In my Masters' cohort on Indigenous Education, a colleague and I often had an argument over who was more rez. She and I were the only members of the cohort who claimed an address that was on an Indian reserve, the rest of the group being a part of that other demographic we call, fancifully Urban Indians. Granted, I often claimed victory because she was from the Squamish Band and her reserve was considered urban, while Peters is out in the middle of nowhere, somewhere near Hope, but not quite there (that's funny if you think about it, I'm not going to explain it to you). At any rate, she did concede victory to me because of my collection of rez cars, which I endearingly call, my garden rocks.
I am sharing with you a video today from youtube. It is a music video by RedPower Squad called "What's Really Rez", that takes a tongue in cheek look at rez life and what is authentic rez life. I smile whenever I hear the song, but never forget the truths that are contained within it. One of the arguments I have made about storytelling as a learning and teaching tradition is that we can laugh, while telling you about tragedy, it softens the blow, somewhat.
More importantly, if you see only the tragedy, how will you see the hope? The story of Aboriginal people in Canada is one that is frought with tragedy and misery and ongoing crisis. It is peppered with infighting, indifference and ignorance. Is there hope there? Of course, we're still telling stories, in this case, via a rap song and music video.
Is there hope in the ongoing Aboriginal story? Of course, we're still here.
So, Blogger is acting funny, won't let me embed the video today, so here is the link to "What's Really Rez. I've been having some difficulty lately with the blog, with regards to comments and video, but I am working on it. Thank you for your patience.
http://youtu.be/jDMXm5VxNmM
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