Update to the conference

Ok...wow. It's been 50 days since "the gathering". In this time, I have taken care of all the outstanding accounts that needed to be taken care of. I have one more which I have not been able to get a stamp for...lol. I was sent a cheque for $600.00 which would have made my life so much easier, but when it was not going to be used for the given purpose, I left it up to the sender for instructions on what to do with the offer. He asked for it back. It would have been nice to have it, because we overspent on this conference. I am out of pocket about $400.00. Which is really tough for me, but, as the coordinator for this project, I have to suck it up like a big girl. It was a great learning lesson on that front. I really didn't know much but this is a gentle way to learn what to do, I was offerred an unsolicited donation of $200.00 which will cover most of this. So, things will work out. Right now, the money value is so small, I don't mind talking about this. It's all part of the hows and why's of creating this day. It will cost me much much more in other ways, so, a few hundred dollars in the whole scheme of things does not appear to be a bad thing. However, there are things that have to be taken care in my personal life which I see cannot be affected by this work I am doing on. That's probably the greatest lesson I have learned.

I have been kinda weird sick lately. I have a bad case of vertigo or something like it. It started before the conference, perhaps 4 weeks prior, and it hasn't gone away. For brief moments it's been lessened, but for example, when you put your headsideways, wow, I feel like my head hasn't stopped moving, or I feel very dizzy from doing that simple movement with my head. Not good. So, i've been keeping things very quiet.

I finished school, (noted in previous post), which has been wonderful. I love being out of school..yay! But it's not school so much, as it was doing everything all at once. I have been taking this time to get caught up on so many other things that need taking care of. And assisting on the World Peace Forum. I feel kinda bad, because I haven't been quite as involved, but do support Dalannah in her efforts.

The other thing is that I recently met with Dr. Bruce Miller from the UBC Anthropology field. Ok. There are very few instances where talking to anyone will stump me, I can usually fudge my way through most conversations. But this is one man who knew his topic of study. I found everything he said to be fascinating. He pulled world history around the Indigenous question in Canada. Even talking about the question of "what is Indigenous" - the various factors involved present problems finding any one path towards a solid definition applicable to ANYONE who wants to be defined as such.

The world history portion of his talk was probably the most informative for me. I have always thought that in order to see what is going on right now with Canada's Indigenous people (another topic of discussion - populations versus people), you have to see what happened prior to contact. I do recall having this conversation previously with a non-academic man, who suggested it a ludicrous thought that what happened prior to contact should be important.

Mind you, there have been moments where you talk with "someone" and if you believe what they say or follow what they suggest, could direct your path, possibly creating a new one.

I didn't in this case, as I from that moment took it underground. ha ha ha. It became my secret drive through school, etc, and in my personal adventure of sorts with reading. I have been finding books which teach me interesting things about history - even if I were not on this quest. One thing that Dr. Bruce Miller did confirm after I did an initial browse through this one book on the "english" monarchy, is that there never was a true english royalty. The blue blood of enlish monarchy would appear then, as a sham. The House of Hanover and the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (which changed to the House of Windsor in 1917) - the ancestry was from German, and many other countries, including Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Is this common knowledge, cuz, I'm just finding this all out....ha ha ha.

There is another book, called the History of England from 1926, which I would like to browse through this summer.

This is important, due to the fact that in Canada, the three "founding" nations in Canada include Britain, France and the First Nations people. I know that the history of France is also going to massive, but I will take this one step at a time. Right now, what I see is that there is a continual power struggle which has never gone away in the overtaking of Canada's land. As a First Nations (member? citizen?) it would be very wrong of me to not consider all this into how to affect the most positive change for the Indigenous women of this land. For it's always been the women affected the most negatively, but it will be the women who will force and implement the most positive of changes. Going from one extreme to the next will be how radical in later years it will seem. To be the most marginalized, to cecome a pillar of strength in the Indigenous community seems to be the right course of action for the women. It's a worthy goal to try and achieve that respect and dignity be afforded the Indigenous women of this land.

ok, enough of that for now. Sounds like I almost hopped back on my pedestal. i was recently asked to particpate as a speaker for an women's conference in Alberta. To coincide with my birthday. I love the fact that as a birthday present to myself, I will be speaking in Alberta about this very wonderful project. It's moments like this that I feel so very blessed.

Enough for now. The World Peace Forum Indigenous Programming - June 26th and June 27th, 2006. Think about particpating, we still need funds for that project..(winkwink).

Gloria