{"id":23573,"date":"2015-03-06T15:34:35","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T20:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=23573"},"modified":"2015-03-06T15:49:52","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T20:49:52","slug":"remembering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2015\/03\/06\/remembering\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering"},"content":{"rendered":"I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to participate in an Aboriginal Peer Mentorship Program put on by OISE this semester and my first mentoring session happened this week.\r\n\r\nOISE Elder-in-Residence Jacqui Lavalley and I went to visit a grade 11 Native Studies class in a Catholic School somewhere near the edge of the GTA. Jacqui is delightful, and we had a lot of fun travelling to and from the school. Jacqui gave a traditional opening ceremony to the presentation and also gave a wonderful teaching to the students. Next, I spoke about my educational journey as an Indigenous person, though there was not enough time to say as much as I wanted.\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
All you need to get from downtown to Scarberia! (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nThe students were great listeners and asked great questions and even gave us Tim Horton\u2019s gift cards! I\u2019d never been to a Catholic school before and I\u2019d never encountered school uniforms before either so the trip was a great learning opportunity!\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
The beautiful thank-you card and gift from the mentee class! (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nHowever, visiting a high school forced me to revisit some old feelings I haven\u2019t encountered in a long time. Jacqui had mentioned that the tobacco tie I\u2019d been given in the ceremony knew everything about me and that I could not hide anything from it. That\u2019s an important fact and I finally realized I\u2019d been hiding some emotions from myself ever since I left Cochrane High School.\r\n\r\n
\"My<\/a>
This tobacco tie knows everything about me in this moment, and it looks like the turtle is watching me too... (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
Even though I'm at U of T, the shadows of the past are always nearby (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nEven before I left to go to the mentor session, I noticed myself falling into old trains of thought. I stood in front of a mirror and questioned my own appearance and physique because that\u2019s what I was used to every day in high school. That can\u2019t be healthy, right?\r\n\r\nMany different feelings came back to me in a big rush. I remembered how hard it was being viciously judged by other kids for every little thing you did or said or wore. I remember how alone they all made me feel.\r\n\r\nI also don\u2019t drink or party and that left me excluded from 99% of social activities.\r\n\r\nOne of the students at the mentoring session asked me an amazing question: \u201cHow did you keep from caving in to the peer pressures?\u201d\r\n\r\nThis question really helped me remember the good parts of high school. I remembered that I was proud <\/em>that I wasn\u2019t like those goofy peers of mine! I was proud <\/em>of my accomplishments, my grades, my individuality, my interests, my heritage, my ability to say no to alcohol.\r\n\r\nI learned to be proud because my parents always told me how proud they were of me. I can\u2019t thank my parents enough for that support. When you are proud of yourself and you stay true to your heart, it doesn\u2019t matter what a bunch of confused teenagers (or adults, for that matter) think of you!\r\n\r\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Even though the shadows are a part of life, light can always peek through too (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nIt breaks my heart to think other students out there don\u2019t have parents who will say they are proud. Everybody has plenty to be proud of, no matter what. Everyone is important.\r\n\r\n
\"Looking<\/a>
I'm proud of where I am; there's certainly no view like this at my old high school! (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nAfter returning from the mentor session, I had an evening lecture in First Nations House for my Anishinaabemowin class. I remembered how proud<\/em> I am to be in U of T, learning an Indigenous language and reconnecting with my community. I remembered how good it feels to walk into a place like First Nations House and have great conversations and laughs with real friends in a supportive environment.\r\n\r\nI remembered how far I\u2019ve come and how far you can come too.\r\n\r\n
\"Me<\/a>
Me in Grade 12, 2012 (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"Me,<\/a>
Me in Third Year at U of T, 2015 (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n
\nI was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to participate in an Aboriginal Peer Mentorship Program put on by OISE this semester and my first mentoring session happened this week. OISE Elder-in-Residence Jacqui Lavalley and I went to visit…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Remembering”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Remembering”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7204,59,65,1,70,66,82],"tags":[86,78,153,9307,176,138,286],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23573"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23585,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23573\/revisions\/23585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}