New publishing concern Humming Bird Dreams Press launched Raul Gatica's poetry collection Broken Man (Hombre Roto) at Vancouver Public Liberry, Saturday November 14, 2015. A co-presentation Hummingbird and Spanish-language online magazine, Cencerro, the author and friends gathered to celebrate the new collection. Several speakers were on hand to sing the bi-lingual book's praises and to celebrate. Gatica, a Oaxacan political refugee and now exile, living in Vancouver since 2005, has remained a high profile activist for social justice and various causes. His activism in his native country led to 13 arrests, torture and the need to flee his homeland in fear for his life. Throughout the formal refugee process, Raul has continued to write, organize and speak out against oppression and tyranny. The poems chronicle every aspect of a doomed relationship. A jagged sense of romance and the fallout of a love betrayed are the primary features of this literary litany of the Hombre Roto (the Broken Man). Raul read selected pieces from the book and after each I read the same poem in English. A lively Q and A followed the reading. If you like your love poems bloodied and your poets bruised and battered, Broken Man will speak to you.
L to R, The Champ, Alanis Obomsawin, Storm Standing-On-The-Road
Serendipity is a wondrous thing and it brought Storm and me to
the chance to spend time with 2 Aboriginal women filmmakers of immense talent this evening. This week W2 is hosting the 2nd annual Vancouver
Indigenous Media Arts Festival…I actually called in sick this morning with a
stupendous head cold but when I discovered through social media that Abenaki filmmaker
Alanis Obomsawin would attend screening of her latest NFB documentary, The
People of the Kattawapiskak River,
I knew I would be there. But the added bonus was that the double feature
included Ojibway director Darlene Naponse’s feature Every Emotion Costs.
Darlene, it just so happens, is related to Storm (through her mama, again) and she
and I were fellow artsy, writerly-type students at Okanagan artist Jeanette
Armstrong’s beloved En’owkin Center at Penticton for 2 years and we are old
pals you might say.
Plenty of times on this blog I’ve given high praise to the creative
types or various others but I can’t think of anyone more deserving of accolades
than Obomsawin. I’ve always felt this way about her ever since I first viewed
her ’93 doc Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
which chronicles the 1990 Oka Crisis. Oka was of course
a defining moment in history for Indians like me – Oka changed
everything. And I am not the only one. The elegant and gracious director is now
80 years old (amazing) and I hounded Storm all day to commit to coming with me
to the screening. The film was, as usual, powerful and heartfelt and I recommend
any of her 30 films all based on subjects having to do with Native People and
the majority of which have been produced by the National Film Board. This woman
holds several honorary doctorates; a Governor General’s Award and is an Officer
of the Order of Canada.
She is supremely dedicated and so clearly loves our people that I never miss a
chance to hear her speak. She is the real deal.
L to R, The Champ, Storm, (film maker) Suzi Bekkattla, (Director) Darlene Naponse
Naponse’s film is an emotionally charged piece on grief,
healing and the complexity of relationships. Her film is lush and visually
crafted on a script she wrote and produced (all while holding down a
band-council position) at Whitefish Lake
1st Nation, Ontario
where it was shot (it was a trip whispering to Storm during the film: hey, that’s your relative on the left of the
screen). Back in the day, Darlene was always shooting and writing, shooting
and writing and you just knew she possessed the determination to go wherever it
was she intended. I am so proud of and for her.
Ironic and lucky for me that I should wake this morning discouraged
that my previously oncoming sniffles had become a full-on ragin’ sneeze orgy,
only to be now hitting the sack fed and fortified by the healing power of art…and
great company.
..."if only one good memory is left in our hearts - I will meet you there" - (from my poemMAGPIE)
…Was recently in Ottawa and unable to attend the funeral of the late Neskie Manuel whom I had come know a little over the past couple years. Neskie is the son of Secwepemc (Shuswap) activist Art Manuel and grandson of late indigenous rights activist, George Manuel and nephew of the late healer and writer, Vera Manuel. Anyone not familiar with these names should brush up on their Indian history and become aware of the relentless commitment this family has demonstrated to their community, their nation and to all indigenous people - all Indians (at least in the land referred to as Canada) owe a debt of gratitude to these people.
It would be inaccurate to say Neskie and I were close friends, but as mentioned, I did spend some time with him the last couple years having visited his reserve and the surrounding area dozens of times. We took a road trip together to Prince George early last year and he stayed with me at my apartment in the city during his involvement at a conference there. Neskie was one of those people I don’t think you could help but like. He was young (30), handsome, soft-spoken, bright-minded, dignified and exemplified in every real way the attributes of leadership that seem naturally to descend upon certain people and who seem to inhabit this aura effortlessly. But like others in his family, Neskie’s understood role as a leader wasn’t assumed by birthright and lineage to other activists, it was actively demonstrated day in day out. Neskie was, among other things, an elected councilor for Neskonlith Band, a tireless advocate for preservation of the Secwepemc language, an open source computer guy (which means NOT using Microsoft or other corporate software or operating systems), a mobile radio broadcaster (a so-called pirate radio operator after oppression by the CRTC), a filmmaker who seemed to have natural skills at all communications technology - a helicopter mechanic, for pete’s sake! (this tutelage begun during his service in the Navy as a “younger” man!). It’s a little hard to comprehend how much experience some people seem to be able to cram into a day, a year…a life. I dug Neskie’s sense of humor and had to laugh when following a couple hours I did on-air on his radio set-up, I asked if he had listened to my program (I wanted his approval, you see), to which he responded, dryly – "ummm…yes…I did get to experience your witty banter". It cracked me up and I think we were pals.
I recall when, within 2 minutes of being introduced to his mother, I was seated at her kitchen table early one Sunday, eating pancakes with a bunch of the Manuels as though they had known me for years. Days later I was to be present at a birthday party for one of Neskie’s nieces and watched how generous and unabashedly affectionate the family was toward each other from top to bottom. For a person like me, being there (a frequent theme of this blog) was a gift and I was touched when, before we ate, Neskie offered a blessing and said a few words in the Secwepemc language. Those I admire most (of any background) all seem to share and exhibit in an almost imperceptibly subtle way the same type of unassuming humility, selflessness and generosity of spirit. In the company of people like this you feel safe and somehow…important.
I cannot speak or know of the torments, passions or forces which lured Neskie away from beside a campfire at a traditional family campsite in the back country (early in the AM on Mother’s Day this year) and then delivered him to the nearby river where he was found downstream some weeks later after an exhaustive search. Nor is it my intention to speak of loss or unrealized aspirations, for Neskie surely experienced and gave far more in his brief 30 years than many are able to in a much longer lifetime.
Perhaps the best thing I can say is that sometimes you wish only for a little more time with some people and maybe that I am somehow…changed…and better for briefly knowing Neskie and his people.
New publishing concern Humming Bird Dreams Press launched Raul Gatica's poetry collection Broken Man (Hombre Roto) at Vancouver Public Liberry, Saturday November 14, 2015. A co-presentation Hummingbird and Spanish-language online magazine, Cencerro, the author and friends gathered to celebrate the new collection. Several speakers were on hand to sing the bi-lingual book's praises and to celebrate. Gatica, a Oaxacan political refugee and now exile, living in Vancouver since 2005, has remained a high profile activist for social justice and various causes. His activism in his native country led to 13 arrests, torture and the need to flee his homeland in fear for his life. Throughout the formal refugee process, Raul has continued to write, organize and speak out against oppression and tyranny.
