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By Ms. G, October 30, 2021 4:13 pm

Ever since my whole school live Zoom presentation on September 30, the first annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, I have said that I wanted to continue the conversation.

I have not lived up to that as well as I wanted. I’m working on it.

One thing I’d like to share is the “Save the Evidence” campaign from the Woodland Cultural Centre, home to the former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School.

We know as historians how important primary source evidence is. That’s what the school building represents. People need to see it to appreciate its significance in the history of residential schools that Canadians are learning more about.

When I first drove up that driveway and saw that imposing colonial-style building, I felt uneasy. After learning more about the place known sadly known to students as the “mush hole”, I felt pretty sick. There is nothing child-friendly about it.

When our group visited Woodland Cultural Centre, we had the privilege of hearing survivor Geronimo Henry speak about his 11-year ordeal at the Mohawk Institute. He had a number of items with him – primary sources – including this letter that his mother sent the school to enroll him in 1942. Please note that Geronimo gave permission for me to take this photo.

We must always remember that history is about real people. Geronimo Henry, now in his 80s, speaks passionately about his experiences to educate the public about the impacts of residential schools.

Watch this short clip from Sept. 30 at the Mohawk Institute.

We must all keep learning and speaking out.

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By Ms. G, August 31, 2021 4:48 pm

My sister-in-law Felicity and I went to the Van Gogh immersive at the Toronto Star printer building. Fantastic!

I absolutely love Van Gogh’s paintings. Seeing them deconstructed and highlighted at the same time using modern technology was fascinating and wonderful. We thought it was going to be a walk-through; instead, the audience stays still and the images project on the walls, moving and dancing to music almost.

While I thought the music was a bit overwrought, it was appropriate, generally following the flow of Van Gogh’s short life from Holland to France.

There are cafe scenes…

And agrarian scenes… with hillsides winding while cypress trees climb up the screen and clouds wander by..

And images from his famous paintings of irises and “Starry Night…”

We stayed for two loops of the show and were quite mesmerized by its animation of something old in a thoroughly modern way. To truly bring it to life.

The only bad thing was the usual exit from spectacular art to pedestrian commercialism as you move straight into the gift shop. That’s the same thing at museums these days too, sadly.

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By Ms. G, August 31, 2021 7:05 am

My aunt and uncle brought us beautiful sunflowers. Here’s the photo op:

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By Ms. G, August 24, 2021 4:13 am

I don’t have a dog, so it can’t be the dog days of summer for me. But I have tomatoes aplenty thanks to Val’s planters. And despite the squirrels’ efforts to steal them.

Also, these oyster and shiitake mushrooms from Waymac Farms (via Peterborough Farmers’ Market) need to get an agent! They are so beautiful and delicious. And obviously fun to photograph!

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By Ms. G, July 13, 2021 1:48 pm

I’ve been reading, too.

I came to know David Chariandy’s work through his young adult novel, Brother. I recently re-read it with a reluctant reader in my credit recovery class. We both loved its sympathetic and blunt portrayals of characters and of the sting of racism within Toronto!

This little book is addressed to the Vancouver writer’s young daughter, who, like him, is of mixed heritage. He expands on his background, his parents from Trinidad, and experiences in Canada, visiting Trinidad, and around the world. Much like in Brother, he shares stories of culture and belonging. He writes of the challenges his daughter will face growing up in Canada, a country full of opportunity but also full of racism, classism and anti-feminism.

In one message to her, he implores:

“You did not create the inequalities and injustices of this world, daughter. You are neither solely nor uniquely responsible to fix them. If there is anything to learn from the story of our ancestry, it is that you should respect and protect yourself; that you should demand not only justice but joy; that you should see, truly see, the vulnerability and the creativity and the enduring beauty of others. Today, many years after indenture and especially slavery, there are many who continue to live painfully in wakes of historical violence. And there are current terrible circumstances whereby others, in the desperate hope for a better life, either migrate or are pushed across the hardened borders of nations and find themselves stranded in unwelcoming lands. We live in a time, dearest daughter, when the callous and ignorant in wealthy nations have made it their business to loudly proclaim who are the deserving “us” (those really “us”) and who are the alien and undeserving “them.” But the story of our origins offers us a different insight, The people we imagine most apart from “us” are, oftentimes, our own forgotten kin.”

Though published in 2018, the book is made even more relevant by the pandemic and its pushing open of Canada’s need to address its multifaceted problems. I highly recommend it for its brevity, lyrical writing and powerful message.

Next, I’m well into Barack Obama’s Promised Land.

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By Ms. G, July 12, 2021 9:45 am

Hopefully Ontario won’t screw things up and move too fast on re-opening. While I enjoy going out and into a few stores (as long as they are not crowded), I don’t want to take it for granted that Delta variant is out there and we are all still held hostage to it in a way.

So, my wishes are:

vaccination rates increase EVEN more

people get to see their family and friends (safely)

students read something NOT on a screen

the weather permits lots of outdoor gathering

everyone stays healthy and safe!!

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By Ms. G, May 11, 2021 5:12 pm

There’s more to animal videos than cats, apparently. Val shared this dancing cockatoo. But more importantly, there are two cockatoos. One seems to be embarrassed by the other. Sounds like how Shadow feels about Richard.

Have a watch for a smile. And keep your eye on the bird on the left (even though it’s hard to stop watching the adorable dancing bird).

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By Ms. G, April 24, 2021 7:58 am

Especially for my history students.

And Saturday is my Sudoku day:)

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By Ms. G, April 11, 2021 12:24 pm

Working outside in the backyard yesterday reminded me that all plants struggle to make it above ground, especially the ones in my super shady backyard full of aggressively digging squirrels.

We will make it through this third wave.