Happy New Years everyone! Have a safe and happy night and I’ll be Tweeting and Instagramming the night away . “Make your goal your hobby.” ~Jon Crowley (from Attention Surpus podcast)
New Year New Life
Categories: Personal
Yearly Archives: 2011
Igloos in the City
Categories: Toronto
It’s no secret how much I hate the cold snow. I was raised outside of Vancouver and our winters were very mild. Like seriously wear only your spring coat all winter mild. So when I moved to Toronto I was in serious snow shock. I still am actually. I know I’m supposed to get used to it but as soon as January hits I am conjuring up ways to escape. My ultimate goal is to fly south like a young snowbird, but for now I am just never leaving my house until April dealing with it. It has been snowing … Continued
Nicolas Galanin: Awesome Tlingit Artist
Categories: Art
Hanging with a wolf. I think we look foxxxy together. Earlier this month I went to the Association for Native Development in the Visual and Performing Arts (ANDVPA) Members feast at the Toronto Free Gallery and was surprised with this awesome exhibit by Nicolas Galanin. First I saw the Inert Wolf in the window and I was slightly scared, and then intrigued. It took me the entire dinner to work up the courage to go get a photo with him (thanks to Dee for the photo). It was slightly awkward because I was posing for a while and Clifford Cardinal … Continued
PIPs versus POPs
Categories: Dating + Relationships
Late night inspiration after coming home from Joel‘s place where my roomie, Jas, and I ate awesome food and listened to fascinating conversations. We couldn’t stop talking about PIPs and POPs on our way home and thought why not put my new vlogging prezzie to good use and discuss on camera. Yes we are ridiculous, we quite like it that way. Enjoy! Also I am never wearing a turtleneck ever again. Uggh.
A Valentine (K) for the Holidays
Categories: Fashion
All images from Valentine K site As if you guys aren’t lost and trying to figure out at the very last minute gift for that lucky lady in your life. My vote for this year is cashmere. I like to swathe myself in as much cashmere as humanly possible each winter, and my guess is your girl will like that too. Yes I need proper lighting, an HDSLR and a tripod. I knows. I was lucky enough to be gifted a gorgeous cashmere sweater by Valentine K a tad early this holiday season. I pretty much am already in love … Continued
Connect Four
Categories: Personal
Applique 4 by Fresh Vintage Designs Yesterday marked the 4th year of this blog. It’s interesting that I chose to start this blog on the day of solstice. It has been such a journey these past 4 years learning, living, writing and sharing all along the way. I started the blog simply because I wanted to write. I was getting very busy in school and lacked the sufficient time to pitch and write for periodicals yet I still greatly desired the opportunity to continue to write about all of the different things that appealed to me: Indigenous issues, fashion, films, … Continued
The dating woes of a half-breed
Categories: Dating + Relationships
Still of Paulette Goddard from North West Mounted Police True love will conquer all. That is what most people are told from friends, from relatives, from society. That is all that matters when you are choosing your life partner. That is, unless you are Native. If you are Native (or even a half-breed like myself), then you have a whole history of colonization, assimilation, legislation, and expectations weighing down on your decision making process in the dating arena. It becomes greater than the more typical type of family pressure to marry a certain type of person, or marry within … Continued
Circle of Life
Categories: Personal
Photo by Ray Auger (aka @ojibray) Joseph Boyden at Circle of Light by iBo Last month Joseph Boyden spoke at the ‘Circle of Light‘ conference here in Toronto. Instead of promoting one of his books or speaking about his writing life, he chose to talk about suicide amongst Aboriginal youth. “After much soul-searching these last years I’ve decided I need to speak out in ways beyond my novels and short stories. I’ve decided in these last couple of years not to become a hermit but to instead become an advocate for myself and for people spread out across this … Continued
Crooked Arrows to your heart
Categories: Film + TV
Michael Hudson to the left, Tyler Hill (Mohawk) to the right. I first wrote about Crooked Arrows April 25, 2009 and yet here we are 2.5 years later finally getting some real info (and not just endless casting calls) about the flick. It’s a comedy about lacrosse with a Native American twist. The movie is about a 30-year-old of mixed lineage who must postpone his casino-building dreams to coach the inept local Native American high school lacrosse squad against the prep school league in which he used to star. It is set in an upstate New York reservation and will … Continued
My xmas wish list
Categories: Personal
Illustration by LittleZ This is my 3rd year creating this wonderful little post here. I loves it because it really helps me visualize what I am truly lusting after. It works for me more of a “what do I really want” list for 2012 than a “what people should buy me” list. I look at it as setting intention. The first year I did it (in 2009), I got 67% of the items listed, and last year (in 2010), I got 50% of the items. Less as impressive, but I did put a condo and a car on that last … Continued
‘Mukking Around Toronto’: Guest blog by Sarah Yankoo
Categories: Fashion
Jarret and I strike a pose. Why do we look so Gossip Girl? By, Guest Blogger, Sarah Yankoo Walking in to the Bata Shoe Museum last week on Wednesday made me feel right at home: branded birchbark ornaments, a selection of delicious traditional comfort foods (bison, venison and bannock), A Tribe Called Red (ATCR) and, of course, mukluks everywhere! The evening started off with a chance to peruse the entire collection with Manitobah signature cocktail and bison skewer in hand and some low key beats provided by ATCR. The evening was hosted by the fabulous Waneek Horn Miller, whose rockabilly … Continued
Wapsi not WASPy
Categories: Art
Yesterday I got a fashion shot-out by Paul Taylor, creator of Wapsi Square.A few weeks back I hung out with my Mohawk stuntman friend and tried on one of his many fur hats. This one in particular is coyote. Yes coyote. It lends a fuzzy feel to ones head much unlike when you have too many mimosas. Thanks for the nod Paul, I think Shelly looks great in her furry hat!
Manitobah Mukluks brings a Pow Wow to Toronto
Categories: Events
Tonight Manitobah Mukluks is presenting it’s Fall/Winter 2011 collection tonight at Bata Shoe Museum. It’s bound to be full of beautiful beadwork, sexy sounds, and fabulous fancy shawl dancing. The company has brought in A Tribe Called Red to provide the beats, Christina Bomberry to showcase her pow wow dancing style, and Waneek Horn-Miller to host the entire event. In short, it sounds brilliant. I won’t be there but will have my guest blogger, Sarah Yankoo, out on the scene and bringing you coverage of all the Native awesome action. Look out for that soon, and in the meantime, check … Continued
A chat about Attawapiskat
Categories: Politics
I remember sitting in my marketing research class at Ryerson University where my professor was telling the class that the true measure of a home’s worth was more readily told by the number of bathrooms and not the number of bedrooms. I was just a young student then, fresh from BC and not that far removed from seeing conditions on my home reservation. I naively spoke up and asked “What about homes with no bathrooms?” He haughtily laughed and said that such a thing does not exist in Canada and that it was simply not possible. I didn’t want to … Continued
The great Aboriginal education debate
Categories: Politics
Kenzie Wilson of Clear Lake, MB. Photo from the Globe & Mail. As some of you might already know, my full-time job is in Aboriginal education. I have been working as an Aboriginal Recruitment Officer for a Canadian university for the past year and a half. This means that I travel all throughout Ontario talking to First Nations peoples about their options in post-secondary education. This often includes many high schools located on or near reservations. During my time in this position I have learned a lot about the gaps in education for First Nations peoples in Canada which I … Continued