The Truth About Stories; A Short History of Indians in Canada

[sanguinity]

31. Thomas King, The Truth About Stories.

The truth about stories is that's all we are.

I cannot sum up. I really can't. Many stories, and stories about stories, and stories about how stories make us. Stories that could be, stories that are. Stories which describe possibilities, stories that keep us from seeing possibilities. Indian stories, and stories about Indians, and stories about being Indian, and stories about how those things interact. Origin stories, history stories, popular stories, personal stories. Stories about good and evil, stories that create evil, stories that tell us how to respond to good and evil. Stories.

And yes, some of these stories changed the way I see myself in the world.

The story about Coyote and the Ducks, for instance. Take it. It's yours. Do with it what you will. Tell it to your children. Turn it into a play. Forget it. But don't say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story.

You've heard it now.

32. Thomas King, A Short History of Indians in Canada.

I'd been blowing past this one for a while now when it appeared in bibliographies of Thomas King's works, figuring that it was, well, a short history of Indians in Canada. *cough* And what with my not being in the mood for a history book. But then I ran across this post of (spoilerly) excerpts from Thomas King's "Where the Borg Are" (collected in Short History) and knew two things: 1) this is not a history book, and 2) I must get it and read it.

Here, have a premisey, non-spoilery excerpt from "Where the Borg Are":

“I wrote a paper on the Indian Act,” Milton told his grandfather as they waited for The Simpsons to come on. “For my history class.”

“Oh, ho,” said his grandfather. “I’ve heard about that one, all right.”

“My teacher didn’t think that it was a great historical document.”

“That’s probably because she’s not Indian.”

“But I read this really neat book, and guess what?” Milton waited in case his grandfather wanted to guess. “I think I know where the Borg went after they were defeated by Jean-Luc Picard and the forces of the Federation.”

“Boy,” said his grandfather, “that’s probably the question of the century.”

Milton took his Canada’s First Nations out of his backpack and put it on the coffee table next to his grandfather’s recliner. “Everybody’s been looking for them somewhere in the future, right?”

“That’s right.” “But if this book is correct, I think the Borg went back in time.”

“Ah,” said Milton’s grandfather.

“Into the past.”

“Ah.”

“Europeans,” said Milton, and he turned to page two hundred and eighty-four in the history book and pointed to the eighth word of the first line. “That’s where the Borg went.”

Milton’s grandfather looked at the word just above Milton’s finger. “Holy!” he said, and he sat up straight and hit the mute button.

“That’s right,” said Milton. “‘Assimilation.’ According to this book, the Indian act is…” And Milton paused so he could find the right tone of voice. “An assimilation document.”

(By the way, the book they're reading is the Patricia Dickason book I mentioned here. Also, WildUnicornHerd has a full list of refs for the story here.)

So that's "Where the Borg Are". As for the rest of the collection... Slicing wit plus a heaping side of surrealism. Take for instance the guy who has one of the more impressive collections of Indians east of Saskatoon:

...last Christmas, she had come back from Alberta with a matched drum team—eight singers, a buffalo-skin drum, and a pow-wow song book with a CD, so you could learn the songs and sing along if you felt like it. The singers were an absolutely stunning gift, even better than the Dog Soldiers.

Of course the singers weren't perfectly matched. The lead singer was a little on the heavy side and two of the Indians didn't look as Indian as Hudson would have hoped.

"I raised that question with the dealer," Eleanor told him, "and he said that every one of them has a status card."

"Those two aren't quite as dark as the others." Hudson felt bad about raising the matter. "And only three of them have long hair."

"Honey, be reasonable," said Eleanor, "it's almost impossible to find a matched set of full bloods, anymore."

Then there's "The Baby in the Airmail Box", in which an Indian couple (Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal) try to adopt a white baby:

"We're not racist," says Bob. "It's simply a matter of policy."

"So, race isn't a consideration?" asks Mr. Cardinal.

"Absolutely not," says Bob. "We're not allowed to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation."

"So," says Mrs. Cardinal, "how do you discriminate?"

"Economics and education," says Bob.

...and then there's the one in which Coyote is in charge of the removal of enemy aliens during WWII. (Which goes about the way you'd expect it to, with Coyote in charge.) And then there's "The Closer You Get to Canada, the More Things Will Eat Your Horses," which I can't tell you about because I'd have to tell you the whole thing and that'll spoil it, but oh, lord, I so wish I could believe that wasn't the way the world worked. And then there's the one where Jesus asks for refuge on the Garden River Indian Reserve, or the one where Charm falls from the sky and lands in a motor court swimming pool (and thus doesn't make Turtle Island, because there is no turtle and no muskrat). And then there's "The Colour of Walls," in which walls will change color, despite one's best efforts to whitewash them, especially the old walls, so if you want white walls you must first start with young walls:

"What's wrong with wanting white walls?"

"Nothing." Afua shook her head. "It's just that they're very young," she said. "They don't know much yet. All they know is white."

And the title story...? Ohhh, the title story. The title story is like knives.


(Additional tags: Cherokee)

Comments

[espreite.livejournal.com]

I picked up The Truth About Stories a long time ago when it was the only Native-centric book available in an area that, considering the amount of Natives living there, should have had a much larger selection, and it blew my mind. Clearly I'll have to find a way to get a hold of A Short History, sounds just as amazing. Thanks for the recommendation!

[sanguinity]

The Truth About Stories rewired part of my brain. And solved a number of problems I had been wrestling with.

Short History did not have as profound an effect on me, but many things made me laugh, many things made me nod and say, "Isn't that just the way it is?" and many things made me do both.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

I requested The Truth About Stories from the library, and it finally came. OMG. Thank you for the review.

[sanguinity]

Oh, yay! :DDDD