is herself, frank. (Flick 5) I would disagree. Although Alberta is frank with herself, she cant seem to simply be honest and tell both Lionel and Charlie that she is uninterested in marriage to either of them.  The result of this is situations such as this scene where she has been invited to dinner at Lionel’s parents’ house.  Lionel had prepared a romantic weekend and in the end because she had simply not been frank about the situation, rather than discussing is she made the excuse that she had forgotten about a meeting and had to return home.

Overall I found the connections related to Eli the most interesting. The links between his roots and his reality corresponded so well to the stories of Iron Eyes Cody.  Had I not done my research I would have likely missed this connection and it is truly amazing how many connections there are throughout this novel.

Works Cited:

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Canadian Literature, 1999. 140-172. http://canlit.ca/pdfs/articles/canlit161-162-Reading(Flick).pdf

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.

What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story you are familiar with and the story King tells in The Truth About Stories ?

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Anyone who reads my blog responses regularly has probably noticed that I tend to answer the questions that are a little bit more simple.  This is not because I’m lazy but because I find that it is the simple questions who’s answers are often overlooked.  King brings up so many basic topics and yet he approaches them with a complexity that makes you question how simple they really are.

Take this question for example, at first glance I jumped to the creation story of Adam (or Ahdamn, which I find hilarious!) and Eve.  Then I realized that just because I know the story of Adam and Eve does not mean that it fits within my belief system, and it seemed unfair to chose a story that I feel has no place in my own life.  At this point in my consideration I had to think about which story I accept.  I decided fairly easily that I would discuss the story of the Big Bang.  This led me to an article titled “The Big Bang is Hard Science. It is also a creation story.” This article discusses that while the Big Bang Theory is based on empirical data and quantitative reasoning, it shares the same unobtainable thoughts as other creation stories.  It is, and will likely always be, that we will not know what came before us, all we are able to understand pertains directly to how we live now.  We live, we die, we change matter and create new life.  This is a formula which we all know, even as a child you understand birth and as you age you discover more and more about death.  All of the stories that we tell ourselves are to explain the unknown, what happened to start this process.

I feel that it is more relevant to discuss the similarities of the Big Bang Theory and King’s story of creation because it is much simpler to point out the differences.  Yet another example of something simple that is in reality much more complicated. One of the most noticeable similarities is the use of the sky and the ocean.  The basic principle of the Big Bang Theory is that there was a speck smaller than an atom which was incredibly hot and dense.  This speck exploded and our universe was created in a fraction of second.  As this new universe expanded it cooled, first creating matter and antimatter followed by protons and neutrons which came together to create hydrogen and helium nuclei which after 300,000 years had cooled enough to capture electrons and create atoms allowing the universe to be filled with hydrogen and helium gasses.  While this is incredibly scientific and likely not without its own flaws it does create an image of the sky as where everything began. This is very much like how in King’s story Charm falls from the sky and is the start of humans on earth.  Many scientists believe that life started in the ocean and that our planet was mostly covered in water to begin with.  This is another way that the big bang theory and King’s story are alike.  Charm falls into the ocean where all of the animals live and only when she gives birth to her children and they need more space than the back of the turtle do they create land.

As you can see these two stories really could not be any more different however there are shared ethos between them that create an equal acceptance of beliefs and the unknown.

Works Cited

King, The Truth About Stories, Chapter One: You’ll Never Believe What Happened Is Always a Great Way to Start.

The Oxford English Dictionary Online. The Oxford University Press. 2015. 8 Mar 2015.

2] In this lesson I say that it should be clear that the discourse on nationalism is also about ethnicity and ideologies of “race.” If you trace the historical overview of nationalism in Canada in the CanLit guide, you will find many examples of state legislation and policies that excluded and discriminated against certain peoples based on ideas about racial inferiority and capacities to assimilate. – and in turn, state legislation and policies that worked to try to rectify early policies of exclusion and racial discrimination. As the guide points out, the nation is an imagined community, whereas the state is a “governed group of people.” For this blog assignment, I would like you to research and summarize one of the state or governing activities, such as The Royal Proclamation 1763, the Indian Act 1876, Immigration Act 1910, or the Multiculturalism Act 1989 – you choose the legislation or policy or commission you find most interesting. Write a blog about your findings and in your conclusion comment on whether or not your findings support Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility.

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For this blog assignment I have chosen to focus on the immigration act of 1910.  It is however difficult to discuss this act without first mentioning the immigration act of 1906. The immigration act of 1906 was the precursor to the more severe act  implemented in 1910.  The 1906 act defined “an immigrant” and although there has been laws in place since 1869 which had placed certain regulations on immigration, the act of 1906 banned the immigration of individuals who were deemed unwanted by the government.  Not only did the immigration act of 1906 place strict immigration guidelines but it also gave the government the right to deport immigrants and to place a required amount of “landing money” that all immigrants were required to have.

The immigration Act of 1910 is seen as the second event to place restrictive laws on immigration.  The act of 1910 furthered the restrictions on the 1906 Act by stating that the government had the right to prevent the immigration of all “immigrants belonging to any race deemed unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada.” (Government of Canada) The Act of 1910 also gave the government more power to deport any individuals based on any uncertainty of their morals of political views. Some of the numbers relating to the deportation of immigrants are insane, and based on ridiculous grounds such as illness and that they might potentially become criminals.  The government also introduced an “in-order council” which required all immigrants of Asiatic descent to have $200 in cash when entering Canada.  This head tax was an incredible sum as in general the average worker in Canada made only slightly over $400 annually. The “in-order council” also controlled the $25 fee that was applicable to all other immigrants, this requirement created much protest in Great Britain because immigrants would now have to have an addition $25 to the money that would be needed for their passage to reach Canada.  

Once an immigrant had reached Canada, the act of 1910 decreed that they were on a three year probationary period which meant that until permanent residency was granted, the immigrant could be deported at any time that they became classified as undesirable 

It is startling to note that this act had very little debate.  The only discussion that it inspired was in relation to the governments failure to increase the population of the maritime provinces.  

I feel that the Immigration Act of 1910 fit perfectly with Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility. Like the project of white civility the Immigration Act of 1910 was an attempt to create country based on an image set forth by a close minded individual who felt that he knew what was best for an entire nation.  The Canada that I know now is such an open and welcoming country that it surprised me that we have had such a judgemental past filled with racism and bias. I hope that this country keeps striving for equality and never forgets the horrors of our past.  

Works Cited

Canada. Government of Canada. Publications and Manuals. Forging Our Legacy: Canadian     Citizenship and Immigration 1900-1977. Online.  2006.07.01.

“Immigration Act, 1910″. Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. Canada. Government of Canada. 1910. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

1] In his article, “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial,” King discusses Robinson’s collection of stories. King explains that while the stories are written in English, “the patterns, metaphors, structures as well as the themes and characters come primarily from oral literature.” More than this, Robinson, he says “develops what we might want to call an oral syntax that defeats reader’s efforts to read the stories silently to themselves, a syntax that encourages readers to read aloud” and in so doing, “recreating at once the storyteller and the performance” (186). Read “Coyote Makes a Deal with King of England”, in Living by Stories. Read it silently, read it out loud, read it to a friend, and have a friend read it to you. See if you can discover how this oral syntax works to shape meaning for the story by shaping your reading and listening of the story. Write a blog about this reading/listening experience that provides references to the story.

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The first time I read “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England” I was so confused and I really had no idea half the time what was going on.  In hindsight I was skimming and in order to properly understand this text I found that I had to slow down and read out loud.  I read this text three times. First I read it quickly and in my head, then I read it out loud to a friend, and finally I had my friend read it to me.

As I said before, my first attempt was a little bit of a failure, my second attempt however gave me a new perspective on the entire text.  I found that the sentences that before had made no sense at all, now flowed with ease and even the mistakes and oddities within the text didn’t seem to matter as much.  It wasn’t an immediate transformation however, it did take me a few pages to allow the words to flow and to stop being so focused on the text itself.  I feel that often as students we are taught to read in the same way that we wright.  This I feel, makes us susceptible to every word that we read.  This method of reading takes a lot of effort! I’m sure many of you have read a paragraph and realized that you have absolutely no idea what you just read, then you go back and read the paragraph again word for word to understand what it was that your brain skimmed over the first time.  I feel that in this text you are forced to read the words as if they were your own, and simply on the page as a guideline for the direction of the story.  Without making your own changes mentally as you read it out loud, it really makes no sense.  Once you allow your mouth to make the small changes as you go and to stop fixating on the words themselves the story comes together.

The third time, I had my friend read the story to me.  This was a different experience all together because as much as she initially struggled, I simply listened and absorbed the words that she was saying.  Although at this point I was pretty clear on the story I felt that listening was the most natural way to hear this story.  When I was reading out loud I still had to process the words that I said, when the story was told to me I felt that there was no restriction placed on the meaning.  My friend initially though that the story was a little odd, however she did not feel that her comprehension of the story was greater after having read it out loud. I found this very interesting because I found that after having the story told to me, I had more understanding.  Perhaps had I had the story read to me initially, I would not have not struggled so much to understand the story in the first place.

Check out a blog posted by Scicurious, there is a very interesting post on silent reading and how our brains process written word when reading in our own heads.  Although I agree with the post, I do feel that they should have acknowledged the difference between how we perceive text when we read silently and when we read out loud, instead of simply focusing on how our brains process silent reading.  

– Jennifer

Works Cited

King, Thomas. “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial.” Unhomely States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism. Mississauga, ON: Broadview, 2004. 183- 190.

Robinson, Harry. “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England.” Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. 64-85.

“Silent Reading isn’t so Silent, at Least, not to your Brain.” Blog Post. Neurotic Physiology. Scientopia, Jan 23, 2013. Web. Feb. 13, 2015.

Question 1

King’s decision to include two different stories of creation seems completely logical to me.  To omit a version simply because one does not believe it seems contradictory.  Also, is that not what the First Nations have been fighting against this whole time?

I do not think that people must chose a version of the story to believe, there are many people in fact, that do not believe any of the creation stories and simply believe in a scientific explanation.  This is not to say that the stories lose their importance if one does not believe them, it is the stories that are told that create a people, a culture, and a history. Personally I believe in a scientific explanation, that does not mean that I don’t value all versions of the creation story.  My family is of European descent and although we are not religious at all, the religious practices that my family follows such as Christmas and Easter have been absorbed into cultural practice and have become my families culture even without a focus on religion.  These practices make my family complete and without them we would be missing our family traditions.

By allowing us to hear two creation stories together, King is able to convey the importance of having stories that make our traditions instead of placing the importance on the belief in the stories themselves. I do not believe that King emphasizes the believability of one story over the other.  Although he clearly spends more time, and gives more detail to the story of “The Woman Who Fell from the Sky,” I believe that how King tells the story is true to the culture of the stories themselves.  Historically “The Woman who fell from the Sky” would have been told orally and with detail, perhaps the details would have been slightly different had someone else told it, maybe it would have been longer or shorter, it might have even had a different tone or been told to teach a lesson unrelated to the creation of the earth.  All of these variables mean that King had a choice in how he chose to tell the story.  The story of Adam and Eve is more cut and dry.  It has been written down and read for hundreds of years.  Those who believe in the story believe in the bible and what is written, and therefore is unchanging.  The way King told the story of Adam and Eve complements this more structured belief system.

Wendy Wickwire discusses the importance of hearing a story many story many times before one is able to come to any conclusions about it. (Robinson, 19) This is critical to understand when one thinks about the importance of preserving these stories and why perhaps King placed more detail in the First Nations story.

Overall it is important to understand that no matter what your beliefs may be, it is easier for people to exist within a framework than to be floundering.  I believe that King told these two stories together to create an understanding that no matter where we come from or what we believe in we all search for this framework and as long as we are content with how we share these stories with others, one does not have more importance than the other.

Works Cited

King, The Truth About Stories, Chapter One: You’ll Never Believe What Happened Is Always a Great Way to Start.

Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Compiled and edited by Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talon Books2005. (1-30)

I’m very lucky, my entire childhood I lived in the same house, with my sister and my parents.  Now that I’ve moved across the entire country and I’m living in Montreal, it’s a new sort of home.  I did have a step between these two extremes, I moved out of my parents house a few years before I moved to Montreal but no mater where I’ve lived the “home” number in my phone has not changed.  That’s not to say that I haven’t felt at home in the other places that I have lived but simply that no matter what, my home will always be where my family is.

When I think of home I immediately have certain memories that flash into my mind.  The first is breakfast time, my dad always made breakfast, now that I think about it we had some weird breakfasts.  My favourite was boiled cornmeal that he poured onto a plate and sprinkled with chocolate chips.  On easter and valentines day the chocolate chips would be replaced with easter chocolate or red and pink smarties.  This breakfast was always accompanied by the soundtrack of the Gypsy Kings, I can sing the entire “Bamboleo” song even though I have absolutely no idea what it means.

I’m on the right with my mom and my sister

I feel like as a kid I had a lot more freedom than kids do now, I understand that parents want to protect their children and they don’t want their kids to get hurt but some of my fondest memories of my childhood and my home are the times that I did get hurt or we did get in trouble.  Somehow my neighbour Stephanie was always the one who got hurt the most but I was always the one who got to play doctor.  Of course all of these things had a be a secret. I still don’t think her mom knows where she got the scar on her hand from pruning shears trying to make a fort in the neighbours hedge, or the scar on her hip where she got bit by a dog while rollerblading.

My childhood dog is a huge part of my memories of home, he was the best.  Simon was the most tolerant dog in the world.  He was also a thief. He would steal any food that was left out.  He once stole an entire roast chicken off the stove and ate the whole thing, not a bone was left.  That’s really only the start though, his thieving also included a pound of butter, two dozen gingerbread men, 30 year old christmas ornaments made of salt dough, and more panettone bread than I’ve consumed in my whole life.

This is me and my sister with Simon on the beach near my grandmas house

These memories are what make my home special. It’s not the home itself, it’s the people and the memories that happened inside it.  Living in Montreal I have no old friends or family around me but I know that as soon as I miss home I can be there again with a phone call.  If I’m sad I can talk to my mom, if I need to laugh I can call my dad, and if I need someone to kick my ass and make me see reason I call my sister.  These people will always be there for me, no matter where in the world I am, just like I’ll always be there for them.  Home is where your people are, but more than that it’s the people who make your home.

Hi Everyone,

Here is a video that I made with my version of the “How evil came into the world” story.  This is my first ever video post so I really hope that it’s not completely horrible.  I hope you enjoy my story and I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Jennifer

Movie on 2015-01-26 at 20.15

Questions #7

At the beginning of this lesson I pointed to the idea that technological advances in communication tools have been part of the impetus to rethink the divisive and hierarchical categorizing of literature and orality, and suggested that this is happening for a number of reasons.  I’d like you to consider two aspects of digital literature: 1) social media tools that enable widespread publication, without publishers, and 2) Hypertext, which is the name for the text that lies beyond the text you are reading, until you click. How do you think these capabilities might be impacting literature and story?

Although it is indisputable that technological advances in communication have vastly changed the information that we are able to obtain on all levels, from basic recipes to violent propaganda, the most notable change I feel, is the speed at which all and any communication can be spread.  While there are obviously many positive things about this, such as the addition of countless book, journals, manuscripts, and so much more onto scholarly sites such as the UBC library website, which allows for so much more knowledge to be shared by a huge number of people, there are equally as many negative factors.  Because anybody can post anything, we lack a sensor of sorts.  This is NOT to say that I don’t believe in free speech, just simply that many people do not seem to understand that just because it is on the internet, does not mean that it is true.  Think for example how many times we, as students, have been reminded not to use Wikipedia.  Even in this class it has been stated at least once.  The fact that I feel it is redundant to state this, does not change the fact that if no one ever cited wikipedia, it would simply not have to be stated.  Therefore, even educated university students are fooled by the draw of easily accessible “fact.” Chamberlin states that “words make us feel closer to the world we live in.” (1) Although this is true on so many levels, especially when discussing stories, or shared experiences, I feel that this has become such a overgrown phenomena.  Singh, Mani, and Pentland discuss in their article “Social Persuasion in Online and Physical Networks” the impact of persuasion and the differences between online and offline pressure. (1) 

Hypertext creates another issue.  Because one can chose if they would in fact like to see what lies beyond the blue underlined word, the initial intention of the author is skewed. The author intended for the reader to click and expand on the information which they already provided, the reader gains control of the text by deciding if that piece of information is relevant without even perhaps knowing its content.

The online world of information is vast and marvellous, however it is a scary place as well.  Not only can we not control any of the information which is provided by the “authors” but the readers also have more power.   This power struggle is social medias breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it has so much more power than we will ever be able to comprehend.

Jennifer Heinz

Works Cited

Chamberlin, J. Edward. “A New History of Reading: Hunting, Tracking, and Reading.” For the Geography of a Soul: Emerging Perspectives on Kamau Braithwaite. Ed. Timothy J. Reiss., 145-164. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2001. 145-164.

Singh, Vivek K., Ankur Mani, and Alex Pentland. “Social Persuasion in Online and Physical Networks.” Proceedings of the IEEE 102.12 (2014): 1903-10.

Hi everyone, my name is Jennifer and as I’m sure you can tell from the title, I’m new at this.  Actually I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m not going to lie, it took me over an hour to get this far. I feel like I am this generations technology failure.  Moving on from my lack of blogging experience, I am proud to say that I am Canadian.  I grew up in Vancouver (well actually Richmond but Vancouver sounds better, lets be honest) but I am currently living in Montreal. What am I doing in Montreal? I have no idea. The original goal of this Montreal adventure was to improve my French and see more of Canada. I have to say the east coast is great, the people are amazing, the poutine is divine, and the temperatures are enough to take your breath away, literally.

I am currently taking all of my classes online through UBC and because UBC doesn’t offer any Anthropology classes online, I finishing my electives.  That being said this class is also very appealing from an anthropological perspective. The concept of learning through oral history has such a history itself, not only have the indigenous people of Canada used stories as a way to share their history for centuries, this method of sharing allows for continued communication and learning as group, rather than as individuals.

I’m very much looking forward to finding relationships between stories and our countries history.  I’m excited to be able to expand on my knowledge of Canada’s history and literary accomplishments from Quebec, because I will be able to experience more of this beautiful country while learning of its past.

I hope that this will be an opportunity to learn in a supported online community and that we will all be able to feel like we understand more about this country when the course is over.

UBC’s indigenous foundation has a very interesting write up on the importance of preserving oral traditions and stories, as well as some of the challenges that face this tradition. Check out the article in the link below.

http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/culture/oral-traditions.html

This is the Government of Canada’s definition of what makes us Canadian, I feel like it’s pretty impersonal, what do you think?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/discover/section-05.asp