March Madness

Yes, I've been known to be a college hoops fan, but this post is not about basketball. Where do I start? It's been a busy month since I posted anything substantial. Well, school continues to go well. I still have not figured out what some people find to complain about. All I have to do here is think, read, write...what more could a guy ask for? To be fair, I am perhaps what some would call a "mature student." I know what I want for the most part. I want to be here. Right here, right now. I grew tired of my bureaucratic duties. It was sapping my soul. I appreciate the opportunity to spend this time thinking, reflecting, pushing my intellectual limits. At the same time, I can hear the grassroots critique. I'm aware that there is an academic bubble of sorts, and I am aware of the limits. Like I said, I'm right where I want to be.

My wonderful mother was kind enough to book me a flight home to Kitselas/Kitsumkalum (Terrace, BC) over reading break. (My Pops, also was generous in helping out with travel expenses). It was nice to be amongst that side of my family. I was fed like a king (although very aware of it all, I took the time to hit the gym a few times while there, or I would have come back 10 lbs. heavier!) There was a lot of family business we were able to address and I am not at liberty to share here, but needless to say, I am excited, encouraged, slightly afraid, and happy to be apart of something important to my family and our communities.

I believe no matter what we do as so-called indigenous academics, we must remain connected to home. What will it all before if we do not return home or at the least stay strongly connected, intimately involved with our home communities? It's all just theory, and my heart is at home, both Kitselas and Ahousaht. Sometimes, I feel academics can get lost in our readings, and big words (speaking from personal experience only), and not forget, but grow distant from home. It's all about home, about family.

On a lighter note, I have an appointment at Urge Tattoos in Victoria. It seems to take like a month to get in there, but I'm told by my friend 'Cilla, that it is worth the wait. The Gispidwuda on my left arm will have a Ganhada/Ko'ishin (Raven) mate on my right arm. My mother is Gispidwuda which is why I am. My grandfather was Ganhada, and thus my second tat, is meant to honour that side of my mother's family. Many Klecos to my brother Hiish-miik, for the design.

On the literary front, I highly recommend Ella Deloria's (Vine's aunty) Waterlily and the recently departed, James Welch's Fools Crow. The first is about Dakota life around the time of settlement/encroachment of the "west" from the perspective of several Dakota women, namely, Waterlily. It's a beautifully written account of Dakota life, focusing on the fundamental importance of family and kinship. We all understand and have heard of the importance of indigenous families to one degree or another, but Deloria truly paints a poignant, sometimes painful, yet beautiful literary picture for us.

Fools Crow is the second book I recommend to anyone, but especially those who find themselves in a position to be 'warriors' or leaders or both. It was recommended to me by two professors that I respect a great deal. I will need to read it again, to further appreciate the implications of leadership under immensely difficult and unprecedented circumstances. It is also set around the same time as Waterlily,but focuses on the life of Fools Crow, a young Pikuni (Blackfoot) man as he grows from relative obscurity to a warrior, healer and leader of great repute under difficult circumstances. Both books get 5 dubya-stars!

Till next time sports fans...