Pretender Identity Sweepstakes

Michelle Obama said: "I will pit my Blackness against anyone." She said this about the attacks on her husband's identity while he was running for public office. Barack Obama was challenged for not being "Black enough" for some in the Black community.  In the Black community they have similar conversations about who is "them" as well as in the Native community. When I say Native, Indian, Indigenous, I am referring to the original inhabitants of Turtle Island, or as called today, the Americas. So, Michelle listed off her pedigree of her own Blackness. This comparing our pedigrees is also common in the Indian world. It's funny, I think of my Romanian friend who lives in British Columbia. He has a Woman friend who is Chinese. She lives in China, so they have a very long-distance relationship. Anyways in Indian country we use the term Apple to describe White Indians, and the Chinese really do use the saying Banana to those who they see as White Chinese.  Indian's use Apples to describe another Indian, who they feel is trying to "be white." I guess it is the same with the Chinese who see another Chinese person trying to be white. Same with the Black community, people are judged for what is seen as being white. Look at Wayne Brady, a Black Comedian. He has been poked at by other's for seemingly being too white. Being compared to being white is really insulting to Ethnic people, People of Color, within their respective community. What's more insulting than being called white by someone in your own group, is being called white by white folk. So a whiter than Whiteman, Bill Maher made fun of Wayne Brady and his perceived lack of Blackness. Maher didn't see Brady as a menacing Black Man, in other words not the stereotypical scary Black. Maher, everyone knows is one of those White Men who feels he has privilege in the Black world, so he can get away with anti-Black sentiments or statements. It's all over this "more than you" game. There is a Netflix show called Wednesday with this young Latino (Mexican American-Puerto Rican) actress. There is a video of her trying to speak Spanish. The reaction of her speaking Spanish has been harsh: "She's not Latino, she can't speak Spanish." There are some folks who see this criticism as laughable as Spanish is a colonial language. "Jenna Ortega is Latina because we are more than what other people think we are, and we can be everything at the same time. Period." The Identity sweepstakes is always a minefield of bombs. There is a challenge to everyone's heritage, there is the who is going to be more than you sweepstakes.

The weird thing about the identity sweepstakes, some may feel it as a curse, while some may see it as exotic and are envious. So envious they want the exotic identity as their own. White people want to have some added mix in their background, they will go to great lengths to find a Slave in the ancestry wood pile. It is not strictly white people who want to claim another heritage but they seem to be the most proficient at entering into the heritage sweepstakes. The pretenders are so good at becoming Black, Indian, Latino, that they can even fool their own family members. The pretender will even invent a compelling back story of their life. You can see the story coming from the lyrics of "A Change Will Come, Polk Salad Annie, and Patches." 

There are groups of people who identify in a different gender than what they were assigned to when born. For this group I wonder if there are pretenders, but who knows. My big gut says, nope, they have no reason to pretend. The only acceptable (or not) place they can pretend is in the movie and tv industry. It's funny because the entertainment industry is notorious for having Pretenders as a driving force in the Identity Sweepstakes. White people would be literally painted "red" to be the Indians in all Cowboy-and-Indians-John-Wayne-kill-them-up movies. There are many areas of pretend where it is suppose to be fun. Lot of films made where men are dressed as women, women as men, gays being straight, straight being gay and human's as apes, dogs, cats and aliens. 

When we take a look at the pretender in the Identity Sweepstakes, we all wonder, "what the heck?" The Pretender is more often driven not by the beauty of the Identity they covet, but by the rewards which can be had. Pretenders will push aside the Blacks, the Indians, the Latino's, the Gays, the Women so they can attain a reward, a position, a recognition they won't have among their own group. Weird, I know, right? For some reason, the pretender gains popularity in institutions; academics, politics, justice, films and activism. What is even more weird, the pretender doesn't seem to suffer the inherent systemic abuses felt by the groups they infiltrate. You don't see them being shot by the cops, having their babies taken away, denied a table at the big lunches. Nope the pretender only basks in the glow of the awesomeness of being Black, Indian, Women, Latino and Gay. The Pretender is a strange creature. If only they could feel the oppression their stolen community has to contend with, perhaps they would reconsider their weird obsession. Until this happens, we are going to continue to see a lot more Jessica Krug's, Rachel Dolezal's, Joseph Boyden's, Michelle Latimer's, Carrie Bourassa's, and Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan's. Yeah, it is continue to be weird out there in identity sweepstakes. 

Martin Luther King Jr. - Poverty, Militarism, Racism, Materialism. The 4 evils. 

Whack A Mole

Have you played the carnival game, Whack-a-Mole? It is a game where you have a big hammer and you hit the heads of little mice creatures when their heads stick up out of a hole. The game is fast fun and involves smashing heads with a hammer, all good fun. The Whack-a-mole game is an allegory for people in society. You see there are those who will lift their heads out of a hole and then there are those who will take the big hammer and smash them as hard and as many times that they can. People will poke their heads out of hole based on their courageous intentions, and some will do it based on their cluelessness, in other words stupidity.  There are those who will stick their head out of the hole and not be bothered with the hammer hitting them. Some folks don't require the little mouse-creature to poke their little head out of any hole. They just hit anyone at anything and anywhere. Those folks are just messed up to begin with. The Whack-a-mole folk need some kind of stimulus to have them going hammer-time. 

A very good example of real-life-Whack-a-mole is Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick was the football quarterback who decided to kneel when the US National Anthem was being played. Holy heck was Colin slammed on the head and it seemed, everyone wanted to hold the hammer. The then US President and his slog of a VP picked up the hammer and hit the hapless quarterback. Yes, fun times for the US people. Speaking of the then President Mr. Trump, he is one mouse creature who sticks his head and doesn't know why he keeps getting hit on the head with a hammer. He also could be one of those who is not bothered by the hammer smash. Thing is there are too many indicators where he is known to be bothered even without the hammer hitting him and just a maniac to begin with. No surprise he will go after those who he feels smashed him. He will go baby-goat-killing on just about anyone, whether or not they had a hammer or no hammer on him. He went after one of his biggest arse-lickers in Mitch McConnell and his "Coco-Chow" wife.  Trump is an example of the clueless mouse in the Whack-a-Mole game of life. Dave Chappelle is an example of the mouse creature who is not (on the surface) concerned with the smash of the hammer. He has been putting his head out seemly seeking the hammers on his head. Chappelle has made the Trans-community a staple in his comedy routine. He also used the Jewish Power Entertainment trope in his routine. The Jews are thought to have a strangle hold on the entertainment industry. Chappelle seems to take pleasure in offended people, akin to most comics: Jim Jefferies, Ricky Gervais, Sara Silverman, and the forgotten Andrew Dice Clay. Chappelle must have a hard head because he has and is on the receiving end of the hammer smash in Whack-a-Mole. 

In the Indian community (the Peace-Pipe-Tomahawk-Indian and not the Simpsons' Spicy-Curry-Apu-Indian) there are people who are sticking their heads out of the hole. The main-stream community (whites mostly) won't pick up the hammer on Indians. Indians don't register in their minds and Whites can't be bothered to waste some good hammering on moldy Indians.  The only time White people will pick up the hammer on Indians, it is when the Indians is getting between them and their money; the resource sector protests. When Indians speak out against the destruction of lands for resource extraction, this is when the big white hammer comes down, along with all the resources of the system white people enjoy. In the media Indians are viewed as "Something Else, or Creatures."  So, when there comes to hammer smashing, it is Indian on Indian. We have a few Indians who are going after the "pretend-Indian, aka the pretendian." Jacqueline Keeler is an Indian Woman who is exposing fake Indians-people who say they are Indian but are not. This has caused a few to get out the beaded-handled-hammer to whap her right on the top of her braided head-hair. The issue may be her methods of research or the who is on her list.  Indians, for some strange reason, will protect the pretendian. When Joseph Boyden was exposed, he was quickly adopted into an Indian family, crazy right? I think frauds are going to be found out whether or not a list exists. After-all, for Indians the main thing is connection; who you with? The method of identity is so messed up from colonial interference; the numbering system, the government Indian Final List, metal ID dog tags to Inuit people in the north. Our people are so comfortable with the identification systems of the settler governments. For me that is the problem, colonial identification of who we are. I don't hammer Keeler for her attempts at trying to unearth the moles, the mice creatures. However, I am not a fan of using the settler established ways of measuring Indianness. This is what got us here to begin with, the Indian identity sweepstakes. 

The problem with the Indian sweepstakes is in its attraction. People love the Noble Savage. People want to be linked to a history of survival, of the beautiful brown mystique of barefooted-naked-forest-plainspeople. Some people want to embrace the past of the hippie culture with flowers in their hair and being Indian makes them more hippie than anyone. The Indian is the problem as well. They are so damn sensual. They are also damn generous, welcoming and easy to con. The Indian will welcome the pretendian based on their word alone. I mean why wouldn't we? Who in their right mind would make up a story about being something they are not? That's weird, right? If it was as easy as walking up to a whole group of people, a whole community and say, "Hey, I'm Steve and I'm 250th succession of Bulgaria, through Hermann Friedrich, Canadian Banker in Toronto. The last I heard works for the Royal Bank of Canada, look him up." This is what some individuals are actually doing, walking up to the community and saying, "I'm treaty Indian from Norway House." So, we, as Indians, say, "Well okay, that's good enough for me. Welcome Neechie." The Wack-a-mole is not our first reaction. Not until they start acting good. Then it's Indian Factor. If you don't know the Indian Factor, maybe you should reconsider claiming the Noble Savage identity. 

Reservation Dogs; You Kids Got To Stop Being Shit-Asses

 "Native humor has always been close to tragedy because it is about survival; like laughing in the face of all this tragedy that's surrounding us." Sterlin Harjo 

Reservation Dogs is a television show focusing on Indian youth in a small community in the United States. The show has been developed by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi. Reservation Dogs has been receiving great reviews in mainstream entertainment critic media. For me, my first glimpse of Reservation Dogs, was through video snippets on social media, like Facebook. The short clips of the tv show roped me in just like a calf in one of those Rodeos where the big Cowboys, Cowgirls break the necks of those baby cows as they run for their little lives. The calves are hooked in the neck by ropes and they are stopped so quick the back part of them keeps going forward and their head is stopped in mid-air. That is what happened to me, I was stopped dead in my couch and just had to spin around and watch the videos again. The show features some great performances from new talent and old talent: Pauline Alexis (reminds me of my niece), K. Devery Jacobs, Elva Guerra, along with Zahn McClarnon, Wes Studi, Gary Farmer. These are just a few of the many people acting in the show, even Bill Burr is featured in one episode. If you don't know who Bill Burr is, he is not Indian. 

 The thing I like about the show is the "inside knowledge." As Chief Dan George famously said to Clint Eastwood, "Only an Indian can do something like this." There are many things going on in the show beside the story which is in front of you. There are the Little People (who actually exist, I have seen one), the Bad Medicine (exists cause it happened to me) which no one wants to do because it comes back on you. There is the Owl thing, the show pixels out the eyes of the owl because Owls are messengers of Death! Or at least we believed this growing up. I like they don't shy away and get to make fun of all the good stuff. The Elder things, we know they are human and do human things like be jealous of each other. The "watch your hair" is a message we all grew up with because you don't want someone to put your hair in a rat's nest to make you crazy. The other thing they use in the show is the contrary, the backwards people. In the show the backward being is a Spirit, Dallas Goldtooth. Dallas is a well-known sketch comedian and was part of the 1491's. This group has so much talent and some fun videos. 

Of course there are going to be some things in the show which won't resonate with people. The representation thing won't encompass all for sure and it shouldn't. We are such diverse peoples in the Indigenous-Native world. Still it's cool to see those young Neechies, those old Neechies on the tv screen. We now have 85 inch tv screens, so those Neechies are kind of on the Big Screen. It is entertainment and it is fun. They do touch on some realities in our community (the larger Indigenous community) like suicide. It does really fit in the story of the youth in the show; the struggle, the living on and the coping. Believe me, as a community we know this reality. We also know humor and it is part of our lives. 

Just a little bit ago, our Aunt was buried and we went to visit. Our Aunt Francis lived in Muscowpetung Reserve in Saskatchewan. So family came to the service from different provinces; Manitoba Alberta. Allan our cousin said a few words at the service; "we have to get together more, visit and not just at funerals." My brother Howard, and cousin Barry went to visit with Allan just after he spoke. Both of them live in Alberta and Allan is in Manitoba, so they don't often get to see their cousin Allan. Allan could not be found. Turns out he took off from the Reserve as soon as he finished speaking and didn't stay for the service to end. Barry, smiling, says "didn't he say we should visit more?" It was a good laugh. 

We Killed Bruce Willis and It Triggered Much Grief

 

Well Bruce Willis our boy was given the shot of death the other day. As we went to the Vet, I was saying in my head, "be cool, be cool." I wanted it to be just another event in life. My wife was hurting. She is usually a real rock in our life. She is the strong one in our family. She felt the pain of grief I could see it in her.

Bruce Willis was turning 10 on December 23, 2022. Funny thing is we were not going to have any more dogs in our home. We had a Rufus prior, for 13 years and it was not a good feeling when he died. So Dogs were not on the menu. But Chloe and I went out one night to take a look at puppies. We ended up buying Bruce Willis for $650. 

I was disappointed when Bruce got older because he got taller and had a longer snout. I was thinking small round and short snot. Thing is it was better for him as he could breathe better. So it was a blessing for him. The short snouts are health hazards, especially when it is hot outside. Bruce was a good dog. He was intimidating for strangers because he wanted to play with them and he was muscle. We had some good fights me and him. He did bite me on occasion but it was because I wanted him to do something he didn't want to do. He did bit all of my grandkids at one time or another. He did not get along with Jackson. When Jackson was 3 years old to about 5, Jackson teased Bruce relentlessly. So Bruce took care of it. 

Bruce started losing weight very quickly about a month ago. We thought it was an age thing. He had been dealing with sore leg for a while now. So we took him to the Vet last week.  Bruce was laying around all day, had sore legs and hips, couldn't walk anymore. They did a blood test at $490.00. They said they thought maybe it was Addisons Disease but to confirm it would take further tests for $600. We turned the other tests down. The Vet office called us later to offer some pain meds. We got some pain meds for $100 for Bruce. He could not walk anymore, it was like overnight he lost movement. It was painful for him. I had to carry him and he lost weight, he was only 28 kilos. The pain was too much for him, he would try and bit when we moved him.  Killing a dog costs a bit as well. We paid $470 to have Bruce given a needle and then cremated. We asked for his ashes. If you don't pay for a private cremation they put a whole bunch of pets together for a big fire. 

The killing of Bruce was heartbreaking. It was weird because growing up in the Reserve, putting a dog down was not an emotional experience. A relative would take the dog and shoot it. The only time I ever went to a vet was when my brother's dog got hit by a car. We went to the vet and it was put down and my brother cried. It was weird I thought (at the time). The thing with Bruce being killed was all I could see was my dead Dad, my Mom, and my son. I kept stroking Bruce's fur and saying "my boy, my poor boy." It was really triggering. Bruce was not only the loss of him but the loss of others, all right there in that little room. I hugged him and sobbed. It is weird because I don't sob. I do cry when I am sad and missing my loved ones, but it usually just burning eyes and maybe a tear or two. That is the extent and I attribute it to the medication I take. So I cried out loud when Bruce was killed. It was like my Boy was found dead all over again. I remembered stroking his hair and saying "my boy, my poor boy." 

Grief is a strange animal. Can come up and bite you and make you cry. 

They Kill Devil's, Don't They?

My deceased Uncle used to call me a devil when I was younger. He was not being mean, it was an observation of who I was and how he saw me as doing some dumb shit.  Same thing as when I say to one of my nieces, "hey demon." I am scolding but at the same time trying to be light about it and hoping it will get her to be more aware of her antics.  I think we can offer advice or offer a view on a situation and what we think is right but it will most likely mean nothing to the person you are addressing. So we say things with a bite in it. Not right but we do it. Speaking of devils I wonder who died recently? 

"I have never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." There are countless devils who we will never know their names but we have seen them and seen their evil ways. There is a documentary entitled Rocks at Whiskey Trench made by Alanis Obomsawin. "On August 28, 1990, a convoy of 75 cars left the Mohawk community of Kahnawake and crossed Montreal's Mercier Bridge--straight into an angry mob that pelted the vehicles with rocks. The targets of this violence were Mohawk women, children and Elders leaving Kahnawake, in fear of a possible advance by the Canadian army." In the film you can see the faces of devils, faces of hate, faces of white people. Men and women who took the opportunity to hurt people. We don't know their names so we will not be able to read their obituaries. They will or have lived a life free of consequence for their crimes. You can see in the film and the news clips at the time on how much glee, how much fun they were having. Can you imagine the hate they must have had to throw large rocks, some as big as basketballs. They knew there were kids, women and old people in those cars. What is even crazier is the police stood by and watched all happen. They too, the police had fun with watching the throwing rocks. In my mind those people are the epitome of what a devil is, no compassion, hate in their whole being. 

If you ever get the chance take a look at this old film called "You are on Indian Land." It is about a 1969 protest over Canada illegally occupying Indian Land. Basically the film shows interaction between Mohawks and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Ontario. The police act then as they do now; Indians are not to be treated respectfully. I think many police are either mean to begin with or are swayed into this type of behaviour by the culture of the police force systems. There are going to be some who can keep their humanity but there are many who behave and act like devils when in they're in uniform. Not much can be done to really change this situation. We just have to accept the police force is an incubator for devils. 

I wonder what the community of James Smith Cree Nation thought about Myles Sanderson before he went all stabby and killingly. By media accounts and information provided by the police, Myles was a bastard, a mean bugger who bullied and hurt people for years. Myles Sanderson and his brother Damien  went puppy eating crazy in their Reserve. Many people (10) were killed and about 18 others were hospitalized were by the Sanderson's stabbing spree. It seems Myles was always the devil the community and the police had known. I feel bad for his family. His parents were interviewed and called for him to give himself up to the police as Myles was on the run. Damien was found dead not long after the search for him started. Myles might have killed his brother. His parents were calling for Myles to give up and they said, "we love my boy." I think we do love devils. Especially our devils. We don't want to see them as devils. 

I didn't know where I was going with this little story.  I had hoped to offer some good words but I just can't muster anything. The world of ugly is so overwhelming and there is no way I can convey how it is so disheartening, so maddening. I go on social media, Twitter Facebook and there is nothing but sewage, decay and rotting corpses. The amount of hate is overwhelming, it grabs you. It gets in your skin and you can literally smell it. So how can we enjoy the beauty of the world when all we see and hear is the monster, the Wiindigo, the Devil? We are looking at a car crash and we can't look away. I think maybe looking at something pleasant, something good might help. What do you think? 

"Social media is just a lavatory wall." "Under the house, the sewage pipe...you don't want to see it. " Stephen Fry

Decolonize? My Sweet Arse.

 Oh my sweet arse is so tired of decolonizing white stuff. Decolonizing is hard stuff, just like cleaning mustard off of your white dress shirt. It has to be done right away or it won't come off. It is not part of the fabric, but it just becomes imbedded there for all to see. Lot of folks get it wrong when they think about decolonizing. They automatically focus on todays' gems in society: the car, the Batman Leggo, the pink polka-dotted bottoms with leopard tops, tailor-made cigarettes and of course the cellular device. Personally I don't know how I have managed all these years without an Ipod. Good god wearing Crocs, I would literally go on a fad diet if I didn't have access to tunes (even ABBA). So people (mostly Settlers aka W-T's, and white folk in general) go for the "you should go back live in Teepees then." It's an easy lazy attack about the whole decolonize movement. People will try steer the narrative away from the true story. The story of unending greed, the depravity of acquisition, and the horrors of hierarchy. 

"How can we dance when our Earth is burning?" "Easy, I wear headphones and just look at my feet." This my friends, the question and answer is our society. No, it is true. Our society is asking what the fuck and our society is answering with "no speak English." If you really truly think about it, the 'Decolonize the shit out of our lives' is our salvation. And no you're not going to find the answers with business, capitalism, democracy, socialism, political monopolies, and all those other unitary states. Those Decolonize weirdoes have it right, it is the foundation of modern society which is killing us, all of us, even those wealthy dudes waving their dicks in space flights. We live on the same planet. 

I listening to a Massey Lecture on CBC radio a number of years ago. It was Adrian Clarkson of all people. She spoke on The Paradox of Citizenship - Ubuntu. Clarkson: "a person is a person because of other persons." Clarkson does a great job at body slamming colonial scholars who make fun of Ubuntu.  There is a fierce defense of society as it stands.  The foundation of society is of course based on accumulating goods. Clarkson borrows on the Indigenous Way of Life and shines a spotlight on the absurdity of European way of life. Clarkson is sharing about decolonization without labeling it as decolonizing. As a younger person (and still much) I was a shit-head. I wanted to be more than a shit-head so I tried becoming aware of my shittyness. I even bought the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I didn't finish the book. One book I did read was The Tao of Pooh. Clarkson's stories in her lecture took me back to my own colonial coat which is part of my being. There books I read were part of the tool kit I was amassing over my lifetime. 

You see we are born into a colonial minded society. The colonial mind we have is all about getting stuff, judging others and our appetite for more. Decolonizing is about that. Essentially we have to start being generous in our being. Living a life for all of us and not just some of us. We see it all the time in our daily routines: Blood first, Be a man, Work for success, Family comes first. On the surface the messages seem to be righteous, good even. Each message is based on a colonial footing. Decolonizing our minds is difficult. The colonial messages are everyday, every second and everywhere. With our own people we see the white person, actually the white male as the superior being. The message has been imbedded deep into our being: white Jesus, white cowboy John Wayne, white Elvis Presley, white Winston Churchill, white Popes, white Doctors, white everything. The message is there and it's hard to recognize. I have seen some really staunch proud Indigenous folk yield their voice to white men and white women. We have some strong voices in our Native community but they are muted when compared to Karen's and Chester's of the world. So being mindful is not the same as letting people get away with colonial acts of privilege, judgement and bullying. Decolonization also means amplifying your own voice when others are trying to mute it. Inserted video below is decolonization in action. It is of course the Women who stand strong with their voices. The were strong without being mean. Their voices were strong in the situation. The Women stood their ground and it was beautiful. 

"My sweet lord, oh my lord, my sweet lord, I really want to see you," is a line from the George Harrison's song and although the meaning behind the song is a decolonizing of religion, the irony is the image which comes to mind in society (Western and Europe) is a white male when we hear my sweet lord.  A beautiful song by the way, may it bring some good feelings your way. The other weird thing about the society is there always a white woman being named as the most beautiful woman in the world. That is very surprising since Asia, India, Africa make up 75% of the world's population. You would think the odds are in favor of the most beautiful found in that percentage area?  Then again, we are fed a whole bowl of whiteness when it comes to what is beauty. If we are wanting to decolonize we should start with being mindful of others and try not being an arsehole. Even a sweet arsehole is still an arsehole. Like the Women in the video, they were strong, confident and didn't need to be sweet arseholes. These Indigenous Women, they were elegant in their position, they were passionate and they were true. So we need not bend over and anal bleach our sweet bums when we are soaping up for a good decolonizing. We can be mindful and still be a force against the machine of colonial stamps. 

I have this acquaintance, he is originally from Vietnam. He was telling me about how Indigenous Women are viewed. He said they (Indian Women) are easy, and are willing to do anything. I was angry when he said this. He wasn't trying to be mean just sharing what he was thought. It is quite weird for me, because I once got an email video from a Iranian colleague. It was a video of these two Asian girls and one was using a funnel to pour small fish into the canal of the other woman. After awhile the woman shot the fish out of her orifice. So we are prone to getting different messages. The movie industry sends mixed messages when it comes to Asian Women; the mild meek subservient, and the abnoxious bossy woman. We see things from a skewed point of view.  The movie Jerry Maguire, when Dorothy Boyd says about Avery Bishop, "she must be real classy" and the scene has Avery hammering Maguire with her blonde naked body and she is yelling "don't ever stop fucking me." is a metaphor for how things are not what we believe. We have been led to believe many things, white is right, white is pure, white is justice, white is everything. Only thing is, we are not enjoying this movie and we are not going to sit through it. For movies to sit through go with Exterminate All the Brutes. The view from here only gets clearer. I don't think you need to be bleaching your sweet arseholes any longer. 

The Walk Of Life

The other day, well it was yesterday, I went for lunch with my 83 year old brother-in-law and my sister-in-law. We went to a local food place named The Nook Dinner in the Winnipeg's West End. My brother has eye issues and had an appointment as follow up to surgery. As I waited on the street, my sister-in-law told me about a thrift shop down the street, I decided to have a quick look see while I waited for my bro-in-law. As I got to the shop, a commotion was going on between a woman, (who had on a smock, so I recognized her as a worker for the thrift shop) and a young man who had a bike. The two were doing a tug-a-war with a backpack. The boy and the woman were really getting at it. I walked up because I am a nosey bugger and got into the middle of it. I pulled on the bike but not hard and the woman was really letting him have it with her words. Then the young man pulled up his shirt to show his machete. The woman said "you fucking little asshole" as she continued to pull on the backpack. I held on to the bike and told him "don't do that" and he let his shirt fall to hide the machete. She pulled more on the pack and clothes fell on the ground and he let go and again he pulled up his shirt to show the machete, I told him again, "don't do that." The woman took what she had and went back into the store. I let his bike go and the young man picked up the one t-shirt on the ground. I found it very interesting the whole event. I don't know why the woman would take such a risk and why would the young man show his machete. It went from a shop lifting at a second hand store to a much more serious situation. I went into the store just to look around and she was calling the cops. I could hear her talking about the young man and then she said "he was Aboriginal." I saw the young man and I thought he was a young white man, maybe 17 or older, I don't know. It got me thinking, "well isn't this weird, if the young man was doing something good, he would be looked as white, but because he is being a menace, he is seen as Indigenous." Anyways... 

About three weeks ago I went with Suz, who is my wife, and of course my moral compass, to the drug store, Shoppers near our place. As we got there, at the exit doorway a large man was laying down blocking the door, he was in between the door. A few people were around him, I went to look and could hear people saying "he is breathing." So we went in for the prescription of drugs. We were about four minutes to five minutes in the drug store, not a long time. The pharmacist was called over the speaker system. She went out and we went out as well. We went through the entrance doors. I again went to look at the gentleman and this time a man was trying to move him. There was someone saying "he's not breathing." So we moved the man over onto his back as he was laying mostly on his side to the door. The man on the ground was quite large. So I had to grab his belt to help move him away from the door, so CPR could be started on him. As I moved him, it was now clear the man had wet himself, his face was discolored, more purple than pink or light tan. A woman standing there said, "He peed himself he's dead." A week or so later my wife showed me an obituary and asked if I recognized the person. I said, "no." It was the gentleman who died at the drug store. I found it interesting as this was not the first time a person just died in front of us. It was about 10 years ago when I was standing in line at a McDonalds and an older gentleman just fell to the ground as he was about to get a re-fill of coffee. He had died right there. Later on in the news his son was trying to get Public Access Defibrillations into more businesses. 

Jon Mia 

0Stella 

My sister took the trip from Manitoba to Alberta for the Pope Francis visit to Canada. Me I was in Alberta the weekend before to visit my brother and cousin. We did do a day trip to the mountains at Jasper Park. We had a beautiful visit. My cousin Barry made a Smudge Bowl out of rock and my Sister-in-law Val made us a great dinner and gifted us as well. With the mountain trip, we saw Mountain Goats, Black Bear, Elk and a Grizzly Bear, plus we went up the mountain in a gondola. I picked some small quartz pebbles on the mountain. Life is great like that. I don't think I had been out to visit family in many years. We had our baby with us, who is nine. She was a good travel buddy, no drama or complaints, just chill like a cool cucumber in a fridge filled with pickles. I posted on social media about my visit and how we were treated really fine, just like we were the Chief or something. I didn't get no Headdress like the Pope but my greetings were much better, they were the real deal, the love is real.  Hugging was not part of our experience growing up (thank you your Holiness and the Residential School gang for that) but we are doing it now. We are showing each other the love which was not part of the family thing and you know why? Because your agents of destruction beat that shit right out of every single Indian going into your "school." Okay, back to the trip. On our way to Alberta we stopped for gas in a little town. At the town gas station, which was small, really small the gentleman came out to gas our car. There was a woman on a bike there. So I asked her what she was doing. She was traveling from Victoria or Vancouver to Hamilton. I asked her why she stopped at this little town as it was not on the highway. She said she needed to "ice down her knee as she hurt it." Turns out she is a musician doing shows along the way. She was going to be in Regina for a few days. I gave her our number to visit us when she made it Winnipeg. Her name is Liz Pomeroy (0Stella). We talked but she was unable to visit as she had a busy time and had was traveling to Montreal. 

Smudge Bowls

 The other day I was speaking to my Aunt, my Mom's sister and she was talking about how the community cemetery had very tall grass. She said it was sad to see the cemetery not being tended to. My Aunt is now the oldest living sister on my Mom's side. I think she's about 86. She said of the grave site, "those people mattered." We should all think of people that they matter. 

The television production Reservation Dogs has made some good news. The young Native cast (I say Native, but they could be called Indians, Native American, First Nations, Indigenous and Rez kids) were doing Talk Show tv appearances with the Big Dogs; Good Morning America, Jimmy Fallon (can't stand that Jay Leno clone). The young actors having fun and it is great to see. There is this one young female actor, and she is "real savage" just like my niece. The show hits all the Indian buttons: Bad medicine will come back on you, Being a Warrior, the Indian who can beat up lots of people, the owl, the car, the rugged girls, old man driving on road with lawn tractor and all sorts of little references to Indian thinking. I really enjoyed the Dallas Goldtooth scene with him saying "Fuck, I really hated that guy," about George Custer, notorious racist 7th Calvary Colonel, who was martyred at the Battle of Big Horn by the Indians.

Hey! I know it's nothing much but it's about lots of stuff. It's the walk of life. So take a step and tell someone "hey don't do that" or just walk on by, either way it's all good.