Write a blog that hyper-links your research on the characters in GGRW according to the pages assigned to you.

Pages 103 – 1114, 1993 Edition.

This passage begins with Lionel pulling his foot out of the puddle and ending with Jeanette calling back saying it sounds very far away.

This section in the novel is in the early stages and King presents an unique way of structuring his content. Throughout the text there are parts that discuss about the stories of the Native American characters within contemporary Canada.  He divides it into four main plots which includes this section.

Work Cited

King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1993. Print.

3. What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story or stories you are familiar with and the story King tells in The Truth About Stories ?

Each story can be told differently. When comparing between the ethos of the creation story and King’s story in in The Truth About Stories, there are some major aspects I would like to address. Beginning with most creation stories, it often highlights a higher being such as God and other aspects such as animals. We often see or hear narratives discuss about certain elements such as these and how this higher being known as God created the world. A place where they distinguish night and day and land and water and so forth. When comparing both stories, King’s version shares a slightly different yet unique way of retelling the tale. Do you think people are more prone in listening to a story that is told similarly like the original format or do you rather listen to different story? It is interesting because the content can remain the same such as the elements but the way in which it is told such as tone, style, focus can really alter a story. However, I think it really depends wether or not a person is religious because the more knowledge you have about something or something you are unfamiliar with can really affect the way you perceive things.  By having these two various stories, what exactly do you think King is really to convey here? I personally because that he urges us to look and examine various stories and perhaps by looking into stories that are told different we can grasp a new insight or idea. What are your thoughts?

Work Cited

King, Thomas. “Green Grass, Running Water.”

King, Thomas, “The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative.

2] In this lesson I say that it should be clear that the discourse on nationalism is also about ethnicity and ideologies of “race.” If you trace the historical overview of nationalism in Canada in the CanLit guide, you will find many examples of state legislation and policies that excluded and discriminated against certain peoples based on ideas about racial inferiority and capacities to assimilate. – and in turn, state legislation and policies that worked to try to rectify early policies of exclusion and racial discrimination. As the guide points out, the nation is an imagined community, whereas the state is a “governed group of people.” For this blog assignment, I would like you to research and summarize one of the state or governing activities, such as The Royal Proclamation 1763, the Indian Act 1876, Immigration Act 1910, or the Multiculturalism Act 1989 – you choose the legislation or policy or commission you find most interesting. Write a blog about your findings and in your conclusion comment on whether or not your findings support Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility.

Does Canada actually reflect multiculturalism? Many people may often hear that Canada is a country that embraces multiculturalism. However, when thinking about examples of state legislations or polices, perhaps there are certain aspects such as distinctive groups that are discriminated and excluded based on these regulations. Firstly, let’s unpack and discuss about the idea of ‘multiculturalism’!

What is ‘multiculturalism’? I think the first thing that may come to mind would be relating to diversity of cultures and how each culture has their own set of values, traditions, customary behaviours, and the list goes on. I find the Multiculturalism Act 1989 most interesting because personally I always hear my friends or even classmates from other courses always have this assumption that Canada is categorized as being a place that celebrates this idea of ‘multiculturalism’? Also, I am born and raised in Canada and I personally feel that even when growing up in this country, institutions such as public schools naturally integrates this perception. This also made me realize that I do not often think too critically on this idea. Perhaps, many have often hear about this but do not examine further of how Canada became to be or is associated with this idea of ‘multiculturalism’. Also, when I was first initially researching for this, I began reading some articles such as John Berry’s research on multiculturalism in Canada. It’s a quick read! But, in summary, Berry discusses how the policy of multiculturalism proceeded and highlights the important purposes behind creating the policy. Canada first declared to adopt this multicultural policy in 1971. However,  this policy was not officially recognized and put into place until around 1988. He argues that there are two main goals of the policy which are to support for the maintenance and development of cultural communities (the cultural component); and promotion of intercultural contact along with the reduction of barriers to such participation the intercultural component” (Berry 663). This idea that he unfolds through his article suggests that ore of the meaning of multiculturalism lies the notion of individuals having and sharing a collective identity as Canadians, and who also have particular identities as members of various ethnocultural communities” (Berry 664). This part in his text reveals how it is also important for one to understand their own culture and to be active in building relations with others. This idea of emphasizing building relations among diverse culture is interesting because this policy attempts to respect and celebrate diversity but some claim that it was a failed promise. This article provides a glimpse of how there are certain aspects excluded and still problematic with this policy. Some of the issues they discuss include lack of integration between cultures and current systems with immigrants. Also, relating Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility, he discusses the idea of nation-building and how a ‘natural community’ seems to be unsuccessful. This made me think of an example within Canada  specifically on the idea of how certain places in Canada may not seem to be as well-intergrated as how people would imagine it to be. For instance, Quebec is a place known for people who often speak mainly French and visitors who do not speak it can be casted as being ‘different’ or out extremely fast. 

Now, do you think Canada is a ‘multicultural’ place?

Work Cited

Berry, John W. “Research on Multiculturalism in Canada.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 37.6 (2013): 663. Web.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2010/11/07/persichilli_the_failed_promise_of_multiculturalism.html

Question 1:  “…So, why does King create dichotomies for us to examine these two creation stories? Why does he emphasize the believability of one story over the other — as he says, he purposefully tells us the “Genesis” story with an authoritative voice, and “The Earth Diver” story with a storyteller’s voice. Why does King give us this analysis that depends on pairing up oppositions into a tidy row of dichotomies? What is he trying to show us?” (Paterson, “Lesson 2:2”)

Our world is built through categorization and scholars suggest that it is human nature to rely on binary categories to understand the world. For example, some binary categories may include life: death, safe: dangerous, and much more found here. And just like narratives, there are good ones and bad ones told. King discusses two creation stories: “Genesis” and “The Earth Diver” to show how each story delivers to people differently and one’s experience or knowledge of the narrative may vary. There are multiple ways in presenting a story and absorbing it. The way people in-take the narrative can different from person to person and this is why King is trying to highlight through these creation stories that people depend on oppositions to understand a narrative.

Another great example is the ‘turtle and earth story’ . This is an illustration of how in one way it can be told. However, King’s text explores the various ways in approaching to narratives such as these ones. In one way, the style of how the story is written can affect the individual and another can be the  how the writer focuses on certain aspects such as characters. Therefore, there are endless ways creating a narrative but sometimes by having oppositions can help one’s understanding of the narrative and may also reveal differences and similarities.

Work Cited

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/wordlist/opposites.shtml

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2003. Print.

www.youtube.com (Earth on Turtle’s Back)

5] “To raise the question of ‘authenticity’ is to challenge not only the narrative but also the ‘truth’ behind Salish ways of knowing “(Carlson 59). Explain why this is so according to Carlson, and explain why it is important to recognize this point.

The question of authenticity has been a highly debated topic over many years . There has been countless literature surrounding the definition of authentic, what constitutes authentic and how authenticity is achieved. Moreover, there have been many controversies on the concept of authenticity itself. For example, the field of anthropology debates on the idea of authenticity. Carlson’s text “Orality and Literary: The ‘Black and White’ of Salish History” highlights debates surrounding the notion of indigenous histories and how people are often brought up through Western perspectives. Perhaps, there is a tendency for people to often not question their own history or narratives. Some scholars such as anthropologists suggest that it is important to examine narratives or histories within their context and a concept that summaries this point would be Cultural Relativism where culture to culture varies and it is vital to look at these narratives such as Salish within their context. With this in mind, one may grasp a better understanding of their culture and try to view it from their perspective.

From the beginning, Carlson argues that there are numerous “indigenous stories circulating among the Salish people of south coastal and plateau British Columbia challenge us to reconsider both the history of Native- newcomer relations and our understanding” ( Carlson 42). This aspect is interesting because people often do not challenge the ‘authenticity’ of a narrative, specially some indigenous histories. In one hand, one may argue that many people are raised with the influence of Western chronologies and ideologies and may not think critically besides the narrative… what about the truth behind these stories? Why is it important? Carlson recognizes this point as being extremely significant because Salish people were not treated equally because of their history and narratives. One may suggest that Carlson wants people to understand that it is not only about the narrative but also the culture’s understanding of the story attached with their history. Hence, perhaps people should examine and reconsider indigenous stories.

Work Cited

Carlson, Keith Thor. “Orality and Literacy: The ‘Black and White’ of Salish History.” Orality & Literacy: Reflectins Across Disciplines. 43-72. Print.

Fillitz, Thomas, and A. Jamie Saris. Debating Authenticity: Concepts of Modernity in Anthropological Perspective. New York: Berghahn Books, 2013. Web.

Tilley, John J. “Cultural Relativism.” Human Rights Quarterly 22.2 (2000): 501-47. Web.

What I discovered…

1. Home is a place where it is comfortable and carefree
2. Home is associated to a particular moment or experience
3. Home is determined by how long one lives there
4. Home is associated with one’s childhood- where they grew up
5. Home is strongly associated with family and sense of bond
6. Home is the traditions and routines
7. Home is a sense of belonging to somewhere
8. Home is the relationship or connections you make with others
9. Home is more than a physical place, it relates to culture and people
10. Home is related to the emotions and sensations one feels
11. Finally, Home is not a place, but a feeling

These are some of the ideas I found when reading other blogs, what about you? 🙂

Karen

The sun peeked through the ivory curtains and wiggling my toes, I slowly rolled onto my stomach placing the pillow on top of my head. Suddenly, the door moves and slams the wall and I woke up with a fright!

It was my younger brother. He jumps onto the bed and starts bouncing around and making an announcement with his two small hands near his mouth saying that today is a big day! I rubbed my eyes, swinging my legs off the bed frame and decided to get dressed.

Everything was red and gold. There was bright red banners tapped around the house, along with an assortment of treats in a beautiful tray known as the tray of togetherness. I picked up a fruit candy from the tray and walked to the kitchen. I see my grandparents and mother preparing food for lunch. There was many dishes on the table ranging from fish, shrimp, stir-fried vegetables , and much more! Each dish was colourful and appealing. Then, I asked them If there was anything I can help with.

“Mom, what are you making next? Can I help you?”

“The dishes are almost ready, how about you help me grab all the bowl and chopsticks”

“How many do we need?”

“Let’s say around twenty, can you do that for me?”

“Oh wow! But there is only around five of us here. Will there be more people coming?”

“Yes, my sweetie. Your relatives such as your Aunts, Uncle, and cousins”

“Okay! Yay I get to see Uncle Ben and them”

I pulled a chair in front of the kitchen cupboard and stretched my arms to grab the bowls. One by one I grabbed them and placed it carefully on the table. And not too long after, the door bell rings. My mother opens the door and everyone greets each other saying 新年快乐(xin nian kuai le) ! After hearing those loud greetings, I rushed down the stairs and gave everyone a big hug but Uncle Ben decides to not hug me yet and asked me something.

“Karen, do you know what animal it is this year?”

“Umm… Ah! Last year was sheep”

“Yes, but I’m asking this year’s animal”

“Can you give me a hint?”

“Okay sure. It’s animal that is smart, adventurous, and flurry”

“But all animals have flur though”

“Haha, think about the animal from that famous movie called Journey to the West that flies on a cloud”

“Oh! I remember now. It’s the monkey..its the year of the monkey!”

“Haha yes, you are very smart!

Uncle Ben messes my hair and then my mother calls everyone for lunch. And then everyone grabs their cup and says 新年快乐(xin nian kuai le)!

—–

I am born and raised in Vancouver. One of the biggest gatherings for Chinese households would be Chinese New Year.  My sense of home is basically having a homemade dinner with all my family members and relatives. It’s a time where everyone that you love and care about gathers together and feast to celebrate the new year. And each year there is a new animal and this year for 2016, it is the year of the Monkey! I thought about writing about this because we are currently celebrating this right now and each year it always brings me warmth.

This short story always brings me back memories where I would wake up on Chinese New Year and my family prepares food for us all. Now growing up, I have been participating in the process of preparing the Chinese New Year dishes and decoration of the house.

Here is a photo of this year’s Chinese New year lunch I helped prepare ( and in case you are wondering what the dark stuff on the left side of this photo.. it’s black sea cucumbers haha)

Every year my grandparents and family put a lot of effort in preparing for CNY dinner and looking at all this food on the table..I feel so blessed and spoiled. It is that feeling where you see all the homemade food prepared right in front of you. The process of passing the bowls and plates and conversation shared amongst everyone. It is the loudness of laughter and eating lots! I’m sure a lot can relate that elders have the tendency to always put more food on your plate. And of course, the red pockets. Children learn the traditional greetings and then they will receive red pockets. It’s the joy of saying good things to each other and not so much of the money that is received. And if you do not celebrate Chinese New year, I’m sure Christmas is another great example of how one can feel their sense of home.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Work Cited

Moss, Stephen. “Is Hong Kong Really Rioting Over Fishball Stands?” the Guardian. N.p., 9 Feb. 2016. Web. 9 Feb. 2016. <http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2016/feb/09/hong-kong-fish-ball-revolution-china-riot>.

Parkinson, Rhonda. “Chinese New Year Food” Tray of Togetherness. Web.  9 Feb 2016. <http://chinesefood.about.com/od/foodfestivals/ig/new-year-food/Tray-of-Togetherness.htm>.

Hoffmann, M. “Chinese New Year Tradtions: Preparation Time!”. Web. 9 Feb.2016. <http://www.china-family-adventure.com/chinese-new-year-traditions.html>.

Chan, Cm. 齐天大圣孙悟空粤语2013. Youtube. N.p., 3 Oct.2013. Web. 8 Feb.2016<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfWJ8uXsRaI>.  

“Stories are wondrous things. And they are dangerous”-Thomas King

How does evil come into the world? The first thing I thought about was children. I’m sure everyone has heard many stories throughout their life. Even from the very beginning, in our diapers, our parents or grandparents has told us stories. Stories that include fairy tales, myths, and much more. Each story is unique in which every time it is told, the story is presented differently. Just like this week’s text  The Truth About Stories, “sometimes it changes in the details” or the sequence of events (Thomas King 1). When i was forming my story for this week, I realized how difficult it can be to create a story. I thought for a long time about it, hoping to come up with some spectacular or different story. However, in the end, I thought why not tell a story that perhaps we might have heard about but adding a twist to it. Hope you enjoy! ( down below is my story).

                                      Storytelling in The Woods

On one hot summer afternoon, a bright yellow school bus arrives in front of  Tupper Elementary School. Children rushed out of their seats grabbing their sleeping bags and fluffy pillow and ran out the doors. The teacher starts counting each of their heads and not too long, the adventure begins.

After a few hours, a big wooden sign appears in front of the bus that says ” Welcome to Camp Sunrise! “. There was a beautiful lake in the middle and vibrant green trees surrounding the site. People can hear birds chirping and feel the crisp wind brushing on their faces. The children unpacked their bags and found their own cozy spot in the cabins. Let’s give some of the children some names. There was Alice, John, Tim, and Lucy. And of course the teacher should have a name as well and her name was Ms.Brown.

By the time they finished settling down, the sun disappeared and Ms.Brown decided to make a campfire. Children love campfires. It is where the magic happens. Stories gets unfolded. What makes a good campfire are the stories and there are actually some tips for telling a good campfire story too! Roasting marshmallows on a stick, Alice tugs on Ms.brown’s sweater and asked her, “Ms.Brown, can you tell us a story?” And she responds ” Well, there are a lot of stories, but ahh yes there is one that i can share!”

It is the story about how evil comes to the world. There was a myth that there was this forest trail and no one really dares to go inside. People say that if you do, bad things might happen. Perhaps, this is the reason how evil breaks into our world.

And, there was a group of young kids just like you guys. They were hanging out one day and decides to explore outside. Before they know it, they arrived inside a forest that was full of flurry animals. There were all sorts of animals, ranging from reindeers to birds and even rabbits. The children loved animals. They would play games with them and feed them some snacks. So far, it sounds like an wonderful day right? But one day, a rabbit starts to talk to them in English. The children were shocked and fascinated, looking at that rabbit with their jaws hanging down.

“Wow! You can talk? How do you know how to speak?” asked the children
“Well, you can say that I’m special I guess” said the rabbit
” Where do you live?”
” Just over there. Come, follow me. I can show you”

By this point, I bet you can guess what happens next. They follow the rabbit and the children…

John and Alice and the rest of them screams and ask Ms.Brown to pause the story. But “once you have told a story, you can never take it back. So, be careful of the stories you tell, AND the stories you listen to”

Work Cited

Coulter, Philip. “The Truth About Stories” A Native Narrative . Web. 1 Feb. 2016. <http://cislit.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/1/1/26116552/the_truth_about_stories_by_thomas_king.pdf>.

Love the Outdoors Camping & Campground. “Tips for Telling a Good Campfire Story” Camping ideas.N.p., 19 Dec. 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2016. <http://www.lovetheoutdoors.com/tips-for-telling-a-good-campfire-story/>.

7. “At the beginning of this lesson I pointed to the idea that technological advances in communication tools have been part of the impetus to rethink the divisive and hierarchical categorizing of literature and orality, and suggested that this is happening for a number of reasons.  I’d like you to consider two aspects of digital literature: 1) social media tools that enable widespread publication, without publishers, and 2) Hypertext, which is the name for the text that lies beyond the text you are reading, until you click. How do you think these capabilities might be impacting literature and story?” (Paterson)

                                                    Hello & Welcome! 

Today I will be discussing about the question above. This one is interesting because we are living in a digital era where internet has became one of the largest platforms for people to publish their own stories. People can use social media as a way to voice their stories. It is no doubt that with advancement of technology, it has enabled us to communicate and connect better with one another. And, it does not just limit to just internet, but also other digital methods that we may use such as cell phones (texting), video (webcaming), email, and much more.

When reading Chamberlin’s text, it really got me thinking of how people tell their stories and why it matters. When thinking about widespread publication, one of the most popular social media site that people use today on a daily basis is Facebook . It is one of the most leading social networking service as of today.  And we are even using it for our course haha! A lot of people use it because it makes it easy for people to connect with one another and also share their stories. It has become a tool of communication. The most interesting aspect is that people have freedom of what they want to publish on their media profile. They are their own publishers. They essentially have control of what they want to post, share, or even hide. And readers such as friends, families, and even coworkers can interact with them by replying back to what they have posted.

Also, when thinking about hypertext, I think it does impact literature and stories because nowadays when people scroll on internet and encounter a word that they are unfamiliar with, they can just simply click on the hypertext and get quickly retrieve the definition. Hypertext has made it more accessible for people to not only get clarification on terms or concepts but is also often used to link to another website to find out more information on that particular subject. This is also interesting because last term I was reading William S. Burroughs ‘s novel called Naked Lunch and throughout the chapter sentences with have written out hypertext. Therefore, hypertext is not only seen on the internet but also used in writing form within texts such as novels.

And I have a question for you.. can you think of any social media
that you use today that voices your own stories? Like I mentioned
before in my first blog, I use to do personal blogging on a blogging website and I found it as my own way of documenting my own stories. Sometimes i don’t think our stories have to be shared, but if it does
one might ask how would you go about it then?

Work Cited

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2004. Print.

Burroughs, Williams. “Naked Lunch”N.p., 26 Jan. 2004. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. <http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7437.Naked_Lunch>.