Dreaming in Indian: contemporary Native American voices

66 Pages·2016·30.45 MB·English

by  Charleyboy, Lisa;Leatherdale, Mary Beth

D r e a m i n g i n I n d i a n
Contemporary Native American Voices
Lisa Charleyboy aEnddi tMeda bryy B eth Leatherdale
annick press
toronto • new york • vancouver
All artists and contributors contained herein retain copyright of their work.
Page 127 constitutes an extension of this copyright page.
Cover collage by Inti Amaterasu with images from Ishmil Waterman, Denise Payette, Kit
Thomas and Chamisa Edd
Interior Design by Inti Amaterasu

Annick Press Ltd.
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We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council,
and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing
activities.

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I. Leatherdale, Mary Beth, editor of compilation II. Charleyboy, Lisa,
editor of compilation
N6549.5.A54D74 2014 j704.03’97 C2014-900856-2
C2014-900857-0
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Foreword by Lee MaracLe ................................................................................................................10 ParT 2: baTTLeS ............................................................................................................................40
weLcoMe .........................................................................................................................................11 GrowInG uP wITh PocahonTaS ..............................................................................................42
Artist Kelli Clifton (Tsimshian), musician Alida Kinnie Starr
ParT 1: rooTS ...............................................................................................................................12
(Mixed Blood Mohawk), and molecular biologist Charlotte
I reMeMber .............................................................................................................................14 “Skaruianewah” Logan (Akwesasne Mohawk) talk about dealing
Award-winning writer Nicola Campbell (Interior Salish of with stereotypes of Native women. Illustrated with Kelli’s painting
Nle7kepmx [Thompson], Nsilx [Okanagan], Métis) shares Indian Doll.
childhood memories in her poems “Lullabies” and “Fried
whaT IS Gender? ....................................................................................................................44
Bologna and Rice.”
Aja Sy (Ojibway, Anishinaabe), an eleven-year-old mixed-race
4 reServaTIon Food GrouPS .................................................................................................16 girl from Lac Seul First Nation, writes about gender as a social
Visual artist Keesic Douglas (Ojibway, Mnjikaning First Nation) construct.
reflects on his father’s childhood on the reservation.
My reaLITy ..............................................................................................................................45
The PLace I caLL hoMe ...........................................................................................................18 L.A.-based activist Karina Rain Dominguez (Hopi, Navajo,
Photographer David Kilabuk (Inuk) shares images of the Mayan) shares a poem about the effects of sexual abuse.
landscape and youth from his home in Pangnirtung, Nunavut.
cuLTure cLaSheS ....................................................................................................................46
hoMe ........................................................................................................................................20 In his graffiti installations, artist Tom Greyeyes (Navajo Nation)
Youth living on reserves/reservations and in cities and suburbs challenges stereotypes of Native peoples.
across North America share photos and poems of what home
The onLy PLace She knowS ...................................................................................................48
means to them.
In her short story, fourteen-year-old Tonya-Leah Watts
To ThoSe who buLLIed Me ......................................................................................................22 (Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve) recounts how a young
Acclaimed Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq Gillis thanks those woman traumatized by residential school ends up working on
who bullied her for teaching her resilience and compassion for the streets.
others and for making her strong.
reaPProPrIaTIon ....................................................................................................................50
ndn Lady .................................................................................................................................24 L.A.-based fashion photographer Anthony “Thosh” Collins
Spoken word artist Martin Sensmeier (Tlingit, Koyukon- (Seneca-Cayuga) and model Ashley Callingbull (Cree)
Athabascan Tribes) on looking for a woman with shared reappropriate Native fashion by showcasing authentic Native
ancestry and outlook. clothing.
LakoTa Thunder .....................................................................................................................26 hey, Mr. GQ! buILdInG My own runway on The reServe .....................................................54
Dana Hillestad (Lakota) pays tribute to the spirit of her great- Fashion journalist Christian Allaire (Ojibway Nipissing First
great-grandmother in this poem. Nation, French-Italian) on what he learned growing up as a
“weird” fashion kid on the reserve.
SILenced no More ..................................................................................................................28
IndIan GIvInG ..........................................................................................................................56
In My Mother’s Teachings, residential school survivor Isabelle
Knockwood (Mi’kmaq) shares lessons from her mother that have Award-winning poet David Groulx (Ojibwe) on Canada’s
sustained her throughout her life. treatment of Aboriginal peoples.
LeavInG hoMe .........................................................................................................................32 ShaPeShIFTer GeTS a Job oFFer ...........................................................................................57
Student Priscella Rose (Attawapiskat First Nation) shares photos In her poem, Courtney Powless (Mohawk) looks at the costs—
and stories she took of her family, friends, and reserve before environmental and personal—of straddling cultures.
leaving home to attend school.
SuPer IndIan ..........................................................................................................................58
IndIanS In The cITy .................................................................................................................34 Graphic artist Arigon Starr (Kickapoo, Muscogee Creek,
Master of English literature student Henry Heavy Shield (Kainai Cherokee, Seneca) talks about the inspiration for her Native
[Blood] First Nation) shares a flash fiction story of an urban American super hero.
Indian.
STand uP and Say SoMeThInG ...............................................................................................60
concreTe IndIanS ..................................................................................................................36 Comedian Ryan McMahon (Anishinaabe) on comedy and life.
Respected photographer Nadya Kwandibens (Anishinaabe,
PoverTy ...................................................................................................................................62
French, Northwest Angle #37 First Nation) explores how living
in urban environments affects the cultural identity of Indigenous Faith Turner (Moose Cree First Nation) writes a poem that looks
people. at growing up poor in possessions and rich in experience.
SheddInG My own SkIn ..........................................................................................................64
Joseph Boyden (Anishinaabe) talks about struggling with the
choices he made during a difficult adolescence.
6 7
ParT 3: MedIcIneS ........................................................................................................................66 ParT 4: dreaMcaTcherS ..............................................................................................................90
waTerSonG .............................................................................................................................68 LIFe LeSSonS ...........................................................................................................................92
Métis visual artist Christi Belcourt talks about the inspiration for Jade Willoughby (Ojibway, Jamaican) shares photos and
her painting Watersong, which hangs in the National Gallery of thoughts on how suffering from a kidney disease as a child and
Canada. the rejection she faced helped her in her modeling career.
why I hunT: hITTInG The reSeT buTTon .................................................................................70 advenTure In arT ...................................................................................................................94
JP Gladu (Ojibwa, Sand Point First Nation) reflects on how Meet the Edd girls (Diné Nation)—four sisters and artists—and
hunting connects him to culture and the land. see how each uses her unique style to make a statement about
Native American culture.
The Power oF The Land .........................................................................................................72
Elder Duke Redbird (Ojibwa, Saugeen First Nation) writes about reunITed .................................................................................................................................96
the power of the land. In her short story, Sharai Mustatia (Métis, Cree, French) tells the
story of a mother who is reunited with the daughter she gave up
MuSIc IS The MedIcIne ...........................................................................................................74 for adoption as a teen.
Singer-songwriter Derek Miller (Mohawk, Six Nations Reserve)
shares insights and lyrics. The road To The red carPeT ...............................................................................................100
Gemini-winning Cree actress Michelle Thrush talks about paying
oPenInG My eyeS…The Sun dance chanGed My LIFe ..........................................................76 her dues and the transformative power of the arts.
Jingle dancer Chayla Delorme Maracle (Cree, Mohawk) shares
her struggles with addictions and how traditional dancing helped TIPS FroM The MuSIcaL TrencheS .......................................................................................101
her become sober. Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk (Métis), a member of the sibling group
the Métis Fiddler Quartet, offers advice to aspiring musicians.
cuLTure MaTTerS ...................................................................................................................78
Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Derek Nepinak IdLe no More ........................................................................................................................102
(Saulteaux) on the importance of programs that help Aboriginal Through photographs, stories, art, and poems, Indigenous youth
youth develop cultural awareness. across North America share what the Idle No More movement
meant to them.
whaT GIveS you STrenGTh? ...................................................................................................80
Youth from the Horse Lake First Nation write about what gives SaLISh Geek ..........................................................................................................................106
them strength. Seattle-based artist Jeffrey Veregge (S’Klallam, Suquamish,
Duwamish) explains how he draws on his Native heritage and
SokoLuM on The SMaLL Screen ............................................................................................82 pop culture influences to create his amazing art.
Déné Sokolum (a.k.a. Heather Hill) on her transition from
government auditor to web-based beauty artist. FIrST naTIon FLavor ............................................................................................................110
Chef Aaron Joseph Bear Robe (Blackfoot) shares his recipe for
arT ouTSIde The box ..............................................................................................................84 success.
Internationally renowned artist and activist Louie Gong
(Nooksack, Squamish, Chinese, French, Scottish) on his unique hooP breakInG .....................................................................................................................112
art objects with a rich message. Dancer James Jones (Tall Cree First Nation) describes how
he went from break dancing to traditional hoop dancing and
The Power oF SPorT ..............................................................................................................86 competing in So You Think You Can Dance Canada.
Waneek Horn-Miller (Mohawk), co-captain of the 2000 Canadian
Olympic Women’s Water Polo team, on the importance of sports Grad: JuST The beGInnInG ...................................................................................................114
in her life. Graduates in photographer Tenille Campbell’s (English River First
Nation, Métis) series share their aspirations and inspirations.
Modern warrIor ...................................................................................................................88
Contemporary artist Bunky Echo-Hawk (Pawnee and Yakama) weavInG dreaMS ..................................................................................................................118
talks about how he uses visual art to express his Native identity. Lakota poet Patricia Stein on dreams for the future.
abouT The conTrIbuTorS .........................................................................................................................................120
abouT The edITorS ....................................................................................................................................................126
credITS and acknowLedGMenTS .............................................................................................................................127
8 9
Foreword
Welcome
“If your imagination isn’t working—and, of course, in oppressed
This book stemmed from a desire to showcase the real life of
people that’s the first thing that goes—you can’t imagine anything
Indigenous people. Not the life portrayed in mainstream media and
better. Once you can imagine something different, something better,
certainly not the life of Native people as it is seen through the lens of
then you’re on your way.”
Hollywood. We wanted to give people a fresh perspective on what it
means to be Native in North America. Both of us personally know how
I said this about Indigenous youth many years ago. At that time, I and
many amazingly talented Native American youth are out there doing
many others were struggling writers looking for “a good book to fall
great work and the ways in which they are often overlooked and their
into.” Sadly, some of those women are gone now, before they had a
voices aren’t heard. We wanted to give them a chance to tell their
chance to create their own good stories. Some of us hung in there,
stories, their way.
becoming teachers, healers, lawyers, and, myself, a writer.
But even we were blown away by the submissions of tremendous
The writers and artists in Dreaming in Indian made it home, to
writing, artwork, and photographs, and by the generosity with which
ourselves, to our medicines, to our beliefs, to our stories, to our art,
people shared their talents. You’re in for an incredible treat and we’re
and to our music, and we did so with extraordinary alacrity, strength,
extremely grateful for each and every act of participation to make this
resilience, and awesome talent. We braided the art of the external to
project happen.
our own. We dug inside the depths of our rage until peace, love, and
struggle were born. We scraped together our music, scrabbled for
As you read through the book you’ll notice that along with
language that would express our deepest sentiments, our strongest
contributors’ names, we’ve asked them to share their nations and
desires, and we expressed them.
home reserves. Contributors decided for themselves how to define
their heritage. That choice to define who you are and what the future
All the works in the following pages are part of that amazing struggle
holds for you is what this book is all about.
to go forward, into modernity, onto the global stage, without leaving
our ancient selves behind.
Lisa and Mary Beth
The pages of this book carry their ancestors with them. They
carry the incredible heroism of the silent years, those years when
Editors
resistance and our beliefs, our stories, were whispered in hushed
tones, in curtained humble homes, in gasps, between the punitive and
prohibitive power of colonialism. They carry extraordinary visuals in
colors as bright as Norval Morrisseau could invent, to illuminate our
very souls. “There is no one Indigenous perspective ...
no one Indigenous story. We are tremendously diverse peoples with
They sing out loud in verses, plain and compelling. They cry freedom tremendously diverse life experiences. We are not frozen in the past,
in words commanding and unapologetic. They do so with tender nor are we automatically just like everybody else. That is why it is
insistence, bravery, and beauty. so important for everyone to share their own story. In revealing their
personal truths, they help us all gain a better appreciation for the
Led by the great wave of writers of the new millennium, with art and
messy, awesome, fun reality of the world we live in.”
music as their devoted companions, the contibutors in Dreaming in
Indian call youth to rise, to return to our fold, and to fall into this “good
Wab Kinew (Anishinaabe)
book.” Imagine a better world. Imagine yourself on the center stage
Journalist, Hip hop artist, Director of Indigenous
of this continent. Let us all go forward into the future, bound to our
Inclusion at the University of Winnipeg
ancient selves and as modern as any other.
Lee Maracle (Salish and Cree Stó:lō Nation)
Poet, Author, Instructor in the Aboriginal Studies Department
at the University of Toronto
10 11
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12
II RREEMMEEMMBBEERR
NNIICCOOLLAA CCAAMMPPBBEELLLL
(Nle7kepmx [Thompson], Nsilx [Okanagan], and Métis)
Artwork by Jessica Harjo (Otoe-Missouria Tribe and Osage/Pawnee/Sac & Fox)
Lullabies Fried Bologna and Rice
So many nights I sat awake At Auntie’s house
and listened. we soak hides in the river,
soften them
Old Mom, you were speaking
in brains until they stink.
Nle7kepmxcin, Nsilxcin
with the many old ones Peee-yew!
who came through our door.
Then string them up,
I sat quietly, sometimes. stretched and tanned
Sometimes, I pestered you in smoke.
with questions.
And fried bologna and rice
Belly warm with toast, is a feast
Red Rose tea, at Auntie’s house.
Pacific cream We three snunkwe schememeyt,
and sugar. we three childhood friends
drink Freshie.
I sat tracing designs
with my fingers on the Freshie, fried bologna,
red and white tablecloth, and rice and Auntie’s fry bread
black and white benches. has two holes in it,
Listening carefully to grandmother one for me,
voices, stories only heard in the quiet hours one for you.
between Elders.
Auntie always wears her hat
“My girl, go to bed!” covered with buttons and pins,
“Baby, you’re asking too many questions!” angels, turtles, and
Nle7kepmxcin, Bingo!
Nsilxcin,
She sits in the corner by her lamp,
English.
with scissors she cuts her hide,
I could never decide when one ended
snip, snip, snnnip!
and the next began,
We three snunkwe schememeyt,
lulled to sleep by an Indian lullaby.
we work hard at Auntie’s house,
Your voice soothing,
making bread,
singing, praying,
making pies,
and gently explaining.
and beading flower necklaces.
“When it is your time, baby girl . . .
you will understand.”
15
Our community was poor at that
time; there was no venison and
there was no fish to supplement
it so we had to eat this canned
meat over and over again. But
I can remember being small,
being around eight or nine years
of age, stamping my feet and
raising my hands up in the air
and making a proclamation that
if I ever have it within my way I’ll
never have anything to do with
this meat ever, ever again.
KEESIC DOUGLAS
(OJIBWAY, MNJIKANING FIRST NATION)
MEMORY FROM HIS FATHER, MARK DOUGLAS,
WHOSE TRADITIONAL NAME IS BIIDAANKWAD
(CLOUD APPROACHING)
17