The blogs I’ve chosen for evaluation are:

– Assignment 1:3, Lesson 1:2 “The Essential Power of Words”
– Assignment 2.2, Lesson 2:1 “Home Is The Place I Am”
– Assignment 2.4, Lesson 2:2 “The Consequence of the Belief in Paper”

I chose these three blog posts because I believe they express a good range of content and subject matter we’ve focused on sofar; one is based on Chamberlin, one is storytelling in the form of creative writing, and one is based on the Coyote story of the stolen paper. In my first blog, I answer Lesson 1:2’s Question 3: Based on Chamberlin’s understanding of how riddles and charms work, explain this “world of words.” Reflect on why “words make us feel closer to the world we live in” (1). Reading Chamberlin for the first time, my mind was opened to a whole new way of seeing Indigenous culture, and as a settler I was humbled to be offered this wealth of knowledge. What I write about in my blog “The Essential Power of Words” touches on some highlights of my readings of Chamberlin. I also chose to submit this post because his novel has acted as a solid foundation that I regularly refer back to as the course moves on.

The creative non-fiction blog I chose was about my concept of “home.” This one was challenging for me at first because I think I do not have a traditional sense of home, and finding out what that concept means to me took some inward searching. Writing this blog acted as a catharsis, and as someone who does not dabble in non-fiction storytelling, I am happy with the result.

The final blog I chose to submit for evaluation was my response to Question 5 in Lesson 2:2: We are going to return to this story, but for now – what is your first response to this story? In context with our course theme of investigating intersections where story and literature meet, what do you make of this stolen piece of paper? In writing this blog post, I was able to reference another fantastic observation Chamberlin makes in If This Is Your Land, and I tie in the story of Coyote, the paper, and the king to the current ongoing conflict regarding the Wet’suwet’en people and the government of “Canada,” bridging the gap between traditional and contemporary storytelling.

7) Following Carlson’s discussions on literacy as “part of a broader genre of transformation” (61), try to explain what he means when he says that transformation is an “act of literacy.”

When Keith Carlson says transformation is an “act of literacy” (62), he is speaking of making a mark. He argues that this can be done in numerous ways besides the written word, and Indigenous people pre-contact were no less familiar with the concept of literacy than they are today. The act of writing literature is, at its core, making a mark on a page that stands for something greater than the sum of its parts. When writing, the author is articulating something; they are portraying a history, concept, or story. Conversely, this is how Indigenous communities have always facilitated themselves; it did not take the arrival of Europeans to trigger this form of information sharing.

When you see a painting by Vincent Van Gogh, you know it is by Vincent Van Gogh. Through his style, you can “read” the work. There are no letters on the canvas, nor do you have to read the art tag to understand it is him speaking to you. These elements of style are literal marks made by paint in a specific arrangement, such as the mark made by a traditional warrior song to commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous girls, women, and two spirit folx to stand for contemporary injustices. These literacy acts “are about documenting the change from one state to another” (61), and are each an act of transformation without using the written word.

Written literacy is only one way to transform. According to Carlson, “literacy was regarded within the context of earlier understanding of what it meant to inscribe, make permanent, preserve, transform, and reveal” (63). There are so many different ways to express a cultural narrative, and Carlson believes that the written word is only one amongst many. To say Indigenous cultures were not “literate” is inaccurate. On the contrary they were phenomenally literate, from acts such as weaving, mask carving, and beading (as referenced by Chamberlin) to their plethora of Transformation stories. As Carlson explains, transformation stories are “about creating permanency or stability” (61) just like written literacy acts to record laws, stories, and customs. Indigenous culture has always been rich in literacy, and the concept of “making a mark” has been imbedded in their communities for time immemorial. Carlson highlights that the Stó:lō verb to write is “xélá:ls.” This is significant because it is not only a word not derived from English or French (languages of the colonializers), but it comes from the root word for “marking” (61-62). This implies that “xélá:ls” includes all concepts of transformation from the actions performed by the Great Spirit to the post-colonial written word. (62).

Works Cited

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Random House of Canada Limited, 2004.

“Vincent Van Gogh Style and Technique.” Artble, https://www.artble.com/artists/vincent_van_gogh/more_information/style_and_technique. Accessed 19 February 2020.

“Women’s Warrior Song – 8000 Drums Sacred Ceremony.” YouTube, uploaded by BurningFistMedia, 22 March 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlAZjca2YMo.