I have a great story to tell you

This is a story that happened a long time ago, but it is happening right now, too. I think it is a story that is going to keep on going… it may never end!

It is a story that takes place far away, in distant cities and countries and continents, but it takes place inside of you and I, too.

It is a story about evil, something which takes many different forms. This formless thing, evil, has existed for as long as man can remember. All of our oldest stories, both those written down and not, tell of this thing. Some of these stories explain this thing as having a particular origin or cause, implying that man once lived in a world without evil.

My story is different. And it goes like this:

There is a man who lives inside of a man. Or a woman who lives inside of a woman. Or a woman inside of a man… it does not really matter. Let’s just say that it is a human inside of a human. This little human is not alone. There is a second little human with him. And though they are the same size, they are very different in character. And though they are different from each other, and much smaller than the big human, they have one thing in common – they were all born at the same time. The little humans could not have been born before the big human, because they would have had nowhere to live. And they could not have been born afterwards, because the big human would not have let them in.

One of these little humans is very, very loud. Sometimes he yells in an angry, shrill voice, and stomps around kicking and smashing everything he can find. Other times he talks in a low, grating growl and carefully takes things apart, making sure all of the parts remain intact.

The other little human is usually very quiet. He spends a lot of his time fixing the things that his neighbour has broken. And when he runs out of things to fix, he likes to make new things. He knows how to make just about everything – paintings, boats, poems, cabinets, birthday cakes, tattoo guns…. you name it. If he is not busy fixing the broken things, there is no limit to what he can build.

One other thing these two little humans have in common, besides their birthdays, is that the only person who can hear them, besides themselves, is the big human inside of whom they live. They both want to be heard by more people, though, and they both compete for the big human’s attention, in order that he might speak for them to the rest of the world. The first little human does this by being very loud and persistent, and drowning out the voice of the other one. The other little human knows he cannot be louder than his neighbour, so instead he stays quiet and tries to show the big human all of the wonderful things he has built.

Now, if the big human listens to the loud and angry voice, that little human becomes encouraged and only gets louder. On the other hand, if he ignores the yelling, and focuses on the wonderful things the other little human has built and wants to share with everyone, that little human swells up with quiet pride and begins to work harder and more efficiently. So it is a choice for the big human, which little one he will pay attention to, and thus make stronger.

Now, in the world of the big human, there are many others like him who have made choices of their own, for everyone of the big humans is born with two similar little companions. And many of the big humans have chosen to listen to the loud, angry human, and have given him so much attention that he has become so loud and strong as to be able to speak through the big human. So the big humans repeat the words of the little angry human, oftentimes without even realising they have ignored and silenced his neighbour. And the voice of the little angry human acts much the same way when it is uttered through the mouth of the big human – the more people pay attention to it, the stronger it gets.

And these big humans, who are overpowered by the voice of anger, tell stories. They tell stories about a magical place called “enough”, where a person can go if they only acquire a lot of things, or a lot power over other people, or a large number on a computer screen somewhere. But the big humans who can listen to the quiet voice of the other little human, and who can see the wonderful things he can create, know that “enough” is not a destination at all, but is something which can actually come to you if you open yourself up to it. And these humans wish that the stories told by the angry voice would just stop, and that people would quiet down and listen to what the other little human has to say. But, of course, it is too late. For once a story is told, it cannot be called back. Once told, it is loose on the world.

Post Story Commentary:

In writing this story, I tried to reinterpret and expand upon a quote I heard about two wolves fighting inside of every person. Maybe some of you are familiar with it. I also tried to remove gender from my description of the humans in the story, but found myself reverting to describing them as “he”, perhaps out of habit. My intention was to illustrate how evil is a continuous process, one that can be affected by our choices, philosophies, and awareness of ourselves. We all have evil within ourselves, and if we let it control us, it will.

Works Cited:

“Cherokee Legend: Two Wolves” First People – The Legends Web. 27 Jan 2014.

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

Shakespeare Voltron. “No no no no no no no.” Online Video Clip. Youtube. Youtube. Nov 22 2009. Web. Jan 27 2014.

Hello all

In this post I will be addressing question one, from assignment 1:2.

In Courtney MacNeil’s  article on orality, the author challenges an academic viewpoint which puts oral cultures and literary cultures at odds with one another. According to MacNeil, placing these traditions within a rigid binary suggests that oral culture is inferior, and plays into an ideology of “Western egocentrism.” In this way, the idea that oral culture is somehow more primitive than literate culture connects to a broader bias against non-Westernized societies.

Likewise, J Edward Chamberlain addresses this binary analysis, stating that “This kind of thinking— if we can call it that—encourages people to treat other societies with a blend of condescension and contempt while celebrating the sophistication of their own.”(n. pag.) For both writers, creating a definitive distinction between oral and written cultures is symptomatic of a greater malignant thought process.

The binary analysis not only enforces ethnocentric ideologies, but also misses the mark entirely. Chamberlain identifies so-called oral cultures as being rich in “non-syllabic” and “non-alphabetical” literacy. Instead, culturally specific objects make up a form of literacy. According to Chamberlain, the cultures which we identify as “oral” actually use an alternative literacy for the exact same function as our own “literate” cultures. Likewise, Chamberlain identifies the many institutions of literate culture (courts, schools, etc) as depending greatly on oral communication.

MacNeil further expands on the problems of dichotomizing oral and literate cultures by exploring the fluid nature of our own forms of communication, due to the technological advancements of recent years. Our so-called “literate culture,” through participating in text messaging, twitter, snapchat, etc. is actually engaging in communication which is just as temporary as that of so called “oral cultures.”

MacNeil’s analysis on electronic communication, however, does not take into account the fact that many of these communications are being monitored and stored by US government agencies. MacNeil was writing at a time before the extent of US electronic surveillance was made public. It would be quite interesting to read what Chamberlain and MacNeil have to say about the surveillance state, in regards to our notions of oral and literate cultures, and the fluidity of our electronic communications. Does a third party’s monitoring and storing of communications for private use affect the function of these communications for users? Or is there little impact, given that the practical implications of this storing are not immediately apparent? It could be argued that the collection and storage of phone calls, text messages, internet history, etc. changes the transience of these communications, rendering this particular aspect of MacNeil’s analyses in need of some review.

Works Cited:

Chamberlin, J Edward. If This is Your Land, Where Are your Stories? Finding Common Ground. Knopf Canada, 2010, Kindle Edition.

MacNeil, Courtenay. “Orality.” http://lucian.uchicago.edu/. University of Chicago. Web. 17 Jan 2014.

“Mountain Goats: Images and Materials”. Royal BC Museum. Web. Jan 16 2014.

“NSA Collects Millions of Text Messages Globally” . CBC. Web. Jan 16 2014.

Greetings and Salutations

My name is Stepan, and I am currently in my fifth year of studies at UBC. I am looking forward to finishing up this spring with majors in Creative Writing and English Lit.  This blog is for a Canadian Literature course titled “Oh Canada: Our Home and Native Land?”In this course we will be exploring colonial narratives and Canadian indigenous realities through a literary lens.

I was born and raised in the small town of Grand Forks, BC, in the Southern Interior of the province. Indigenous history in this area was something which was generally not discussed during my upbringing, despite evidence of pre-colonial habitation. Rather, conventional history generally begins with white settlement and industrialization. In the beginning of the 20^th century Grand Forks boasted the largest copper smelter in the British Empire, supplied by the now disappeared mining boom-town of Phoenix. Eurocentricism and the glorification of capitalist industry are concepts which, I believe, are at odds with a balanced understanding of Canadian history.

Grand Forks, BC

Many of my ancestors were Doukhobor, a pacifist religious sect exiled from the Russian Empire around the turn of the 20^th century. In particular, my family belonged to a radical splinter group of the Doukhobors who called themselves The Sons of Freedom. The Sons Of Freedom garnered national and international attention for their unorthodox methods of nonviolent protest against the Canadian government, as well as for their acts of sabotage and destruction of property. At the root of this unrest was The Sons of Freedom refusal to assimilate to Canadian culture, and to send their children to English schools. The Sons of Freedom were the only non-indigenous ethnic group in BC to have their children forcibly put into residential schools. I am very proud of my ancestors’ independence.

I look forward to using this course as a way to explore alternative storytelling, and to challenge traditional or dominant concepts of Canadian identity. I believe it is important to recognize that colonialism is an ongoing process, and not something which resides strictly in our past. This course aims not only to analyze a variety of stories, but to discuss the reasons why some voices may be more prevalent than others. Ultimately this course will be a way for students to collaboratively engage issues of identity, voice, division, and history.

Works Cited:

Christina Lake Pictographs. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 9 Jan 2014.

GeoBC, . British Columbia. BC Geographical Names.Phoenix BC. 2014. Web.

“Sons of Freedom 1944.” pasttensevancouver.tumblr. N.p., 12 01 2013. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

The Spokesman Review, . “Bomb Blasts Rail Bridge in Kootenay.” news.google.com. N.p., 11 12 1961. Web. 9 Jan 2014.

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