Blogs

Booshoo SEVENation!!!

I hope everybody is doing well despite the crazy summer we had with the
forest fires that literally sparked a major concern for almost every
community including mine. Other then that, I hope everybody had a great
summer and a tremendous one. As the summer draws close to an end, a new
school year is upon us and I hope every one of you have a blast as you
begin this exciting journey toward bettering your tomorrow.

SEVEN would like to remind you returning students to please, PLEASE
help the newcomers out in any way you can. For those schooling at an
urban centre such as Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie or Winnipeg, help
them find their way with the city buses, or hang out with them by going
to the movies or even an after school game of bowling or shopping! Back
in my day, my friends and I would welcome the new students and take them
out to wherever we were going. We’d show them the main points of the
city such as the shopping centres, theaters, bus stops, etc. It took
awhile for them to get used to it but eventually once they knew their
way around the city, they’d tell us they would be okay.

Stuff like this we encourage you to do too. As new students it may be
very difficult to adjust to your new surroundings such as your boarding
home and the place of location where you’re at. If you’re feeling
like there is nobody around, ask your boarding parent or school
councilor to get involved in an after-school activity or if you think
you can do it, seek a part time job. A lot of places such as the fast
food chains always encourage students to apply. In most cases, the
schools have a daily activity sheet where you can just go and sign up to
whatever activity you wish to join.

Well its been an interesting summer here at SEVEN. I enjoyed it very much, especially meeting new people during the interviews I did for the radio show and for the magazine. It was a fun experience just to meet new people and learning how to interact with them on a professional level and even just getting to know them. I'm hoping next year I can do the same thing or something similar. I worked with Henry Beardy a lot of the time, we shared our thoughts and opinions to help each other out with our work. Grace Winter, the director of SEVEN, is very great to work with as well, she was very willing to help us when we needed and her sense of humor is awesome. It's been great working here. I'll leave it at that and be back for another update soon. Thanks for visiting!

It has been awhile since I posted a blog here on SEVEN. Much has been happening for instance, my MAC computer crashed right to the core where it just won't start and to make matters worse, being "stuck" in the rez it's quite hard to send my computer out for repairs. This is also causing a lot of back-work for me in the projects I am supposed to be working on for SEVEN. Our radio show is this week and my radio project was also involved in the "crash" which resulted in me not submitting anything. =(

Second, work has taken me away from my duties at SEVEN but tonight I have actually been able to work on this blog to keep this site more updated and to let you all know what I am up to. I am sure many of the other SEVEN YAC members would say the same.

Life has been grand. Despite some off-sets in my own personal life, all I can say is it's a miracle to see a brand new day each n every time I wake up from my sleep. My grandmother would always say in her native language, "No matter what situation you face, go thru it knowing at the end there is a light that will take you thru" Wise words from a woman who was fierce in her own way and loving in so many ways. If you have been going through a difficult time, remember there is a light at the end of every trouble. Yes we too have faced many problems but it never stopped us. In fact, it builds us to be a better person. We may not be perfect but it teaches us a lesson of being humble and greatful for who we are and for where we are in life. Yes, our problems and troubles have a meaning... behind it has its purpose...

Spring up north can be both a happy and uncertain time. I think it largely depends on where you grew up. I grew up in Winisk, which is located on a flood plane only 33 feet above sea level. While we were very happy about the goose hunt come spring, we were an apprehensive lot as a community when it came time for spring break up. You see we didn't know if we would get a flood or not from year to year. Most communities don't even think twice about that kind of potential devastation. I think about it every year, especially on this day. You see on this day on May 16 in 1986, my reserve was flooded and two people were tragically killed. The ice jammed up river from my reserve, and when that dirty brown water came ripping over the banks carrying everything with it, our whole town was wiped away in an instant. Entire houses were picked up and swept inland into the tree line. People, thankfully, had had canoes parked in their yards ready as a precaution and use them we did. I remember the unfortunate few who didn't have boats. Some of them had climbed onto the roofs of their house and were swept away with the torrential flood waters. Others had climbed trees to avoid getting crushed by the ice chunks and freezing waters. It was total chaos. I saw all kinds of debris rushing past our canoe and remember watching my mother screaming hysterically for her grandchildren and wondering to myself how many would die or if anyone knew outside of our community that we were in it for the fight of our lives. We didn't know until almost a full day later who had survived and who had not returned. The MNR had received a distress call from our community and had dispatched choppers to come to our reserve and rescue people from the wreckage that was formerly our home.

Search efforts to find Webeque youth Jordan Wabasse have been unsuccessful and we, at SEVEN Youth Media Network need your help in locating the 16 year old. Wabasse was last seen on February 7, 2011 and is 6’1” tall and has dark hair. The effort to find Jordan has continued to grow over the week, as friends and family working with the Thunder Bay police search for the missing teen.

For full news link on the missing teen please go to this website: http://netnewsledger.com/?p=5756.

We are also asking you to please keep the family in your prayers and thoughts as it is very much needed during this difficult time. If you also wish to leave a message to the family, please do so by leaving a comment below.

Happy New Year from the SEVEN Youth Advisory Committee!

2011 has a lot in store for us. So and so are the many surprises that hold and the mysteries that have yet to be revealed. We hope and pray that this year brings many of you into another realm of success and accomplishments in life. Not to mention we hope that this year brings you closer to living your dreams. Let’s not forget to not hold on to grudges or hate against another person. Let’s learn to walk in love and surpass the negativity feelings against those who have wronged us.

You see life is too short to hate anybody. Who knows, the people we hate may just be the friends we’ll need when crisis hits our lives. Let’s learn to walk in purity, respect one another. Let’s fight for what is right and care for all. What was done in the past, let's learn to forgive and move forward in life. Starting now let’s set an example of what we, as the SEVEN Youth are all about. Let’s do it. I know we can. I believe in you.

As many of you may or may not know that on Friday (Jan 14) up until the 17, there is going to be a radiothon in support of the SEVEN Youth Media Network and the Mikinakoos assessment and treatment unit, which is run by SLFNHA. We need your help in either two ways: to donate financially and or by supporting the radio show by calling in to request a song or submit in your stories or whatever. The platform is yours.

In mid-September my family received some shocking and disturbing news. At first we didn't believe it. But as the hours passed, the news finally sank in. My cousin Keegan was fatally stabbed during a feud between him and another family member. My heart sank in deep thoughts. Questions surrounding this unwelcoming news became like a movie played out in real life. As news spread through the Internet through Facebook and Myknet, people began asking questions that seemed almost too impossible to answer.

I ignored them for the time being, only because I didn't know how to respond. When the body of my late cousin came home a week after this ordeal started, the tears began to flood like rain in mid summer. Memories of our childhood replayed in my mind and the times we fought and the times we forgave each other played in my head over and over. Before his sudden death, he phoned me asking how things were going. He asked how life was and if everything was okay. We talked for a bit until he had to go as his phone card was running low on minutes. He said he'd call back but instead of him calling back, I would only see him laying lifeless inside a stainless steel casket.

How I wish this never happened. As the days passed, and my family got together, my cousin's grandmother (on his mom's side) sat us down on the floor and told us, "I want you young people to forgive each other no matter what situation you are in," she told us.

There’s something to be said about hearing the language of your birth spoken widely and freely wherever you go. I’m mentioning this now because I’ve been away from the people who speak the same dialect of Cree as I do for ages.

I’ve got to say I was impressed today to learn that the Ojibway exclamation Howah! is defined at urbandictionary.com as is the Cree exclamation Jishtug!

Working as a 2nd camera assistant on the film Big Finn Hall was a great experience. The shoot ran for nine days from June 24-July 1, with two days off in between.