I found last week’s reading, “Coyote and Raven put the Digital in Technology – Hands Up and Down to Earth” by Peter Cole and Pat O’Riley an intriguing story. I love how the fractured style actually made me pause and reflect on the style – how it forced me to recognize that the style is best heard rather than read.

It also helped me start conversation with my students at my school. One student, Thomas, was using our computer lab to re-create the story of “Ko-ishin-mit Goes Fishing“. He explained how this story was also similar of a “trickster” style, and showed me a collection of a variety of First Nations stories in a book called, “Son of Raven, Son of Deer” by George Clutesi.

I find folklore, fairy tales, and mythology to be fascinating across cultures as they often carry morals, history, and values important to the way of life.

I now see that legends of our First Nations people are more than just “amusing stories”. In the words of Dr. Lee Brown, “First Nations children were taught values in stories, and the stories were attached to the land, so that when we interact with the land, we remember the stories and correct our behaviour by reflecting on the stories and our experiences.”

Mel Burgess.