Reading and Storytelling.

After finishing my first silent reading of the story “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England”, I have noted a few remarks on my notebook. When I further proceed to the different styles of storytelling, which are reading out loud and listening this story from a friend of mine, I realized that the remarks that I had previously made could now be explained in shaping the meaning of the story.

The first remark that I noted was the redundant explanation through out the story. I found that the storyteller tried to describe every part of the story as detailed as possible, which somehow caused confusion during my first reading of the story. However, as I proceed, I find that these little explanations make the story verbally more interesting and attracting. It creates a sense of repetition, which we usually tend to do when performing a story as a storyteller. Furthermore, with the change of intonation associated with these repetitions, meanings illustrated by words could be conveyed to the listeners more explicitly in different varieties. In this way, it makes the story itself into a performance for its listeners, for I felt that verbally interpreting this story would be draw the listeners deep into the story, more attentions would also be drawn to the important details of the story, rather than reading it as a reader. I would consider this as a mindful trick of the storyteller to “[defeat] reader’s efforts to read the stories silently to themselves (King)”.

My next remark is that the story does not seem to be written in a very grammatical way. Though it was highlighted on the question itself that the story was conveyed through an “oral syntax”, my observation would be that it rather looks alike to the form of poetry. Through the ungrammatical conversations between the King of England and the Coyote, as well as the irregular division on sentences within the story, these examples have proven what we have been taught: poetry does not necessarily have to be grammatical.

However, only until I read the story aloud, this oral syntax form of story enables the storyteller a wider flexibility in conveying the story, especially when it comes to the different pauses made by me and my friend. Therefore, I agreed to the view of Shamina Kallu, a former student of this course, that oral syntax has deconstructed the conventional style of academic writing on First Nation stories, and make this story sounded more alike to a personal story. With a personal story, listeners would tend to focus less on the grammatical mistakes of the story, but shift their attention to the meaning of the story. To bring it further, this greater flexibility would allow the storyteller recreating their own interpretations on the story and audiences’ understandings towards the meaning of the story would be altered according to different performers. I believe with different interpretations of the story, meaning of the stories could be conveyed via different perspectives, and would ultimately develop into a thorough understanding towards the story of “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England”.

 

Works Cited

Kallu, Shamina. 2.3: Oral Syntax: Maintaining the Meaning of Stories. Canada: Muffled Voices and National Narratives. 13 Feb 2015. Web. 1 Jul 2016.

King, Thomas. “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial.” Unhomely States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism. Mississauga, ON: Broadview, 2004. 183- 190. Web. 1 Jul 2016.

Shaw, Martin. On Repetition in Storytelling. The Stanford Storytelling Project. 2013. Web. 1 Jul 2016.

Understanding the Stories…

In this lesson, I say that our capacity for understanding or making meaningfulness from the first stories is seriously limited for numerous reasons and I briefly offer two reasons why this is so: 1) the social process of the telling is disconnected from the story and this creates obvious problems for ascribing meaningfulness, and 2) the extended time of criminal prohibitions against Indigenous peoples telling stories combined with the act of taking all the children between 5 – 15 away from their families and communities.

In Wickwire’s introduction to Living Storiesfind a third reason why, according to Robinson, our abilities to make meaning from first stories and encounters is so seriously limited. To be complete, your answer should begin with a brief discussion on the two reasons I present and then proceed to introduce and explain your third reason from Wickwire’s introduction.


We have just gone through two reasons that may explain for our limited understanding and comprehension towards the meaning from the First Stories in lesson 2,2: the disconnect from the social process of telling, and the generation barrier contributed by the criminal prohibitions imposed by the European conquerors.

We have been working on the impact from the disconnection of “the social process of telling”, which is featured in our previous assignments. We have come to know and emphasize how storytelling would be significant in our understanding and comprehension towards the meanings of the stories. Different mediums of storytelling, which are through computer and through verbal language in this case, would create differences on our experience of the stories. I think stories delivered through verbal means would convey a clearer meaning of the stories as the storyteller could take control of his/her process of storytelling through intonation and emotion in order to allow the listeners to perceive the message they are supposed to receive.

Another point would be the criminal prohibitions imposed by the settling Europeans. In Unit 2.2, examples being used are the outlaw of Potlatch, which is First Nation’s form of cultural and social ceremony, and the mandatory residential school for children aged five to fifteen. These prohibitions have created a barrier for generations in passing on the stories, which further contributed to our current limited understanding towards stories told by the First Nations.

The third reason that limits our understanding towards the First Stories would be the conservative practice of anthropologists. Traditional anthropologists, like Franz Boas, have “limit[ed] themselves to a single genre: the so-called ‘legends’, ‘folk-tales’ and ‘myths’ set in the pre-historical times, (Loc. 411)” which has contributed to the barrier of misunderstanding towards the First Stories. Wickwire found out that there are numerous editing and alterations on the previous publications of First Stories in order to wipe out the cultural “impurities”, which did not acknowledge the fluidity of First Nations culture (Loc. 535).

Therefore, in this book of Harry Robinson: Living by Stories, A Journey of Landscape and Memory, Wickwire tried to incorporate a wide range of First Stories that are previously being neglected, for examples the stories told by “horsepackers, miner, cannery workers, missionary assistant, and laborers, (Loc. 412)”. In order to minimize the impact of restraining cultural fluidity, Wickwire, through this book, is trying to highlight “the cultural importance of maintaining a full range of stories (Loc. 569)”.

 

Works Cited

Wickwire, Wendy. Harry Robinson: Living by Stories, A Journey of Landscape and Memory. Vancouver: Talon Books, 2009. Kindle.

 

 

What Contributes to a Home?…

I have read a lot of your stories during the past few days. Even knowing the fact that we all came from all walks of life, I still find these stories stunning and interesting for I have never had such experiences before. Furthermore, I also realized so many similarities among our unique stories. This is a list of my observations:

Not a Specific Location

‘Home’ does not necessarily have to be a specific place. As Stephanie mentioned in her story, she found different types of dance studios would still contribute to her sense of home. And Alanna also said in her story that “I don’t need personal pictures or specific people to feel at home”. Home could be anywhere we feel comfortable, even without an exact location.

Your Beloved Ones

I also observed that many of us believe ‘home’ can be people or things that you are emotionally attached. In my own blog, I have mentioned that my definition of home could never be completed without the presences of my family and plush toys. Mia found her home as a place “where my dogs feel most comfortable”. Our definitions of home are much connected to the people or things we care the most.

Language

After reading the stories of Claudia and Natasha, I also reflected on the aspect of language contributing the sense of home. I truly had the same feeling of being an ‘outsider’ when I first moved to Canada. Though I can speak fluent English, I never have a feeling of emerging into the Canadian society. However, only when I’m surrounded by Cantonese in Richmond, which is my mother tongue, I finally find the sense of home. Though there aren’t my family and plush toys, I found Richmond is the place nearest to home.

 

Works Cited

Calder, Mia. “Lesson 2:1; Assignment 2:2 — Home”. Summer studies: English 470. 6 Jun 2016. Web. 10 Jun 2016.

Gillard, Claudia. “2:2 IF THE LABEL FITS”. Whose Home & Native Land?. 7 Jun 2016. Web. 10 Jun 2016.

Heine, Natasha. “Assignment 2.2 : Home”. Natasha Heine’s ENGL 470 Blog. 6 Jun 2016. Web. 10 Jun 2016.

Joy, Alanna. “Assignment 2.2”. Alanna’s English 470 Blog. 7 Jun 2016. Web. 10 Jun 2016.

Michaud, Stefanie. “2:2 This was my 8th move in less than 3 years”. ENG 470 Summer 2016. 6 Jun 2016. Web. 10 Jun 2016.

My Home…

There was an argument between me and my parents last Christmas break. Though I couldn’t exactly recall what was it about, I remembered that it was somehow related to the concept of home. For them, home would be a place where they are rooted; for me, home would be a place where all my beloved ones would be. The location does not really matter, as long as there are people and things that I care and love.

“Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. (Dessen)”

It is only when I moved to Canada for university education, I realized how much I miss my parents. I would never say they are the best parents on earth, for they have forced their own wills on me. I never had any chance to play with other kids after school. What’s ahead of me were a bunch of different tutorial classes. But I could never forget the notes that my mother left after settling me in the university dorm. That’s my very first taste of ‘love’ from my parents.

As I alone stayed in Canada, I started realizing those motivations behind their every decision. They are love and protection that I had never understood. My parents have always been planning ahead of me, so as to swipe out any hindrance in my life. My parents have always been my toughest shelter when I need comfort and help. My parents have always tried to fulfill my every desire even at the time when my family was at the edge of bankrupt. I would say, they are not the best parents on earth, but they are the best parents of mine. With them, I feel so secure. My definition of home could never be completed without their presence.

My plush toys are something I would never ever give up on, for I am the only child in my family, and have spent most of my childhood with them. They are my friends and I name every each of them.

I was not used to express myself when I was small, so whenever I want to talk to somebody, I talked to my stuffed toys. It may sound creepy, but I think I can sense their feelings whenever I talked to them. Though they couldn’t talk physically, I receive comfort from them when I was sad; and I received joy from them when I shared something happy. Most importantly, I could not sleep without my plush toys around me at night. Therefore, when I moved to Canada, I had the idea of bringing all my plush toys, for they are part of my sense towards home. Undoubtedly, my mother banned this crazy idea, but I brought a few of them with me. To me, home would never be home without my plush toys!

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“Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?” […] “For the two of us, home isn’t a place. It is a person. And we are finally home. (Perkins)”

There is another person that I would say “with him, I’m home”. He is my husband, my best friend, my teacher and my lifelong supporter.

Without him, I may be living a miserable life now, for we met during the time that I was completely lost in the journey of life. He has guided me with patience and has showed me how wonderful life could be. I could not really express our experience in words clearly as there are always some stories that would leave you speechless. To sum up, he would be where I belong to.

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Home, in my opinion, is where my parents, husband and plush toys are. Missing any one of them, home would never be a home again.

Works Cited

Perkins, Stephanie. “Anna and the French Kiss.” U.S.: Dutton Juvenile, 2010. Print.

Dessen, Sarah. “What Happened to Goodbye.” U.S.: Viking Juvenile, 2011. Print.

 

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