All posts by JuliaUllrich

3:7 – Breaking Apart “Green Grass Running Water”

 

Phew, this is a long one. When you start dissecting this book, there is awful lot going on. I opened my book at random and started my analysis where the pages happened to settle, so we begin in the middle of the Changing Woman story on page 194 and continue to page 206.

Jane Flick tells us that the Changing Woman story comes from Navajo tradition where Changing Woman is a deity of “miraculous birth” (qtd. in Flick 152). Changing Woman here meets Ahab and Ishmael aboard the Pequod, the ship and characters famous from Herman Mellville’s Moby Dick. King characterizes Ahab as very bossy, rude and rule-following man while Ishmael seems to get off slightly easier. Perhaps this is because he also appears as one of the four old Indians who are trying to fix the narratives of Native colonization throughout the book. Pequod also cleverly ties to the Pequot Nation who were defeated in the Pequot War of 1637 (Flick 158).

The Europeans ask Changing Woman what her favourite month is, and though we don’t learn the answer, we do find out that one of Coyote’s favourite months is July, which makes sense as this is when Sun Dance is traditionally held.

Then the hunt for the great white whale begins and the hunters bring out their weapons which include, among spears and knives, juicers and blenders. I’m not sure what the deeper meaning here is supposed to be. Perhaps King is trying to keep the reader from getting too comfortable in the idea that Changing Woman is jumping into a story they already know? This is a new story with familiar characters. King could also be using this an aid in his efforts for narrative decolonization. As I discussed in my last blog, moments like this one that make the Europeans look ridiculous, take their power away and give it to the Native characters without any violent exchange.

As the hunters look for the great white whale they chant “Whaleswhaleswhaleswhalesbianswhalesbianswhaleswhales!” (195) Why is it important for us to know that A) the whale is female, and B) the whale is a lesbian? Flick suggests that this is a challenge to the female-less world of Moby Dick (158), but I have to wonder why that’s important to the progress of this novel. Most of the female characters in the novel are much stronger than the male ones. Alberta is dating two guys at once and wants a baby without their help, and Latisha is a single mother of three dealing with the scars from her violent, absentee husband while running a successful business –just to name a few. Perhaps this black lesbian whale is a dig at European literary culture where females are not traditionally prized as highly as males. This stands in stark contrast to Native literary and storytelling culture where many of the central characters are female.

Now we jump over to the Eli Stands Alone narrative, where Eli is reading a Western novel at home. What’s interesting here is that, even though he’s not enjoying the book and can predict how it’s going to end, he chooses to read on, thinking “This one might be different” (199). This again alludes to the contrast between Native and European literary culture, whereby Native stories vary from nation to nation and they can change based on the storyteller and environment, and European stories are rigid and unalterable (until they get in King’s hands that is).

As Eli remembers his trip to Sun Dance with Karen, we learn about his De Soto car that they rented for the journey. King has again chosen a significant brand of car because, as Flick tells us, Hernando De Soto was a Spanish Conquistador who traveled all over America causing trouble (158), just like the difficult rental which splutters and clunks all the way from Calgary to the festival.

An interesting moment was when Eli and Karen were entering the camp, Karen spotted a bird flying and asked “Is that an eagle?” to which Eli replied “No, it’s vulture” (203). The eagle appears a lot in Native art and stories as a majestic being that links the human and spiritual world and it’s interesting that King would populate the site of the Sun Dance with a very Western animal like a vulture instead. My guess would be that he is trying to make the Sun Dance more relatable to the reader: make it appear less like a ceremony that they can’t relate to or connect with if they aren’t native, but something that is inclusive of other backgrounds as well.

On his way out of camp, Eli’s sister Norma reminds him of an old friend Rita Morley (whom we don’t hear any more of but was an actress in the 50’s and 60’s) and gives him some sweetgrass to take (a rope of vanilla scented grass traditionally used in prayer).

Works Cited:

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s “Green Grass Running Water”” Canadian Literature (1999): 140-72. UBC Blogs. Web. 22 July 2016.

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. Toronto: Harper Perennial Canada, 1999. Print.

3:5 – Decolonizing Through Story

4) Identify and discuss two of King’s “acts of narrative decolonization.”Please read the following quote to assist you with your answer.The lives of King’s characters are entangled in and informed by both the colonial legacy in the Americas and the narratives that enact and enable colonial domination. King begins to extricate his characters’ lives from the domination of the invader’s discourses by weaving their stories into both Native American oral traditions and into revisions of some of the most damaging narratives of domination and conquest: European American origin stories and national myths, canonical literary texts, and popular culture texts such as John Wayne films. These revisions are acts of narrative decolonization. James Cox. “All This Water Imagery Must Mean Something.” Canadian Literature 161-162 (1999). Web April 04/2013

There are two very clear examples of narrative decolonization in Green Grass Running Water.

First are the four creation stories that get told by the four old Indians. In each of these stories the Native woman at its centre (First Woman, Changing Woman, Thought Woman and Old Woman) travels through her traditional creation story. However, along the way they each meet a figure from European or American literary tradition who gets in their way and tries to tell them what to do. The First Woman story recalls the Christian creation story in the Garden of Eden, but Ahdamn (Adam) and God are brutish and simple, and God tries to impose silly rules on First Woman that she doesn’t understand. The Changing Woman story is a retelling of the Noah’s Arc story, where Noah is misogynistic and tries to rape Changing Woman while spouting the need to follow Christian rules. The Thought Woman story doesn’t follow a known Christian parable, but it does confuse the Biblical moment of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary with a Canadian border security guard in a very sporadic exchange where he also tries to impregnate her against her will. Finally, in the last story, Old Woman meets Jesus on the high seas where he is bossy and likes to take credit for other people’s achievements, and the violent hunter Nasty Bumppo who crudely and incorrectly explains the differences between Whites and Indians. In his representation of these well-known Euro/American characters as unlikable and unsavory, in contrast with each Native woman being opinionated and strong willed –not to be pushed around— King effectively transfers the power in these relationships from the European to the Native. However, it is important to note that though we see the women as being the stronger characters in these stories, they do not become violent or try to oppress the Europeans in return. This also enhances our understanding of how Natives value high moral integrity.

The second example of narrative decolonization is the episode in Bursam’s tv store on Lionel’s birthday. Lionel, Bursam, Charlie and Eli have all spontaneously gathered at the store, along with the four old Indians that no one can identify, and Coyote, when Bursam suggests they watch a Western movie. As it reaches the ending, a grand battle between cowboys and Indians, the American cavalry suddenly vanish off the screen, leaving American heroes John Wayne and Richard Widmark sorely outnumbered by the Indians. Bursam is baffled and very upset, but the four old Indians take credit for ‘fixing’ the story that had allowed the Natives to be portrayed in subservient and easily dominated light. In this way King, again, removes the power from the Americans in the story and transfers it to the Natives by allowing the Indians to win the battle they normally were massacred in.

Both of these revisions, as Cox points out in the quote above, take stories that exhibit Euro/American domination and rework them, interweaving traditional Native story and character to remove the feeling of colonial power. They also give the reader a better sense of their integrity and quiet power, often far stronger than the loud, bombastic power of a bully.

3:2 – The Indian Act: a failed community

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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.

From the moment of its very inception “The Indian Act” seems to represent a piece of legislature that could never ‘get it right’. It’s every revision since the initial implementation in 1876 has been met with resistance from Native bands which, in more recent years has largely been as a result of lack of consultation (Henderson n.p.). This, among many other, much more controversial reasons, leads me to think that Canada would have been much better off if those early proclamations which began to bring the ‘Indians’ under colonial control, had never been. But with sadness we must admit that, like King’s retelling of how Evil came into the world, these stories, once told, cannot be taken back.

“The Indian Act” has gone through many many revisions since its inception. Initially each new version added laws or amendments which intensified European dominance over the Aboriginals. It’s principle goal was to assimilate Indians into European life by eliminating their traditional governments and cultural practices, beginning slowly by offering land and the right to vote in exchange for relinquishing their Indian status (enfranchisement). Gradually this escalated to mandatory enfranchisement, creation of residential schools and banning of the potlatch ceremony. After the 1950’s the amendments were to slowly take away these laws, which had so brutally marginalized the Natives (Henderson n.p.). But, as we know, this process has been slow and relatively unsuccessful. Even today The Indian Act reveals some unfair and racist legislature such as, disallowing true ownership of land, even on a reserve without written permission from the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs (20:1), and that the Crown may take control of reserve land without permission if it is for “public use,” and any payment agreed upon for that land is to be given to a government trustee in charge of Indian moneys, not to the actual Band themselves (35:1,4).

Such blatant unfairness is what caused subsequent legislature such Pierre Trudeau’s “White Paper” which attempted to eradicate this “separation of Canadians” (“Canada” 6) of any one particular group. I can only imagine that from Trudeau’s perspective, he was trying to create equal treatment for all Canadians and eliminate government-sanctioned racism. Reading through the document, we can see that they had good intentions: “This Government believes in equality. It believes that all men and women have equal rights. It is determined that all shall be treated fairly and that no one shall be shut out of Canadian life, and especially that no one shall be shut out because of his race” (“Canada” 6). Instead, we learned that Aboriginals do want to be treated differently, but not in the way that they had been getting. They wanted respect for their tradition and culture and room to practice it, and felt that removing “The Indian Act” would also remove any need to acknowledge their differences at all. Harold Cardinal put it so succinctly when he wrote in his book The Unjust Society that “The Indian Act” was “a lever in [their] hands . . . we would rather continue to live in bondage under the Indian Act than surrender our sacred rights” (qtd. in Hanson n.p.).

Coleman’s analysis describes the creation of a Canadian national identity as a ‘project’ and I feel this is the perfect word. ‘Project’ implies a long process with many steps and possibly a ‘go with the flow’ attitude where you don’t really know if the process you’re taking is going to be successful or not. The fact of it’s many revisions and missteps gives “The Indian Act” a very ‘project-y’ feel. Especially in the early years when each move was an intensifying measure, it gives the impression that Europeans were always working step-by-step to a greater end goal. In more recent years, the project of national identity has been more of two party negotiation. European descendants are trying to rectify their mistakes, but by asking the Natives to kindly ‘forget’ what has happened in the past and allow us to move forward, again, as a nation: a unified community under Canada that unfortunately isn’t all that unified yet. Coleman’s commentary is as complicated as the issue at hand, but at it’s heart he makes a good observation that our ‘Canadian’ national identity was truly created  out of a British understanding of civility and perpetuated, essentially, through story, or in this case, unfortunate legislature.

 

Works Cited:

Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs. Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy. Ottawa: Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1969.

Hands Holding the Land. Digital image. Stories From the Road. Bryan Creech, Apr. 2014. Web. 08 July 2016.

Hanson, Erin. “The Indian Act.” Indigenous Foundations. First Nations and Indigenous Studies UBC, 2009. Web. 08 July 2016.

Henderson, William B., and Zach Parrott. “Indian Act.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 02 July 2006. Web. 05 July 2016.

“Indian Act .” Justice Laws Website. Government of Canada, 17 June 2016. Web. 08 July 2016.

2:6 – Awareness

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Question 2) Read Susanna Moodie’s introduction to the third edition of Roughing it in the Bush, 1854. Moodie’s introduction is often read as a warning to would be emigrants as well as an explanation of why her family emigrated from Britain. See if you can find echoes of the stories discussed above: a gift from god, a second Garden of Eden, an empty/wasted land, the noble but vanishing Indian, and the magical map. By echoes I mean reading between the lines or explicitly within Moodie’s introduction. Discussing what you discover, use your examples as evidence to write a blog that explores what you think might have been Moodie’s level of awareness of the stories she carried with her. And accordingly, the stories that she “resurrects’ by her appearance in the Dead Dog CafŽ in Green Grass Running Water.

Susanna Moodie’s Roughing it in the Bush is written retrospectively, as we can tell from her moments of self reflection, like when she says,

“Now, when not only reconciled to Canada, but loving it,

and feeling a deep interest in it’s present welfare, and the

fair prospect of it’s future greatness, I often look back and

laugh at the feelings with which I then regarded this

noble country” (171).

Therefore, the Introduction to the text was also written even more so retrospectively as a summation of the novel to come. What I find most striking about that, is the distinct contrast between comments like the one above and the tone of disdain and unhappiness which pervades the Introduction. Moodie often writes throughout the novel of how, after being in Canada for many years, she grows to love, respect and advocate for it. Why then does this Introduction speak so negatively about the idea of emigration? Perhaps because she is providing a realistic warning to potential emigrants of the hardships to come? There is no hiding from the fact that her experiences of Canada were difficult along the way, filled with many different learning experiences and cultural differences which she had to navigate.
She speaks of the British emigrant’s view of Canada as an “infection” spreading among the middle class in Britain, making them believe that Canada was the promised land to end all their hardships (16) and she asserts that these pretenses were decidedly false. However, the smallest glimpses of hope are still visible. I think this presents itself in the creation of the ‘ideal immigrant’ rather than the presenting the glory of Canada. Moodie talks about the motivations which cause emigrants to ‘take the plunge’ and leave their county: most of them being sad. However, she also speaks of some immigrants’ desire “to forget the past and to live in the future, to exult in the prospect of their children being free and the land of their adoption great” (12, emphasis mine). I think what she is trying to say here is that a successful emigrant has to have the right attitude. He mustn’t be coming to Canada downtrodden and trying to escape a difficult life, but zealous to create a better life for himself and his family. Her religious beliefs back up this claim as well when she says that God knows who the good, hard working and patient men are and that

These men become wealthy and prosperous, and form the

bones and sinews of a great and rising country. Their

labour is wealth, not exhaustion; its produce

independence and content, not home-sickness

and despair” (18, emphasis mine).

With all this in mind, I think it’s difficult to say what Moodie’s awareness was of the stories she carried with her. How aware are any of us of the stories we’ve heard which influence our lives? I’d argue, not very. At least until we might choose to sit down and write a novel about our experiences. I think, in retrospect, Moodie sees how she felt about moving to Canada as a product of the society which she was leaving. She felt depressed and embarrassed because of her good social standing in Britain which had been lost, but also hopeful because of what she had (falsely) heard about the wonders of life in Canada.

Works Cited:

Damoraeu, Charles F. “Roughing it in the Bush.” Illustration. Roughing it in the Bush;          or, Forest Life in Canada. Project Gutenberg. Web. 26 June 2016.

Hamlet (1990). “Neither a Borrower, nor a Lender Be. For Loan Oft Loses Both Itself and Friend…” Yarn. Vidzi.tv, n.d. Web. 28 June 2016.

Moodie, Susanna. Roughing it in the Bush; or, Forest Life in Canada. Project Gutenberg, 2003. Ebook.

“#WelcomeRefugees: Stories from the Journey.” #WelcomeRefugees: Stories from the Journey. Government of Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Communications Branch, 26 Feb. 2016. Web. 28 June 2016.

 

2:4 – Assumptions

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Question 3) We began this unit by discussing assumptions and differences that we carry into our class. In “First Contact as Spiritual Performance,” Lutz makes an assumption about his readers (Lutz, “First Contact” 32). He asks us to begin with the assumption that comprehending the performances of the Indigenous participants is “one of the most obvious difficulties.” He explains that this is so because “one must of necessity enter a world that is distant in time and alien in culture, attempting to perceive indigenous performance through their eyes as well as those of the Europeans.” Here, Lutz is assuming either that his readers belong to the European tradition, or he is assuming that it is more difficult for a European to understand Indigenous performances – than the other way around. What do you make of this reading? Am I being fair when I point to this assumption? If so, is Lutz being fair when he makes this assumption?

 

In reading Lutz’s words regarding the perception of first stories, it is easy to jump to conclusions. We might assume that Lutz is writing for the European person in order to enlighten them to the validity of the ways and practices of Indigenous peoples. That seems like the most logical conclusion because we can probably assume that they are more ignorant of First Nations culture that a Native person. One would think that a person of First Nation heritage might have an instant connection to these stories and fully understand why they are important and as equally valid as any European version. However, I would argue that there would be a large amount of people, Canadians especially, of European descent, who would likely not connect to a European first story. This is, as Lutz says, because we must attempt to “enter into a world that is distant in time and alien in culture” (“First Contact” 32) and this applies just as much to the culture of the early Europeans. I would find it difficult to relate to the ways and practices of anyone who lived in the 1800’s, or perhaps even earlier – “We often think of Christopher Columbus’ 1492 landfall as the ‘real first, first encounter’. Yet we know that Norse had been to North America in the years around 1,000” (“Contact Over and Over” 2)– regardless of their heritage. True, I would probably have an easier time with the European stories, if only for a shared language, but the commitment to religion, it’s practices, morals and stories that had a significant influence on those European settlers, would separate me, among other things. This goes to show that, similarly, modern day Natives may not automatically connect or sympathize with the bygone people of their heritage. The practices of those days were likely radically different from what they are today, and that is assuming that the Indigenous person in question is actually versed in their native culture. Just because they are born of that heritage does not guarantee that they were brought up to understand or appreciate it. I can say from experience as a 2nd/3rd generation Canadian that there’s a large portion of my heritage that I know very little about, simply because my dad didn’t think that those stories and customs were important to pass on to me, since they were fairly far from removed even from him. I think, overall, Lutz is making the assumption that the Indigenous first contact performances would be more difficult to relate to and, to an extent this is true. However, we might conclude that Lutz is writing for all modern people reading his work and interested in learning about those pivotal first moments of contact, not just Europeans.

Works Cited:

DavidandRemus Bad Crayfish. “Christopher Columbus: What Really Happened.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 14 June 2016.

Lutz, John. “Contact Over and Over Again.” Myth and Memory: Rethinking Stories of Indignenous- European Contact. Ed. Lutz. Vancouver: U of British Columbia P, 2007. 1-15. Print.

—. “First Contact as a Spiritual Performance: Aboriginal — Non-Aboriginal Encounters on the North American West Coast.” Myth and Memory: Rethinking Stories of Indigenous-European Contact. Ed. Lutz. Vancouver: U of British Columbia P, 2007. 30-45. Print.

“Traditions.” Germany. Cultural Portfolios from COM227 at Depauw U. 3 May 2003. Web. 14 June 2016.

“Video: Justin Trudeau Warmly Welcomed by First Nations Leaders.” Photograph. The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc. 8 Dec. 2015. Web. 14 June 2016.

2:3 – Our Homes

Read at least 3 students blog short stories about ‘home’ and make a list of the common shared assumptions, values and stories that you find. Post this list on your blog.

I read quite a few of our short stories about home this week. I know we only had to read three, but I was enjoying them so much, I didn’t stop at that.

From what I read, one major theme jumped out at me: Home is not necessarily one place. Sure, sometimes our feelings and understandings of what ‘home’ means to us converge around one particular meeting spot, but what seems to be more relevant to us is not the where or what of ‘home’ but the who. It is the people (or animals) that revolve around us, traveling through life that build our understanding of what feeling ‘home’ means. The people we associate with home are not the ones who have made our days difficult, but the ones who have made us feel safe, included, understood and loved. Loved above all.

Is it too cheesy to say that ‘home’ and ‘love’ are synonymous?

2:2 – The Welcome Mat(s)

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 Lesson 2:1  asks you to explore and express your values and the stories you use to connect yourself to your sense of home. Remember what Thomas Kings says, “we are the stories we tell ourselves.” Remember what Edward Chamberlain says, “stories give meaning and value to the places we call home.”  And, take some time to reflect on the stories your grew up with that shaped how you value your home, reflect on the how these stories have shaped your sense of belonging, or not – to your home and your homeland.

I have exactly one hour and fifteen minutes at home before I have to rush out again for the next part of my day. Exiting the elevator I’m not surprised to smell cigarette smoke coming from the next apartment. I lean my ear towards the door, straining to hear if there is any activity inside. Thankfully I hear nothing. Opening the door, my suspicion is confirmed: no roommate. It’s a blessing. I’m tired and overwhelmed and I don’t need an unfamiliar presence intruding upon my precious moments at home. This roommate is new and essentially a stranger—my close friend who used to share the apartment, having recently moved out. She’s perfectly nice, but so far we’ve not ‘hit it off.’ Despite my seeming solitude, I rush into my room and shut the door anyway. I don’t want to risk it. Inside my room it is hot today. The window is open, letting the noise from the street waft in, but cool air does not accompany it. Light is reflecting harshly off the too-bright, white walls that I would have painted, if only I was allowed. I didn’t have time to make the bed this morning, so the sheets lie crumpled where I left them, along with a cereal bowl and half empty coffee mug. This isn’t how I like to leave my space and I hate the thought of leaving the mess until even later in the day. I duck out into the kitchen to wash the dishes, avoiding a large pile of dirty pans from the roommate’s dinner last night, and then quickly toss the bedclothes into slightly less disarray. One hour left. I have just pushed the switch to wake up my laptop when I hear keys turn in the door. I freeze. What little bit of peace I had is gone. Should I go out and say ‘hello’? Probably. But I could also hide in here, making as little noise as possible, and pretend to not exist.

. . .

It’s midmorning. A perfect Spring, Vancouver day. Except we’re not in Vancouver, we’re in White Rock, about an hour South. The sun is shining and gently warming my skin as I step out of my car in the driveway of my parent’s home. The flowers in the bed out front have grown tall and full, their petals spread so wide you can almost see them eating up the sun. I turn my key in the lock of the front door, swinging it open to reveal the bright entryway. No one is home. Both my parents are away on business. Moving further into the house, the first landmark is a big family portrait, framed and sitting on an end table, snug between two chairs directly in front of me. I might be ten years old in this photo, but we all look younger and happy, though slightly uncomfortable in our all-denim attire. I turn on the kettle in the kitchen and begin to make tea. It’s the first thing my mother does whenever she gets home, and the sound of bubbling water fills the otherwise silent living room. I don’t really have any reason to be here. There is no task to accomplish and I have my own, perfectly good home in the city, yet still I linger. I take my tea to the plush, wine-coloured couch and sink into it. My mother is not here to give me her regular plethora of hugs, but this couch is second best. Mom in Dallas, Dad in Kamloops. No siblings to speak of and my beloved dog recently passed away. And yet I feel them. The walls hold their presence and have absorbed their love like the flowers outside absorb sunshine. I gaze around the room at the photos covering our walls, from holidays or special dates gone by, and I feel the love there. This hasn’t even been our home for very long, having only moved from our previous family home one year ago. Somehow that doesn’t matter. I have two places I call ‘home’ but only one deserves the name.

 

Works Cited

“History of Afternoon Tea.” Twinings UK & Ireland. Twining & Company Limited, 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 04 June 2016.

Warner Bros., “Pretending I Don’t Exist *Harry Potter*.” YouTube. YouTube, 18 Nov. 2012. Web. 03 June 2016.

Welcome Carpet. Digital image. Harvest Life Changers Church. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.

1:5 – How Evil Came into the World

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Your task is to take the story about how evil comes into the world, the story King tells about the Witches’ convention in Chapter One of The Truth about Stories, and change it any way you want, except the ending. You can change to place, the people, the time – anything you want. But, your story must have the same moral – it must tell us how evil came into the world and how once a  story is told, it cannot be taken back.

Once upon a time, on a farm far away, a large brood of hens gathered in the farmer’s hen house at sundown. The hens had been very bored with their pedantic lives on the farm: day in, day out, sitting on their nests and not having any fun. So one of the very smartest hens had suggested, in the most secretive way a hen can, that all the ladies gather and have a hen party! What a brilliant plan!

So they snuck out of their respective coops, after they were sure the farmer had gone to sleep, and into the hen house. It was a marvelous party. They played the egg and spoon race and ‘foxes and chickens’ and then they all snuggled up to watch their favorite film “Chicken Run.”

The movie was nearing the end, and the sky was beginning to lighten from it’s deep midnight blue, when suddenly a voice arose from the back of the house. “This movie is absolutely ridiculous,” it said. All the hens turned their heads to see who had spoken. It was the Rooster. He had, obviously, not been invited to the hen party, but apparently had snuck in the back door.

“What do you mean?” Asked one of the younger hens. “This movie is my favorite. Why on Earth do you think it’s ridiculous?”

“Well the plot is just so basic. Any dolt could come up with that story.” Rooster replied.

“I think you’re just going to have to prove that.” Said a very large, matronly hen from the front, as she paused the television. “Tell us a story that’s better than this movie.” She was extremely skeptical at this possibility, as she had been enjoying the movie very much indeed.

“Fine,” said the Rooster. “But we have to do this in the proper way. Follow me. “ And he proceeded to lead all the hens out of the hen house and out into the yard. “Stay here,” he said. The sky was even lighter now and the hens could see Rooster’s silhouette clearly against the sky as he proceeded to climb up to the very top of the hen house roof.

The hens waited with anticipation until finally the Rooster reached the top of the roof, dusted himself off and began to tell his story. It was an excellent story, but the hens thought, rather dark and scary in comparison to their joyful movie. It had only been a few minutes when suddenly they heard yelling coming from the big farmer’s house. The Rooster stopped talking and they all turned to see the farmer tearing out of the house and down the path with his hands waving up in the air.

“Stop that racket! Stop that racket AT ONCE, you evil little rooster! You’ve woken me from the very best dream!”

All the hens scattered and ran as fast as they could back to their respective coops, as the Rooster tried to get down from the house fast enough to avoid the farmer’s anger. But the farmer scooped him into his arms and began carrying him back to Rooster’s house. “I wish you had never done that,” said the farmer. But, of course, the rooster could not take back what he had done. He could not take back his story.

And from that night on, just before the sun rose each day, all the hens would gather in the yard to hear Rooster tell more of his story. And though the farmer grew to not be surprised at this early morning racket, each day he felt that this rooster had brought evil into his world.

~ ~ ~

Commentary: What I found interesting about this assignment was the difference between spoken and written text. I understood the concept that it would be different, but only in the realm of other people’s work. I never imagined that my own words, that I wrote on paper, would take on a whole other life when coming out of my mouth. They had new inflection and personality and subtext that appeared simultaneously as I was speaking.

The other thing that was interesting, that I know happens with all performance art, is the audience reaction and interaction. They always laugh when you don’t expect it, and are probably silent when you are expecting them rolling in the isles. You can never truly know how a story will be received.

In regards to creating the new story, I actually found this rather challenging. I wanted to make the story different, and I didn’t just want to change one simple element, but then, suddenly, I found that coming to the same conclusion as the original story was hard to wrangle. I think maybe this is sort of a testament to how stories evolve over time. It’s not normal for someone to hear a story and turn it completely on it’s head, but still want to get the same outcome. Obviously that happens sometimes successfully, but in my experience, it seems like stories evolve slowly, with just minor changes with each new addition, until you arrive at something that might be totally different.

Works Cited

Pless, Deborah, and DreamWorks Annimation LLC. “Chicken Run” freeze frame.        Digital image. Kiss My Wonderwoman. N.p., 06 Oct. 2015. Web. 28 May 2016.


1:3 – Finding ‘Home’

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Question 4) Figuring out this place called home is a problem (87).  Why? Why is it so problematic to figure out this place we call home: Canada? Consider this question in context with Chamberlin’s discussion on imagination and reality; belief and truth (use the index).Chamberlin says, “the sad fact is, the history of settlement around the world is the history of displacing other people from their lands, of discounting their livelihoods and destroying their languages” (78).  Chamberlin goes on to “put this differently” (Para. 3). Explain that “different way” of looking at this, and discuss what you think of the differences and possible consequences of these “two ways” of understanding the history of settlement in Canada.

In Edward Chamberlin’s book “If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories,” he speaks about the history of settlement as “the history of displacing other people from their lands, of discounting their livelihoods and destroying their languages” (78). He then goes on to describe this history, in what he says is a different way, as “a history of dismissing a different belief or different behaviour as unbelief or misbehaviour, and of discrediting those who believe or behave differently as infidels or savages” (78). It seems to me that this second way of thinking about settlement is not different at all, but an elaboration or even justification for the actions of these settlers. Not to say that Chamberlin condones these actions– It’s very clear that he does not – but he humanizes the action by giving it a motivation. The consequences of this could be troubling. Now the settler does not simply say, ‘I need a place to live and I choose this place.’ Instead, despite the fact that it is wrong, the settler makes an active decision to displace someone from their home with a strong justification—that being, because the original owner does not believe in, whatever the settler has decided is the ‘right’ belief. And of course, this is exactly what has happened in Canada’s past.

Now the Native is displaced and what are they to do? They could turn around and force someone else from their home, but this doesn’t seem to be the trend. Why not? Perhaps because Indigenous people have a different connection to what ‘home’ means than the settlers (and their descendants) do. So then I ask, what is a home? To me, ‘home’ represents a place of safety, comfort and love. I haven’t had too many homes in my life but what I’ve found interesting is what the transitions from home to home have been like. Sometimes the anticipation has been gut-wrenching, sometimes anxious and excited and sometimes I don’t notice it at all.  However, there is a large distinction between how I would describe my personal home and the collective Canadian homeland. As I am not an Indigenous person and have no background as such, I can only speculate at this, but I wonder if people who have a more passionate, spiritual connection to the physical land they live on, have a deeper connection with their ‘homeland.’ I’m very proud to be Canadian, but ask me to describe what it means to be Canadian and I would struggle, especially after a few enlightening years of higher education that blew the lid off my, perhaps, sheltered, naïve understanding of Canada’s history. In his book, Chamberlin talks about the differences between belief and truth, or something you imagine and something that is real. For most of my life I believed that Canada was the greatest country in the world. Way better than those crazy Americans, but perhaps slightly less cool and classy than the Brits. I believed that in Canada everything was fair: we have public health care and everyone gets to go to school. Is this a product of the stories I heard as a child and growing up, from my parents or the media? Yes, it very likely is. And for some reason I didn’t get to hear stories that had something different to say. If we return to the idea of settlement and displacement, it must also have been from stories and experience that caused those settlers to create their beliefs. The mistake they made was confusing those manufactured beliefs for reality.

Works Cited

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

“Downton Abbey.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

Ullrich, Julia. Park Bench in Deep Cove, N. Vancouver. Digital image. N.p., 19 May 2016. Web.

“What Does Home Mean to You?” Real Simple. Time Inc. Lifestyle Group, n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

 

1:1 – Hello world!

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‘Hello world’ is right! This is my first experience as a blogger, so I’m interested to see how it goes. Hopefully it doesn’t become a landing strip for my silly stream-of-consciousness. So far, making my own blog as pretty as the template is completely evading me. It’s going to be a technological adventure.

My name is Julia. I’m an actor and singer, but have finally made my way back to the land of scholars to complete my Bachelor of Education (recently ranked No. 9 in the world!) in the coming year. Being that I’m an actor, telling other people’s stories, or being a part of a story is something I’m constantly working at. What I think is interesting is how, no matter what story you’re telling, no matter what it’s about, if you have an open mind and the ability to examine the tale from different angles, you can find something that you connect with and a new perspective to add to discussion. A question that has sparked my interest so far from the 470 course website is, what is meant by ‘stories we tell ourselves’? To me, this implies an untruth or fabrication that we may be adding to our stories. Why are we doing this? What are we trying to change about our perceptions and understandings of Canada through our storytelling?

This blog will be an exploration and conversation about Canadian literature in conjunction with the UBC course ENGL 470A: Canadian Studies. What I hope to gain from this course, other than an increased digital literacy and proficiency, is a better understanding and appreciation for stories that come from Canada and stories about Canada. I am ashamed to say that I was not anxious to take this course, as I often find that Canadian content pales in comparison to anything which comes out of America or Britain, so I hope that, throughout the summer my eyes will be opened. That being said, it was my privilege to participate in the 2013 In Tune Conference here in Vancouver, which is a conference/ festival to celebrate and develop new Canadian musical theatre. I was so pleased and proud to learn about the high quality theatre coming from Canada. In fact, this year’s conference debuted a new adaptation of Pushkin’s Onegin, commissioned by Vancouver’s Arts Club Theatre Company, which was later fully produced to great success and acclaim.

Works Cited

“In Tune 2013.” Touchstone Theatre. Touchstone Theatre. Web. 12 May. 2016

“Onegin.” ArtsClub. Arts Club Theatre Company, 2016. Web. 12 May. 2016.

“QS World University Rankings by Subject – Education.” QS Top Universities. QS    Quacquarelli Symonds Limited, 1994 – 2015. Web. 12 May. 2016

Ullrich, Julia. Entrance to Stanley Park in October. Digital image. N.p., 09 May 2016. Web.