Okay, okay, but make it quick!

Unfortunately, this will have to be a quick one, just an updater, because I'm swamped.

For real. I'm drowning in my school work. With 6 days left to the end of my semester, I'm only half finished my term paper thingy for development, no where near started on my term papers for Medical Anthro or Political Soc, and I've only just started my presentation for development, due the same day as the paper. Plus the last week of study notes for Political Soc.

In other news, Rod and I have booked the location for the wedding and reception. It's a heritage mansion right on Jericho Beach, and it's such a charming little location. Weather permitting, we'll get married in the West Garden, and do pictures on the wonderful beach behind the house, with the majestic mountains in the background, only a kilometer or so from the spot where Rod proposed. Then it's upstairs to the entire second floor of the mansion for the reception. But that's enough of that talk. I swore I wouldn't go all frigging bridezilla, and go on at length about it (unless people ask, then sure, I'm good to answer).

My oldest Nephew is out on the coast staying with my parents for about 3 weeks, though I admit, with so much going on at school, I haven't spent much time with the family these days. But I'll get more than a few visits in after next Thursday...when I've sufficiently recovered from the hangover I promise to have Friday morning.

The shame of course, is that I've come across some very pithy little tidbits in the news and classes that are worthy of comment, from a cat that accurately predicts when someone is going to die, to an oil spill that would make Exxon Valdez proud just mere kilometers from my house; and for all these potential golden nuggets of observation, I have had no time :( I'll admit, I'm not even keeping up on Facebook as much as I normally do....there's just too much to do, not enough time to do it, and no interest whatsoever in caring about it. I'd rather be soaking up the sun by the pool and watching 'Passions' before it gets pulled from broadcast TV and goes to a cable station we don't have here. The sheer stupidity and absurdity of that show is worth it :) I'll miss it.

So, keep in touch, and I'll be back after my liver's funeral on Friday.

Fancy about town

It sure comes in handy having a camera in the cellphone, because I'd lose so many moments worth wondering about otherwise! While stuff like my subjects below may not interest any or all, there's a certain curiousity at the human mind that I find wonderfully underrated, and I'm always delighted to see something that makes me raise an eyebrow and wonder at the quirks of humanity! For Instance...

Rod and I were out walking at Jericho Beach back in May, and we came across this sad little sight. Shoes, left alone. We speculated that perhaps they belonged to a lady further down the beach from us, or the lady taking pictures in the grass park area, and continued on down the beach towards Brock House. About 45 minutes later, we walked back the way we came, and not a soul was in sight to claim the wayward little shoes. I got to wondering how it was that someone would just forget something like shoes. We can only wear one pair at a time, you'd think you'd notice that you walked all the way home or all the way back to your car without your shoes on. So I can only speculate that perhaps these shoes were abandoned in favour of some newer pair...oh what a callous speculation! Poor little shoes.

Back in April, the SFU Burnaby Campus was awash in the business of finals, and I was treated to the sight of the final projects for visual arts classes all over the place. The tiles of the Convocation Mall turned into Scrabble boards, statutes, installations...and tents in the trees of the Academic Quadrangle? My first thought was, umm...those branches wouldn't support the weight of the idiot camping out up there, which shows how woefully ignorant I am about conceptual art, because it took me about a full minute to understand and connect it to the rest of the curious sights around campus. Then I wondered whether the tent was sent up and hoisted up, or whether it was set up while off the ground...How would I do it?

Springfield, USA? No, this is Coquitlam, BC. If you ever wondered about this, well...so am I. Part of the promotion for The Simpsons Movie in late July is a cross-promotion with 7-11, and 12 of them in North America were transformed into Kwik-E-Marts, and the only one in Canada is in my backyard. I hadn't really planned on going out there, but Jeevan is a big fan, so I drove us out there and acted as his official photographer :) While at it, I snapped a couple of shots with my cameraphone, just so I could say I took part in the experience. Later in the day, Jeevan treated me to a showing of The Transformers, so all in all, it was a very commercial day :)

And finally...my favourite shot...

One fine afternoon in June, I boarded the 144 bus at the SFU Burnaby bus loop, bound for Metrotown. I almost always ride at the back of the bus where I can watch the world buzz passed the bus. On this particular day, I say enjoying the sunshine through the window, as I always do, but something that day told me to look up, and I'm so happy that I did, because this ugly little face greeted me, and I got a good laugh. I wonder who put that sticker there, and I wonder why. Mostly, I wonder if they miss not having it around, or if it's one of dozens of copies. Either way, he was a bright spot on an already bright day. I wonder if I'll ever get to see him again, if he's been removed, if he's floating about the city still.

I Am The Other

I don't ever know anymore how to identify myself. And this morning, I was hit with my inability to identify myself for the purposes of understanding from others.

Gawd, can you tell I'm studying Anthropology currently?

So, this morning in a class, a prof started to make comments about Aboriginal peoples who adopt and practice majority forms of economic development, in particular, the Squamish band's decision to erect billboards on band land bridges, which includes part of the downtown core. Regardless of the issue itself, when he posed the question about why then Natives insist on maintaining their "otherness" (not his term), their separation for the rest of society, since they insist on adopting the popular white ideals of the ideas of property, I think I felt my head spin. Obviously he did not mean to offend, and his point was that he was wanting for some force or polity to create and offer a different, alternative ideal of property (based on collectivity). The discussion continued on, and I could do nothing but sit there and think to myself, "You want 4% of the Canadian population, with a tiny percentage of the physical and financial resources to rise up and change prevailing views of property? Seriously?"

Unfortunately, after class, the prof approached a friend about my reaction to what he was saying (I'm not sure I had revealed my First Nations heritage in this class, to be fair), and the friend explained my issues with what he was saying. Now, I'm embarassed, because without uttering a word aloud, I guess I made it perfectly clear that I was not buying his argument. And now I've alienated myself from this prof. Oh bloody hell. Awkward.

But I am tired of trying to put my identity out there. I am a member of the Cree Nation. On paper, I am First Nations. But the reality is far too complicated. I have white skin. Blonde hair. European facial features. My brown eyes alone are my sole physical claim to proof of my Native heritage. I carry a Treaty card, but even it looks different from my fellow First Nations members. In the place of a paper card laminated in plastic, which is the standard card doled out at Band Offices, mine looks like a credit card, courtesy of the Indian Affairs office in Edmonton. But in order to be taken seriously, I would have to tattoo "NATIVE" on my forehead, or staple the card to my head. My physical appearance gets me into trouble: fully acceptable in the outside world, suspicious on reserves, and among my Native peers. I am The Other. I accept this. But it sure makes things difficult sometimes.

How can I deal with people around me, when I'm still making sense of my identity myself?