FNAT 101

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• FNAT 101
• RECONCILIATION IS IT POSSIBLE?

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Presenting Drew Hayden Taylor

• Curve Lake First Nation (Ojibway)
• Playwright, columnist,
• essayist, storyteller
• 10 published plays
• His work is widely anthologized
• 17 titles in Mal-Us library

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Someday

• Only Drunks Children Tell the Truth is a sequel
  to Hayden Taylors Someday
• Annie Wabung has dreamt all her life of
  re-uniting with her eldest daughter, who was
  taken away from Annie as a new-born
• At 35 Gracie returns home to Otter Lake during
  Christmas and then leaves in an emotional storm

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Freytags Triangle
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Topics Themes

• To say that ODCTT is about loss is an
  insufficient theme statement. Why?
• Making a theme statement requires a thoughtful
  interpretation of what the artist might be
  commenting on with his work.

• A close examination of the interaction between
  the characters in Drew Hayden Taylors play Only
  Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, may lead to a
  deeper understanding of the broader discussion
  about authenticity, acceptance and identity.

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Authenticity Markers

• The minutia of daily life for Janice Wirth is up
  for comment subsequent assessment about what is
  authentically native about her identity.

• Shes not as white as you thought
• The trouble with Rodney is that he thinks like a
  white person. His heart is native but his brain
  needs a good tan.
• Sometimes youre just too Indian

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Acceptance

• .

• Barb is full of blame verbally barbs Janice
  for
• Running away at Christmas
• Being raised away from their home
• Representing the ideal
• Janice accepts Barbs invitation to return home
  to pay last respects to Annie, after she finds
  out that Tonto is a kind of kindred spirit in
  that he too was adopted

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Identity

• Janice Wirth began life as Grace Wabung
• Scooped raised in a non-Native family
• Barb came looking for her sister Grace
• What is a name Wirth?
• Amelia Earhart becomes Amy Hart

• Janice is all the family that Barb has left
• Janice protests being called Grace throughout the
  play, until she gets drunk with Barbindicating a
  recognition of her relationship with Barb and
  Annie
• Is it true that only drunks and children tell the
  truth?

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When Thinned w/Alcohol, Blood is Thicker than
Water

• If experience is any indication, alcoholics can
  be the biggest and best liars. What is the larger
  message behind the title?
• Is Identity an abstract concept? Re-read the play
  and contrast Barbs identity with Janices and/or
  Tontos identity with Rodneys.

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Recalling Benton-Benai

• For many, what is left by the trail is really
  in our own bodies, in our blood memories
• In what ways does this play illuminate the
  concerns of Benton-Benai?
• Journey to find what our people left by the
  trail as signs to guide our future lives
• We need to journey to find the centre of
  ourselves reason for being
• Lack of knowledge of our story diminishes us as
  a people

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