Monthly Archives: May 2011

Pow-wow season and variations in vocabulary

Posted on May 27, 2011 by âpihtawikosisân

We haven’t done much pow-wowing since we moved East, other than the McGill pow-wow put on by First People’s House.  That pow-wow is great, but it’s really more of a small gathering which reclaims a bit of space on University … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Nakota Sioux, Plains Cree, Pow wow, Sioux, Stoney | Leave a comment

From rugs to reflections on law school

Posted on May 25, 2011 by âpihtawikosisân

The lawyer I currently work with decided to purchase some Persian rugs for the office. He has done some business in the past with a fellow whose carpet store is currently closing down, so he swung by to see if … Continue reading →

Posted in Aboriginal law, Alienation, Culture, Injustice, Law, Representation of natives | 4 Comments

Forming words in Cree

Posted on May 19, 2011 by âpihtawikosisân

This post began as an aside to the last, but ended up fascinating me so much that I figured it would be easier to split it off.  This is not meant to be an exhaustive discussion about word formation in … Continue reading →

Posted in Language learning, Morphemes, Parts of language, Plains Cree, Prefixes | 4 Comments

Getting the kids ready for bed…in Cree!

Posted on May 19, 2011 by âpihtawikosisân

In the spirit of the last post, nêhiyawêtân!, I have been trying to be more consistent with my use of Cree at home.  In order to do this, I’m focusing on certain periods of the day to really get the … Continue reading →

Posted in Fluency, Imperative/command form, Language learning, Plains Cree, Pronunciation, Roman Syllabic Orthography, Word lists | 1 Comment

nêhiyawêtân!

Posted on May 18, 2011 by âpihtawikosisân

Before I had children, the plan was that I would be a fluent speaker of Cree so that I could teach it to my children.  How hard could it be?  I already knew some Cree, and I’d learned to speak … Continue reading →

Posted in Fluency, Imperative/command form, Language learning, Plains Cree | 3 Comments

sôhkitêhêwin, courage.

Posted on May 17, 2011 by âpihtawikosisân

“…from the government’s perspective, the land surrender was absolutely non-negotiable … in my opinion, the Cree leadership was aware of this and accepted it going into treaty, hence the lack of protracted discussion on this topic…” para 509 “I also … Continue reading →

Posted in Alienation, Culture, Injustice, Representation of natives, Urban Aboriginal | 5 Comments

Pan-Indianism, Pan-Métisism

Posted on May 2, 2011 by âpihtawikosisân

My last post was about what non-natives learn about us, and thus how we are portrayed by them. I suppose this post is about what we learn (and teach) about ourselves. Pan-Indianism If you’ve ever been to an urban ceremony, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Métis, Medicine Wheel, Michif, Nakota Sioux, Pan-Indian, Pan-Métis, Plains Cree, Stoney, Turtle Island, Urban Aboriginal | 3 Comments