Just released! Kyle Richtig’s first chapbook in over a year and a half, The Sun On My Palm is available for free download.
Canada
Assimilation and Cultural Endurance: Colonizing the Family
“While church and government officials would have their differences, their overall commitment to civilizing and Christianizing Aboriginal children gave rise to an education system that emphasized the need to separate children from their culture, impose a new set of values and beliefs, provide a basic elementary education, and implant Europe’s emerging industrial work discipline” (Langevin, 2012, p. 16.)
The residential school period represents a highly contested, yet undeniably dark piece of Canadian history. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2012) has characterized the residential schools and the broader assimilation policies of the Canadian government as an “assault on families” (p. 11), and many writers, including Gresko (1979), Knockwood (1992), Smith (2001), Titley (1992), and Wilson (1986) agree that the residential schools were an explicit expression of the Government’s desire to assimilate all Native cultures that amounted to “an aggressive form of intercultural domination” (Smith, 2001, p. 60) which resulted in devastating and lasting emotional, psychological, economic, and cultural impacts on Canada’s Indigenous peoples (MacDonald, 2007; Smith, 2001). Continue reading
Jolivia and Olel
“Come, come.” Olel cackled from the bottom of the basement stairs.
“But it’s dark down there.” Jolivia replied stroking its long hair.
“But I have a surprise for you.” Olel laughed jumping up and down. “Don’t make me come up and get you.”
Can We Create Sustainable Evolution?
In a world full of disappearing species, is it possible that the ingenuity of humans could organize a system that allowed introduction of new species into a biome? While attempts at this have been disastrous in the past, can our current understanding foster a new system?
Misguided, Misunderstood or Mentally Ill?
Yesterday I saw this woman walking down the street in Belleville, ON. I was shocked, so much so, that I was mired in my own emotions before considering what was going on.
Never Become a Household Name
Never become a household name
for if you do
you will lose yourself
to the pussy willows
of happenstance
memories personalized and
proportional.
She Who Seeks the Light
She Who Seeks the Light is a painting by Kyle Richtig from approximately 2001, (acrylic on canvas).
Why We Shouldn’t Have a Referendum on Electoral Reform in Canada
The Conservative Party is doing its best to inflame the public into calling for a referendum on the issue of electoral reform. It may seem obvious that if the goal is to ensure better representation for Canada’s diverse public, why not just ask that public what it wants? Here are three reasons why this is problematic. Continue reading
