This blog entry is something I had composed for the “Voice and Presentation Bootcamp” I am participating in today and tomorrow. This 2-day intensive workshop focused on voice-body-space is facilitated by Kathryn Ricketts and Sarah Turner from the Teacher & Learning Center at Simon Fraser University. For homework, we had to prepare a 2.5 minute presentation. I had one topic and changed my mind. I decided to write and present about one of my favorite memories of Pulling Together 2012 “Return to Sliammon.” The entry starts off as a continuation of today’s presentation. We had to prepare a 1-minute presentation about a prize possession to tell another person a little bit more about us. This clip has been on my bag for months and Pulling Together has been an important part of my life for the past few years. Enjoy.
My prize possession – Voice-Body-Space BootCamp 2012
Yesterday, I spoke about this object. It’s a gift from one of the Pulling Together Canoe Journeys I participated in 3 years ago. I paddled in the SD46 Spirit Canoe s-yéwen s-néxwílh and have been invited for the past 3 years. The purpose of Pulling Together is to build relationships between Aboriginal Youth and Policing Agencies.
This year we paddled in the Sliammon territory in Powell River. Even though I am a teacher by trade, I often leave the Journeys feeling like a learner. One thing I have learned is to NEVER call a canoe a B-O-A-T. On the journey, it’s a 4-LETTER WORD.
I knew about the B-word from previous journeys. Any violation would cost people $5 or 10 push-ups. This year, the stakes were higher. Violators were thrown into the water. Ironically, the youth this year were “policing” the B-word very closely.
Courtney (aka. the Bow Princess)
During the Journey, I paddled in the Dimitri, the Cadillac of canoes. The “Bow Princess” was a youth from my hometown. Apparently, I said the B-word several times that day. The Bow Princess and fellow youth in the canoe were not pleased.
At one stop, the Bow Princess confiscated my cell phone while another youth picked me up from behind and almost threw me into the water. Due to water safety, they were not allowed to throw me in. As a result, the Bow Princess kept my cell phone for the rest of the day and said I would have to pay up in some other way.
That evening, the entire Pulling Together fleet, that is approximately 250 people, formed a large circle on the field. The Bow Princess stepped up to announce that I had said the B-word and insisted that I do push-ups in the middle of the circle. Luckily, other people who said the B-word too were asked to join me in the circle.
More than 2-dozen of us stood in the middle of the circle prepared to do push-ups. Instead, we did the Eagle dance doing push-ups intermittently throughout the song. After several rounds, the dance was over and I got my phone back.
Lesson learned. Do not call a canoe a B-O-A-T.
Written by Christine Ho Younghusband, August 14th, 2012 | Comments Off on A Four Letter Word
