Six-Word Memoirs Logo

Yes! It is possible because we use our interpretation and imagination to read these memoirs (challenges the user and us as the audience to think). When we think of the meaning of memoir, we usually associate it with words like life narratives, personal experiences, diaries, and most of all- MEMORIES. Out of one word, we can interpret it so many different ways; then six-words mean six times the interpretation. One thing about having to research and present a specific topic is that afterwards, there is a restless feeling to that topic, the feeling of not wanting to go back or even look at that topic again. I thought that that might be the case for Six-Word Memoirs, but I was wrong. The presentation that my group and I put together for ASTU, actually raised more questions that are worth exploring and can be answer through further exploration of the site. However, one question that particularly struck me was what is the point restricting users to six-word expression of memoirs, if the option of posting a backstory was also available on the site? This never seem to be an issue for me when I went through the site, especially since I found the backstories just as intriguing as the six-word memoirs themselves. Nevertheless, I started thinking more and more about the bigger issue of how some websites don’t stick to their original ideas or how their original ideas gets molded by users of the site (and other internet audience) to create new features. Therefore, in the case of Six-Word Memoirs, the backstory feature was provided as the additional option for sharing their personal experience in depth, which in turn created conversations among users that build a socializing platform (community) for the website.

This new imagery of online social networks is my generation of community-building and to be a part of it, is like building history. However, I constantly find it easier to communicate face-to-face or within a class discussion. The way words are vocally communicated into the atmosphere in front of us and to be able to hear our voices, which is one of the reasons why we like listening to music. At this moment in life, the experience of the these two communities complement each other, but down the road, our reliance on technology to communicate might negatively affect our ability to confidently communicate face-to-face. There is for sure, aspects like the YouTube community where users compose their own videos (contain their own personal opinions, experience, singing, etc) and post them online to friends, family but most of the time strangers, while being completely comfort in that fact. This issue of comfort is also worth discussing, which was touched upon by the PostSecret ASTU presentation group. Who are we most comfortable in expressing ourselves to? Surprisingly, for many of us the answer is STRANGERS. This kind of concept remind me of The Witness Protection Program (Canada version), although I am not closely familiar with this program, I do find it comparable to the issue of comfort/safety around strangers. Falcon who interviewed Gerald Shur , who “was an attorney in what was then the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section in the 1960s” reported that the idea is to “take the witness and the witness’ family and move them to another area”. For certain people, after living in a place for too long, travelling or moving to a new place for a new start is refreshing. But having to move for security reasons and to completely start over with their family, when they are in the case of stability is extremely difficult. Luckily, technology as a mean of communication can help to maintain relationships. Unfortunately, present day “witness protection program faces the added burdens of the digital age. Facebook, Google, texting and the instant access to information via the Internet and smartphones provide new challenges to keep the identities of witnesses a secret” (Falcon). Once again, in reality we often find ourselves stuck in the middle between the realm of online and offline social communities, and until this problem gets solved, we can only do what we can to co-exist on both sides.

One last point that I want to make is my lack of optimism towards online social networks (Facebook specifically) and the overall safety of the internet. Although, the internet is a place that we constantly depend on, it is hard to perceive it as a safe place to share, with the knowledge that hackers, companies, and even government institution have access to our private information/data is haunting. It almost seem inevitable for normal citizens, like myself to prevent such information from being revealed (Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles”; where I learned about the usage of Google and search refined to personal customization). I guess at the end of the day, I would rather choose privacy over efficiency and live in the past where internet was unavailable. However, this is probably not how I would think if I actually lived during that time period. All I know is that the direction that we are headed may make it possible to travel back in time, but until that day, we (mostly I) need to remind ourselves not to take these efficiency of technology for-granted.

Emily K

P.S. Six-Word Memoirs have a new feature: “TOP SIX”

Work Cited:

Falcon, Gabriel. “Inside the witness protection program.” CNN Justice 16                February 2013. CNN, 27 Oct. 2013 <http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/16/justice/witness-protection-program/>.

In the past few weeks, exposure to life narratives was like being on an adventure that took me into the lives of others through the combination of visual and verbal displays. Nevertheless, I was unsure if I would be able to understand the circumstances that people lived under, especially in the cases of Salam Pax through his blog, Where is Raed? and Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning. But both bloggers had this way with words that drew me, as a “Western” reader into the events of their lives, which was during the Iraq War. Such context, I couldn’t say that I was unaware about but more or less didn’t try to acknowledge because it wasn’t part of my life; a situation that seems so far away. If there is one thing that I have learned through reading Pax and Riverbend’s blog, it is that the internet (and globalization in general) has definitely turn our world into a global community. The Iraq War that started in 2003, was triggered by the 911 terrorist attack, in which both events weren’t exactly the kind of stuff I was told about when I was at the age of 8. But know that I’m 17 and I have the opportunity to take this chance to educate myself about the conflicts that happened while I was growing up gives me the determination as a citizen of the world to want to do something and the first step is to understand the situation, from not one perspective but all perspectives. Pax and Riverbend is able to share their experience which is very courageous. Just as I am typing this blog post, I feel nervous about sharing my thoughts, and for them to have to share such personal experiences with strangers requires a strength that is admirable.

Context, is everything to understanding and that was what I felt Pax did while I read through his posts. He was the one that helped set-up the context I needed to understand the terrors of a war happening in my lifetime. This I found was crucial because in Social Studies and History we are constantly taught about World War !& II that happened in the 20th century but only occasionally discuss about current events, which supposedly lie in our own hands if we want to be “well-informed”, a characteristic of what it means to be a “Global citizen”. However, it was through Riverbend’s blog posts that I felt I could put myself in her position. The fact that she talks about her family, and a lot more personal daily situations going on in her life, helps with drawing connections. Also the most important aspect that I got out from reading her blog is that she made me feel that the gap between the East and the West isn’t as big as I imagined it to be. One aspect that I noticed from reading her posts was that I didn’t feel like I was reading about the life of a 24 year old (the age she started blogging in 2003; The Beginning…). The reason for that was primarily due to the fact that she was living through a time of war and the 24 year old woman that she is wasn’t allowed to go out without “E. [her brother] and either a father, uncle or cousin” (Post: We’ve Only Just Begun…). With the lack of freedom imposed on Iraqi women during that time, they have been forced by the situation to be treated as if they were young girls. Applying this to the Western society, I can’t imagine how that would possibly be like, especially now where my everyday life consists of transiting on my own to school and to get that taken away from me seems surreal. Thus, as different as the East and West are, there are always at least some connections that we all share with one another, and in the case of Riverbend, I have to say that it was the mentioning of her younger brother, E that automatically caught my full attention into what she had to say about her life narrative. It was this bold connection that if I had a mind map would draw a line between Riverbend and me.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) 

The word “insightful” is the best way to describe my experience during the TRC events hosted in Vancouver and on the UBC campus. The purpose of the TRC is to learn the truth about the mistreatment of Aboriginals during their days in residential schools with the intention for assimilation; from that, it helps the population of Aboriginals in Canada to heal and move on to a journey of rediscovering their identity as First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. At first I was unaware about the purpose of the TRC, as I always felt that Social Studies in high school did in fact educate us about the history of Canada and the role of Aboriginals, often associated with the terms: assimilation, residential schools, and reserves. Now that I have participated in various TRC events and learned the truth about the horrors and injustices done to the Aboriginal children at residential schools, I feel that the education aspect of Canadian history does not fully cover the significance, truth and harm done to Aboriginal population. Through the TRC planned events, I gained a valuable perspective towards understanding interconnections between the terms listed above. Except now I do not simply see them as terms but as restrictions to freedom and to their cultural identity.

Lisa Jackson, Savage, 2009

 Hearing about the long history of abuse that Aboriginal children suffered at residential schools is heartbreaking. On the other hand a visit to the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery exhibition of “WITNESS: Art and Canada’s Indian Residential Schools” was overwhelming with mixed feelings of anger, helplessness, depressed, and on some levels confusion. I expected to walk into a sea of silence with artworks displayed around the gallery. That was not the case at all; instead there was music the video, Savage, 2009 (Lisa Jackson). The singing of an Aboriginal mother in her native language sets the overall atmosphere within the walls of the gallery. While the dance performance in the classroom is the perfect contrast to the mother’s singing. It shows the lack of freedom and the silence of their language. To overcome that restriction they dance and using body language to show their discontent with residential school system.

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Portrait of a Residential School Girl, 2013

Savage also shows the transformation that the Aboriginal little girl undertook, from long hair to cutting it short, a hairstyle identical among the girls at the residential schools. In Free Your Mind, 2007 (Tania Willard) the haircut process from what I perceive to be is to get rid of the girl’s identity as an Aboriginal. The birds flying out of the girl’s hair symbolizes the loss of spirituality and value that the hair once had when it was uncut. Directly it is the hair that gets cut, but indirectly it takes her identity away as well. However, Portrait of a Residential School Girl, 2013 (Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun) speaks truth about identity. The Aboriginal children may have their appearance re-adjusted to look no longer like an Aboriginal but the fact is that they still bleed the blood of an Aboriginal, carry, and embody a spiritual aspect of Aboriginal life that can’t be replaced. Their spiritual belief gives them the ability to survive through the residential schools and become better than those who put them there in the first place. The loss of their native language was another common struggle as shown in the video Apparition, 2013 (Rebecca Belmore). Punishment was the result of any attempts to speak their language and once again shows the oppressive nature of residential schools. The silence that many of them either encountered first-hand or heard from a relative seems to of paid off as their artworks speaks for them, educating all Canadian to acknowledge the sufferings that the Aboriginal people had had to deal with during their experience in Indian Residential Schools

Children at St. Michael’s Indian Residential School. Photograph a033900, Beverley Brown fonds, Audrey & Harry Hawthorn Library & Archives, UBC Museum of Anthropology.

The lesson continues on when I land a visit to the Museum of Anthropology, and walked through the exhibition-Speaking to Memory: Images and Voices from St. Michael’s Residential School. There were photographs of the interior of present-day St. Michael’s Residential School, which were useful as a visual context of what residential schools looked like. As well as photographs of students at St. Michael Residential School, combined with statements from various students, I was able to piece together everything and get a better understanding. The most admirable aspect for me was that friendship was an important part to the students there. The photographs from E. Beverly Brown, St. Michael’s Indian Residential School at Alert Bay 1940-1944 had this quote: “Their photos give voice to students who were often silenced or made invisible. They are testament to the strength and courage of the girls and boys who attended Indian Residential Schools, and whose friendship became lifelines for one another”. Some of the statements also mention friendship through the shared activity of storytelling.

Most statements from the Aboriginal students are similar to the experiences the artists expressed through their art, which were mostly negative such as physical and sexual abuse. What surprised me was that some statements commented on their experience at residential schools to be positive such as enough food to eat, educated to read and write. These positive statements makes me wonder where residential schools would be if they took a positive route and made a positive impact towards educating Aboriginal children. From this, I made a connection to the schooling we as students receive in present day, where freedom seems to be unlimited, from course selection to dress codes to programs that help students who are different to fit in. In some ways, I feel that as Canadian students we are living the dream educational system that Aboriginals children should have got during their time in residential schools. Furthermore, the TRC events seem to of emphasized the importance of education and what I got out of it, is to not take the education that I have for granted. As I feel that it is every Canadian’s duty to use the education that they have gained into real action, and eventually give back to the global community.

Walk for Reconciliation participants filled both the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts; photograph by: YOLANDE COLE

The TRC walk on Sunday was what I consider to be the physical experience of actually being part in progress of healing and to move towards a brighter future. The weather of pouring rain definitely wasn’t pleasant to walk in but it perfectly symbolizes that there needs to be struggles, and darkness in order for people to see light. The most memorable part of the walk was the speech delivered by Dr. Bernice King, who not only inspired us to change our perspective but her words were so powerful that it made me realize how much time we spend thinking about wanting to take action for change to happen, when we should just go for it. Just like the walk itself, once I made the decision to go there was no stopping and that was my first step to actually “taking action” and be part of an incredible journey, which I believe will continue on for years to come. Not only is violence not the best way to solve problems, it is not a way to heal. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the other hand is an alternative to what non-violence change is all about. That’s why each of the individual events that I went to outlines the process to a better tomorrow; starting from the truth delivered through the visual past of Aboriginals, and then comes the apology statements, and finally the physical walk to signal us, Canadians to move on. Thank you, Truth and Reconciliation Commission for this valuable experience, and the lesson that even nations have to learn from their pasts in order to progress into the future.

-Emily K.

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