Favourite Quotations

There are some quotes from the book I would like to share, because they really appealed to me. Drew Hayden Taylor has a highly humorous way of writing which can be vey motivational, especially for students, and which makes it easy to read the book.

KEESIC reaches over and touches RUSTY's denim jacket with wonder.

KEESIC: And this? What animal does this skin comes from?

RUSTY: [Shrugging] It's a Levi.

KEESIC: It looks like all one skin. This Levi must be a big animal.

(Toronto at Dreamer's Rock, p. 15)

KEESIC: My vision told me nothing of this, any of this.

RUSTY: Your vision? You had a vision here? I don't remember hearing anything about that, and my mother's the biggest gossip around. She knows everything that goes on in the village.

KEESIC: I was here for five days with nothing but wind and the sun for companionship. I drank water, I chanted, I prayed for my vision to appear. Finally, one dark and windy night, it came. And went.

RUSTY: So that's how you got to be this crazy. No wonder. You were probably hallucinating or something with no food in five days.

KEESIC: The Creator told me how to live in images and stories that took time to figure out. But that is the way of the Creator. All things worth having must be earned.

RUSTY: So why are you up here again? Looking for DreamQuest, the sequel?

(p. 21)

KEESIC: A crow? Did you say you heared a crow? What did it say?

RUSTY: Craw. What else does a crow say? It just screeched a few times when I drank my beer, then it went away. [Keesic looks worried.] Why? What does a crow have to do with anything?

KEESIC: I don't know. But you know what a crow is.

MICHAEL and RUSTY, confused, look at each other. 

RUSTY: [Bluffing.] Yeah, of course I do, but you better explain it to Michael anyways.

KEESIC: They are the messengers of the Creator and other powerful beings. If that crow was talking to you, it must have been for a reason. You should learn to listen, Rusty, it might have been trying to tell you something important.

RUSTY: Like where the garbage dump is.

MICHAEL: Messengers of the Creators! How quaint!

(p. 27)

KEESIC: That's the third time you've mentioned this white man. Why is he white? Is he not well? 
RUSTY: Well, that's a judgment call.
MICHAEL: I guess you could say he is another nation far to the east in your time. And in time he came to this island here.
KEESIC: I have heared stories about these people. But I thought they were just stories.
MICHAEL shakes his head confidently. 
MICHAEL: Well, they're coming. Taking an educated guess, I would estimate you to be from approximately the 1590s. And Champlain landed in this area arounf 1615. We're talking a couple of decades at the most.
RUSTY: [Laughing.] Boy, do you have a surprise coming. Guess who's coming to dinner? You better put out an extra 250 million plates, but be sure and check the silverware after.
(p. 29) 

RUSTY: Where are we standing? 
KEESIC and MICHAEL look at each other, confused. 
We're on Dreamer's Rock. And what is Dreamer's Rock a part of? [More confused looks.] It's part of the land, part of Mother Earth. My Uncle Stan once told me that it all comes back to that. The Odawa, and I guess other Indians, are the land, of the land. The land is the basis for everything. We have survived not just on the land, but with it.
KEESIC: How can you know the meaning of survival, you who have never known hunger?
RUSTY: I survive in my time, you survive in yours. You do it by hunting in the bush, I do it by working in a snack bar, and he probably does it through space-age stuff. The tools may change bur the idea stays the same. The point is, we've survived. We're still here today.
MICHAEL: And tomorrow.

(p. 49-50)

Ah, meeg-wetch. [Thank you]  
(p. 52)

Rusty, Keesic and Michael

The three characters of the book are very special and portrayed in an interesting way. Rusty is a native teenage boy at the age of sixteen who is torn between the traditions of his people and the lure of modern life. He is the first character introduced to the reader, who comes to 'Dreamer's Rock' to have a beer without any respect for this sacred place. By this action it becomes obvious that Rusty knows very little about his Aboriginal culture and therefore shows almost no pride for it. He is dressed in ripped up jeans and listens to heavy metal tunes on his Walkman. One quickly gets the impression that Rusty is frustrated, because he gets angry very quickly. It gets obvious that is caught in a conflict. He doesn't quite know where he belongs to - the native side, or the white people’s side. Therefore he drinks alcohol and tries to escape from reality, repressing his problems. The text also indicates that he comes from a poor family which doesn't pay much attention to him. Rusty happens to make a magical encounter with two members of his tribe. They are both boys at the same age as Rusty, but Keesic is from a time about 400 Years back in the past and Michael is a boy from the future. After talking to them for some time, Rusty realizes the importance of his culture and learns to value his native roots.

Keesic comes from a time prior to the Native's first contact with the Europeans. Therefore he doesn't know any kind of modern inventions, such as beer, roads, factories and clothes out of other materials than animal skin and is very curious about it. He himself is wearing buckskin breech, is very religious and believes in the great spirit and vision quests, which is why he came to 'Dreamer's Rock'. In his belief the crow is the messenger of the great spirit which is why Keesic gets very excited when Rusty tells that he has met a crow earlier. Keesic is very proud of being native and respects the traditions of his tribe. He knows his body and limits very well and is very respectful. He tries to help Rusty even tough Rusty had been very unkind and stubborn towards him earlier.

Michael is the example of an Odawa in 2095. He represents the cultural loss which is being characterized by not being familiar with his ancestry, language and culture. He comes from an era in which self-government has become a reality that allows for tax-free benefits, free Medicare, free schooling and large reservations. However, his only identification attesting to his native status is a card he has to carry with him.

Dreamer's Rock

When I first read the title 'Toronto at Dreamer's Rock' I wasn't able to make sense of it. Of course, I've heared of Toronto before, but I didn't know what 'Dreamer's Rock' could be. The description in the book said that the play is located at:

'Dreamer's Rock, Whitefish River (Birch Island) Reserve, Ontario.'

This information indicated that 'Dreamer's Rock' actually exists and therefore is a real place in Canada. But these first information were just geographical details - I wondered what the mysterious name 'Dreamer's Rock' could stand for. This is why I first searched the internet to get an answer to my question. I found out that the rock derives its name from a local Native tradition. Aboriginal boys at the age of puberty were sent to the summit where they fasted and, trough dreams, received powers from a guardian spirit. That's why it started to make sense to me, that the three characters of the play were all boys at the age of sixteen. When Rusty (a boy from the present) and Keesic (a boy from the past) first met, Keesic asked Rusty what he is doing on this sacred site, which confirmes the previously described Indian tradition. After I found out about the story of 'Dreamer's Rock', I wondered how the word Toronto could fit into this context. This question was answered during the reading process. There is a sequence in the book where Keesic (the boy from the past) talks about his tribe Odawa. He says that they are great traders and often go to the south for goods. The people there use the word 'Toronto' for this place where people gather to trade, but it can be used for any place where important things happen. This is why Rusty transfers it to their gathering at 'Dreamer's Rock' by saying: "So we're like a mini-Toronto up here. That's cool."

The picture on the left is a creation by the Canadian artist Mishibinijima called 'Dreamer's Rock'. He was born on Manitoulin Island in 1954 and grew up with the legends of the Ojibwe people (second-largest population of First Nations in Canada). In the 1970s Mishibinijima started to explore different sacred places around Manitoulin Island and expressed his impressions in his paintings, which speak to all who yearn for spiritual sustenance. His works show the interconnectedness of all life and can be understood as a call upon all nations to preserve our national surroundings for the benefit of our children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o3cOH70C-0&feature=player_detailpage

"Stories are memories

that must be shared with the universe,

because if they aren't

the universe becomes a much smaller place."               (Toronto at Dreamer's Rock)   

This quote caught my attention right at the beginning of reading. In my opinion there is much truth in this reflection. I believe that stories have the power to connect past, present and future. Stories can contain memories, values and experiences from the past, which can benefit present and future generations in ways of learning from them as well as understanding their own story. They offer a chance to get in contact with their ancestors lives, who might have written or told their stories for themselves as well as a gift for future generations.

There are different reasons for telling stories. I think that most of the time we use stories to transform ourselves and tell our experiences. Very often stories are told to broaden our perspective and to make a difference in the world. In most cases our stories become an essential part of our very selves as Drew Hayden Taylor confirms in his introduction to ‘Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock’. He emphasizes that he can hardly separate himself from his work or his life, which is due to the fact that he is a product of his environment, which is crucial for the production of his work in terms of stories.

I therefore agree to the statement which implies that stories enrich people’s lives and have therefore be shared, because if we don’t share our memories, experiences and opinions, the world (or universe) would be much more limited and less heterogeneous.