Leipold 1

Nickolas Leipold
Mr.Brennan
ENG4U
4 November 2014
Keepern Me Cornell Notes
Stanley brother to normal font narrator 5
Doctors and other characters introduced page 7
Story teller 7, 16,
1. Contrast rural life and urban life
as you know it in Canada

Rural and urban life in Canada varies through

the provinces and where you are within them.
In southern Ontario I am considered rural
because my neighbours are a field and a ditch
away, while in the prairies of Manitoba your
neighbours you can see off on the horizon.
Windsor Ontario is considered urban to our
area but compared to Toronto it is not even
close by comparison.
Urban areas are high population due to the
area they are located, and rural areas are
relatively low population due to the area they
are located.

2. Describe Garnets experience of

urban life.

Northern Ontario is pretty rascist, and he and

his siblings were taken under childrens aid.
northern Ontario around the middle 1950s
was a pretty uptight racist community and
Ojibways werent exactly the toast of the
towns then. [] We wound up in a group
home on a farm outside of Kenora, in the
custody of Childrens Aid. (10).

Leipold 2
3. Describe Garnets return to a rural
area on pages 4-5. Predict how
this urban-raised person will fit
into rural life.

Garnets return to rural area is the start of a

slow down of his life, back to his heritage.
But the further and further you get into this
country the more and more the feeling of
mystery starts to surround you [] Maybe
its just the pure wild spirit of this land
seeping through, I dont know, but it sure
beats the hell out anything I ever saw or felt
before. (5).
I think this urban raised person will fit into
rural life easily because Things like that are
just facts of life around here and you get used
to it and pretty soon you discover that youd
really rather live like this anyway. (6).

4. What is Mas description of what

it means to be Anishnabe? (p.8)

Anishanabe are people that believe in a

common magic, that teaches you how to live
life properly and openly to the people and life
around you.
Anishanabe are pretty big on magic , []
the pullin learning outta everything around
em. Seeing them hills breathe, and believing
it, is making yourself available to that magic.
Like leaving the door to your insides
unlocked, she says. (8).

5. How did culture differences in

terms of an understanding of what
makes a good upbringing for
children factor into Garnets
apprehension by the social
worker? (p.10-11)

Barnets parents saw leaving him and his

siblings at home with their grandmother to
raise them as a good idea and didnt see any
problems, although child services did not
agree with that choice, and took the kids to a
group home.
It was natural in my parents eyes to leave
us with the old lady while they were out
trying to make a living. But the Ontarios
Childrens Aid Society had different set of
eyes [] it wasnt long before they showed
up with a plan for us. (10).

Leipold 3
6. One of the major themes of this
book is what it means to be
Indian. Up until this point, how
had the world defined Indian-ness
for Garnet? (p.13)

The world had defined being Indian as a

second rate being that was a savage or dumb.
We were either heathen devils running
around killing people or just simple savages
who desperately needed the help of the
missionaries in order to get straightened out
and live like real people. (12).

7. List some reasons that people try

to be things they are not. Why do
you think that Garnet tries to be
things that he is not? (p.18 19)

Acceptance
Shame
Self Motivate
Keep people at a distance
I think that Garnet trys to be things hes not
because he is used to his people being a
people of shame(I still didnt wanna be
known as an Indian. Mostly on accounta the
Indians I saw those years were pretty much
the same kind my foster fatherd shown me
in the car that day. Scary-looking, dirty,
drunk, fightin in the street or passed out in
the alley (15)) and he wants to fit in with
someone(I found myself wishing I could be
like that and that maybe men Lonnie could
become good enough friends that I could
hang around here for a long time.) (20).

8. According to Lonnie and his

family, why is family important?
(p.22)

According to Lonnie and his family, family is

important because it shows what kind of
person you really are. Shit, man.
Everybody be needin famly! Lonnie said
[] A man cant be his own person if the
man dont know himself. Right, Mama?
Thass right (22).

9. What might Garnet learn from

hanging around with Lonnies
family? (23)

Garnett learns what it feels like to be in a

family from the hospitality of Delma and
how they treat him.
By this time she was calling me her brown
baby and I started to feel like part of the
family and it sure was a good feeling.

Leipold 4
10. Explain the quote see us, we
know you cant make a beaver
from a bear as it applies to
Garnets life. (36-37)

11. Many cultures adapt their lifestyle

to suit the modern world, while
keeping their values and beliefs
the same. Keeper says If you got
the spirit of the old way in you,
well, you can handle most
anything this new world got to
throw around. Apply this
concept of holding onto old
spiritual or moral ways of being
in modern society to other
cultures or to your own life. How
many examples can you think of?
(36-37)
12. According to Keeper, what is the
process of learning to become
Indian? (39)

13. Explain the metaphor of the

jigsaw puzzle with missing
pieces. How do you think Garnet
will go about finding the missing
pieces? (45)

You cant change someone for what they

truly are. Garnet didnt grow up Indian but he
could always tell something was wrong. He
felt small holes where the wind would blow
through him, as he hugged his brother he felt
the holes getting smaller. Holding my
brother in my arms was unlike anything Id
ever felt, and as we cried I could feel that
lifelong feeling of wind whistling through my
guts getting quieter and quieter. (34)
Applying the old way of things is something
that many people dont do now. The world
today has lost respect for the right things and
has learned to never let someone be their own
person. IG German dance and that is an old
way of my heritage and it too is a dying
event. Other old morals or spiritual ways are
good Friday, Christmas, respect and the
natural way of things.

The process of learning to become Indian is

starting off right with the building blocks of
proper morals and then the habits and
customs come next. So you bring them back
from the inside out. Nothin in this world
ever grew from the outside in. Thats why I
help the boy understand. He learned bout
respect before he ever learned to sing or
dance. (39)(Keeper)
The jigsaw puzzle metaphor depicts Garnets
life. His life had been missing pieces, those
pieces were his missing family and they were
lost so long that he didnt know if he still
wanted to finish the puzzle because he had
been frustrated and defeated for so long.
Well, thats kinda how I felt all my life.
Pissed off because someone lost a few pieces
of my puzzle my life. Tried to make other
pieces to fit but they never did. Pissed me off
more. Now Im here with two pieces of that
puzzle right in ront of me and I dont even
know if I wanna use em. (45).

Leipold 5
14. Describe the role of children in
Ojibway marriage. What might
the impact of losing children have
on a marriage centred on
children? (45)

Kids are sacred in Ojibway marriage kids

represent the spiritual union of male and
female spirit and how they were looked on as
being a loan from the creator (49). Kids are
the gift from the creator that holds the family
together in a bond, when the kids were taken
away that bond was broken.
Your dad, he never forgot or forgave em for
what they done. Couldnt. They hurt him real
bad [] you could tell he was fallin apart
inside. One day I woke up he was gone. Died
bout three months after that. (56)

15. Compare and contrast the

Ojibway role of children in a
marriage with that of the role of
children in marriage in your
community.

Children in our community are a sign of love

in a marriage and are made from happiness
similar to the Ojibway but it doesnt tend to
serve any spiritual meaning.
They were sacred.(49)

16. Compare and contrast the

Ojibway role of children in the
marriage with that of the role of
children in a popular television
drama or reality show that you
regularly watch.

The role of children in Ojibway marriage is

that they represent the spiritual union of
male and female spirit and how they were
looked on as being on loan from the
creator(49). I havent watched a television
drama in a long time so I will explain the role
of children through a comedy. Inn Married
With Children kids are played off as nave
annoying people, such as Bud is played off as
being on several occasions and especially his
sister Kelly with her absent minded
personality and catching onto subtle jokes
long after they have passed. No offence is
meant to the kids but they arent able to
comprehend some of the meanings but they
are no doubt a member of the dysfunctional
Bundy family.

Leipold 6
17. What does bihkee-yan mean?
Why did the author choose to use
this word as the name of the
chapter?

It means, come home. Come home, come

home, come home (59). The author chose to
use bihkee-yah as the title of the chapter
because Garnet finally returns to his true
home in the chapter.

18. Explain how the entire

community was effected by the
apprehension of children from the
community.

The entire community felt damaged from the

kids being taken away. If it didnt have an
effect on them they wouldnt have shown up
to great the final child to return home to greet
Garnet.
They opened up their reserve and their
hearts to me. (59)

Other Notes:
Page

21
25
26
27
28

30
30

31
31-32
32-33
40
51
52-53
53
57
58

Lonnie Flowers family is introduced to Garnet

Garnet was drug dealing
Garnet arrested, sentenced 5 years, work camp
Mail from his brother Stanley
Lonnie and Delma visit Garnet in prison, tell him to
go to his real family
Kenora is the main town before whitedog
Out after 3 years on good behaviour, feels he knows
the land hes never met before
Gets off the bus in pimp clothes and a gold chain on
Taxi ride with stuttering cabbi
Describes the town and houses of White Dog
teasing is a form of affection.
Metaphor
Garnets mom and brother Jackie introduced
metaphors
Garnets dad
Moms name is Alice

Leipold 7

59

Allusion James Brown

Beedahbun (Second Chapter)

19. What was Keepers life like
before Garnet returned? (64-65)

Keeper was a drunk before Garnet returned.

Keeper is said to be the local drunk Keeper?
Wonder what that old fart wants with you?
Dont know, Wally, Maybe he needs help
with one a his bottles.
This got quite a laugh because Keeperd
been the local drunk around here a long
time(64).
Guess he just one day up and walked in and
asked chief and council to send him off to the
Smith Clinic in Thunder Bay to dry out. This
was about three weeks after I got here. (64)

20. Research the pipe ceremonies,

sacred tobacco offerings, the
sweat lodge practice, and sacred
sweet grass smudging.

Pipe ceremony - people gather in a circle and

a braid of sweetgrass is burned to purify the
area, then the pipe is smoked to allow the
spirits to join and here the people.
Tobacco offerings seen as the root to all
plants, an offering is made to anything that is
being taken and a prayer is said to tell the
plant and animals of why they are being
harvested.
Sweat lodge - A ceremonial sauna used for
healing and clensing the soal and body,
sometimes offerings and prayers are done here
as well.
Smudging used to cleanse or purify a
persons soul, thoughts, emotions and
negative energy. The contents are burned in a
shell.

21. What does midewewin mean?

(67-69)

Midewewin were the peoples guardians. All

kindsa people gotta have someone lookin out
over the world for em, teach em how to walk
around in it, show em where they gotta go,
how to get there. Midewewin did that (68).

Leipold 8

22. Using the metaphor of spiritual

hunger, explain why Garnet had
been starving. (68-69)

Garnet as well as others had been starving

because, they had lost their goals. Garnet
never knew the native goals of his people and
was brought up to see more value in physical
things than spiritual.
Started lookin more at the whitemans
world than their own. Pretty soon work an
money an getting those shiny things got to
mean more than prayers an ceremony. (69)

23. Explain the symbol of the drum.

Are there any lessons that you
can learn from the drum and
apply to your own life? (71)

The drum is the connection to the earth and

universe. In out way we believe that the
drum holds the heartbeat of the people, []
when you sing youre joining the heartbeat of
the people with the heartbeat of the universe.
A lesson to be learned is not to get caught up
in the new ways of living, and forget about the
old and spiritual ways. There should always
be something to believe in.

24. What does Beedahbun mean?

Why do you think the author
used it as the title of this chapter?
(74)

Beedahbun means first light. I think the author

used it as the title of the chapter because it is
the start of something new, like the first light
of a new day.
Soon as the moon goes down behind them
tress over there an we see the first light in the
east. Its called Beedahbun. First light.(74)

25. According to Keeper, once a

person faces the truth that they
are an Indian, a three step
process of learning how to be a
good Indian. What are the three
stages?

First you learn how to be a good human

being. Second, you learn how to be a good
person, and in the process of learning that you
learn how to be a good Indian. [] Cant
happen the other way around on accounta
youd be so busy trying to be the ultimate
Indian youd kinda miss out on just being
happy being a person.(90)
26. Look up some round dance songs Large dances where everyone holds hands
on the internet! You can use the
Round dances are those big get-together
search term round dance,
dances lotsa Indians use. You join hands and
round dance contest, or round
move around in a big circle, moving your feet
dance pow wow (My personal
in the rhythm with the drum and kinda
faves are Leo Charlies One of
moving in and out(92).
these days which is one youtube,
and Tribute to Lester by Lard
Thomas, also on youtube) (92-

Leipold 9
93)
27. List the metaphorical horses that
Stanley says the Anishnabe
should steal? Compare Stanleys
metaphor of stealing horses on
page 94-95 with Chief Dan
Georges Lament to
Confederation (easy found
online). (9495)

28. Using the internet, define Lateral

violence and internal racism.
How do these terms apply to
some of the issues brought up in
the novel, but especially in pages
106-107?

Stanley says that they should steal Education,

technology, business, politics,
communication, employment and health care
as metaphorical horses.
Chief Dan George says that what has passed
needs to be left in the past and that he shall
grab the instruments of the white mans
success-his education, his skills- and with
these new tools I shall build my race into the
proudest segment of your society.
(George, Cheif Dan. "This Day in History:
July 1, 1967." Vancouver Sun 1 July 2013.
The Vancouver Sun. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.vancouversun.com/This history
July
1967/6876736/story.html#ixzz2XpXaGClv>.)
They both say that they can use what has been
changed about them to benefit our new selves
and become better than we have been before.
Lateral violence displaced violence directed
against one peers rather than the problem.
Internalized Racism the hating of your own
kind due to circumstances.
Jackie is internally racist to Garnet because
the way he was raised in the residential
schools the whiteman way. He was also
laterally violent to Garnet for the same fact he
was mad at garnet for what he was and not at
the people who made him that way.
Then you show up here all white, black,
anything but Indyun, and I found myself
hatin you. Hatin you,man! Knowin it aint
your fault (107).

Leipold 10
29. What does SBeedahbun mean?
How is it related to Beedahbun?
How does this relate to Garnets
journey so far? (110-111)

SBeedahbun [] Life, he said [] when

that light breaks on that horizon, [] you feel
life coming back in. [] Thats what you feel.
The waking up inside. (110)
Beedahbun is the first light but SBeedahbun
is the light of life returning as the sun rises.
When that light breaks on that horizon, you
stand here be part of it, you feel life comin
back. (110)

Other Notes:
Page

61
79

82

89

96

97

Myron Fischer, Mabel Copenace

Thats where the name came from, Anishanabe.
Means the good people(79)
Berts one of my uncles on my fathers side and
acts as the community development officer and
lives in one of those modern houses by the chief.
What you think is how youll act, hoy you act is
how youll feel, an how you feel is what you are.
Stanley
Jakie points gun at Mr.Wright while in the
residential school system
AIM: American Indian Movement
Soo-Wanee-Quay (Third Chapter)

30. Keeper says that respect is at the

centre of everything. When
someone learns respect, what
other things are they able to do?
(116)

So you gotta respect that power everwhere

you find it. Thats why the boyn me do what
we do evry mornin. Outta respect. Man
livin with respect cant do nobody no harm.
Reason behind thats on accounta respects
big centre of it all. Give respect, you give
kindness, honesty, openness, gentleness,
good thoughts, good actions (116).

31. On page 120 it says that the story

of the radio happens in a circle.
Draw a circle on a piece of paper,
and document the story of the
radio. Where does it end where it
began? How is it different from
where it began?

(see attached image)

Leipold 11
32. Apply the metaphor of the eagle
finding balance to Garnets life.
(128-129)

Like the eagle that has to find the balance of

the winds to fly or not, Garnet has to find the
balance in his life between his old white
city life and his new Indian life to fly as a
person. He has to balance the two so they
dont overpower each other.

33. Apply the metaphor of the eagle

finding balance to something that
youve been through in your life.
(128-129)

The balancing of the eagle I have applied in

my own life through sociality and school. A
constant battle between the two is to have the
marks for school and grow distant with
friends or slack at school and strengthen
relationships. This is a constant battle in the
life of any teenager and is one some dont
know how to control.

34. What does Keeper think about the

metaphor of stealing horses?
(136-137)

Comes down to stealin horses again.

Stealin horses was a thing to be honoured on
accounta a couple things. First, When you
took a mans horse you took away his movin
around. [] Second, when you took a horse
you gave yourself the power to move faster
n better.(137)
We gotta steal them horses and use them to
get us movin again. Cant be hidin behind
our Indyun ways all the time now. Gotta find
balance between the two worlds to
survive.(137)
Keeper says we need to use the new horses
(technology) as a tool and use if for benefits
and balance.
Thats balance. Us we learned that good
with the radio. Made it a part of our lives.
Used it like a tool. Another horse we learned
to ride.(138)

Leipold 12
35. Explain how the radio taught
Garnet about balancing two
worlds. (137)

The radio taught Garnet how it is possible to

balance two worlds and still be Indian,
traditional.
Whatever we find ourselves doing day in
and day out. Thats our culture now and thats
why most of us are movin between kinda
Indyuns. Movin between the pickup truck
and the sweat lodge, movin between the
office and the wigwam, movin between
school and the traditional teachins. (138)
Guess in a way the boy got more traditional
then most right away on accounta he kept on
askin about things and learnin them and
puttin them into his livin day in and day
out.(138)

36. What does Keeper see the role of

the First Nations teachings in
contemporary life? (138)

Keeper sees the role of First Nations

teachings in contemporary life as always
changing and growing.
Do what the world asks you to do but do it
with the spirit of the teachins. Youll never
get lost that way. Never.(138)

37. No meaning is given for SooWanee-Quay. What does it mean

to Garnet? (149)

Keeper thinks Soo-wanee-quays a Cree

sayin comes from the sweat lodge. Means
somethin like power if the women(148)
Although Garnet feels it to mean something
different, feels it to have the power to make
the lake his balance point with the rhythm of
the drum, the balance of his people.
When I feel the up and down rhythm of that
boat kinda like a drum-beat itself, I look up
and around at the land and the universe
around me and I sing real soft and low, Soowanee-quay, Soo-wanee-quay. Feels like
coming home.(149)

Leipold 13
38. If stories provide lessons about
what people value, what do
Anishnabe value based on the
story of the man that wanted a
powerful animal? What does
mainstream society value today?
How are they different? Are there
any similarities?

The Anishnabe value truth and honesty very

highly in their culture. The mole knows the
way a bear walks across the ground, a man,
knows the way of everythin on accounta hes
gonna go up to take a sniff whenever hes felt
somethin movin around. [] even though he
might get eaten, even though he might be
injured, even though he might feel a great
deal of pain on accounta it, that mole always
takes the time to investigate what he
feels.(152)
-Mainstream society values money and living
in the moment and not worrying about longer
term effects.
-They are different from the fact that
everything is in the moment that the true
feeling or meaning is never brought out and
is just left behind.
-They arent similar in anyway. I feel this
because true meanings are overlooked for
false egos unlike the Anishnabe who take the
time to find the true meaning or root and deal
with the problem.

Other Notes:
Page

141-144

Wally is trying to get with Audrey Two Canoe,

and then is chased by her father because Wally
was accidentally broadcasting their endeavour.
139
Snaggin: young people are looking for
someone to duddle up too tepee creepin
144-145
Oscar Two canoe stopped chasing wally and
laughed at what happened.
Lookin Jake (Fourth Chapter)
39. How does Garnet describe his
Garnet describes his relation to the land as a
relationship to the land? (156connection to the spirit of the people which is
157)
the spirit of you. There is a beautiful silence
when he leaves for four days to the
wilderness by himself and it fills his insides,
the silence of nature is always something you
can fall back on and the silence becomes part
of him when he decides to be apart of it. (156
-157)

Leipold 14
40. Contrast Garnets first impression
of the reserve with the way he
feels about it now. (156-157)

Garnets first impression of the reserve was

not a good one, the first things he sees about
White Dog is that their sign is full of bullet
holes, their houses all looked ready to fall
over, no basements, plumbing or furnaces
and he also comments on all the old broken
cars and the kids running around a without
shirts and the occasionally glum old person.
As a first impression these sights would
make a person cringe at all they see and
Garnet is doing just that on the inside.
Although over the time Garnet stays in white
dog his perspective changes from what his
city self saw to his new Indian self. The land
has a new serenity to it now, he has found the
beauty in the land and enjoys the purity he
feels from it.
First there was a big sign on the side of the
road with about a hundred bullet holes in it
[] Houses were perched on toppa rocky
outcroppings and they looked about ready to
tumble down. There wasnt any siding on a
lotta them and it looked like most were just
sitting there on the land with no basement
plumbing or furnaces. (33)
Theres a huge silence you discover when
you get way beyond things like houses and
roads and motors. It can be kinda scary at
first but once you get used to it its like the
most beautiful sound you ever heard and it
fills up your insides until you think youre
gonna pass out from the pressure. (156)

Leipold 15
41. Describe the significance of
prayer. (160-161)

The significance of prayer is to make

yourself into a better person and respect
everything around you more.
Pray for their happiness, health and
harmony. Then you think of somethin else
an say the same kinda prayer. Keep on that
till you run outta prayers or tobacco. []
give thanks for everythin. When youre done
youll feel real good an youll treat everyone
an everything with lotsa love an respect. Its
hard to be unloving an disrespectful towards
things you played fore.(161)

42. What do the two eagles

symbolize? (165)

The two eagles symbolize the balance of

your two gifts, the mother and the father.
Told me them two eagles were signs to me
about livin in balance with them two sets of
gifts. Mothers and fathers. When I was
prayin I was in balance an thats why they
came. Both sides comin together with my
prayers. Man side and woman side. Sacred
union comin together when I pray.

43. Why was it important for Garnet

to go to the cabin? (170)

It was important that Garnet go to the cabin

because it was the final piece of closure he
needed in his life. It was land he knew but
never had met.
I offered a pinch of tobacco to the skeleton
of the cabin that had become the bones of my
life, to the power of the land for keeping it
here, to the Creator of all things for his plan
and I knew that there would be no need to
search for that special place to offer my circle
of prayers. And I knew that when it was time
to leave this place, it would be sacred land.
Sacred land. To carry it in my heart forever
was my responsibility, my destiny and my
dream. The land, you see, is a feeling

44. What is the purpose of smudging?

The purpose of smudging is to purify

Leipold 16
(176)

yourself and get centred between all aspects

of yourself and things around you.
He says its on accounta fours a strong
traditional number and on accounta when we
smudge were purifying ourselves and we
gotta purify all of us. Mean our mind, body,
spirit and emeotion. Get centred. Each pass
of that smoke was a purifying pass over one
of them areas. (176)

45. Why does keeper think that it was

important for Garnet to go out on
the land? (180-181)

Keeper thinks it was important for Garnet to

go out on the land because he needed to learn
things for himself. Garnet needed to go down
the paths of his life and rediscover things lost
and found. The land taught him how to be
open to learning.
Ready not like being able to live out there
for four days but ready to face the feelins he
was gonna have bein there at that cabin.
Makes you walk back over your own
territory. Go back down some trails maybe
you forgot. Forgot on purpose even
sometimes. Him hed been learnin real good
and it was time he took that walk back
through his life.(180)

46. What does Lookin Jake mean?

(183)

Looking cool or hip, but Garnet looks Jake as

in the way he is reborn and full inside
himself
Jakes the cool, hip, together, you know?
Stanley said, rubbing his hand through my
hair. Lookin jakes the way you wanna look
when you go out on the town. Except maybe
right now youd consider havin a bath before
you hit town tonight!

47. How does the shirt symbolize

The shirt symbolizes both the process and the

Leipold 17
both the process and the end
product of Garnets
transformation? (209)

Other Notes:
Page
162

end product of Garnets transformation

because what he came in as, had been altered
and the excess had been trimmed off and they
new ways of his life had been incorporated in
with something he never truly had before, the
shirt had lost the sleeves and sharp collar and
gained the fit and colours of his new Indian
life.
Got colored ribbons on it remind us of
things. You aint got no tribal colors yet but
me I sewed on these bluen green ones on
accounta they were your grandpan dads
colors. Wanted em to remind you of where
you come fromn how you wanna be. [] It
wasnt until I had it all held out infront of me
that I knew what it was. It was the balloonsleeved yellow shirt I had on the day I
arrived at White Dog. The sleeves were cut
back regular, the long pointed collar was
gone and the ribbons ran across the chest and
back and down the arms. It was
beautiful.(209)

It was like seeing the light be born inside me again

discovered the feeling of flying