Write a 600 to 1000 word blog that explains the connections you have found in context with that part of the novel, or in a general context with the entire novel. Be creative, be critical and ask questions.

 

I was assigned pages 70 to 83 of Green Grass, Running Water, and here are my thoughts on it!

 

The Garden

My section began with a story being told, that of Coyote, GOD, First Woman and Ahdamn in the garden. The Christian tale of the Garden of Eden is parodied by this story, with the trickster Coyote thrown in for good measure. Coyote, mischievous as always, manages to make GOD believe he did not eat any of his food, and therefore escapes his wrath. First Woman and Ahdamn (cough Adam cough), on the other hand, are found to have broken the “Christian rules” (King, 71), making GOD angry. With that, First Woman decides they should leave, and they do, with GOD throwing a tantrum after they have left. “You can’t leave”, GOD says, “because I’m kicking you out” (King, 72). But by that point they are already gone.

When I initially noticed the Garden of Eden parody I assumed that Coyote would be forced into the role of the serpent, the tempter. Instead I was pleasantly surprised that there was no temptation, merely First Woman challenging the authority of the supposed ‘GOD’. When GOD introduces themselves First Woman is unimpressed. “Funny”, she says, “You remind me of a dog” (King, 70). First Woman’s lack of regard for GOD is telling, and it highlights the fact that they are not her GOD, merely someone who has taken on a name.

Lone Ranger and Tonto

As First Woman and Ahdamn continue their journey away from the garden, they run into a spot of trouble. This trouble appeared in the form of a bunch of dead white guys, aka dead rangers. These bodies are laid at the feet of the two Indians as it “looks just like the work of Indians” (King, 74).

This begs the question of, what exactly does the work of Indians look like? We aren’t given an explanation for how these rangers were killed, after all. Was it a stereotypical tomahawk to the forehead? Did these supposed Indian murderers leave remnants of a traditional ceremony around the bodies? I suppose these will never be answered, as before First Woman and Ahdamn could be arrested, First Woman saved the day, by becoming the Lone Ranger and claiming Ahdamn as her sidekick, Tonto.

 

With their doubts about the duo assuaged the live rangers gallop off “looking for Indians and buffalo and poor people and other good things to kill” (76). And where was GOD for all of this? Still in the garden, alone.

The real garden

My section then cuts back to Dr. Hovaugh at the institution, who is being badgered by a police officer, Sergeant Cereno. Cereno was an interesting name choice, and one that I had to investigate further. It appears to be connected to Benito Cereno, a novel concerning the exploits of a slave rebellion on a slave ship. Cereno was one of the white slavers, making his appearance in Green Grass, Running Water as another white authority figure very purposeful. Cereno is unwilling to see the escapees in the same way as Dr. Hovaugh does. He sees them, despite their as potentially dangerous. Why? The reader has to assume it is due to their being Indian, or perhaps their depression. Either way, they are alien to the Sergeant, and therefore “they might be dangerous” (King, 79).

Lionel the Salesman

Lionel stuck out in this passage due to his apparent inability to communicate. Bill Bursum, whose name most likely comes from the defeated Bursum Bill of the 1920’s, is the first to steamroll over Lionel. Lionel tries to say he isn’t interested and that he wants to go back to school, but Bursum just keeps going. “I’ve got a gold jacket that’ll fit you”, Bursum explains, and in the end Lionel wears it (King, 81).

Lionel also runs into issues with his parents. He is discussing modern things, such as televisions and stereos, and his father is having a completely different conversation about creating new poles. (Upon my initial reading I assumed the poles were totem poles, and I thought it was a perfect example of King showing the collision of modernity and tradition, but upon further thought I realized that the type of pole isn’t actually specified. It could be a totem pole, a telephone pole, who knows!) The ‘modern world’ continued to call to Lionel, and he stayed at Bursum’s shop for years. Upon running into his cousin he finds himself referred to not as Lionel, but as ‘John Wayne’. Is that what Lionel has become during his time as a “city Indian” (King, 80)? An aging white cowboy?

 

Reflections

When I read Green Grass, Running Water I picked up on some of the symbolism/allusions throughout the novel, but this assignment forced me to investigate and reveal others that I missed on the first time around. Some are so subtle, such as Bill Bursum’s name, that unless you had prior knowledge of that specific defeated Bill it would simply slide past. “The allusions”, King explained in an interview, “aren’t to get at the reader but to blur the line between imagination and reality” (Ross, 1).

Thank-you for reading! Comment and let me know what you think, or if you noticed anything that I missed!

 

Works Cited:

“Benito Cereno.” Bookcover. Feedbooks. Web. March 13 2015. http://covers.feedbooks.net/book/3381.jpg?size=large&t=1425660843

“The Bursum Bill.” Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. Carla Joinson. Web Blog. March 13 2015. http://cantonasylumforinsaneindians.com/history_blog/the-canton-asylum-for-insane-indians/the-bursum-bill

Carson, Johnny. “Ed Ames Teaches Johnny Carson to Throw a Tomahawk.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, August 20 2012. Web. March 15 2015.

Chisum. “John Wayne, 1969.” Photograph. IMDB. Web. March 15 2015. http://www.imdb.com/media/rm596940800/nm0000078?ref_=nmmd_md_pv 

Chisum. “John Wayne, 1970.” Photograph. IMDB. Web. March 13 2015. http://www.imdb.com/media/rm4036204544/nm0000078?ref_=nmmd_md_pv

“Coyote.” Godchecker. Native American Mythology. Web. March 15 2015. http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/native-american-mythology.php?deity=COYOTE

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. Toronto: Harper Perennial, 1993. Print.

“Lone Ranger Original.” Photograph. Moviecarpet. Web. March 13 2015. http://moviecarpet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Lone-Ranger-Original.jpg

Val, Ross. “One Tricky Coyote.” The Globe and Mail 11 March 1993. Print.

3. 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 ?

 

As the daughter of a Presbyterian Church secretary, I grew up surrounded by Christianity. With this background in mind it is no surprise that the creation story that I am familiar with is the Christian one. I was taken aback while reading Thomas King’s The Truth About Stories as I did not expect the creation story that I grew up with to be as similar to King’s.

The stories start somewhat differently, as in the Christian creation story the entire Universe is created from light onwards. As a final touch on this Universe he created man and woman.

Thomas King’s creation story, however, starts somewhat in the middle in comparison. The earth exists, although it is only water and animals at the beginning, and instead of focusing on it the attention in the story is placed on a woman, her curiosity, and the choices she makes.

There are differences, of course, but each story is driven by the same force, curiosity.

It is curiosity, (or manipulation, depending on your own conclusions), that drew the first woman, Eve, to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, despite being told not to by God. That same curiosity drove the woman in King’s story, Charm, to ignore the warning of another creature and instead dig her way through her own world. Curiosity led each of these women into a new direction. Eve was thrown out of the Garden of Eden, the first man, Adam, by her side. Charm fell down from her own world to the watery earth below, with only animals for company, at least at first.

Despite the similar actions of these women, there was a great difference that I found within these stories, that of shame and negativity.

Eve is ashamed after her curiosity leads her to taste the forbidden fruit. She and Adam are expelled from the Garden, and trek around the Earth. They are now aware of good and evil and struggle through their lives, at times being happy, others sad.

Charm, on the other hand, appears to thrive on her new world. She befriends the animals and they assist her in creating a space for herself and her children to live. Her children, twins, change the world to be to their own liking, and the story finishes with it being declared as beautiful.

The Christian creation story that I grew up with places the focus on the mistake that Eve made, and opens up discussions on temptation, sin, and the loss of paradise. Eve has a lot of blame placed on her in the story, as discussed within this article I came across.

Thomas King’s story focuses on the duality of life, shown through the light and dark twins that Charm has. One is not good and the other evil, it is just not that simple.

 

English Standard Version. The Holy Bible. Illinois: Crossway Bibles, 2007. Print.

Gillhouse, Elizabeth. ““Eve was Framed”: Ideostory and (Mis)Representation in Judeo-Christian Creation Stories.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 36.3 (2011): 259-275. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/v036/36.3.gillhouse.html

King, Thomas. The Truth about Stories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003. Print.

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.

 

As Canadians we are taught throughout elementary and high school about being a part of a multicultural society, and how important it is to keep up with that tradition. What is sometimes skipped over, however, are the events that led up to this so-called multiculturalism. Despite our proclivity towards discussing our policies of tolerance and acceptance towards other cultures I find it to be very important to also teach about the mistakes we have made getting to where we are today, as well as the mistakes that are currently ongoing.

One of the events that we can now look back on as a ‘mistake’, or at the very least a darker part of our history, is the Immigration Act of 1910, specifically an amendment made to it in 1919, to Section 38. The amendment made it so that it was possible to prohibit “any nationality or race… any specified class or occupation…because such immigrants are deemed unsuitable” (Immigration Act, 97). ‘Unsuitable’. What sort of a term is this to use in a legal document? Who decides what is and what is not suitable? This amendment was kept intentionally broad, it seems, in order to be used against as many groups who did not fit into the vision of what the Canada government wanted its people to be.

What brought this amendment to my attention initially was a rather well known case, that of the S.S. St. Louis. The S.S St. Louis was an ocean liner that approached Canada in 1939. It carried just over 900 refugees who were fleeing Nazi persecution, the majority of them being Jews (Mullins, 393). They were denied entry first to Cuba, then the United States, and then Canada. After this, the ship returned to Europe, where several European countries gave them refuge. This refuge, however, was merely temporary. As the Nazi sphere of influence grew, the majority of the ships passengers found themselves once again under Nazi rule (Mullins, 394).

This is only one case where the amendment to Section 38 of the Immigration Act of 1910 came into play, but it is enough to illustrate exactly how easy the amendment made it to turn away any person or group whom the government did not see as ‘desirable’. Those doing the turning away may not have had malicious intent. On the contrary, they most likely saw themselves as defending Canada and her greatness, keeping the ‘unsuitable’ out. As Daniel Coleman wrote in his book, White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada, “the borders of civility are maintained by uncivil violence and unfair exclusions” (9).

Coleman’s arguments concerning the idea of ‘white civility’ in Canada’s past, and present, do fit with what I discovered when researching the implementation and use of the Immigration Act of 1910. He alludes to the same ‘us vs. them’ mentality that has been referenced and encountered previously in this course, which is what I believe drove the creation of the amendment to Section 38 of the Act. The idea was that it was not going to be the current Canadians who would cause issue for the country, but instead troublemakers from outside our borders, uncivil aliens who would not fit in with our culture, and therefore shouldn’t be given the chance.

 

“An Act to Amend the Immigration Act.” Canadiana. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. 23 February 2015. http://eco.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08048/8?r=0&s=1

Coleman, Daniel. White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Mullins, Robin Long. “The SS St. Louis and the Importance of Reconciliation.” Peace and Conflict. 19.4 (2013): 393-398. Web. 23 February 2015.

 

Read at least 3 students blog short stories about ‘home’ and make a list of the common shared assumptions, values and stories that you find. Post this list on your blog.

 

Reading through classmate’s blogs this week was an absolute pleasure. It was interesting to read through a few of the stories of my peers to see what their idea of home is, and why. Despite the idea of ‘home’ being a somewhat abstract one, the blogs that I arrived at shared several ideas.

• The idea that I found repeated most frequently, by myself as well, was that home is not a physical location, not really, it tends to be more tied to people and memories than any one location.
• Home is constantly changing and adapting as our lives do, it is not stagnant.
• When home does refer to a specific place it is one where we feel safe and accepted, surrounded by love.
• Home is wherever we want it to be, and can be multiple places at once.

After reading through the blogs one thought kept creeping into my mind, what would have happened if one of us had never felt this feeling of ‘home’, had never been in a situation where they had a real one? Would they have been able to complete the assignment?

If the majority of us have mentioned terms like ‘safety’, ‘belonging’, and ‘love’ in our posts about what home means to us, then what would home be to someone who had never been surrounded by those things? Following along with this line of thought, what would happen to someone who once had a home, but had it, and everything attached to it, be snatched away from them? If your physical home as well as your family were snatched away from you, would that knowledge of what a ‘home’ was to you remain, or can that too be taken away?

I can’t imagine this happening to me, I have no idea how I would deal with it, but I know it has happened to thousands of children in Canada’s past. I wonder if any study has been done on whether the destruction of a home, having that feeling of safety and belonging be stripped away, can permanently damage a person’s ability to construct a new one. I hope not, because the idea that someone could live unable to find a new home is incredibly frustrating and sad.

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

 

The first thing that comes into mine when I think about my home is noise, specifically music. My family, in particular my dad, has always had a very passionate relationship with music, and there is rarely a time when he is home that it is not playing somewhere in our house. I remember as a kid it used to be embarrassing, friends of mine would come over and my dad would have his speakers in our driveway, blasting Supertramp or other ‘old people’ music while he sung all the lyrics wrong, causing me to cringe and told my friends to ignore it. Now that I’m an adult, though, now I would be far more likely to start singing with him.

I am the youngest of three children, all girls, so growing up the house was always full of chatter, laughing, and, especially during the teenage years, shouting. Looking back on it now I bet my dad probably used his speakers and amplifiers and fancy headphones to block a lot of it out, but it wasn’t always a bad thing. I loved my house being chaotic, and I still do. Even if I am home alone I tend to turn on a tv, a radio, anything to avoid the still and oppressive silence of an empty house. My home needs to be full of people, full of life, otherwise it isn’t my home.

As I grow older I find myself home alone more often. The silence of our house is so alien, so wrong. It doesn’t feel like home when it is quiet and still, it feels much more typical when it’s full of people laughing, eating, and of course bickering. My middle sister was married in August, and moved into an apartment with her husband. It still doesn’t quite feel like home without her. Having lived twenty-three years in the same home as her, twelve of those in the same room, it has been an odd adjustment to make. I still see her very frequently, but I get the sense that her home has changed. Her home will always be partially with me, yes, but it is now centered around her husband and the family they will be starting.

Another way my home has changed over the years is through the addition of pets. When I was 10 we got our first pet, a golden retriever. Nothing says ‘home’ quite so much as a sentient being that will always be there waiting for you. Kiwi is still around now, older and quieter but still happily standing and waiting by the door whenever I get home, tail wagging. Her love of all of us has definitely had an impact on my feeling of ‘home’. I worry about the day when she’s gone, and when I walk into my door and that greeting isn’t there, or when I wake up without her head peeking over the side of my bed, I don’t think it will feel as much like my home on that day. Something will be missing.

Wouldn’t you miss this face?

It’s funny, I never notice when things are missing from my home, or added. My sense of home does not seem to be tied into physical objects, not minor ones, anyways. I’ll get home from work, from school, from wherever and my mom used to ask me things like “Do you notice anything different?” with a huge smile, meaning she had bought something new, and I always struggled to answer. Usually she would take pity and just point out whatever it was, clock, lamp, rug, but as much time as I’ve spent in my home over the years I could never walk into the room and pinpoint what had been changed.

My sense of home is more about the life of the home, who is in it, what are they doing, how are they feeling, as opposed to the objects. As excited as I am to be moving out on my own soon I think I also dread it a bit, I don’t know if I’m ready for my home to change. I think a part of my home will always reside with those who occupied it, though, my sisters, my parents, my pets, and my friends. Even as I move onto a new physical home, those pieces will stay where they are, where they belong.

I found myself very much enjoying the assignment for this week, and ended up roping in family, friends and coworkers into listening to my highly edited re-telling of why it is important to be careful with stories, tall tales, and all other manner of words. Words carry a danger that is very easy to forget, until it is too late.

Without further ado, here is my story!

The Rise and Fall of Eudyptes Azureus

Have you ever heard of a species of penguin labeled as E. Azureus? No? There is a reason for that.

E. Azureus lived, as many penguins do, in the unforgiving climate of Antarctica. Surrounded by cold and darkness for long periods of the time penguins in this climate turned inwards, and became very fond of stories, dreams, and traditions. One of the most important traditions to E. Azureus was the spirit guide that appeared to each penguin when they reached their maturity. This guide would often give the penguin it spoke to advice, tasks to accomplish, or even new songs or poems to share. If this guide does not appear then the penguin is judged to not yet be mature enough, and must wait another year.

The fall of E. Azureus was put into play by one young penguin, whose name is not known. This penguin waited anxiously for his guide upon his arrival at the age of maturity, but one did not appear. The following year he waited again, and again was disappointed. He listened jealously to the stories of those younger than him, and envied their experiences. Following the third year of his spirit guide not materializing, his resolve broke.

The penguin approached his kin the next morning and acted joyous, telling all whom would listen that his guide had appeared! All the penguins were pleased for him and crowded around to listen to what he had been told. Not wanting to be caught in a lie, the still immature penguin almost faltered, but quickly gathered himself and told them that what his guide had told him was verrrrrry important. The penguins demanded to be told what it was; they were hoping it was information that could make their bleak and difficult existence easier.

“We have to move,” the penguin stated, “my guide told me that we must make our way to great water and go beyond it. There we will find our paradise.”

The crowd of penguins was horrified. They had vowed to never go back to the great water, there were too many dangers, and it was too far! Comments sprang up from the crowd, who had turned from happy and eager to hear to scared and uncomfortable.

“How will we get there?” cried one young penguin.

“Where will we find food?” yelped another.

“What about the eaters?” asked one grizzled elder.

The leader of the penguin colony cried out for silence and looked thoughtful. He stared at the lying penguin for a long while, and then simply nodded.

“We will do as his guide told us”, the penguin stated, “Guides have never led us astray before. We must trust in them.”

With that it was decided, and the lying penguin was congratulated by all. The colony made preparations for the long journey, and made plans to set out the next morning.

The last night in the land he had grown in was hard on the lying penguin. He slept fitfully, and during the night his long awaited spirit guide came to him, even though it was not the correct time of year. He had waited so long for this moment, and when it came all he felt was shame. His guide avoided looking at him for a long while before speaking.

“You,” the guide cried, “will be forced to live with the consequences of the story you told. Not all words can be taken back.”

With that simple statement, the guide vanished, leaving the penguin to wake up and begin the long trek with the rest of his kin.

Many died on the journey, primarily due to lack of food or exhaustion. So strong was their belief in the truth of the guide’s words that the penguins pushed themselves to the limit day after day. After weeks of hard travel they caught a glimpse of the great water from the top of a cliff. Below the cliff lay a large barren beach.

“We’ve arrived!” the penguins rejoiced, “Now we must enter the great water and keep going until we cannot anymore.”

The lying penguin had been quiet for much of the journey. He felt each and every death weigh on his conscience, but he had never found the strength to tell the penguins that he had lied, to make them turn back. He called for their attention then, on top of that cliff, staring out over the great water.

“I have wronged you”, he began, “I lied and I am sorry. No guide spoke to me, not until the night after I told all of you. I was scared to tell you before, but I’m not anymore. Don’t go.”

The crowd of penguins shuffled uneasily, had they really lost so many for nothing? What would they do now? They could not survive the same long trek back to their unforgiving homeland.

Unsteadily the colony leader turned to face the lying penguin.

“You’re lying.” He stated, blandly. “This journey has taken much out of you, and I do not blame you. We have all come a long way, and we must keep going just a little longer.”

With that, the leader launched himself down the cliff side, sliding towards the water. The crowd of penguins followed him, all but the lying penguin. He watched from the top of the cliff, unable to join them, yet also unable to look away. His eyes closed as the final member of his kin entered the water, and did not open for a long time. In his mind he heard the words of his late guide and realized that although he had told the truth in the end, it didn’t matter.

Not all words can be taken back, and not all words can be un-listened to. Once they are out in the world they remain in it, no matter how much we wish it wasn’t so.

——-

Now, the reactions to this story were widely varied, which I did not actually expect.

My mother found it incredibly depressing, especially how the ‘lying penguin’ never received a proper name. I explained that I didn’t think he needed one, none of the penguins got one, but for some reason it really seemed to bother her.

A friend of mine insisted that I censor it so that the penguins did not all enter the water in the end, that some saw the truth in the lying penguins final statement and turned back, but I felt like that would go against the point a bit, so I refused.

My coworker seemed very hung up on my choice of penguins as the species with which this occurred, and my only real answer to this is that I watched a documentary on them a few weeks ago and it must have been stuck in my head, waiting for a chance like this!

Overall I found this assignment very different from what I am used to, and it was nice to be able to stretch my creative writing muscles a bit. It certainly turned out longer than I thought it would, but I think the point echoes fairly strongly throughout the story.

Although I haven’t run into this exact problem in my life so far, the idea of telling a lie and then having to admit to that lie has come up before, so I sympathize with the lying penguin, as I assume most would. As the youngest of three I think my feeling of being younger, more immature, not as ‘ready for the world’ as my siblings definitely came through in this piece, and I certainly remember lying to seem more mature. It is interesting to see how much of myself is reflected in this story, actually. I was unaware of it until I had read it over multiple times, but as much as I dislike the character of the lying penguin it is too easy to see myself, and anyone else who has felt belittled or not good enough, in him.

Thank you for reading, and don’t be the lying penguin! 🙂

 

– Christie

The idea of a culture being labeled as either an “oral culture” or a “written culture” had never occurred to me prior to the readings for this week, and I agree with Chamberlin’s argument within his book, “If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories”, as well as Courtney MacNeil’s from her article, “Orality”, that defining a culture as being “oral” or “written” is a mistake.

Chamberlin argues against this notion of being either “oral” or “written” by pointing out that cultures are not truly one or the other. Yes, some cultures lack a written alphabetic language, but that does not mean they do not contain other forms of writing. He pinpoints examples as being “woven and beaded belts and blankets, knotted and coloured strings”, as well as carvings, paintings, and other ways to symbolize and leave messages (Chamberlin, 19). So-called “written cultures” are not purely written, either. Although I would most certainly belong to what some would mistakenly label a “written culture”, I am also highly involved in several oral traditions that Chamberlin points out, and some that he does not. As a retail worker I participate in a very set conversation with each customer, each of us participating in the verbal dance that is, I’m sure, very familiar to us all.

“Hello! How are you today?” “Good, you?” “Good.”

Although the rest of the conversation may go off in a different direction, this beginning scarcely changes, and I would argue that it is almost certainly one of the “oral traditions” that Chamberlin mentions, as it fits with his other examples of churches, schools, and parliaments (Chamberlin, 20).

MacNeil picks up this idea within her article, and proceeds to discuss how integral and central orality as “a means of human communication”, which is certainly needed within virtually any culture (MacNeil, “Orality”). She also argues against the depiction of orality as being “isolat[ed] from literacy, or as subservient to it” (MacNeil, “Orality”). Chamberlin runs across the same thought by bringing up the mistake that some make by placing cultures without a written alphabet as primitive (Chamberlin, 19). Either of these beliefs would appear to be a mistake, as just because two cultures differ in terms of how their stories are recorded, or their agreements made does not place one above the other. Cultures are not something that can be weighed, tagged, and placed into a box, they are something that needs to be experienced in order to begin to understand. Those who try to place cultures into such basic categories as “oral” or “written” do not understand the depth that cultures go, as they cannot be one or the other, traditions from both will appear if someone looks hard enough.

It is for the distinct benefit of some that this duality occurs, as can be seen from the start of Laurie Green’s article, “Oral Culture and the World of Words”. Green is dyslexic, and therefore struggles with reading and writing, but still pushed towards a career in the clergy, which involved a fair amount of both. She pushes for equal portions of oral and written work in schools in order to get the best results (Green, 335). As I have a few family members with dyslexia, this article was of particular interest to me as I have seen them struggle firsthand, and have to wonder whether a more oral-based education would have aided them.

This discussion on the oral and the written within various cultures led me to look inward to try to decide whether I sway more towards one than the other. The first thing to pop into my mind is the that I, like many others of my generation, am almost constantly glued to my cell phone. At first glance this would seem to sway me towards the oral, as the primary use of the phone was once for speaking, but now I find I am just as often reading articles or texting, showing that even an object as common as a cell phone is still subject to the push and pull of both the oral, and the written. Naomi S. Baron describes the relationship between the two in her article, “Do Mobile Technologies Reshape Speaking, Writing, or Reading”. It’s an interesting article that fits in well with the idea and modernity of this course, and after reading it I find myself applying the ideas about mobile technologies towards the social media of our society today, including this blog. Although this blog itself is written, while typing it up I have been listening to a variety of material, and spoken to one about its content. Not even while working on a written piece can I get away from the oral.

Works Cited:

Baron, Naomi S. “Do Mobile Technologies Reshape Speaking, Writing, Or Reading?” Mobile Media and Communication 1.1 (2013): 134-140. Web. 14 Jan. 2015.

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground. Vintage Canada. Toronto. 2004. Print.

Green, Laurie. “Oral Culture and the World of Words.” Theology 102 (1999): 328-335. Web. 14 Jan 2015.

MacNeil, Courtney. “Orality.” The Chicago School of Media Theory. The University of Chicago. 2007. Web. 13 Jan 2015. <http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/orality/>

 

 

Hello, and welcome to my blog! My name is Christie and I am in my final year at UBC pursuing a major in History, with a concentration in Canadian History. This will constitute my first serious attempt at a blog and I relish the chance to delve into a new area. I have been a reader of various blogs for years, primarily fashion or the like, so this is a bit of a step outside of my comfort zone.

English 470 caught my eye first due to the content, but this idea of blogging having such an integral role within the course definitely drew me in. When I watched the welcome video of the course and realized it was to bear the tongue-in-cheek title of “Oh Canada!… Our Home and Native Land?” my desire to take English 470 was solidified.

Now, when it comes to myself and my relationship with Canada, my family has long standing roots in Canada, and I have written several papers in the past discussing them and their impact on me. My maternal grandmother’s family goes back eleven generations within Canada, (we even have a lake named after my family in the Okanagan), and yet she married a first generation Italian immigrant. As this occurred in the early 1940’s, her family was absolutely distraught. He was not Canadian enough for them, not Christian enough, and not good enough. Luckily she ignored them, married him, and a generation later here I am! If my grandmother had not seen around her own family’s narrow description of Canadian then I would not be here today. Here’s a picture of the happy couple:

As a History major I have spent a fair bit of my time at UBC discussing not only what is and what isn’t ‘Canadian’, but also looking into indigenous cultures from around the world and I have developed a definite interest in both subjects. In a previous course I delved into the idea of oral history as a legitimate one and we discussed its use in Canadian courts, so I am intrigued to take a look at storytelling and everything it can mean once again. I have also read a few of the books I noticed on the syllabus already, and look forward to going over them in a more academic context than reading in my spare time.

With this course focusing on Canada I thought it pertinent to look into what the general public sees as being ‘Canadian’, and was somewhat surprised by the two following articles, take a look and tell me what you think! They both seem to be focused on saying more about what isn’t Canadian than what is.