Urban Warrior: Lisa Charleyboy

Photo by Keesic

 Inspired by Toronto Life's 'City Survivor' pages, I am doing my own list of ten things I cannot live without.


1) Chambord Bodum
My favorite Xmas present, this perfect french press is the first thing I go to every morning. And it's portable enough for this vagabond girl to pack around with her.


2) MacBook
This is an obvious one, but of course I need my laptop to go with me everywhere. While I don't bring it with me when I am grocery shopping, it often does day trips with me.


3) iPhone
The birthday gift to myself, it has been a serious source of entertainment on the go. Facebook, MySpace, You Tube, and iPod on the fly. Now it will be a resource for me as I just got myself a dictionary application (for serious nerds only).

4) Biosilk Silk Therapy serum
This serum is gorgeous and keeps my locks smooth and shiny, important for long hair like mine.


5) Cover Fx Foundation
This wet/dry foundation was recommended to me by Mohawk make up artist Michelle French. This can give a light coverage for those days when you have two minutes to put on makeup and fuller coverage to hide those blemishes that can sometimes occur after too many late nights.

6) Farouk CHI ceramic flat iron
This is still an absolute essential for me (thanks to my BFF Lindsay B) as I love to make poker straight locks still and sometimes my hair can get frizzy. When going for a polished or professional look, the flat iron is a must have.


7) Habitual 'Glory" skinny jeans
My latest jean purchase, but my absolute favorite pair. Works great in the fall and winter especially since I can tuck them into all of my boots. They have barely left my hips for my December in Toronto.


8) L'Occitane lavender shea butter hand creme
I have to pick these up in bulk when I am in the States at a Sepohora since they don't sell the purse size in Canada. This cream is rich and smells absolutely delicious, it keeps my hands and fingers and cuticles in smooth, silky shape.


9) Burts Bees hand salve
I keep a small travel size container in my purse, my car, and my travel toiletries bag. It keeps my cuticles in top shape (since I tend to attack them when I am stressed) and my lips soft when chapstick just won't cut it. It is also great for dry skin (like the end of your nose after a cold) and on rough skin, like your elbows.


10) 2005 Mas Des Aveylans a Syrah from Vin de Pays d'Oc
A beautiful french red that is sweet but still light enough to drink casually (read: àpres dinner while watching a good movie). During the winter I am all about enjoying a good red before bed ;). 

Inspired by Toronto Life's 'City Survivor' pages, UNGS is selecting Indigenous individuals from all over who represent what it is to be a Native person living in today's modern world and how we decide to navigate it. 

See other Urban Warrior's here: 
Waawaate Fobister
Kitsuneh Star Moon
Tatanka Means 
Erika Archer 
Anthony Collins (aka Thosh) 
Lisa Charleyboy  
Brian Frejo
Sage Paul
Doug (AKA Plex) Bedard
Julie Lafreniere

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My one year anniversary

I am often asked why I started this blog. There are many reasons why I did, but the main one is that I love to write and this became a vehicle for me to do so. I didn't even think anyone would be reading it when I started writing it, and it took me three or so months before I even told anyone about the blog. I am so happy and feel very blessed to have people interested in what I have to say and what happens in my life. I will be taking a new direction with the blog over the next few months, so stay tuned, because it is it is bound to be provocative, informative and interesting.

Today marks the one year anniversary of writing this blog. There has been so many changes in this past year in my life and I am sure there will be many more in the year to come. I copped this 2008 round-up questionnaire from Marisol from her MySpace (although I have a sneaking suspicion she didn't invent this) and thought it would be a quick and dirty way to fill in a year of (mis)adventures.

1) Where did you begin 2008?
In Clearwater, FL with pseudo parents that don’t belong to me.

2) What was your status by Valentine's Day?
Upset with my then bf who barely made it back home from VA to have our “big date” at Sultan’s Tent where we had a forced “lovely time.”

3) Were you in school anytime this year?
Always in school every year since I was born . . .

4) How did you earn your money?
ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Film Festival mostly, and freelance jobs.

5) Did you have to go to the hospital?
Once or twice to visit a grandmother who also doesn’t belong to me . . .

6) Did you have any encounters with the Police?
Huh?

7) How old did you turn this year?
Mmm, 22 again of course . . .

8) What did you purchase that was over $1000?
Besides my rent? Nada . . .

9) Did you know anybody who got married?
Yes my cousin, Debbie Phillips, and my buddy, Jode Kechego.

10) Did you know anybody who passed away?
Thank goodness no.

11) Did you know anyone who had a baby?
I think someone at my old job had a cat who had some kinda kittens . . .

12) Did you move anywhere?
Yes I moved to my new condo downtown then almost to LA then almost to Montreal.

13) What concerts/shows did you go to?
Ahhh, Lykke Li @ The Mod Club with Kateryna Topol, my homegirl. Miss Kitten @ Circa Nightclub with my fav Nancy and my fav frenchie Gregory. Nammy’s in Niagara, CAMA’s in TO, Digging Roots, The Beat @ ImagineNATIVE- Derek Miller, Kinnie Starr, Shane Ghostkeeper.

14) Are you registered to vote?
In Kanata only.

15) Do you still have the same job as you did in 2007?
Aha ha!

16) How many phones did u go through in this yr?
Dropped my Palm Treo 650 large, had a star trek 80s phone for almost a month, then got my iPhone (Thank GOD).

18) Describe your birthday?
I had a dinner party @ Brassai on King Street where me and my best peeps came out to celebrate and indulge. Then had a casual bbq joint bday with my girl Nancy where we gabbed and drank champagne with our homemade burgers :P.

19) What is one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2008?
Went to LA and had the time of my life . . .

20) What has been your favorite moment?
Being in LA at 7-11 and discovering that a magazine on the stands had a feature that I wrote: RANDOM!

21) What's something you learned about yourself?
That I am chalk-full of energy and enthusiasm for adventure and mishap and vagabond ways.

22) Any new additions to your family?
A new sister :D.

23) What was your best month?
September, my birthday week of celebration followed by a full month of post-celebration of moi.

24) Were you in a relationship this year?
Yeah for a few months, then not, then again.

25) What music will you remember 2008 by?
Hmm Rihanna “Live your Life”, Kanye West “Love Lockdown”, Estelle “Come on Over”.

27) New friend?
Many . . .

28) Favorite Night out?
The Villa on Melrose in LA with Jay Tavare and Rachelle White Wind, I felt sooo hot!

29) Would you say you've changed since the beginning of this year?
I have changed my life, my outlook, my being, my everything.

30) Do you think 2009 will be better or worse?
Better, every year is brighter and holds so much promise :D.

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How much would you give?

Hilary Swank has persevered through a lot to make it to the top.

No I am not endorsing a charity. I am thinking of personal sacrifice to get what you want, what you desire. How much strife can you take in your life in the name of achieving your goals?

I came across Ryan Reynold's feature in the December issue of Movie Entertainment Magazine which told of his struggle. This Vancouver actor moved to LA to pursue his acting career and his first night he was staying at a cheap motel, his new home, and had his Jeep stripped and had to drive it for the next four months without doors. Now that is dedication. And to think I was worried about bringing my 2002 Oldsmobile Alero with a broken taillight to LA for fear of exposing my broke self to valet, nevertheless driving without doors.

So this story made me think of others who have struggled to make their dreams a reality, I turn to Hilary Swank (who apparently is Native American, who knew?) whose success story has been made famous by her appearance on Oprah (at least that is where I saw it). She hailed from a trailer park in Oregon at 15 years old with her newly single mother with $75 and an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme to Los Angeles, her city of dreams. They spent two weeks living in their car and surviving off of her mother's Mobil card and using pay phones to gain an agent for Hilary Swank. Clearly their dedication and ingenuity were reaped with rewards of success.

Closer to home, I have recently met a Native American actor in Hollywood, Jay Tavare, who had his share of ups and downs while struggling for the dream of stardom. As we drove through Los Angeles, he showed me cheap motels where he used to live during tough times and the penthouses he occupied during the high times.

Highs and lows, I guess that could be the nature of life for an artist. I used to always joke about feast and famine when it came to my life and my artistic friends (although I have given it up, something about creating your own reality). So how does one create success from a reality of relative poverty? Many have done it and although I am using mainly actors in this story, who can forget the story of Jewel? She slept in her car in LA while pursuing her career in the music industry.

I know more than a few musicians in LA who struggle and strive to make their dreams a reality. I watch in awe as their talent amazes me, but what amazes me even more is their devotion to their craft while they struggle to make the rent.

So just how much can one really sacrifice to make their dreams a reality? I know that I have begun on that road of sacrifice, shedding my layers of comfort and relative luxury. I am embarking on a vagabond career instead of my comfy one in my condo with my underground parking garage and granite countertops. I am just not sure how far I can really take it though: food stamps, living on couches, driving a semi-broken car, eating canned tuna as a main staple, hustling to make rent. It all sounds, well, like a lot of struggle.

I think of one young woman that I greatly admire, one who is a true talent, vision, and a self-made art star. She made it happen for herself with an idea and one suitcase. She is who I think of when I remember that out of strife and struggle can come success.

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YYZ Day 18- Should I stay or should I go?

While there hasn't been any snow in the last week, this is what Toronto can look like in winter: bleak.

"As you go through life there will be no shortage of people who'll tell you how to live. Don't argue with them. Say 'Yes that's a brilliant, brilliant idea' but then do what you want."
~Woody Allen as David Dobel in Anything Else

Since my trip to LAX, the land that holds wonder and joy for me, I have been making the great debate. When do I move to LA?

There are so many things that have caught me from immediately making the leap. Namely my degree that I have about one year left to complete. So close, yet so far away. From a girl who has spent most of her life in school, isn't it enough already? I realize the importance of education (obviously or I wouldn't have spent all these years in post-secondary school) but I am totally fizzled out on the whole school vibe. Of course the York University strike that happened over a month ago (which is still going on and I don't know when it will end) has played a huge factor in this TO balking and LA stalking. So what decisions do I make?

I have heard from many people who have come across my path in the past month. One NoHo gym club owner says "Just do it. What have you got to lose? You are getting older every day, every second, just hurry up and move here already." Hmm, yes sage advice. And judging by the way I felt in his gym: full of life, excitement, and general joie de vivre, I would say his lead is a good one to take. A girlfriend here in Toronto reminds me that "School is always there for me whenever I am ready to finish it." Today a new friend reminds me to "Do what is right for me and follow my heart."

And I do want to follow my heart. It has been left in LA. Don't get me wrong, there are many beautiful, wonderful things and people in my life that make me want to be a bi-citizen, or as Amalita (of Sex and the City Season 1) would say a "Citizen of the world." Which of course I am really only referring to Toronto and LA. Which does sound like having your cake and eating it too, maybe that will do.

I do not know what the future holds for me just yet. As I am still weighing my options of finishing out the winter semester in Toronto (which could mean May departure or July depending on the strike) or just jumping ship and taking off to LA as soon as the cold takes me over and the grayness of the city envelopes me to the point of no return.

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For Richer or Poorer?

Holly Golightly debated the same conundrum.

I, (Bride), take you (Groom), to be my (husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

Seriously for richer or poorer? Does anyone really mean that? Or is it something strategized from the implementation of the dating ritual? Initial meeting: Italian leather shoes, check, Gucci wallet, check, Acura Integra circa 2002, oops = last meeting. I wonder whether women in their 20s date for love or merely for convenience.

On a recent road trip I picked up a 2005 audio CD entitled "Are Men Necessary" by Maureen Dowd, a post-feminist author/columnist who looks at male and female interactions. In one portion of this book she discusses how women have tended to their educations and careers only to be found lonely and without dates in their late 30s and early 40s. She states that these women have found that their younger counterparts who have filled roles as shopgirls, assistants, waitresses and the like have found themselves soon tying the knot to the older, successful men that they can't get the dates with.

So this debate really got me thinking as I was really striving to become an alpha female for a while. I was getting the education so I could land that big job where I worked 60+ hour weeks for years on end so I can pay for my own Prada and Louboutin pumps. However, I soon saw that that path may lead me to a life full of loneliness, and live to be woman who lived in a house of old shoes, but no children.

Then I came across this epiphany as of late that I should try to lead a balanced life of career, creativity, love, and family. It is also in line with this post-feminist line of thought, much like Bridget Jones' Diary, Sex and the City, and Ally McBeal. Follow your dreams and your career until you meet your man. Then what? That is the part that is always left out of these modern day fairy tales.

Filling in those blanks is what I am left to ponder. It is much easier if the male in question is like Mr. Big, a rich, older successful male who will support you (with a Manhattan penthouse, and a big closet full of designer duds) but what if he is more like Aidan and more on the low-key artist tip? How does that work out then? That is why I question the for richer or poorer, because I mean who wants to go back to the Alpha female role anyways? It is far too draining, and not rewarding enough to live a well rounded life (in my books anyways).

So maybe there needs to be a new class of post-post-feminism where young women date (and subsequently marry) for love and common companionship and then work hard together to build a future for their family . . . happily ever after.


'Goldigger' by Supreme Beings of Leisure

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Breaking stereotypes (again)

Photo by Nadya Kwandibens of Red Works
Musician Derek Miller rocks it out at the Hard Rock Café during the imagineNATIVE Film Festival.

A savage male warrior in a loincloth with red war paint across his cheeks stands beside his long raven-haired beauty, who is clad in beaded buckskin with a feather in her hair: these are the pre-eminent stereotypes attributed to native peoples in North America. Instilled in the global consciousness by Hollywood films, they are often the only portrayals people know.

On the dark side of this strife are the negative stereotypes that are attributed to native peoples street-side, stereotypes more prevalent in urban centres and towns near native peoples’ reservations. During the imagineNATIVE Film Festival, which took place last month in Toronto, groups of talented indigenous and native peoples gathered – individuals who not only challenged the stereotypes, but defied them. The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival opened Oct. 15 at the Bloor Cinema with an Australian feature documentary, River of No Return.

This is the largest indigenous film festival and showcases film produced, directed or written by indigenous people from around the globe. The festival has grown since 2000, when attendance numbered around 800; in 2008, the projected numbers of attendees was 16,000. What is truly impressive about the festival is the diversity of indigenous peoples there; they come from countries as far away as Taiwan, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia and as near as the United States. It is easy to forget that indigenous peoples exist everywhere – there are the Saami from Finland, Siberian Yupik from Russia and Maori from New Zealand. The festival brings together numerous indigenous peoples from around the globe, creating a collaborative environment where artists can connect and establish a strong community. The strong friendships created, working partnerships initiated and lifetime relationships solidified here are examples of the community built at the film festival. In terms of this strong element of interpersonal relationship building, it is unlike any other film festival.

The indigenous community comes together not only to support the filmmakers and actors, but also the featured artists, performance artists, curators, programmers, producers, musicians, dancers and traditional people involved in various aspects of the imagineNATIVE Festival.

One of the programmed installations at the Trinity Square Video and A Space Gallery was HOW: Engagements with the ‘Hollywood Indian,’ curated by Ryan Rice (Mohawk). It showcased artists like photographer Nadya Kwandibens (Ojibwe), artist Sarah Sense (Chitimacha/Choctaw) and artist Terrance Houle (Blood), who challenge the stereotypes both in their engaging work and in their daily lives. From Sundance Film Festival programmer Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne and Mescalero Apache) to acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki) to Sundance Grand Jury Prize-nominated Eagle vs Shark director Taika Waititi (Maori) to River of No Return director Darlene Johnson (Dunghutti), there were plenty of internationally acclaimed, talented indigenous filmmakers able to shift the global consciousness and show there is more to indigenous peoples than meets the eye.

-A reprint from the article 'Tackling global stereotypes of native peoples through film' from Excalibur Newspaper

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Nomad's Land

"Is it one and a half hours or two this time of day?" I ask my then boyfriend. He shrugs and says "Let's just go." I throw on my jacket and off we pile into my car to make the familiar ride. The ride is to Buffalo Airport (BUF), a mere hop skip and a jump away from our place in Toronto where the flights within US are ridiculously cheap. He is off to . . . where is he off to? Virginia or Florida? Who can keep track, point is he was off, again, and far away from me.

How does one deal in a relationship with a nomad, a nomadic gypsy, a wanderlust, a vagabond? I even remember my then boyfriend telling me that there was a gene that was found in people that made them naturally pre-dispositioned to wanderlust, and he had it. I laughed and said he inherited it from his father, who was a world champion athlete, and liked to roam.

So I struggled with his inclinations toward roaming for the entire two years we were together. I never understood why he "had" to go to Montreal, Halifax, Virginia, Florida, etc., etc. Yeah sure he had film work and needed to go sometimes, but leaving for 3 months for 3 weeks work? Ahh, the film business, it allows for strange concessions sometimes.

And those concessions are where I find myself now. I am now following in his footsteps, breaking out into the film business. Which has recently led me to want to move to Los Angeles. However in my quest for this move, it is also going to lead me to Montreal for the month of December, back to Toronto to film in January, and then well who knows? Maybe back to LA or staying in Toronto until April. I am now the wanderlust, the vagabond, the nomadic Indian gypsy (as I like to refer to myself as).

So what does this newfound quest and lust for travel bring to my dating life? Strife and complications, just as it did when I was on the other side waiting for someone to return home. I never intended to adopt this lifestyle so quickly. I knew that I would need to travel, desire to travel, want to have more than one "hometown" but didn't expect it to happen so fast.

As I live life in the fast lane, what does that mean for the person I am dating who waits patiently for me to return? How long can he wait, how do I fulfil his desire for my company while I am wandering to and fro? I know that when I was waiting I was never satisfied, and was always restless . . . waiting, wondering. So just how do these relationships go?

It's not quite a long-distance relationship, not quite a regular relationship. No it is a relationship with a nomad. I have friends who are on the receiving end of this relationship who wait for their boyfriend's to return from their homes in South America, or from their surfing trips in Hawaii. They wait patiently, happily busying themselves with imagining their soon-to-be jet-set lifestyle and how they will dress their live-in-nanny. But what does the guy do? Imagine their girlfriend one day making lunch for the children before she heads out for a few months? Much more difficult to fathom.

It is tough terrain to tread, mostly because it is new. New for me, being on this side of the equation. Maybe I should ask my then boyfriend for tips. But wait, it never really worked. So where do those buffalo roam?


'Wanderlust' by Bjork.

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Pau-Wau

"Isn't this awesome, can you believe all the natives around here?" says my new Albertan friend to me. Hip-hop is spinning in the background and the club is full of beautiful brown faces. I look around and drink it all in. "Yes it is amazing, I wish it was always like this. It would be so good. Just like New Mexico . . . " I say. It's Sunday evening, we are at an unofficial wrap party at a spot downtown the last night of the Toronto Pow Wow.

I believe that is what the pow wow is really meant to be about, a place of social gathering for Native people to come together, be together, meet, hang out, laugh and have fun. I have been so blessed this past weekend to see so many friends who I haven't seen for some time and so many new friends who have come into my life.

It has been a weekend full of fun, festivities, and frivolity. I am glad that I made the effort to come back from Los Angeles to make this great event. It has been worth leaving the sun, sand, and surf to make it out to all these amazing Indian events.

Friday night was the Canadian Music Awards Show which was held at the Rogers Centre and featured performances by Buffy Saint-Marie, Crystal Shawanda, and Northern Cree.

But for me the best performance was by the awe-inspiring Tanya Tagaq Gillis. Every single time I hear this woman perform, I feel like their is an other-wordly spirit moving through her and then through me. There is something awakened deep within me that is so deeply spiritual and moving. It is an experience like no other. I am usually left with wet eyes, trying to hide them from whomever is next to me because it is hard to explain why I am left in tears by hearing her voice and her performance. I had the pleasure of meeting her at the 4th Annual Awards After Party featuring Digging Roots & Friends.

The after party at the Opera House was amazing. There were over 600 people who came and took part in the big bash of the evening. It was another moment where there were friends whom I haven't seen for a long time in the sea of brown faces. I was told by a non-native attendee that there where actually only a few non-brown faces in the whole crowd. How amazing to gather so many Native people to celebrate our own artists and their many talents.

The talent just kept on going as the next day, Saturday, I went to check out the Manitoba Aboriginal Showcase down at the Docks where I caught dynamic duo JC Campbell and Tracy Bone. They were a delight and a pleasure to watch as the love for each other just oozed out of them. And Tracy's voice is incredible.

Equally incredible is my ability to jump to and fro from event to event. I had to take an intermission from the line-up to attend a friend's birthday party (where there was a live burlesque dancer). Then after that performance I caught up with everyone at Park Lane where Wab Kinew performed earlier along with a fashion show from Northern Styles. So I missed the performances but managed to catch last call to catch up with some new and old peeps.

However, the peeps that I came out to see were the pow wow dancers and the drummers. Somehow with all of my late evenings coupled with a small bit of jet lag, I only made it to the pow wow on Sunday. I felt über-guilty about it all until I spoke to others Sunday evening, many of which had come from other cities to the "pow wow" but were really there for all the other events. Phew, an easing of my guilty conscience by safety in numbers.

And the numbers of Native people who came and joined in the festivities at the 15th Annual Canadian Aboriginal Festival is what makes it matter. After all they are the "largest multi-disciplined Aboriginal arts event in North America." So I can only thank an event like this for creating spaces and places for all those beautiful Native faces.

~The term pow-wow originated from the Algonquian word “pau-wau”, which means he/she dreams.

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