Buyer beware…

Yesterday morning I had the privilege of sitting in a room with eleven young women, between the ages of 19 and let’s say 32…

Chronologically I’m yesterday’s news, so to speak…

and I love it…

We were discussing two articles, one by Sunera Thobani and another by Yvonne Boyer…

on the subject of the ongoing violent objectification of aboriginal women in Canada initiated with colonialism and the Indian Act…

and how the work of contemporary female First Nations Canadian artists speaks to the legacy and presence of these realities…

The case of the Cowichan Sweaters and the deal with VANOC came up for the third time in as many weeks…

Do you know that in the history of this coast, and not so long ago, it was illegal for aboriginal women to speak their own language, knit, make pottery, dance and sing???

Written in LAW…

This is a mere pointing to the atrocities that aboriginal people have, and continue to experience on this land we call our home…

All in the name of reason…

I have sat in a lot of PhD. and Master’s level seminars in the last four years and the calibre of conversation, analysis, strength, and sensitivity I am witness to in this group blows all of those experiences out of the water…

Like the people who have been here for thousands of years…

these women are refusing to play dead…

Bringing a wealth of wisdom to the table with great respect…

A few weeks ago one of my classmates, a woman in her early twenties, told me a short story… and she gave me permission to share it in this context…

She is looking for the perfect desk, on Craigslist…

She said that when she contacted the individual who was selling the desk by phone the seller asked her a lot of questions…

the kind of questions one might be asked if one was applying to a dating service…

Like most of us who are curious and friendly, but not naive…

sometimes it takes us a while to clue in to the fact that the people we are engaging with have hidden agendas…

our guts tell us but due to indoctrination, our heads take some time to catch up…

Mr. DeskforSale chatted her up about being a student, where and what she was studying ETC.

When she told him that she was a Woman’s Studies major he said,

Oh, that’s kind of like what I do…

with Craigslist…

I help women meet men...

Both cluing in and trying to be diplomatic she said back,

Well that isn’t really the same thing…

and in your case you’re only attending to women who are heterosexual…

you’re leaving out a whole other group of people…

And then he said, Oh… now I get it… you’re into that…

She was glad that her dad went with her to look at the desk…

for support…

She didn’t go for it…

or the rug he had for sale…

because the desk was clearly being used as bait…

I used to live alone before I knew you...