Six Strong Voices

It’s time to listen. Here are six Indigenous authors telling their own stories in their own words. As human beings, we need to hear what they have to say.

As Canadians, we are all treaty people.

It’s past time, but hopefully these critically acclaimed and award-winning books help prove it is not too late.

The marrow thieves

Dimaline, Cherie

Y DIMAL (2018)

Governor General’s Literary Award 2018

In a future world ravaged by global warming, the only people still able to dream are North America's indigenous population - and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow - and dreams - means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a 15-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones, and take refuge from the "recruiters" who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing 'factories.'"

  

The break

Vermette, Katherena

F VERME (2016)

CBC Canada Reads Nominee 2017

In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Métis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg’s North End is exposed.

Indian Horse

Wagamese, Richard

F WAGAM (2012)

Movie released in April 2018, CBC Canada Reads Nominee 2013

With compassion and insight, author Richard Wagamese traces through his fictional characters the decline of a culture. For Saul Indian Horse, taken forcibly from the land and his family when he's sent to residential school, salvation comes for a while through his incredible gifts as a hockey player. But in the harsh realities of 1960s Canada, he battles racism and the spirit-destroying effects of cultural alienation and displacement.

Seven fallen feathers: racism, death, and hard truths in a northern city

Talaga, Tanya

305. 89707 TAL (2017)

RBC Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction 2018

Over the span of ten years, seven high school students died in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The seven were hundreds of miles away from their families, forced to leave their reserve because there was no high school there for them to attend. Award-winning journalist Tanya Talaga delves into the history of this northern city that has come to manifest, and struggle with, human rights violations past and present against aboriginal communities.

Heart berries: a memoir

Mailhot, Terese Marie

971. 137 MAILH (2018)

Terese Mailhot's memoir chronicles her struggle to balance the beauty of her Native heritage with the often desperate and chaotic reality of life on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in British Columbia. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself facing a dual diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Bipolar II, Terese Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries. As she writes, Mailhot discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story and, in so doing, re-establishes her connection to her family, to her people and to her place in the world.

The reason you walk

Kinew, Wab

971. 2743 KINEW (2015)

RBC Taylor Prize Nominee 2016

As Kinew revisits his own childhood in Winnipeg and on a reserve in Northern Ontario, he learns more about his father's traumatic childhood at residential school. Invoking hope, healing and forgiveness, The Reason You Walk is a poignant story of a towering but damaged father and his son as they embark on a journey to repair their family bond. By turns lighthearted and solemn, Kinew gives us an inspiring vision for family and cross-cultural reconciliation, and a wider conversation about the future of aboriginal peoples.

Laura Bilyea

Librarian, Mississauga Library System

https://toughtimestabloid.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/tt_sep-oct-2018_web.pdf

I can hear them...

The robins are back!

It is a beautiful day; sunny, no breeze, bare ground; it sure looks like spring. The temperature is hovering around 11 degrees but feels much warmer. But, just as last year and the year before, they--the winged harbingers of spring--have returned for the end of winter. Then again, I wasn't paying close attention before 2015.

Winter's wheels are definitely grinding to a slow and perhaps the robins know better than I do when it will truly end. I certainly wouldn't doubt it. It's very good to hear them call out from their old haunts.

Eat Well But Cheap

Eat well, but eat cheap

‘Tis the season to eat hearty but how do you do that without breaking the bank? Here are four books from your local library that celebrate food AND efficiency. These books focus just as closely on preparing delicious meals as they do on smart kitchen management in order to stretch your spending and improve the quality of your eating.

Waste free kitchen handbook : a guide to eating well and saving money by wasting less food

Gunders, Dana.

2015

Scientist Dana Gunders shares everyday techniques that range from shopping, portioning, and using a refrigerator properly to simple preservation methods including freezing, pickling, and cellaring. This handy guide is chock-full of helpful facts and tips, including 20 “use-it-up" recipes and a substantial directory of common foods.

Well fed, flat broke : recipes for modest budgets and messy kitchens

Wight, Emily,

2015 This collection of 120 recipes ranges from the simple (perfect scrambled eggs, rice and lentils) to the sublime (Orecchiette with White Beans and Sausage, Mustard-fried Chicken). Each chapter is organized by ingredient so that you can easily build a meal from what you have on hand. Well Fed, Flat Broke has flavours from around the world including Thai, Dutch, Indonesian, and Latin American-inspired recipes reflecting a diverse array of affordable ingredients.

Keepers : two home cooks share their tried-and-true weeknight recipes and the secrets to happiness in the kitchen

Brennan, Kathy.

2013

This book offers an array of master recipes for classic dishes with options for substitutions, updated old favorites, one-pot meals, "international" dishes, and others that reheat well or can be cooked in individual portions. Along with timeless recipes, Keepers is filled with invaluable tips on meal planning and preparation, all presented in an entertaining and encouraging style.

Save with Jamie

Oliver, Jamie,

2013

Save with Jamie focuses on feeding your family healthily and economically, showing us the most delicious ways to stretch your family food budget further while still enjoying lots of flavour and good, healthy food. His charity, The Jamie Oliver Foundation, seeks to improve people's lives through food.

Originally posted in Jan 2018 Tough Times newspaper

God's Wolf

According to the judgment of history, Reynald De Chatillon was a “Bad Guy” of the highest caliber. All opinions in, allies and foes; they all agree. Stories abound of his cruelties. He’s so bad, he could have been buddies with Prince Vlad the Impaler, if only he’d lived three hundred years later.

God’s Wolf, a biography of the Crusader Reynald de Chatillon, is out to prove this abiding opinion wrong.

Author Jeffrey Lee, a journalist with a background in Arabic and Islamic history, takes the 843-year bad reputation of Reynald de Chatillon, knight of the Second Crusade, and turns it on its head.

Granted, Reynald was an upstart. The younger son of a lesser lord in France, he came on crusade to make his career, like many others of his class. And that he did. He married well, and very likely for love. He became the highly effective Prince of the great city of Antioch and the stepfather of the Empress of Byzantium--a marriage alliance that he orchestrated.  Then mid-career, mid-aggression, he was captured and incarcerated as a POW in Aleppo. Nur al-Din held him for fifteen years; one of the longest POW imprisonments of the era.

Upon being released, Reynald learned he had lost everything. His family, possessions, and princely holdings were all gone.  Reynald had to rebuild his reputation as a loyal king’s man, unbowed by years of torture and confinement, and to convince the influential men in Jerusalem that he was still a chivalrous preudhomme.  That he did, for the second time in his life.  

Reynald did gain something in the fifteen years he spent jailed in his enemy’s dungeon. He developed a deep knowledge of Muslim habits and horrors. He also gained a capacity for revenge.

Other influential men who had been jailed with him (but not for nearly so long), specifically Raymond, Count of Tripoli, became sympathetic to the Muslim leaders.  Raymond of Tripoli became a traitor to the Crusader cause, sowing doubt and dissension as well as deceptively leading hundreds of men in war, only to turn tail and leave them to their deaths. Raymond was one of the men who was left to tell the enduring stories that colour Reynald in evil shades.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The Crusades were a very dark time in world history, an example of the ills of colonialism at its very worst. And yes, Reynald was cold-blooded and cruel, and his audacious gouges at the heart of Islam still show the scars to this day.  However, the Western view of Reynald’s contributions in this seminal time in world history is strangely negative. This is despite the fact he was not alone in perpetrating these kinds of offenses, and that he was always a king’s man, and that he was true to all the attributes of chivalry, as identified at the time.     

Lee writes so engagingly that this book almost reads like a novel. It’s a fascinating polemic that re-examines the primary sources and the biases they reveal. Lee looks at all the facts; from Frankish, Byzantine and Arabic sources; to forge a new opinion on this much-maligned figure from history. And he does it in highly-readable style, incorporating fun references to the films The Manchurian Candidate and Ridley Scott’s historically inaccurate Kingdom Of Heaven. This is a fast-paced read that will provoke and challenge--a great book club choice! 

Originally posted on the Mississauga Library System's Non-Fiction Book Club Blog

Autumn

It's not that I'm getting slower. Well, yes it is.

It's that I can't hear as well, so I have to work harder at figuring out what you say. I can't see as clearly either, so I'm straining more to discern the little things. Those things you just glance at and don't have to figure out? I'm figuring them out. That takes time.

While the world moves farther from me, I find I'm less visible now, to others. Long ago, or so it seems some days, I was avoiding the second glances, closing my ears to the catcalls, cutting off my long hair to be seen as a person, not an object. I guess it worked. Now I am invisible.

For the first thirty years of life, we believe we can change the world, shake down the establishment, change the mistakes we've made. I am at the beginning of aging, just the turn of the season, yet I can see the obstacles that are looming. They cannot be moved; I must navigate around them. Will I do that gracefully or with the impatience of my younger self? As the occasional aches become constant, will I respond with forbearance or with bitterness?

This is why aging starts slow. You can, in that time, learn how to summon new strengths to move with the tide, instead of believing you must change its direction.

Mental Health is not something that just affects “some” people.

Just as every one of us has to deal with catching the flu, or to learn how to handle hereditary illnesses and natural aging, mental health is part of whole-body health for every person.  If you (or someone you care about) become mentally ill, treatment is necessary.

Just as there are preventative measures you can take to ensure a healthy body, there are ways to safeguard a healthy mind. Here are some books from Mississauga’s libraries that can help you manage your mental health.

For methods and exercises for your brain:

Step Back: Why You Need to Stop What You’re Doing to Start Living

By Norman Drummond

158 DRU

2016

We can't hope to achieve our potential unless we take time out to work out what is most important to us. Drummond focuses on the rich rewards of stepping back: clarity of thought, stronger objectives - and the ability to discern the true priorities of your own heart.

Reclaim your Brain: how to calm your thoughts, heal your mind and bring your life back under control

By Joseph Annibali, M.D.

158.1 ANN 
2015

Dr. Joseph Annibali has treated thousands of people with overloaded, overstimulated brains. Whether they are diagnosed with anxiety, disabling OCD, depression, bipolar disorder, or even substance abuse, Annibali’s approach is to address the Too-Busy Brain, a great irritant that interferes with attention, concentration, focus, mood, and often much more. Through practical strategies, understandable explanations, and prescriptive mind-management techniques, Dr. Annibali helps readers get back in control of their lives.

For healthy eating practices and managing children with mental health issues:

 

The disconnected kids nutrition plan: proven strategies to enhance learning and focus for children with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other neurological disorders

By Robert Melillo, M.D.

618. 928 MEL

2016

Dr. Robert Melillo’s Brain Balance program has helped thousands of families across the country, offering a drug-free, scientifically based method for addressing a wide range of conditions, including autism spectrum disorders and ADHD. He presents the nutritional side of the Brain Balance Program, featuring guidelines, tips, and kid-friendly recipes based on the latest scientific research on how food affects the brain. 

 
For inspiration:

Champion for health: how Clara Hughes fought depression to win Olympic gold

By Richard Brignall

796. 62092 HUGHE

2016

Clara Hughes pushed through pain to get to the finish line, trying to have her best race every day but few knew that the same determination and focus were also needed to fight her own personal battles. Clara's inspiring story does not end with winning gold. She has become a symbol of the fight to remove the stigma from mental illness by cycling thousands of kilometres in all kinds of weather to raise awareness. Clara is a remarkable athlete, but it is her strength and courage off the track that have made her a true champion.

Silent running: our family's journey to the finish line with autism

By Robyn Schneider

618. 92858 SCH

2015

Running is a way of life for the Schneider family, but not in the same way as it is for most runners. Twin brothers Alex and Jamie Schneider are severely autistic yet they have run almost 150 races, including six marathons. Their father Allan successfully manages his symptoms of multiple sclerosis with vitamins and miles of jogging on the trails near their Long Island home. Their mother Robyn, while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer six years ago, decided to run her way to recovery. In Silent Running, Robyn Schneider shares her family’s incredible story of triumph in the face of enormous hurdles, and of the shared passion that has fueled their fight.

Look for these books and more at your local library!

Laura Bilyea, Librarian

Mississauga Central Library

Originally posted at:

https://toughtimestabloid.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/tough-times-may-june-2017.pdf

Erosion

You know that it sweeps away pesky garbage, dirt, soil, plants, trees, rocks, boulders, glaciers, landforms.

It can start small, obviously, but once the big chunks start breaking off, it gets a bit harder to manage. The landscape's shape changes. Whole species of plants and animals are not seen any more. The place doesn't look familiar.

Here at midlife, I'm beginning to feel like an island in the middle of the river during spring runoff. Pieces of me are breaking off, washing away. Nice parts; soft ones like moss. Sweet-smelling ones like flowers and new grass.

What's left is sharp-edged, rocky and smaller somehow. Smaller-minded, with smaller amounts of patience, tenderness, willingness.

I don't own the river. I don't control the amount of water flowing past. But I do need to hang on to some of those softer plants far more tightly.