First stories tell us how the world was created. In The Truth about Stories, King tells us two creation stories; one about how Charm falls from the sky pregnant with twins and creates the world out of a bit of mud with the help of all the water animals, and another about God creating heaven and earth with his words, and then Adam and Eve and the Garden. King provides us with a neat analysis of how each story reflects a distinct worldview. “The Earth Diver” story reflects a world created through collaboration, the “Genesis” story reflects a world created through a single will and an imposed hierarchical order of things: God, man, animals, plants. The differences all seem to come down to co-operation or competition — a nice clean-cut satisfying dichotomy. However, a choice must be made: you can only believe ONE of the stories is the true story of creation – right? That’s the thing about creation stories; only one can be sacred and the others are just stories. Strangely, this analysis reflects the kind of binary thinking that Chamberlin, and so many others, including King himself, would caution us to stop and examine. 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?

———

I think what King is trying to do with the two creation stories he shares in The Truth about Stories, is divulge how despite his acknowledgment of the difference in creation stories, ultimately, there is still one that must prevail over the other. In this regard, it is as though he sets up this row of dichotomies for the purpose of showing his readers that while we are meant to exercise our subjectivity to choosing what we we want to believe, we are engrained to believe one story more than the other. There is an inevitability in having to establish one story as ‘more right’ than the other; it is merely unavoidable. In telling us the “Genesis” story in an authoritative voice, it is as though King implies that despite “The Earth Diver” story’s captivating, storyteller’s voice, it holds no place in comparison to the biblical creation story. I interpreted this dichotomy as King acknowledging the beauty and co-operation in the Native creation story, yet cautioning us that, especially to the Western world, it is as though individuals are more inclined to accept the Christian story, for “we are necessarily blind to the world that Charm and the Twins and the animals help create” (25).

I also found King‘s notion that one story must be sacred while the others remain just stories to be quite interesting as well, because as Dr. Paterson has noted, this sort of strict dichotomy is ironically exactly what Chamberlain and King himself have been arguing against; the fact that King presents us with two creation stories yet states that the “Genesis” story is told in an authoritative matter discredits the degree of choice he wants us to exercise in the first place. Just as Chamberlain cautions his readers against focusing on the binaries of reality and imagination, or real and make believe, King’s emphasis of the fact that “if we believe one story to be sacred, we must see the other as secular” (25) is quite perplexing, and throws off all that we have been taught so far.

However, the way I interpreted King’s examination, is that while we are capable of exercising a sort of subjective control in what we want to believe or not believe, the element of rank is always present. This goes with everything – despite claiming that things are of equal importance, rank, truth, desirability, etc. when it comes down to it, I believe that things are always put into a sort of hierarchal order, be it explicitly or implicitly; intentionally or unintentionally. Despite our best efforts to remain neutral and to acknowledge the accuracy and degree of truth in both Christian and Native stories respectively, we will inevitably be influenced to believe that there is one universal creation story that reigns supreme above any others; in this case, King suggests that it is the authoritative “Genesis” story. With this in mind, King essentially tries to show us that while there can be two creation stories and two different conceptions of a single truth, one always prevails over the others when put into a hierarchical order.

Works Cited

Kennedy, Paul. “The 2003 CBC Massey Lectures, “The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative.” cbc. CBC, 7 November 2003. Web. 19 February 2016.

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

Common assumptions regarding what a home is:

• Home is not necessarily a physical place; rather, it is the people that make you feel comfortable and safe
• Emulating a sense of home in a foreign place is easier said than done; sometimes home isn’t something that can be replicated.
• Home is a feeling of warmth and certainty
• Home is the place where the people you love provide you with assurance, love, and support

While we all have our own definitions of home, what I noticed most is that home is subjective. It isn’t tied down to one specific meaning, person, or place. Home is something that is special to each of us; it is something that pertains to our subjectivity and brings about immense feelings of comfort, safety, contentment, and freedom. What I predominantly took away from the blogs I read is that home is not just a physical place. Oftentimes we automatically associate home with the physical, and we in turn, neglect to recognize that home is more than just a structure. It is more than a room, a house, a building – it is the people we love to spend our time with; it is the people we choose to be surrounded by.

Works Cited

“Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes – Home” Youtube. Youtube, 17 May 2010. 15 February 2016.

Write a short story (600 – 1000 words max) that describes your sense of home and the valuesand stories that you use to connect yourself to your home and respond to all comments on your blog.

——-

“Hurry! Come down, quick! You’re missing it!”

“Where are you?! It’s STARTING already!”

“—What?! But I thought it scheduled for 8pm? It’s only 7??”

“Whatever, dude! As if I know what the deal is with these TV broadcasting times. Just hurry up! Come down!”

“—Grab your sister! Tell her they’re starting ‘Summer Nights’!! You know, Luch, I used to be on Broadway—well, I used to do musicals. I starred–”

“You starred in the Royal City Musical’s production of Miss Saigon. And those were the best months of your life; I know, mom. You tell us the story all the time!”

“Neia! Danny Zuko is on the screen… or… the guy playing Danny Zuko is on the screen! Who is that man? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before… He’s no Travolta! Oh, oh! It’s that Hudgens girl as Rizzo! Neia, hurry!!”

Overwhelmed with continuous callings after my name, I quickly finish reading a chapter of Foucault’s History of Sexuality (admittedly I don’t really understand what the hell I just read). Hurriedly, I make my way down the stairs, almost tripping because of how fast my feet are moving.

“I’m here guys! Jeez, yell louder, will you!”

Gathered on the living room couch, all with bowls of spaghetti and pieces of garlic bread in hand, sits my family attentively watching the beginning sequence of the highly anticipated, “GREASE: Live!”

“Oh, oh! Hush, everyone!” my mom exclaims, as she franticly searches for her phone on the couch. “I need to record this scene!! I need to post it to Facebook!”

“Mom, you do know that there will be videos of this online within minutes after it airs; you don’t need to take a crappy video on your phone. Just wait for the internet to work its magic” suggests my brother.

“No, no, no! I need to show my friends now!” she exclaims while recording the TV with a gigantic black splotch covering Sandy’s head for the whole 3 minutes of filming (the black splotch, if you weren’t quite sure, is her thumb… yes, my mother’s thumb took up half the frame; still don’t know whether that video ever made its way onto Facebook).

She finally finishes what felt like an hour of simultaneous filming and screaming out of excitement – (theatre-obsessed) moms will be moms?

As the three-hour (yes, you did read that correctly) ‘live’ production of GREASE comes to a close, my family gets up from their seats for the moment we have all been waiting for. The main event… The best part of the show…

* Cue Julianne Hough as Sandy coming out in her stellar all-black leather ensemble and Aaron Tveit as Danny coming out in a quintessential 50s preppy outfit to sign ‘You’re The One That I Want’*

“I got chills, they’re multiplying! And I’m losing controllllll……”

Together, my family and I get up from the couch and break out into song and dance. We belt out, “You’re the one that I want, you are the one I want – YOU, YOU, YOU! HONEY!” in unison. Using our forks as microphones, we attempt to emulate that 50s vibe that is emanating from our television screen. We dance so hard that I feel dizzy by the end of the number; my voice is coarse, my head is dizzy, and I immediately regret having just consumed a colossal amount of spaghetti right before dancing my face off, but the repercussions don’t matter one bit to me. My family and I had the time of our lives, even in that small, normalized outburst of theatricality. We were in each other’s company being goofy. Over those three hours, I got to laugh, dance, sing, and enjoy delicious bowls of food in the company of my 5 favourite people in the world, and no threat of a stomach ache was going to stop me from doing that.

Recollected and back on the couch, my mom grabs the remote and looks to all of us: “Okay, kids! What should we watch next?”

———–

My mom and I!

My aim with this story was to show (in an animated way), the sort of dynamic I have with my family. My household is far from bland or quiet; we sing, we dance, we yell (out of excitement, that is) and we have a great time. My mom is the rock of our family; she keeps everything together, and I honestly don’t know who I would be, or where I would be without her. My sense of home is literally being at home with my family. It is the smell of homemade food (preferably lasagna or spaghetti). It is the sound of a blaring musical or movie, and the accompanying sound of voices singing along. It’s the sound of infectious laughter and constant commotion.

My brothers and I when we went to see Hall & Oates at the PNE this past summer.

This short story is a slice of what my home life is like; it’s hectic, loud, but filled with such love and excitement. While we may not necessarily do anything extravagant or particularly interesting, I value the company of my family, wherever that may be. For me, home isn’t necessarily a physical construct; it is the people I choose to surround myself with.

Works Cited

Garcia, Tom. ‘Grease Live!’: Go Behind-the-Scenes in New Promo. Digital image. Billboard. N.p., 8 Jan. 2016. Web. 8 Feb. 2016. <http://www.billboard.com/files/styles/article_main_image/public/media/grease-live-fox-2015-billboard-650.jpg>.

Iyer, Pico. “Where is home?” TED. June 2013. Lecture.

“You’re the One that I Want – Full Performance – Grease: Live!” Youtube. Youtube, 1 February 2016. 8 February 2016.