Words of Indigenous Media Artist and Performer Donald Morin, Residing on Turtle Island near other humans, animals, and birds.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Update after being away so long
Sorry all who stop by, School work, film work, new pursues in life has kept me away. I will add more later. Back to school Soon
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
I Uderstand The Need To Support Ones Family, Economic reasons, The Desire To Live A Happy Productive Life
List below taken from news story, following DAMMEDIA opinion of the day!
I understand the need to support ones family, the economic reasons, and the desire to live a happy and comfortable life. I would see why these Indigenous People from all these settlements would feel the need to sign on to this development; to survive in an increasingly ever expanding ultra capitalistic society which is constantly over consuming the available resources existing today. We all great and small, rich and poor watch the cost of living increase daily, wages stagnated, poverty increasing, homelessness expanding, the opioid crisis magnifying other problems behind the needle or spoon. Crime increasing, and indigenous peoples disparities in Canada at times mind boggling at times avec racism, Incendiary language of radio ads, social media hatred of the other in all forms, and the lack of love in the flesh world, even though social media expounds out love and grace every other hour as we tweedled our lives away at work play, or in bed we lay. I say this , as today, as some slept, I am at work, and for a moment I browse the net and read about Saskatchewan being a hotbed of KKK activity early 1900s. The "Indians" in Sask. area were the Canadian "red n^g*-r" here as opposed to what was happening in the USA. That two word duality connotation starting with the word Red was pronounced in a 1950s Hollywood Western from an old settler woman as her family is fighting off the Indians during the building of the western frontier . All under the guises of the manifest destiny and Christendom as Europeans riding on horses, trains, and stagecoaches across Turtle Island looking for a place to plant their feet.
And this is all during the modernist period and leading up to slightly after the beginning of the Contemporary period with the dissolvement of the Monopoly Standard OiI 1911. We all attempt to define life with our checks and balances to find order, define order, and to prevent the destruction of ourselves or society by others bent on living their life in an environment of excess, opulence's, rich resources, scrumptious desires in all forms, and acquire as much as we can in life before we drop. And that is an 21st century fact. We all do it, and when death knocks on a door too close to us, we stop , sadden at the fact, give our respects and move back into the day forward. Our friend yesterday Christopher Treloar passed away suddenly yesterday, and it shocked many. I think of his sons and their moment of grief. Noting prepares them for such a great loss except knowing there is more to life here than what we live with everyday, and what WE MUST DO AT TIMES to survive in this world. Christopher was such a giving man, and now he is gone home. But it is not different for all the indigenous people in this list below, for myself, others who knew him, or do not know him or the fool who produced and wrote that hideous radio ad, debunking the atrocities of residential schools. We all make our choices in life and we live with our choices daily as we exists each day just as that think tank in Winnipeg did in getting their radio ad produced to much astonishment from Canada's First People AGAIN! We all need the paper money to survive little alone to dream of better days, more money, or material goods. The environmentalist, traditionalists, urbanists, and of course all of the Euro Canadians, Euro immigrants (Canadians in waiting) and all people of cultural diverse backgrounds And the folks form this list are entitled to succeed or fail in society just like you or me. No judgement allowed
Mother Earth has provided us her resources since our fall from grace, but does it have to monumentalized to the extent of Teck Resources overlapping traditional territories, migratory paths of the animals, lakes, ecosystems, and all that nature provides in rebirth, recycling of the its dead, leaves, animals, insects, worms, all creatures great and small feeding off each other in the great cycle of life. We have seen the tailing ponds, the destruction of overflows, nature's changing the land, creating more run offs of toxic liquid and chemicals in the water system, and ecosystem. Have we not learned anything yet. We must change our energy supply. Black Op industries have created different forms of energy propulsion besides what is available today, but big Corporations continue to do what is existing here in this development, with no regard for the future. We will continue to live in an age of contradictions till there will be a "new Heaven, and an new earth, as the seals are unsealed, scrolls unrolled, and we awake "...with fear and trembling..."
Have a good day all, XOXO and grace to you all on this fragile planet.
Condolences to Christopher Treloar family and friends
"...Indigenous groups support Teck's Frontier oilsands mine
Here's a list of Indigenous groups that have signed agreements with Teck:
1. Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
2. Mikisew Cree First Nation
3. Fort McKay First Nation
4. Fort Chipewyan Métis
5. Fort McKay Métis
6. Fort Mc Murray Métis 1935
7. Fort McMurray First Nation #468
8. Métis Nation of Alberta- Region One and it's member locals
9. Athabasca Landing Local # 2010
10. Buffalo Lake Local # 2002
11. Conklin Local # 193
12. Lac La Biche Local # 1909
13. Owl River Local # 1949
14. Willow Lake Local # 780"
Sunday, June 03, 2018
Idle No More Monsieur Cote 2018
When I feel suicidal or worthless due to the indifference of life today I play this song. Sorry but I am losing the energy to fight injustice as it is in individuals who ignite their hatred towards me as last night and today. God protect me. I am playing all the instruments
Saturday, February 10, 2018
#JUSTICEforNATIVE_PEOPLE_COLTON_TINA!
Thursday, February 01, 2018
Changing How Media represents native people in the Media
I had the pleasure of listening to a segment of Ronald Harris Live Facebook webcast, and he brought up very important issues regarding native people in the media, particularly the media presentation of Late Tina Fontaine, and late Colten Boushie. I would add what I partly wrote to him "..The Literacy we need outside of the Language of blood, and its nemesis "If it bleeds, it leads' is (a Ron Harris quote of an associate's view) is deep within the DNA and energy we create from the goodness we consume if we keep the inner spirit and fire alive with hope...." Hope that we can create a macro conscious and action driven mass protest and stoppage of Canadian society to critique the current presentation of the negative media news reports on the conditions at the time of his demise and as well late Tina Fontaine's conditions at the time of her passing. Totally unacceptable in how these two young victims of colonial racist violence against their person is presented in the media. Such signification is dangerous in terms of how the masses will rationalize their views, actions and perspectives on native people. A perpetuation of the continuous stereotypical racist maxims which are ingrained in private and public realms of thought and actions today and for the last one thousand years. The time to change is now.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Jane Fonda, Taz Bouchier and Our Current Status avec Fossil fuesl and the current Status Quo
The bottom line Taz, is that we need another Standing Rock, Oka crisis in Canada to bring to head the pressing issues that now exist. We are in a day and Age, where prophecies are unfolding every other day, and the few in power are doing their best to sway the populace to accept their vision for the future, one world government, one world religion, and all that is not part of the God we love and pay homage too in our prayers. the language of blood seems to be the only recourse to wake up the moronic governmental leaders, provincial and federal, and moronic mass culture with constant media saturation of anti-propaganda media to dispel the lies, and naysayers who troll the net to disavow the environmentalist, indigenous activist and traditional leaders who have not bought into the capitalist schemes of the present day. We are all complicit in this oil industry trade-offs of cars, trains, automobiles, helicopters, boats and planes we use to travel to and fro. The for the pipeline idiots will surely remind us of that, and Jane Fonda, can very well go back to her silver spoon she uses to expound her uneducated reactionary views which just tends to disservice all the hard workers who day in and day out battles the on slaughter of media, oil industry supporters attempt to continue pushing the agenda of the oil industry and run off industries who make a product and profit from the fossil fuels of the twentieth century. I total understand the need to support families, a life of birth, re-birth and the path to our eventual demise. But how do we change the minds of the masses after over two hundred years on indoctrination expounding the benefits of the industrial revolution, mechanical modes of production and transport, food production and so on with all the convenient of life today. Ultimately our lives and this planet earth is in the hands of God, and his word. As it is written, there will be a new heaven, and a new earth, and all that was will pass away and we will begin our new life with God and al his glory. SO, is all our hard work for nothing Taz, when we see what is being extrapolated on the www through families use to a way of life and unable to change a way if life to something simpler, more less materialistic, and feel they need the fossil fuel industry to get back on their feet? We all have to make sacrifices , and I am afraid that the reality is , that the mass moronic culture is unwilling to de-technologicalize ones self from the fossil fuel and off shoot industries which defines life style and the market place today. we have all been sucked in the unnatural way of lfie and are too use to it to change back to basic modes food growing, living off he land, and all that was before western civilization attempted to change the heathen and infidel. thanks, Taz for your word, I hope I make sense in a increasingly dangerous and consumptous world
Sunday, December 11, 2016
I'm Not A Prophet Just A Singer
I was living at 1750 Davie Street, Vancouver hanging out with Colin MacPherson, Debra Charlie, Barb Gunderson, John Anderson doing the Carnegie Theatre Guild 401 Main Street Vancouver, DTES. 1983
Friday, December 02, 2016
Getting up at 4 AM to RESPOND to my friend and colleague filmmaker Loretta Todd!!!
I wrote this in response to a friends Facebook posting . First paragraph is original posting: Image from old performance art gig I did in 1990:
Loretta’s Original Post:
"On various occasions I was approached by our people - not artists or filmmakers - who had seen films/plays made by our people that they felt traumatized them, that the stories were constructed without any consideration for the meaning or effect it would have on Indigenous people - especially Indigenous women. In fact, many felt those films/plays were really white man's fantasies or that the women in the work were to blame for their tragedies. Does a filmmaker/playwright have any responsibility to the people who watch their films? Do Indigenous filmmakers/playwright have any responsibility to audiences? We talk about the "power" of words but what does that mean to those who write or make films? Do we give the white audiences what they want but couch it in Indigenousness so it is ok? My answers to those people was to say, well, I respect the work that goes into making films or plays - and as a filmmaker all I can do is make decolonized work myself to counter those colonized imaginations. Can we possibly have a forum for such discussion or will the colonized win?" by Loretta Todd
A forum would be of interest. How did we as indigenous people develop in according to the transformation of storytelling from an oral based tradition to the colonial based creations that occurred during contact, or exist today in some form of Eurocentric patterning, construction, sculpturing or pictorial reference. From the time, we are little babies, we are introduced to stories from our parents, relations, and the written word. Learning how to live with our fears as we grew, how to compartmentalize our traumatic experiences as a child
How emotions develop or do not develop ((Residential, assimilation control) and what happens to us when we personally have a private or public meltdown, a cathartic release of emotional baggage which gets triggered by watching and listening to an emotional moment in a play, film, song, musical motif, artwork, performance, novels and so on. From my early days as a child remembering the abuse I experienced, work or play accidents, the pain, the blood, (what ever my senses were absorbing at the time) such sad moments would and did come back to my present senses because if what I was doing that day. Listening to a song, (remembering a breakup, or the ecstasy of ones first time falling in love.)
Does the Creator have an obligation to inform me of my “upcoming “ experience of traumatic event, experience prior to it happening, so that there is some consideration to how such an future event is going to affect me? In some case, God and the gods did warn the humans to watch out for an upcoming event, to prevent harm or suffering, and well, today, do us little creators have to go around every other day to inform our audience that our creations may offend you, traumatize you, or cause you to feel bad, or confused??? I do not know the answer to your question Loretta. Similar posting to Curtis’s posting on fb a while ago about production practices of Eurocentric filming to indigenous filming, (ceremonies, circles prior to production, versus the hierarchy of the Hollywood Hallucination, its value system, and modes of production. Ultimately, I am not talking about the regimentation of the arts in cases an actor or dancer’s training, a filmmaker’s long endless trail of writing, re-writing, number crunching, photographing, or a writer, or visual artist’s endless array into constructing the perfect form to entice, or embrace the audience member or reader into the world of one’s creation.
So, on that note, lets look at the people who inquired about cause and effect of works on the audience member. You open with:
“On various occasions I was approached by our people - not artists or filmmakers - who had seen films/plays made by our people that they felt traumatized them, that the stories were constructed without any consideration for the meaning or effect it would have on Indigenous people - especially Indigenous women.”
On an elementary level, yes, the artist should post a notice if objectual content may offend or affect people severely. ON that elementary societal level, it exists today, Film labels at beginning of movies, book introductions, public announcement prior to shows. As in an old book I once had Amos Vogel’s Film as a subversive Art, there were many articles and examples of film works which crossed cultural, sexual, and aesthetic taboos, which shocked the audience, happenings which enraged the audience member, and where as of course police came in and did their arresting job.
An artist may have or may not have a responsibility towards notifying the audience of objectual material in ones’ work? Depending on the artist’s intention. Entice, massage, entangle, shock the audience member’s sense to get a reaction, a change of thinking, rationalization? So, we come to the difficult notion regarding the re-traumatization of indigenous women through our work as creators? From an indigenous standpoint, yes, we as artist must take inconsideration how our works will affect our people when it comes to re-telling the traumatic personal and public stories of the genocide assimilation policies, institutions, orphanages, foster homes, priests estuaries, and private and public places where our people were abused, sexually assaulted, or murdered because we were “Indians”. More so for our women, because of in my opinion the Missing women tragedies which affected so many families and mothers and fathers. Daughters, sons, and babies.
Now on another level, I think about performance art and other cultural aspects if I can coin a phase “Reactionary” art works, Guerilla filmmaking, shock art, Otter Muhols “Happenings “Happenings” of the post Nazi Germanic years. When I first read about this character in Vogel’s book, I was shocked and appalled at the artist’s previous history. I was taking Experimental and Avant Guarde filmmaker Al Razutis’s video production course and reading that book affected the development and creation of my performance video theatre performance By Leisure/By Penance, (1986) which look at the Native Artist in Contemporary society. I utilized some of those shocking images briefly in my video trying to understand my history as a native man in a white racist society. I also captured a video image of apiece of liver falling in front of the camera onto a piece of glass, and shot a scene of hands tearing apart the liver. Shock value, what was I trying to say back then? I know at that time of my life, all my physical and sexual abuse as a child was repressed and forgotten, until such traumatic memories came out through my academic training as a young artist! Playmaking class (theatre) we were working with the colour punk: that was when suddenly my rape experience came up and I went into a rage in my working space area, with the teacher eventually coming up to me to ask me to tone it down! Another time in an acting directing semester, the teacher Olive Crawford came up to me and whispers in my ear, “to come back to earth, you are scaring the other students” Again, rage and anger from my abusive years came out through the exploratory work of the time. Which brings me back to your other statement:
“In fact, many felt those films/plays were really white man's fantasies or that the women in the work were to blame for their tragedies."
What was I projecting through these experiences, performance art? Were they uncontrolled cathartic releases in the sacred theatre space where we can explore such emotions if we are in control as actors or artists? An actor must be 110 % committed to his/her performance but at the same time remember that 10% of his/her brain that it is only acting! So, at the time as a young native art student I was learning the euro centric forms of art/culture, filmmaking void of my cultural history but learning all aspects of art culture, when to break the rules, and so on. It was not till Spirit Song Native Indian theatre Company (1884) and the Chief Dan George Memorial Foundation Nine-month video training program (1986), that I was being re-introduced to the oral tradition, and “True” history of what happened to us as a people.
Previously I was the white Indian Artist performing the “white man’s fantasies” the Hollywood Indian, or attempting to find white man’s success on their playing terms, which was a take it or leave it scenario, an unworkable scenario unless we worked a subservient level, and that if I did not get the part, it was my fault because I was an Indian.
So, when these -good indigenous audience members say
“those films/plays were really white man’s fantasies …or that the women …were to be blam[ed] for their tragedies”
What does that say for the indigenous creator/author of the story?
That our creation abilities are thwarted by euro-centric forms of story-telling, western semiotics, colonial upbringing? Looking at the well-made play, a one act play, a standard three act play or two act play, episodic play, or film, we are in one level governed by the traditional euro-centric forms of storytelling, traditional dramaturgical devices to introduce characters, rising conflict, climax, and the denouement. But as you point out Loretta, we are now attempting to de-colonized out stories through our own practices, training, and cultural upbringing.
In closing, you finish off your inquiry:
“We talk about the "power" of words but what does that mean to those who write or make films? Do we give the white audiences what they want but couch it in Indigenousness so it is ok? My answers to those people was to say, well, I respect the work that goes into making films or plays - and as a filmmaker all I can do is make decolonized work myself to counter those colonized imaginations. Can we possibly have a forum for such discussion or will the colonized win?"
The power of the word, and what does that mean to us as artists? Well, the power of the word, the spirit of the word in endless, much can happen in life in how we chose our words. Spiritually, we can only look at the Creator, and how the power of the word brought creation in to being. How our words as artist bring into fruition the genesis of our own creations. How to respect the tools and gifts our creator has given us through our genes, upbringing, cultural training education and academic reasoning. Yes, respect is so important these days, Wars have been started over the wrong usage of words, we must consider how our work will affect audience members and have initiatives to counter act negative reactions, and attitudes. For Headline theatre’s tour of Out of The Silence, we had counsellors on our tour because of how forum theatre affected the audience members and even ourselves as actors. As a filmmaker, I had to change one of my films to take in consideration another artists’ objections to usage of a poem of the artist because as a university student I did not ask the artist permission and used the poem in a filmic scene to get an reaction for the audience members of the time. And as I stated earlier, the liver scene was created for purely audience reaction. So, the life of an artist is a learning curve. Respect for the audience is important and awareness of culture history is important and artists should create accordingly and respectfully, unless we live in a fascist society and we need shock art/culture to shock the society out of complacency! Decolonizing oneself as an indigenous artist is important and decolonizing the audience member is justified as well to change the colonial mindset of the last century and the next generations. God, bless you Loretta, hopefully I haven gone off on a tangent and my words make sense today in this complex world.
Donald Morin, BA
On one final closing note, I remember my friend and colleague late Metis Artist Donald Ghostkeeper's performance work with this piece. Former SFU Modern Dance Student Maggi Guzzi, one of the dancers with us who played a residential school nun, did a scene where she straddled one of us residential school student characters (Ms O'Sullivan) on the stage and then poured milk over the performer. from under her black nun's outfit, while she lifted her front area. People were shocked and offended at the time. Genocide, how offensive was that? smile emoticon:-) & frown emoticon:-( The things we do as artists to change the world. Have a nice day Loretta, thanks for allowing me to express my ideas and experience
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Pondering Words for a New Age, A time of Technological Freedom or Containment?
Re-posting
NOTED Testimonial [On the online paper NDNs In The Age of Terror]:
“Donald Morin, Métis performer, filmmaker, and [former] teacher at Vancouver's Native Education Centre, raised extremely important political and cultural questions about the indigenous media in today's "age of terror" and the use of film technology as a tool of resistance to capitalism. Donald theorized what he sees as a move from the age of mechanical reproduction towards an “age of technological authenticity.”
Quotation from: Pam Wilson of wilsonpam@mindspring.com and Michelle Stewart producers of the Global Indigenous Media panels and screenings at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference [March 2004]...in Atlanta. [Georgia, USA.]
Artist Note: Addendum 2016. As we move towards the [Winter] Solstice, we are coming to… [a new world order in relationship to the soon to be appointed president of the USA; Donald Trump] …. The Black Snake Prophecy is being fulfilled in Lakota territory, Hunkpapa territory, People starving the world over, indigenous people the world over are being encroached on, decimated, wrongfully imprisoned, have their children being taken away, while drugs usage continues, and alcohol and sex crimes continue to plague our territories, our homes, and our communities. As always, crass commercialism, crass consumerism, social media propaganda and desires, pornography, gangs, crack cocaine, all of it used to suppress a people, the masses, and the dispossessed. …[so we must] ” live life to the fullest, walk gently on this earth, if I can quote an International Indigenous Friend of mine Laila Hansen …. [From previous postings from] AFN Chief, DIA Valcourt, and other traditionalist comments about the current conditions of our people [(Spring, 2015)]. Now over a year later, [o]ur street people here are [still] struggling and dying, others in the new super jail, our women are being abused, and our children taken away, as another indigenous artist friend of mine mentions during Red Jam Slam "...how do we keep the government's greedy hands off our children..."
[Peaceful] Resolution [ of the current conflict at Standing Rock is paramount and of extreme importance to the well-being of all sides, and the global community watching, as well as the ones watching from the heavens. As well watching you, me, them, 24/7, all of us even in our sleep, where the Angels of God and the wicked one come visit us in our sleep. We are truly energy beings living in the body of the flesh, our souls directing us down that road of options, choices, desires, and demands. And with my rotting flesh, I have failed so many times, I hope I do not forget to get back up on my feet and keep love in my heart. Write on My Heart Today, is a song http://www.isuma.tv/dammedia/write-on-our-hearts-today-at-the-trc-edmonton I wrote during the Kosovo Wars and when my friend Lyle Thomson had a stroke and I visited him at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. IT truly is what life is about, Life is based on everything that comes from the heart, not what we eat and consume! We truly must remain humble, graceful, be read to take action against injustice and hate. This is continually] …important, as the language of blood permeates in the air these days, as anger turns to hate, hate turns to violence, and bodies into dirt. If I can quote an artist [Sandra Semchuk’s] … recording of my ideas in 1995, "...Canada is not immuned to this chaos of discontent (At the time I was referring to the Kosovo War, and other terrorist situations abroad). IF recent news reports propagate opinions and possible scenarios pertaining to the potential actions of Canada's First People, as another Oka, Gusterferson, etc., then…reconciliation is of paramount importance and with dire urgency to initiate a just place to resolve conflict (Gawa Gyani: 91 -94 KJDC) and to finding balance between all of us in these final days of terror.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Letter I sent to Edmonton Sun this morning regarding Ms Ambrose thank you note to Stephen Harper August 28th, 2016
Letter I sent to Edmonton Sun this morning!
Ms Ambrose, I want to respond to your recent writing for the Edmonton Sun praising former PM Stephen Harper. When you state that you are writing in joining all Canadians as if behalf of all Canadians to thank Harper for his service I take exception. You are not writing on my behalf and I assume many Canadians who will not agree with your propaganda about the former PM. To continue on with your dribble about all he has done for Canadians smacks of favoritism, vote hunting, and appeasement to the conservative right, rednecks and anyone else who feel that their economic, cultural or class upbringing entitles them to continue to step on the working poor, ignore the issues regarding Canadians aboriginal missing women problem, and all that was wrong with this country under the failed leadership of the Conservative government. A government that muzzled her scientists, uses the residential school apology period and common experience payment initiative as a means to appease Canada's first people by throwing bread crumbs at us, and thinking that the so called "Indian Problem" is resolved. Go back to the drawing board of your conservative party and perhaps learn from the former government's failures and humble yourself to gain the trust of all Canadians instead of using propaganda guest column to spread your web of lies
sincerely
Donald Morin
Indigenous performer, filmmaker and educator
http://www.torontosun.com/2016/08/27/thank-you-stephen-harper
Thoughts on an Edmonton Sun Writer's Opinion article
One more letter to the Edmonton Sun and one of its writers:
SUBJECT LINE: your editorial of Sunday August 28th, 2016 and my thoughts on politics and journalism at it's worst in relation to current world relations and Canada.
The writer's title was Media drinking the Koo-Aid and Buying the swampland
I am disappointed with all you conservative writers who feel that your opinion is the correct direction or criticism to impose on the current state of journalism, the current government and cultural climate with global politics and the national body politic. It is arrogant of you in your attempt to sway the thinking and direction of the current population of Canada, her provinces, and territories by imposing your right wing judgemental thinking on what is wrong with the current climate of societal thought, control and action. I must remind you it was the voting selection of the current population who made a decision to get rid of the ill actions and governance of Stephan Harper and his government cronies, not the opinions , critical or un-wrongly thoughts and writings of the media, the journalists, and critics of the performance of society with all her passes, failures and attempts to find meaning in life day after day.
It is arrogant of any writer, media pundit, journalist, social media networker, politician, including myself to think that ones attempt to impose their thoughts, actions and ideological meanderings on the general public is enough to change the direction of society for the common good, or alt-right attempt to become part of the majority in a world that is increasingly becoming more darker and void of meaning and change for the common good, the most vulnerable of our societies, and everything that the Creator expects of us in working together to make a better world. you should remember your place in society as nothing more than a simple writer who thinks your words are for the common good, but only a reflection of your conservative thinking, your euro-Canadian background and it all coming from a base of cultural genocide when your ancestors came to this land under the directives of Christendom, the papal papers and all that is not part of our Creator from above, but humankind based on greed, materialism, and thinking that western culture's understanding of manifest destiny is the direction to go in life.
Everything that happens in life is in according to the Great Mystery of life and how the Creator uses good and bad aspects of life to direct society into the direction of his prophetic conclusion of life. A time coming when we all stand before him/her scars and all. And that includes Goodwin's thoughts, your thoughts, my thoughts and Prime Minster Trudeau hugging Mr. Downie regardless whether the journalist were allowed into that concert event and photographs were selective , handed out in according to the events of the time. To impose your bias opinion on the current political climate in the US is judgemental, and selfish in with respect to thinking Mass media in the states is wrong in pointing out the demagoguery of the republican candidate, and that Canada's media was "equally hysterical, and committed" in thinking that Harper should bow before them just because of their directive or critical thoughts , actions and writings. Regardless of the right and wrong decisions of Harper's government , everything happens for a reasons beyond our control even with the current Liberal government, silly headlines of a shirtless Trudeau, the human rights violations of China and Dion's demeanor in working with other foreign ministers
In closing I can see that journalism is changing in according to the changing demands of a digital society where the popularism of the masses is developing a lower level of literacy in terms of reflection, consumption and direction. We are all part of the increasingly multiplicity of the information age, and the expropriation of knowledge is now beyond the television age into a false notion of digital and cultural authenticity because of new technologies and "ways of seeing. John Berger and George Orwell may have been close in their attempts to defined the semiotics of signs, meaning, thought, control and cultural authoritarianism and I appreciate your attempt to bring critical thinking to the current status of life on this global planet. I am may be way off base in my writing , thinking and direction of aesthetic and critical meandering, but I put my complete faith in the Creator and the trinity. Whether we understand , reject or attempt to manipulate the spiritual aspects of thought, action and direction in life, there is a great Mystery beyond humankinds attempts to create and understand this secular world. Ultimately I will stand before our Creator with shame and regret, but know that I picked myself up after everytime I fell, and did my best to be a better man for all races , not just because of my political and journalist intentions, reflections, or wrongly directions of life. May God be with you in all you do, thank you for your writings on the current aspect of journalism, politics and the life we lead. Take care. I am posting this opinion on my sites
Sincerely
Donald Morin,Ba
Performer, Filmmaker, Educator, and 60s scoop survivor
Thursday, April 09, 2015
World Of Fools
I had this song up earlier, but had some thumbnail problems, so deleted file and re- uploaded song.
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Donald Morin's opinion on Former politicians and aboriginal leaders announce new partnership
While I greatly appreciate this formality of past, present, and future leaders, politicians, and community leaders coming together to pronounce their honorable intentions in reconciliation, new path ways in working together to help each other understand, empathize, and improve the lives of our most unfortunate, dispossessed, haunted, lacking and unhealthy of the people in the community, it seems daunting. Overwhelming, and perhaps as the writer writes, going down the same old path. The evils and misfortunes of many in this world, including myself, has happened, we learned from our mistakes, and we pick ourselves up and move forward. We have to involve our Creator in our lives , if not then we are weaken and targets for the ones who do not share the light only darkness. Not once in this article, do any of these people in the media bring up the Creator's involvement it this cause. Maybe it was spoken, but the media chose not to involve the Creator's name, notion or being. We are living in dangerous times; What do we do to help our people. Capitalism and work locks us away in the useless paper money. What do we do? Do we become autocratic and take all the sick and unhealthy and nurse them back to help? On whose dime? How do we stop this notion o evil intentions against our women, our children, our land, all the less fortunate, and the rest of us all caught I the world system. We need more love and goodness in us, we need les selfish people helping the le fortunate, without calling the media to give us all a populace pat on the back.....life is daunting, but as Jesus said in John 12:8,You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me with you.". Outside of the Christianization of Jesus, the human institutions of Jesus, we must go back to who he was , a man, but then revealed to be so much more. He may not be with us, but he is part of the spirit world inside and out. The Vatican, the Kings and Queens, prime ministers, presidents, mercantilist capitalists never say the Great Sprit in us, and seen us as evil, red devils, et le sauvage, and seen as a threat because of all the new resources throughout turtle island, Yes, kill the NDNs and if that does not work, Christianized them to kill the NDN in the child. The child Inside of all of us, whether we are white, black, yellow , red, or green, is part of the Creator, the Great Spirit who resides in all of us, if we stop and listen, then go out and help someone, one spirit helping many more, then maybe we can do what this group intends, but who needs to know about? Social media to get the word out, Dangerous confusing times, thanks for reading. Miigweech, hiy hiy
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
CBC Story: Super Bowl wager of native mask upsets B.C. First Nation
Avatars, It is a matter of cultural respect, cultural protocol, an understanding of the customs and traditions of the first people of this continent, The many nations, which comprises all that was, is and is to come when ones are the caretakers of Mother Earth. Where there is an understanding of historical conditions, mercantilism, capitalism, and what was lost in the colonial destruction and genocide brought upon the first people by diseased blankets, corrupt business people, governments, and not learning the ways of the people since contact. Instead, kill them, kill their buffalo, turn them into tobacco pooches, lamps, and send the survivors to residential school to christianize and civilize the savage. Savage because they did not listen to them but only judged them. So a people survives and today we share. but as well correct history, so we can all walk the same road. Cultural protocol today involves equal inclusion in sharing cultural ideals, properties, and works of historical art that were appropriated by euro American cultural institutions built out of the historical conditions defined by The Affirmative culture, affirming what is value into day's society, good and bad. To bring in the casinos is a mute case, that is referral to a society which glamorizes gambling, casinos, money, and all that defines success in a capitalist oriented society. As a Super bowel better, I find it in bad taste for the museum curators. If they are anything worth their value as acquistioners of art, and historical works, they should have done their homework. Cultural protocol. All it takes to start a dialogue based on honesty, humility and respect, then some good may come out of what started out as a bad idea based on pride, the ego, and excessive sporting excitability. thank you for reading. God bless.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Creaks between laptops, words and paper
If folks have not been following this story, it is of interest to the Indigenous people of all colonized territories. We are dealing with a cultural authoritarian impasse with two major world powers ascertaining the freedom and un-freedom of an individual in a presumed globalized democratic system of trade, travel, and exchange. Where we should have the ability to share information pertaining to all of us as individuals on colonized territories, where everyday people pay taxes. After all it is OUR information as individuals in a duly elected government, where our hard working sweat and labour pays the salaries, ratifies governmental initiatives to royal ascent, and creates the cultural, technical, educational institutions/apparatuses, that created the laws which governs us as a free people under the laws of the Creator. A God, who allowed the ratification of a government for the people, because well, someone has to lead the people, or anarchy prevails. At the same time we allow our taxes to maintain the everyday, we must at the same time keep an eye on governments, as it is people who run political parties, ideologies that define them, and private political agendas grow leaps and bounds. We can see all the new draconian laws being ratified towards our beloved Queen (Not)for ascension like she lives in the third heaven or somewhere else! Snowden as one of the daily taxpayers out there who work day in day out, saw that the government is going behind the back of the people (the taxpayers) and that the information that is being collected , allocated out to parties to investigate potential dealings with terrorists, still our privacy rights as individuals will be compromised and slowly the machinations of totalitarianism settled invisibly around our democratic elected government morphing into something totally different than what we expect to believe or to be real. We are living in the age of information, our information, and Snowden has woken up the world, the beast, and we are all now on the downward slide to the end of the road as we know it, Miigweech, OSiem, Gila Kesla, Hiy Hiy,
Monday, June 10, 2013
Notes about Under Surveillance, the working title of my SFU FIlm Workshop Fourth year student film Crossings
Notes before the CTV link regarding under surveillance:
What`s on my mind? Thanking the Creator, The Great Spirit, all that was, is and to be...Fearing the worst of times, during the sign of times, What arising out of the news of four winds, the four races, the four directions, as we awake under surveillance by the capitalist beast. Under surveillance was the first working title of my Final Student Film CROSSINGS at SFU Film workshop 1989. It was a twisted tale from my imagination, my sex life, betrayal, and wondrous moments of abandonment. The lead was a woman who had an affair and tells, the young man, Oh, it was nothing,...then she gets in to a long monologue about her being a woman, getting beat, used, raped, and falling in love all at the same time. It was a true story told to me by an X, and as a young student artist at the time, I was simply being creative, and after five years of academic training, being brain washed into the euro- centric validation of artist that we all wanted to be, Being aboriginal, or native, NDN or Metis, was never really my bag. I was simply a student artist who happened to be an Indian. I as well just finished three upper level women studies courses, I was so determined to success, Even though Spirit Song Theatre and The Chief Dan George Film Video program were great, my history as the white Indian, I always felt under the watchful eye of the system, welfare, justice, dominant society ideology, and the embedded racism that judged us. We all know how history, the spectacle, and the body has defined the Indigenous signatory first people of this continent. Treaties that are void as they were signed under duress, as prisoners of war, we always had to be under the watchful eye of the government. Now it has moved to the masses, as the Prism Echelon machine gazes at all of us now, even you thru the Pyramidic eye.
When I wrote Under Surveillance, The first two drafts strongly critiqued by the profs, the feminist students, did not like the fact of the lead being a woman, and was too ambitious. I never liked the final script, the final film, Crossings, which the mixer at the post house created the release print out of sync. I was not happy, but such is life, I felt I was always under the watchful eye of the system, and being a young Indian student artist, this developed in my work during the OKa crisis when I worked for CBC news, started community radio, then under surveillance with my 7 fires 4 U Kitchi Manitou Film, and then asked to be an intelligence officer for The system.
Now 2013, we are waking up to the Orwellian world, Mr Orwell created back in the 40s. I performed the role of Winston Smith in Carnegie Theatre's 1984 stage adaptation of Orwell's novel. Again, questions arose; what's he doing the role for, he's not English? He's not white? Anyway, the first people were always under the watchful eye of their "other" because colonialism defined us as the enemy in the way of their brave new world. Watch you back now FBers, and anyone else, The invisible has BEEN REVEALED, now what are you going to do?
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/how-canadian-internet-users-may-be-getting-caught-in-u-s-surveillance-1.1318910
Sunday, April 07, 2013
I was told I was going to be the only white Caucasian in the whole of the prison
I write this in reference to the published reference made to an recently incarcerated airline passenger in Baffin Correctional Centre: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2013/04/06/north-darren-cosby-interview.html
The passenger was told: (quote:....I was told I was going to be the only white Caucasian in the whole of the prison....Unquote)
Here we have a foreign individual who apparently blacked out after some alcohol and caused a dangerous ruckus on the plane leading to his arrest. We have a non-Canadian convicted in the Canadian courts, but at some point along the way is told this rather systemic statement. The signification of the statement is that the prison systemic is built for native and inuit prisoners, it is dangerous, and be prepared to die, get injured by the non-white prisoners, What is not signified? That our prison systems are built for The First people of Canada, that all native and Inuit people are dangerous, criminals, that we as a people can not be trusted, that the institutional officers, workers within the judicial, policing, correction services are racists and hate non-white people.
Does this one published statement define the literacy reality of Canadian society? Who told him this statement?
I can only assume an white correction, judicial, policing individual, who has a racist view of the people he or she rules over and enjoys his or her sense of power and place in control these non-white prisoners.
Assumptions, opinions? Perhaps, but the semiotics of this loaded statement demands a responses of this nature, please continue the argument and discussion, Miigweech, all my relations!
Thursday, January 03, 2013
A Web Request to all Idle No More Participants
A request to all documentarist who are have participlated in Idle No more Movement: Wound A Knee, Break A Leg, Merde! As some may know, I was sidelined by a work accident Dec 7th. Considered a life threaten situation due to Concussion, broken rib, collapsed lung, and air and fluid leakage in body; I was released mid Dec and have been slowly healing.
Off work, I secured a new laptop, digital keyboard, and a good friend bought me a new guitar. So two days ago, I was strong enough to start some creative muses. Emotional the Idle No-more Movement was deep within me and a new song was created based on what is happening today. I would like to ask all Idle No more documentarists who videoed or photographed aspects of this global movement, if I can utlize such Internet postings of your uploads for this new song based on the Idle No More Movement? This is purely a community video and not intended for commercial development. People can let me know here on FB or email me at dammedia@icloud.com or donaldmorin@gmail.com. Leave me your name for end credits please. Miigweech, O'Sien, Gila Kesla, Hiy Hiy, all my relations
Newspaper story published Sept 1990 about Vigilant Performances in support of Oka Crisis 1990. Produced by Donald Morin and Gunargie O'Sullivan in support of the people at Oka, Quebec
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
legislative racism, which defined new and old forms of genicide!
This comment is based on the CBC article at:
Ex-chief calls reserves 'concentration camps' on Iran TV
Terry Nelson accuses Canada of mistreating aboriginal people
In my research with my paper NDNs In The Age of Terror, I came across statements that the Concentration camps of WWII were based on the ideas regarding the reservation system in North America. Where a people can be contained and marginalized through legislative racism. All the new critics and commentiers of this new age can disagree avec our Indigenous Chief from the Land surrounding Lake Winnipeg, and touching our Northern and Southern Brothers and Sisters. Your People have been fighting the NDNs wars since Geronimo, Wounded Knee, Richard Oakes/Alcatraz, Leonard Peltier, Anna Mae, Oka, 70,000 rounds at Gustaferson, Our Missing Women , your failed residential schools, and our daily attempt to success in a systemic system based on the historicity of Western Capitalized thought and control. Now the millions of our ancestors and sisters and brothers, children, kookums and moshums, who reside with The Great Spirit watching us twist the world to our liking, forgetting about "what is truth? The Truth lies with Our Great Spirit as she/he loves us good and bad. Either way both systems of containment worked in how the governments and societies of the time creative institutions to kill these human beings of God; legislative racism, which defined new and old forms of genicide!
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