I am from barley,
from pre-Cambrian rock,
and the lake all around.
I am from the kettle,
boiling, pouring,
patiently.
From cooled magma carved by glaciers,
from Wolfie,
and Clancy.
From balsam sap,
and Juniper bushes.
I am from the scythe,
reaping,
Whiskey or wine,
through morning glories hydra head vine
and bonfires built from brushwood.
… ..Like many people, and most every bird, I consider myself from the transition between different places. I grew up between living in west vancouver and living on Lunnys Island, I had freedom from school as a child and instead chose to spend as much time alone and in nature as I possibly could. This led to many of my summers and autumns being rooted in place on Lunnys Island.
I attended the last S.E.E.C semester led by Steve Dunsmuir and then graduated highschool at Windsor House School, a democratic student led program originally founded by Helen Hughes. These backgrounds largely influenced me to attend university on the basis of studying the intersection between teaching and nature, between method and chaos, play and presentation, memes and mimesis. So I started UBC with Arts One Authority and Resistance in 2017. Then summer 2018 I had the experience of traveling in Peru with a family of indigenous Peruvians who allowed me to see a way of being in Peru that a white monolingual tourist would not normally have access to (at least not with simply paying out of pocket, as this vacation for me was a gift from my then and current partner). The impact of travelling in Peru and eating my first Cuy in Huacaña is surmised in my first spanish poem:
I then took Natural Resource Studies at Haida Gwaii in 2019, and more recently studied Latin American Revolutions this spring as Coronavirus started. My goal is to complete an interdisciplinary degree, I have specifically attended university in an attempt to discuss, develop, and encourage ideas of unsettling and decolonizing the academy. This may seem impossible now, but a Renaissance of Infernal Geography may allow new ideas to gain hold and effect material patterns. Food patterns are first.
Hi there!
I absolutely loved your poem in Spanish! It’s really beautiful. I find it so interesting that you had the opportunity to experience life in Peru, as a Peruvian, I can’t tell you that it’s not something very common, and I’m thrilled to know more about your experience! I think that the fact that you grew up in unison with nature must’ve opened you up to an entirely new perspective on the world and I think it’s very interesting that you want to share it with others! It was really nice to meet you and read about your experiences 🙂
It is beautiful how the magma of the volcanoes in your second stanza echoes the movement from the kettle’s water in the first. What a lovely poem!
I look forward to doing the hard work of unsettling alongside you and your LAST303 cohort. Welcome to the course!