House is BIG this Week

These days "house" is the hottest term around, in all of it's many forms. We all want to have our own house in the future, maybe a big house, or a house with a tree house in the backyard. Lately it seems that even House music has made it mainstream: From David Guetta to Avicii, everyone loves those golden beats. All that is fine and dandy but do you know what my favorite house is? Oh yeah you guessed it you little genius you, I'm talking First Nations "House" here, or just FNH for all you students in the know. I'm a fan, always have been a fan, and always will be a fan of FNH. The only time I am a bigger fan of FNH is when it's Indigenous Education Week. "Wait Shak, isn't that this week?"  Oh lucky me, lucky me. That's right everyone this week is none other than one of the busiest weeks for FNH here at U of T and do they ever have some stellar programming for you.

For those of you who don't know, Indigenous Education Week is an annual series of programming featuring authors, storytellers, and filmmakers, all working towards promoting indigenous knowledge here at U of T (and really in Toronto as a whole). It highlights the contributions of indigenous knowledge towards education both during this past year and into this new year. 2014 Indigenous Education Week has a whopping amount of events to deliver, from panel discussions with indigenous leaders such as Lee Maracle and Andrew Wesley to film screenings on current Indigenous political topics. Most events throughout this week will be discussion based but a few unique events to look out for will be far more engaging including one which will take place this Thursday featuring spoken word and dance intertwined. Personally though I am most excited for ImagineNATIVE Film Fest's new "Indigiflix" community screenings. The ImagineNATIVE film festival is an annual Aboriginal film fest taking place each October. Now in it's 15th year the film festival has received enough momentum and contributions to now dedicate community screenings during unique indigenous events throughout the year. This Friday the Indigiflix event will showcase three separate short films all done by indigenous talent. The three films range from topics regarding war and history to spirits and ancestry, not an event to be missed. It will be a week of great storytelling, literature, movies, learning and of course food. I definitely encourage all readers to check it out. Shak