tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51511654595906037592024-03-12T18:07:01.554-07:00Métis in the CityMacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.comBlogger1422125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-60817171412474190292024-02-28T06:32:00.000-08:002024-02-28T06:32:59.995-08:00Mythodology - Proposing a new vocabulary bowl for the Bear work<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5hi4vp00okofTMWwr6nNJg3zsn5RueezC2iPRt3XUhNJ9ZvMBSKWSwDj39osOzC_1DvJ-8s9Fq04YsIVk7Rny2FL-EI-8tKvIN-bTe8wNDEdPs3v8rfHAVYSiDR24MNB5qj7HOMhwq9dmRJL_ufxHqEXGLafHDVpYk_eHHk5UFmaazLgn6p695rk-2TQ/s2160/Mythodology.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="2160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5hi4vp00okofTMWwr6nNJg3zsn5RueezC2iPRt3XUhNJ9ZvMBSKWSwDj39osOzC_1DvJ-8s9Fq04YsIVk7Rny2FL-EI-8tKvIN-bTe8wNDEdPs3v8rfHAVYSiDR24MNB5qj7HOMhwq9dmRJL_ufxHqEXGLafHDVpYk_eHHk5UFmaazLgn6p695rk-2TQ/s320/Mythodology.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Mythodology by Data Bear Hibernation 2023</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; mso-themecolor: text1;">For my current work we would like to introduce the term “Mythodology” to capture our ways of
working and thinking. Mythodology is place based, rooted in Bear teachings – it
is embodied and lived policy making by Circle Peoples.<a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Intro%20chapter%20draft%201.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="color: black; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: text1;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> We
are learning as we do – but for now, here are <b>some</b> of the elements in the <a href="https://returningtomaskwa.blogspot.com/2024/02/vocabulary-bowls-circle-peoples.html">mythodology bowl</a></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Methodology rooted in stories – real, interpreted and created</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Rooted in respects, relationships, reciprocity – explicitly inclusionary</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Draws from and is actively engaged with Indigenous and Decolonizing methodologies</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Embedded in the communities, lands, Ancestors and Knowledge Holders that we learn with</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Collaborative, creative, constructive – we hold knowledges and build them to pass on to those to come (<a href="https://returningtomaskwa.blogspot.com/2024/02/a-daring-to-meet-bear-knowledge-bundle.html">The Bear Bundle</a>)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Encourages a rooted, practical and experimental journey. It is knowing through multiple senses and means of knowing.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Since the learning and understanding is in the journey exploration, trying things and wandering are encouraged.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Share what you are learning and pass it on to others. We hold the stories and answers inside of us.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Through using the voice of Data Bear we will try to articulate and reclaim parts of the historical Indigenous economic and policy stories. This approach has a number of build in key elements of Indigenous and Decolonizing methodologies.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Based in stories told in our ways. Oral transmission of stories was our way. This included a rich ecosystem of symbolism related to all our relations.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Decouple us from western/linear ideas of time. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Engages thoughtfully with the knowledges of the Ancestors, Grandparents, Elders and our other teachers.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> Embeds the economic story in place – the historic now</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Turns the Indigenous gaze on colonial institutions to reclaim our economic and policy narrative (<a href="On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods">Latour – Truthiness</a>)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Embeds to story in the people – especially where those stories might be “missing” or overlooked. (<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=swain+metis+thesis+brady&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&ghc=1&lq=0&pq=swain+metis+thesis+brady&sc=6-24&sk=&cvid=68F5152534F54CE08901BCCCA4B093B6&ghsh=0&ghacc=0&ghpl=">Link to Swain Thesis</a>)</span></li></ul><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
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<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Intro%20chapter%20draft%201.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> ”<o:p></o:p><a href="https://returningtomaskwa.blogspot.com/2024/02/vocabulary-bowls-circle-peoples.html">Returning to Maskwa (Bear): Vocabulary bowls - Circle peoples</a></p></div></div></div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-16563119628719582812024-02-23T07:28:00.000-08:002024-02-23T07:28:49.946-08:00Grandfather Bear<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Indelicate fractures<br />Becoming is uuuuuggggllllly <br />Shattering solemnity <br />Awaiting <br />Telegraph <br /><br />-DEATH-STOP-COME-STOP-DON’T-STOP <br /><br />You said lyrics <br />I heard <br />While riding caribous. <br />Seems <br />Echoes hold hands <br />across generations. <br /><br />I rode<br />The rattlesnake<br />Nights<br />Under stars<br />Dry grass music<br />Rustles<br />Soil smells perfume<br />Mouth open<br />Taste world.<br />Sandy brambles<br />Mètis in space(s)<br />Soul home<br />On other people’s places. <br /><br />Got strategy ancestors<br />“Environmental scanning”<br />Foresight teachings<br />From a Pro-fessor<br />Fancy u-ni-ver-sity<br />down <br /><br />south <br /><br />But don't know nothing<br />wind didn’t tell<br />grass didn’t gift<br />waters didn’t share. <br /><br />Carrying messages<br />Tongues can’t yet speak.<br />Finally enough dimensions!<br /><br />Akihcikewin Maskwa (Data Bear) Hibernating 2023</span>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-73725549844329994462024-02-12T08:56:00.000-08:002024-02-12T08:56:52.413-08:00Following the Caribou<div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU4q2QI7eZm0c5jA7r8l0SJd-tdHPXG6cxtZ1ehHinDssZU07ooJJCsSoOwd-n95PM2wrYRhLJQqCFSxWm7Y_L_DZD96a7EYYzP3G_zMM4vzwPLhXAfwyuNnk7PnLCF1xDB9xqpK318-pIeouxZRDh8enYGRSEe0HXe4wN7OKhEzmO7Ygau7kTawef0Sqw/s1968/Caibou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1968" data-original-width="1968" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU4q2QI7eZm0c5jA7r8l0SJd-tdHPXG6cxtZ1ehHinDssZU07ooJJCsSoOwd-n95PM2wrYRhLJQqCFSxWm7Y_L_DZD96a7EYYzP3G_zMM4vzwPLhXAfwyuNnk7PnLCF1xDB9xqpK318-pIeouxZRDh8enYGRSEe0HXe4wN7OKhEzmO7Ygau7kTawef0Sqw/s320/Caibou.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Working with the Caribou I felt like I needed my own horns</span>.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Slide skin<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">over fur<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">once enrobing<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Goes Far<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Goes Fast.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Caribou<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">hairs<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">burn with sage<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Shed me<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">copper horns<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">teach<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">café crowds<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">too close!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Imbedded</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">in my head</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">turned</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">snowy crowned.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">They eat</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">only green</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">yet feed</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">strong</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Bear</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Wolf.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So, </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">they insist,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">to face the wind head on!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Makes em "hard to herd."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial;">Akihcikewin Maskwa (Data Bear) Hibernating 2023</span></div><p><br /></p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-12621982131068269092024-02-12T07:33:00.000-08:002024-02-12T07:33:32.895-08:00 Bear learns some new things and gets a name - Decolonization story for Chapter 1<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <b>Bear learns some new things and gets a name</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Welcome round the fire. We have some new stories to tell.
Maybe you find something there – maybe not. That’s ok. There will be balance
overall – in the unfolding of time. This is one is a <u>new</u> story. So maybe
you gonna see where things been joined together. That’s ok. We can make it
better together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So it must have been some time back as Bear was smaller and
it was afore questions even had answers. Same as everyday Bear went out
walking. The same path can brings new adventures if you find the right companion.
Well it was a very fine day of the kind that needed a fine companion. We was
bored and wanted new friends to taste and juggle questions with. We had played
with the winged ones but they got bored when we could not join their flying
games. We often frolicked with the four footed but we were too similar and the
games were getting boring. We looked to the ground, perhaps a small one? They
could see what we could not. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could
go where we could not.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But how to attract the company of such a relative? Our sizes
could make it difficult. Maybe we were too scary? Maybe they would not speak
Bear? Maybe they did not even like questions. As we sat to think we remembered
the teachings of the Grandmothers – we were all equal when we meet in respect. Luckily
we was prepared. Like Grandmas always said. Still sticky from an earlier
adventure we rescued honey stuck to the side of our nose and set it a little
away on a nice bit of soil – a respectful distance - to wait to see if our gift
would be accepted.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">At first, we could not find the </span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">Manicôs</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Bear%20Learns%20some%20new%20things.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></sup></b><!--[endif]--></span></span></sup></a><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;"> (</span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">little insect) their body well camouflaged to the soil.
We heard the voice – as smooth as the honey gifted. We told them about our
people and lands in the good way. Honey still on their tongue we started to
play and </span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">Manicôs knew so many ways to play with questions. We stayed so late we
heard </span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">Nôsemaskwa<a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Bear%20Learns%20some%20new%20things.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a> come
to gather us home. “</span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">Manicôs – you can meet our Kin” but when we turned our little friend
was gone but stomach hungry we hurried towards </span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">Nôsemaskwa.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">The next day we hurried, with extra honey to the same spot hoping to
meet this knower of unknown delights. Again we spent the day playing new games with
these old questions. Manicôs was very wise and ever so clever. But they were
also very shy and did not want to share about their kin. When we asked Manicôs
why, they responded in their honied voice, “This story is much too scary for a
young Bear. No no no. But… maybe if <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had some of the courage of a strong young Bear…”</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">Well of course! Bears always like to help and share. So each sun we
helped Manicôs by moving a little closer. Manicôs said that was helping – That we
were helping and each day they told us how clever and brave we were. So we
wanted to be seen to be seen as even more clever and brave so we asked Manicôs
what we could do next. Manicôs looked sad and was quiet for a long time “you
could….nevermind…” We leaned closer “We are brave enough – we can do whatever
you need.” So Manicôs told me that we could more easily share our bravery with
them if we were much much closer. “If you look me eyeballs to eyeballs you could
share lots of courage with me and I can tell how I learned all those question
games you love.”</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">We thought about the Grandmother teachings before we replied, but what
Manicôs proposed made sense and they were very small while Bear was big so we
did not think they could hurt us even if they tried. That settled we brought
our face close, even with my bear nose to the ground, but Manicôs was still
far. “Close your eyes Bear and I will come the rest of the way to you.” We
closed our eyes and heard some rustling. When we opened them again it was dark
and our fur felt wet. “Manicôs – Mother will be angry that it is dark and we
are not home. We need to go.” But there was no reply from our friend and when we
tried to get up and leave we could not. “Manicôs, friend Manicôs” but there was
no answer and we worried for the little friend lost in the dark.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">Then we got scared and
cried out </span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">but there were no answers only silence. We tried to
find a way out of this WHEREVER. But all we could feel were rocks in shapes we
never felt before. Between tears, and finding some bonus ear honey, we figured
out that by stacking up these rocks we could make steps to escape the wet and dark.
Step after step we stacked those rocks until we could see light in the
distance. “We will put together enough of these rocks to escape and find the
light.”</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 4.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 2.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">9€₃₭₊₇₲₲₢ᾳ2ꓶ√ ₮⑦₾∏⑩ὂΣ Ɐ </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">9ȇ⑱ꓞ∞2ꓶ√ ₮⑦₾∏⑩ὂΣ Ɐ</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">9ȇ⑱ꓞ∞2ꓶ√ ₮⑦₾∏⑩ὂΣ Ɐ</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">9ȇ⑱ꓞ∞2ꓶ√ ₮⑦₾∏⑩ὂΣ Ɐ</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Last step in place, we exited into the light and took a
few disorientated steps. We turned around not to see a cavern or spring had
captured us, but that the rock stairs exited </span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">through the mouth of Misi-kinêpik</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Bear%20Learns%20some%20new%20things.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="color: black; font-weight: normal;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (enormous
snake</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Bear%20Learns%20some%20new%20things.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="color: black; font-weight: normal;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">). We fell back in fear and
cried out for Nôsemaskwa. She guided us home and </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">brought</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> us before the old ones
who exclaimed with concerns as we were marked from those strange magic rocks. No
amount of medicinces or baths could remove these marks. So we were given a new
name “Maskwa Akihcikewin” (Data Bear) and it was only much later that we started
to understand the symbols was left upon our fur, what changes Misi-kinêpik left
on our insides or what they took from us. Ho<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
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<h1 style="background: #FFFDEB; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Bear%20Learns%20some%20new%20things.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;"> Cree - </span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">Manicôs</span><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="color: #2f5597; font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.creedictionary.com/search/index.php?q=manic%C3%B4s&scope=1&cwr=26475"><span style="color: #2f5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2F5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">little worm;
crawling insect, bug</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #FFFDEB; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Bear%20Learns%20some%20new%20things.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;">a female bear, a mother bear </span><span style="color: black;">ᓅᓭᒪᐢᑲᐧ</span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://www.creedictionary.com/search/index.php?q=n%C3%B4semaskwa&scope=1&cwr=45199"><span style="color: #2f5597; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2F5597; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="color: windowtext;">nôsemaskwa</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></a></span><b><span style="color: #6d553e;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #FFFDEB; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 1;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Bear%20Learns%20some%20new%20things.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"> </span><b><span style="color: #6d553e;">large
snake, serpent </span></b><b><span style="color: #6d553e;">ᒥᓯ</span></b><b><span style="color: #6d553e;"> </span></b><b><span style="color: #6d553e;">ᑭᓀᐱᐠ</span></b><span style="color: #6d553e;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://www.creedictionary.com/search/index.php?q=misi-kin%C3%AApik&scope=1&cwr=27653"><b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">misi-kinêpik</span></b><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></a></span><span style="color: #50941f;">[NA]</span><b><span style="color: #6d553e;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Bear%20Learns%20some%20new%20things.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="line-height: 107%;"> “The
snake cannot be captured, it cannot be tied, it cannot be tortutred or hung or
crucified” – Shane McGowen<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-64499965265372344902024-02-12T06:32:00.000-08:002024-02-12T06:32:07.052-08:00Worms and Supernumeraries<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpa3VZgblkIYnaMWJQDFhE9HSokWqkUcHDVIunrR3FfGPZLrQZKJy9EA3XJI9ZwgACIJUuBr3oQLCjlhBBkIOnSvOwa1QERyzFjHwJyQweeYjing307lGWjzURQQ7D4zmkXqCnFKFCT47IF1tELD3Xsy32B8UD0LEIGRVRjZc14BB0WSa-T1LXN9zA4CwQ" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="2160" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpa3VZgblkIYnaMWJQDFhE9HSokWqkUcHDVIunrR3FfGPZLrQZKJy9EA3XJI9ZwgACIJUuBr3oQLCjlhBBkIOnSvOwa1QERyzFjHwJyQweeYjing307lGWjzURQQ7D4zmkXqCnFKFCT47IF1tELD3Xsy32B8UD0LEIGRVRjZc14BB0WSa-T1LXN9zA4CwQ" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First Bear Pin</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Tansi, I am writing a lot for the next phase of Bear work and not all of it is for the paper but I don't want it to get lost either so I will post these here as I am working through my files. This is the first thing I wrote after the Grandmothers Dream. This is my conversation with Medicine Bear.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">***********</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I have to tell all the stories. We is too full. Been too
much since time began. In math language ∞ is everything. But that’s us <b>Bear</b>.
The people of ∞. We was “half Indian, half white, half devil.” We even got a
family curse – perfect memory. But lately, a cousin came to town and they
remember – you know all the way to the gristle and bones. And then they joined
to Grandmothers<a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Worms%20and%20Supernumeraries.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span></span></a>
whispers in the<a href="https://metisinthecity.blogspot.com/2023/11/dream-of-grandmothers.html"> dream time </a>“What if…” And They gifted us knowledge of how we
could remember more than perfect. Ninanaskomowin Cuz.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So now I see the patterns in the stories. We see how to reclaim
our stories.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But <b>Bear</b> we’re not like you – Medicine Bundle Holder,
Holder of Big Names, Carrier of old stories. We’re Data Bear. We like to play
with numbers. We have a superhero cape and math world tattoos. Parts of our
head don’t work right. I can’t even right their words write. Remember
Kindergarten when they told us we was STOOPID! Remember grad school? The
Meathead/Method moment? And we came pretty fare given all that before stuff,
but let me tumble in the number meadows. This bear is tired. Find a better,
younger, smarter bear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pause as <b>Medicine Bear</b> breathes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We wait for his response and it must have been a looooong time
because I got bored. I went eye-ball juggling with Nanabush, got into trouble
with Wiitigo, stacked letters high into some of them stone circles. I got so
bored of all that fun so I came back to watch <b>Bear</b> breathe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Drum beat…∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Went to hibernate and give the mountains time to grow up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So here we are now. In a time where we can speak. We are Data Bear
who holds many stories, because sometimes we listened, we watched, we read, we
saw patterns, we found cousins and we REMEMBER it all.</span></span></p><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Worms%20and%20Supernumeraries.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> An
extra, in excess.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/MacDonaldEl/Desktop/Worms%20and%20Supernumeraries.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> This
<a href="https://metisinthecity.blogspot.com/2023/11/dream-of-grandmothers.html">Grandmother
dream</a> was written out and is shared under the direction of Elder Barb Brant
(Mohawk, Turtle Clan)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-5237646636506625472024-01-22T08:22:00.000-08:002024-01-22T08:22:36.783-08:00Civil servant stories<p> </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Florence Nightingale (English), nurse and inventor of the pie chart <a href="https://activehistory.ca/2020/02/if-only-we-had-only-known-whistle-blowers-florence-nightingale-and-residential-schools/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">produced an analysis of the death rates of children in government run schools</span></a> across the British Empire. This report was published in 1863 and reported a mortality rate for Indigenous children that was twice that of English children of the same age.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eastman" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Charles Alexander Eastman (Dakota)</span></a> </strong>was the first Indigenous person to become a Dr in the US and he was later a writer and reformer. He was a Dr for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and cared for the Indigenous peoples there after the Wounded Knee Massacre. From the paper I read about him, these deaths deeply impacted him and his subsequent reform work.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Cornelius_Kellogg" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Laura Cornelius Kellogg</span></a> (Oneida) pursued land claims and developed the “Lolomi Plan” an alternative to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This plans focused on building self-sufficiency for Indigenous people based on cooperative labour, connection to indigeneity and traditional knowledge. Her vision was one of successful economies for Indigenous peoples that drew on the strengths of the communities and traditions. She was a longtime advocate for her peoples.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jean-cuthand-goodwill" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jean Cuthand Goodwill</span></a> (Cree) was one of the first Indigenous registered nurses in Canada who later became a public servant. She was active at the same time as my great uncle <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jim-brady" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jim Brady</span></a> (Métis) who worked to support Métis and Indigenous peoples. He also held a number of positions for the government. His mother, my great grandmother, Philomena Archange Garneau, was Alberta’s first Métis registered nurse.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Do you have any civil service ancestors? Share in the comments.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> I did not know that responsibility for Indigenous peoples was under Mining at one point.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Blair" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Blair" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Blair</a></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_of_Canada" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">wiki page </a>about the Canadian Civil service history where I learnt that they formally restricted the employment of married women and fired married women who were already working for the government. This rule was in place until 1955.</p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-32453121954196868292024-01-19T07:10:00.000-08:002024-01-19T07:10:24.203-08:00Don't know about war<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Don’t know about war <br />Till you ending one*<br />Couldn’t even see<br />Till hope<br />Travelled a bridge<br />Not made true.<br />“So we knee deep in the BIG MUDDY<br />And the Captain said to push on!” <br /><br />You said<br />“Don’t look back”<br />But can’t go forward<br />Till truth<br />Lands like comet<br />Rare<br />Precious copper<br />Offerings<br />Too OLD ONES<br />From afore<br />We knew not land<br />Only waters! <br /><br />They stole your treasures<br />Forgot your names<br />Teachings from dark places.<br /><br />Let each first<br />Be your feast<br />Two Spirits<br />Be yOuR textures<br />To burnt velvet<br />It all matters!<br />All of it!<br />Blood memory</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Let Auntie winds<br />Unlock<br />The mysteries if you <br /><br />Like Geese<br />Let Warrior<br />Worrier<br />War goer<br />Wonderer<br />Each turn take<br />Polishes copper armor <br /><br />Come Home!<br />Âsokanihkêw!***<br />Careful<br />Only right there<br />Where the Grandmothers tell of safety<br />We will tend each ember. <br /><br />Data Bear Hibernation 2023<br />*Lyric from Clash and Stormzy<br />To Alice Caldwell Kelly who is Queen of things that fall down and Woody Guthrie** <br />*** Cree - <a href="https://www.creedictionary.com/search/index.php?q=%C3%A2sokanihk%C3%AAw&scope=1&cwr=22589">s/he build bridges</a>, s/he makes a ford <br /><br />
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 119.7pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p></div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-63313216955544017212024-01-19T07:07:00.000-08:002024-01-19T07:07:02.818-08:00Eagles Tell Us<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Eagles told us<br />“Find a place to make your stand”</span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Take it easy”<br />True on scratched vinyl<br />True on Spotify<br />True sketched in stone <br /><br />Each steel guitar<br />Vibration<br />Sublime tortures <br /><br />Warrior old eyes<br />Beyond here and now <br /><br />Gender pine needle<br />Two are one<br />One as two<br />Woven in multitudes<br />cOiLs<br />Stitched together<br />Shape sides<br />Ceremony READY <br /><br />IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII <br /><br />TAPWE<br />“Don’t let the sounds of your own wheels drive you crazy” <br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666;">Akihcikewin Maskwa (Data Bear)</span> Hibernation 2023<br />*From the Eagles song “Take it Easy”</span>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-86854601186114961522024-01-19T06:53:00.000-08:002024-01-19T07:01:16.880-08:00Ministry of…Changes it’s name!<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Circle tongues<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Fill face different<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Operating manuel?</span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Grandparents teachings!<br />Apprenticeships?<br />Soil!<br />Who?<br />You<br />Me<br />Bigs<br />Littles<br />Numbers<br />Words<br />Fasts<br />Slows.<br />All.<br />Bear Sky maps<br />Each new light<br />Clarifies patterns<br />Connections<br />Truths.<br /><br />We women<br />Caucaused<br />Corner tower<br />Power street<br />Ministry<br />Of<br />C-I-T-I-Z-E-N-S-H-I-P<br />And<br />I-M-M-G-R-A-T-I-O-N<br />Under posters<br />Exhorting<br />Possibilities<br />On First Peoples’ Land.<br />I call you sisters.<br />We understand heart languages.<br />You help me see.<br />You show me<br />Precious moments<br />From your eyes.<br />Still three<br />I foresee<br />Another will join<br />To hold each direction<br />To speak such truths<br />Their beauty makes us gasp<br />Such griefs<br />We each transform<br />Rainbow dances as I write<br />Remember<br />Breathe<br /><br />Ministry of…Changes it’s name!<br />Mines<br />Rock people<br />Healths<br />Sick people<br />Security<br />Risk people<br />Economy<br />Backward people.<br />Too much!<br />Too little!<br />Too many darks!<br />Too many lights!<br /><br />ENOUGH!</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Owl<br />Looks back<br />To keep watch<br /><br />Owl<br />Knows<br />Keen eyes<br />Are needed.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Owl<br />Questions<br />Communicates with others<br />In songs made of night.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Who?<br />The geometric<br />Diamond strong<br />Lights<br />That are we.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-size: medium;">Akihcikewin Maskwa (Data Bear)</span> Hibernation 20203<br />This is for my circle peoples especially AK and IK. As I was writing this poem three birds joined me. Ninanaskomowin to the Feather relations.</span></div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-62797490567511184422023-12-22T06:08:00.000-08:002023-12-22T06:18:32.981-08:00How many pens?<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">How many pens<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Sacrificed to your sublime wonder?<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Can’t remember the name<br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">But I next song it<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Until I hear<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">My Maori cousin</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">That night<br />You, me, the Mohawk<br />SACRED. <br /><br />Forehead<br />To forehead<br />You loved so hard<br />I felt it<br />Tree high observer <br /><br />Our loss<br />Our lies<br />Our shovels <br /><br />Terse truth<br />Cold logic<br />Each word medicine<br />Each dance community <br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666;">Akihcikewin Maskwa (Data Bear) Hibernating 2023</span></span>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-47427496283080696232023-12-20T06:39:00.000-08:002024-02-12T06:43:25.656-08:00“Who am I?”<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Who am I?”<br />“Who am I?” <br />Echoes <br />Off cave walls <br />Now described by scientists<br />“Who am I?”<br />Echoes<br />Of drum beats<br />Of heart beats<br />Of old songs<br />“Who am I?”<br />Plates<br />Filled in memory<br />Ceremonies in continuity<br />Medicines lit in community.<br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Who am I?”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Can’t remember<br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Name of favorite song</span></i><i><br /></i><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Started a new poem</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In the middle of another</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This one</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tender</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That <u>on pause</u></span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sweat lodge</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Oooooold</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Text Elder</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Fuuuuture</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Rainfall</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Preparing</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Strategizing</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Let’s have a smoke”</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Hazy room of <b>to becomes</b></span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Pride against Prejudice</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Fine teacup fragility</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Binary technicians</span></i></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />“Who am I?”<br />Looking for you between the moments<br />Looking for warmth between sheets<br />Books or beds<br />Either will do.<br />“Who am I?”<br />Ceremony each street<br />Retell the stories<br />Here we saw fox<br />Bear at the Boulangerie<br />We wrote and unwrite<br />Calculated deaths<br />“Who am I?”<br />Memory of circles. <br /><br />Akihcikewin Maskwa (Data Bear) Hibernating 2023 - as part of the Bear work</span></div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-91258833340195030302023-11-30T17:30:00.000-08:002023-11-30T17:30:00.138-08:00Teachings from a Branch<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Last year, in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f497d; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">the awakening time of Maskwa (Bear 2022) I picked up a stick because it made me it think it had something it wanted to teach me.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f497d; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This stick has fallen from the tree - probably not where it wanted to be. It's got skin peeling off and I could see the tender insides - some of them dried out already from the sun and the wind. Some of them are still wet and raw. As I think about this stick - maybe I'm like that stick. Maybe I wanted to be up on the tree this year. I wanted to have branches and leaves and become part of foundation of that tree. I wanted to have the birds to come sit and the squirrels - but that wasn't for me and that wasn't my path.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f497d; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f497d; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The stick is on the ground and it's waiting. Maybe it's worrying – maybe its mother tree is welcoming it back, but it's hard and it's gonna take a long time for the Earth to bring that stick home again and to be with the rest of his relatives. But maybe that tree didn't know and now it's in my hand. Maybe that branch has a whole different path - a path that it couldn't have imagined while it was on the tree. A path to become a part of something beautiful – a toy or an art price or even just a stick for one of our canine brothers. Maybe this stick didn't know how much of a lesson it had to share with us. Ho.</span></span></p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-40027363177590454292023-11-30T15:00:00.000-08:002023-11-30T15:00:00.130-08:00Dream of the Grandmothers<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Some nights past, after spending time with Cheryl (Maskwa Kôhkomwiy
/ Bear’s Grandmother) talking about economic reconciliation, I heard the Kôhkomwata/Grandmothers
in the dream spaces. They spoke in one voice and echoed the answers given to us
by Elder Barb almost five years ago when we spoke about the practicalities of
writing the “Daring to Meet the Bear” paper. I had asked for her guidance on
the time period and scope of the policy paper. Her response was simple.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Listen to what
the people have already told you.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Go back to the beginning.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I also felt the Kôhkomach/Grandmothers remind us to <b>find
answers in the practical</b>, a teaching first gifted to Maskwa (Bear) by Elder
Solomon in our third year. I understood how these answers continue to hold the same
truth as when they were first spoken. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I woke to a small sliver of Grandmother Moon illuminating my
sleeping space. I thought about how using a principals/risk based approach to
meet the policy challenges of the pandemic had allowed our programs to be
nimble, to respond to changing situations and unique regional needs. I thought
of how, since the authorities we received were “to fill gaps” in mainstream
programming, that allowed us to think about our programs in new ways and to
address outstanding GBA+ concerns with our funding. I thought about what we
know about our current programs and related challenges. I thought about how
most of our resources go directly to communities already and I thought about
what we could do if we could focus on building a bridge of economic healing, reconciliation
rooted in a truth telling about Indigenous economies. Could that allow us to bypass
the many binaries we face in the current framing of Indigenous economic
development? (Such as high/low capacity, western ideas about time, risk
tolerance) I wondered if the recommendations of the Bear Paper might have some
other ideas on how to build the infrastructures we need to support ISC to meet
it’s goals of service transfer and implement economic reconciliation. I thought
about the abundance of tools in the innovation world and the opportunities they
might provide to try new things and work differently with Indigenous partners
to build sustainable and mutual capacity. I thought of wisdom and knowledges of
the Ancestors that we have forgotten or put aside – the richness of thinking on
these issues we are gifted if we take time to learn.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Most of all I thought of the people (oysin kitayame/ All my
relations). Those we work for and with. Of those who were and will be. The
people who hold the wisdom of their Grandparents. I share these words for the
Bear Bundle and those who are and will join into the Bear Circle. Ho Pehiw/ Nipon
Kona</span><o:p></o:p></p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-42168027798705205882023-11-30T06:05:00.000-08:002023-11-30T06:05:11.646-08:00“Who am I too question?”<div style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-image: initial; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; margin-left: 2.4pt; margin-right: 0in; padding: 0in 0in 1pt; text-align: left;"><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“Who am I too question?”<br /></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I am the DNA of resistance</span></span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Irish radicals</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wanting change</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">War women</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Wanting peace</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Learners</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Seeking new stories</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Prisoner women</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Pushed to knowledges</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Prisoned letter men</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Who did not break</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Free folk</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Who did not forget</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Proud women</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Unafraid of firsts</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Men of machines</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Women of quilt memory</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I am adaptation</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I am logic and needle</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I am born to questions</span></div><div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I am Metis.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">NanaBjörn Preparing 23</span></span></p>
</div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-15329526630117167952023-11-28T07:08:00.000-08:002023-12-07T10:51:16.624-08:00Breaking da news<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">They knows the news<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Afore it happens</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Gonna</span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Re-vo-lu-tionize<br />De government. <br /><br />Follow the leader<br />Pied Piper<br />Lures<br />Vermin<br />En<br />Children<br /><b>Which</b><br />Got you<br />In a lather?<br /><br />Pay your 30 silver<br />Join ma tour<br />Dem dirty<br />Ottawa streets<br />Shure<br />Hide<br />Sum secrets<br />Cause dirt…<br />She’s got a long memory.<br />Old as stories<br />Each note<br />Medicated <br /><br />Thought Sesame Street<br />Was documentary<br />“Wanna buy a letter?”<br />Still think of Vanna,<br />To try to remember<br />Vowel<br />Or<br />CONSANANT?<br /><br />A-E-I-O-U words<br />But the kids got wise<br />Details don’t matter<br />When fire is at the door<br />Who’s got time to spin the wheel?<br /><br />Gotta reclaim<br />Our places<br />Our people<br />Our monsters<br />Our songs. <br /><br />I seed the future<br />Flute<br />Turns fife*<br />Gather peoples<br />To make news<br />They can’t imagine yet.</span>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 2.4pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 2.4pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">NanaBjörn Preparing 23</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 2.4pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 2.4pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">* <a href="http://www.flutehistory.com/Instrument/Military.php3">History of flute/fife</a></span></span></p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-90395676761886872082023-11-28T06:32:00.000-08:002023-11-28T06:32:17.365-08:00ᓭᐁᐧᐱᒋᑲᐣ Sewepicikan (Telephone in Cree)<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I love that phone<br />modernity embodied<br />western time<br />capitalist capture<br />has learned<br />"Ninanaskomowin"<br />and<br />corrects my spelling.</span></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial;">NanaBjörn Preparing 23</span></p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-55547351645605582862023-11-28T06:27:00.000-08:002023-11-29T06:42:26.802-08:00Voted most likely to wear a lime green hat<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sometimes<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I wear black</span><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I know Grandmas</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You taught me different</span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But<br />Black is power<br />Black is armor<br />Black is invisible<br />You know it!<br /><br />Bought<br />Black<br />Suit<br />To become.<br /><br />The took it off. <br /><br />Weren’t married white either<br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 2.4pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 2.4pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red; line-height: 107%;">RE</span><span style="color: #f7caac; line-height: 107%;">A</span></span><span style="color: red; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">D</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Like Nana <br /><br />Black to playgrounds<br />Black to world shut downs<br />“What are you gonna do meetings?”<br />Yoga pants and t-shirt realness<br /><br />Sometimes<br />I wear black<br />But<br />Not<br />Without<br />Conversations<br />With Nanas’<br />And Kookums.<br /><br />Pehiw Prepaing 23</span>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-49990196565899020312023-11-27T05:32:00.000-08:002023-11-27T05:32:55.520-08:00A Grandma’s abundance.<p style="text-align: left;"></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Bear’s Grandmother<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Steel cabinet<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Silk scarf<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Showing up<br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Listening </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Asking</span></p><p></p><p></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Straw hat<br />Pow—wow realness<br />Strawberry drink<br />Grass policy retreat <br /><br />First ever Day of Truth and Reconciliation<br />We witnessed<br />Mohawk<br />Bear Clan Grandmother Prophesy<br />Generations of work<br />Star time only <br /><br />Bear’s Grandmother<br />Do you dance in all 11 dimensions?<br />Gladiola<br />Machinery of government<br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Nurture<br />Tomato<br />Budget sub-missions<br />Cedar sore throat<br />Truth<br />To power<br />And all that.<br /><br />Apple butter<br />Big spoon<br />Bear likes cinnamon too!<br />Knows your love.<br />A Grandma’s abundance. <br /><br />Pehiw – Preparing 2023</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">For CS</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> (Maskwa Kôhkomwiy / Bear’s Grandmother)</span></div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-54167930420138656582023-11-16T06:58:00.000-08:002023-11-16T06:58:00.142-08:00Introduction to “Models of Indigenous Development” Edited by Ian Skelton and Octavio Ixtacuy Lopez<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“</span><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Models-Indigenous-Development-Ian-Skelton-ebook/dp/B00ING63LS/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Models+of+Indigenous+Development&qid=1568817542&s=gateway&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0278a4; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Models of Indigenous Development</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">” considers different models of indigenous development and provides examples of development as a means of resistance. Of particular interest for me was the discussion on the need to decolonize planning. Various essays in this volume ask us to consider if using Western ideas of planning can lead to anything but a replication of Western ideas of economic success.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Similar to the critiques around the role of accounting in reproducing certain economic norms, this volume argues that there is a need to decolonize the tool of planning as part of positioning it within Indigenous methodologies. This analysis also makes me think about the need for a further analysis of the tools used in economic development to determine where these tools need to be reconsidered for their neutrality and/or the need to rethink how to indigenize some of these tools.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What other analysis tools do we need to reconsider with the indigenous lens? </p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-78722207506148517812023-11-15T06:56:00.000-08:002023-11-15T06:56:45.583-08:00Teachings from Sister Duck<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">One day I sat down on the sand near the river. While I sat I was visited by a duck sister (ᓰᓰᑊ sîsîp - Cree). She came boldly to me. She knows that the two legged ones bring food. She came close and when I did not give her food she nipped at my toes pausing in between pecks to meet my gaze and remind me of my duty. I looked deep into her in her eyes and after some time we came to an understanding. She stopped nipping and sat down to guard me from any other feathered visitors.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We sat together as family. Arms and legs pulled in, ears alert to the environment but at ease. Briefly she wandered off to play a goose game but shook that off. She knows what she is. She knows that Geese games are not the ones for her today. She reminded me of the lessons of currents and winds in our lives. She reminded me of the duck’s ability to adjust themselves and slough off the water from their feathers. She reminded me of living as a creature on land and water and sky. She reminded me to share my gifts and inhabit my natural spaces. In her tellings she returned me to the lessons of taking time to sit down and listen. I thank her for the visit. </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What lessons have the crawling, flying and swimming relations brought you?</p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-59707987605628225872023-11-09T08:39:00.005-08:002023-11-09T08:39:40.867-08:00To new callouses<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It is hard to weave<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Silent shuttle</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Dusty frame </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">No source of fiber</span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">No one<br />Got the know how!<br /><br />Dry your tears<br />Those Grandmas still speak</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Find the first ones<br />Learn their lessons</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Find those who made it better<br />Those that know<br />All the things<br />To watch<br />To correct <br /><br />First go<br />It’s awkward<br />Hands clumsy<br />Light the medicines<br />Connect to all those layers <br /><br />Calloused thumbs<br />Scarred fingers<br />You are them <br /><br />A fiber</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Weak alone<br />Together<br />Entwined<br />Fit to robe our smallest <br /><br />A story in every crossing <br /><br />Each<br />Warp <br /><br />Each </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Weft <br /><br />We need each remembered<br />Each trier<br />Each hoper<br /><br />Even though this really sucks right now<br />Our story is you.<br /><br />Pehiw 2022</span></div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-46458923088681112702023-11-09T08:32:00.001-08:002023-11-09T08:32:17.678-08:00Cold spots<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Those “cold” spots<br />White hot hate<br />Cause I don’t remember <br /><br />But I know <br /><br />For everything<br />All the memories<br />Draped in textures/taste/sense <br /><br />There I have none <br /><br />Senseless<br />Scarred tissue<br />Mind protects.</span>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 2.4pt; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Pehiw Wandering 2022</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-33465003957046078632023-11-07T07:46:00.005-08:002023-11-07T07:46:56.593-08:00This is an ugly poem: Grizzly math<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It is a grizzly math<br />which notation?<br />what risk margins deemed acceptable?<br />standardize my assumptions<br />-reported annual deaths -<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">4%*</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Too many<br />no matter the calculation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Did you draft letters?<br />Or not even care?<br />form letter?<br />postcard?<br />"kid dead"<br />prepared speech<br />or silence?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Why do many dead<br />first day?<br />Run aways?<br />Suicide?<br />Worse?<br />Who were you?.<br />I remember you only as old lady<br />aghast<br />as we perched high<br />you wanted us down<br />for safety or punishment?<br />That is lost to time<br />and the maths you prefer.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666;">NanaBjörn Nov 23<br /></span>*<a href="https://nctr.ca/residential-schools/alberta/holy-angels-fort-chipewyan/">Holy Angels (Fort Chipewyan) - NCTR</a></span></div>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-61172796638417649072023-11-07T07:29:00.001-08:002023-11-07T07:29:08.572-08:00 Bear Vision<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Know<br />I don’t take your trust for
granted<br />All ancestors welcome here<br />Re-con-ciliation<br />Needs us all<br />Healing needs a full circle<br />We hold the space<br />The all<br />Not matter when you joined this
story<br />Here<br /> Or distant lands<br />Join the abundance<br />Share your truths<br />On Turtles back<br />Re-claim<br />Your ways<br />Your wisdom<br />In circle<br />In trust<br />Like knows like</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Pehiw Wandering 2022</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">With a ninanaskomowin (ceremonial thank you) to all the Elders and Ancestors</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>MacBergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01719241770344056914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5151165459590603759.post-59915960806573418872023-11-07T07:10:00.003-08:002023-11-07T07:10:36.254-08:00Blood and Soft Stiches<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“You pulled me together with blood
and Soft Stiches” *<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Thank you<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Kookums<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Mooshums<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Medicines made people</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You learned to stich<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So careful<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That mending<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A new thing lives!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We tell<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Secrets of the dark<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You know already<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Details not needed.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And you still love<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To you<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We are not broken people<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sometimes<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You add fabric<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">From unsayable times<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To strength<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Frayed places<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To return us to work<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To mending our medicines<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A hope<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Not a bandage<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To cover<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Or a scar hidden in shame<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Some places much strong. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">They lied
to keep us quiet<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The grandma’s come to unstaple our
tongues<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Grandpas<br /> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Give hard truths<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Tell us breathe</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You already know<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">That impossible reality<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">“Stop doubting”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Your deep knowing</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You are not shame<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">You are not broken</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Just need time in the mending basket.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Pehiw Wandering 2022<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">* Keaton Henson “The Pugilist” to Auntie W</span></div>
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