Building bridges between all communities
Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/68073
PAGE 8 • JUNE 2012 Your Members of the Legislative Assembly Aboriginal Day Your Family in Celebrating National Join You and Greg Selinger MLA for St. Boniface Premier of Manitoba (204) 237-9247 GregSelinger.ca Deanne Crothers MLA for St. James (204) 415-0883 DeanneCrothers.ca Experiencing fine German 'INJUNEERING' BY DREW TAYLOR ONCE MORE, for the fourteenth time, I Ron Kostyshyn MLA for Swan River (204) 734-4900 RonKostyshyn.ca Flor Marcelino MLA for Logan (204) 788-0800 FlorMarcelino.ca Nancy Allan MLA for St. Vital (204) 237-8771 NancyAllan.ca Rob heard the call and I answered. Germany, that far away land of schnitzel, white asparagus, and Indian enthusiasts, beckoned, and who was I to say no to any of those intriguing pos- sibilities. That is why I found myself in Jena (about an hour outside of Berlin), at a confer- ence called FAKE IDENTITIES: Imposters, Altemeyer MLA for Wolseley (204) 775-8575 RobAltemeyer.ca Conmen, Wannabees in North American Cul- ture. At first I was a little concerned as to why I, in particular, was being invited to a confer- ence with such a name and topic… but I was soon assured there was no hidden motivation behind it. To begin with, I usually find academic Gord Mackintosh MLA for St. Johns (204) 582-1550 GordMackintosh.ca Melanie Wight MLA for Burrows (204) 421-9414 MelanieWight.ca Erna Braun MLA for Rossmere (204) 667-7244 ErnaBraun.ca Clarence Petterson MLA for Flin Flon (204) 687-3367 ClarencePettersen.ca gatherings of this type kind of boring, but this one was a surprisingly interesting conference where topics like Armand Garnet Ruffo's book on Grey Owl was discussed, followed by an analysis of MAD MEN'S Don Draper as an imposter, followed by a discussion about For- est Carter, the man who wrote the books THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES and THE EDUCA- TIONS OF LITTLE TREE. Evidently he rein- vented himself from a White supremist and Klansman in the 50s and 60s to, in the 70s, an orphaned half Cherokee author raised by his Cherokee grandparents. I'd like to see the paper work for that magic trick. More than anything, I love coming to Ger- Stan Struthers MLA for Dauphin (204) 622-7630 StanStruthers.ca Kevin Chief MLA for Point Douglas (204) 421-9126 KevinChief.ca Greg Dewar MLA for Selkirk (204) 482-7066 GregDewar.ca Tom Nevakshonoff MLA for Interlake (204) 664-2000 TomNevakshonoff.ca many because it is an intriguing country full of mischief and coincidence, at least for me. They also really like North American Native culture, in whatever form. In addition, every time I've been here, unusual and fascinating things seem to occur that also happen to tickle my indigenous funny bone. And a humourist never passes up an opportunity for his funny bone to be tickled. For instance, once I landed in Frankfurt, I had to go through passport security. Nothing unusual there. They asked what I was doing in the country and I said I was here to lecture on Native culture and literature. He looked at me slightly amused, saying in a thick German ac- cent "And you are an expert on such things?" I told him proudly that I was born, raised and currently live on my Reserve, and was of Ojibway extraction. "I wondered about that", he said, "I saw on your sweat shirt 'pow wow', but then I saw your last name on your passport. Eric Robinson MLA for Kewatinook (204) 943-2274 Eric-Robinson.ca Matt Wiebe MLA for Concordia (204) 654-1857 MattWiebe.ca Sharon Blady MLA for Kirkfield Park (204) 832-2318 SharonBlady.ca Kerri Irvin-Ross MLA for Fort Richmond (204) 475-9433 KerriIrvinRoss.ca Your name does not sound Ojibway." Only in Germany would they reason these things out. Incensed, I whipped out the dreamcatcher I have hidden in my pocket for just such emer- gencies, shook it at him and said "don't make me make it rain!" Okay, so maybe I didn't do that exactly but I wasn't sure how to respond to a statement like that. Coincidently, that wasn't the only time my last name would be involved in a misunderstanding of sorts. Still, on retro- spect, it was kind of funny I guess. But not as funny as some of the mistranslat- ed dishes on the menu at my hotel/restaurant. Granted translation is a difficult task, but you would think the people who printed up the Eng- lish menus would have come up with a better way of saying "meat from the back of Angus". I found myself hoping Angus referred to a breed of cow, not some irate and annoyed Scotsman. It can't be that expensive to hire a proof reader. Give me 40 Euros and I'll do it for them. My personal favourite was the 'flusskrebse'. Due to the uniqueness of the German language, this word has two meanings. Though I didn't know it at the time, it refers to a form of crayfish found in freshwater rivers, or cancer. So when I saw the special of the day listed as 'river can- cer', I understandably opted for the soup and salad. It seems the chef was also an oncolo- gist. What was perhaps most puzzling, in an amusing way, was the knowledge that there happened to be another Taylor lecturing at the University. I thought "what luck" for this little town, two Taylors in the same town, on the same night. Then I was told it was Charles Taylor, and I was momentarily confused… Charles Taylor had been in the news all week. He'd been on trial and then convicted in The Hague, Holland, for horrible war crimes com- mitted in Liberia and Sierra Leone. And he was on tour?! Wow, what a liberal justice system. Then I was told it was the other Charles Taylor, this one being the famous Canadian philosopher and social theorist, which upon reflection, made a lot more sense. And I'm not sure but there may also be a Charlie Taylor floating around my Reserve somewhere (Tay- lor being a very big name here) but I doubt he's ever made it to Jena, Germany. My people don't find river cancer that appealing.