Keeper 'n' Me

1. I believe I will stay in White Dog to figure out my family history. There is still much I do not know about my family and much I need to learn. My mom and I grow closer each day and I learn more and more as I go. When I first arrived I felt like I did not belong and that this is not my home, but as the days go by I feel more and more like staying instead of running away.

2. When Garnet talks about the winds ripping through his guts and the hole in his chest, he is talking about not belonging and not quite ever finding who he was or where he belongs. When he talks about the wind whistling through his ears instead of his guts he means that he's finally found where he belongs and who he is and who his family is.

3. I felt lost like Garnet when I first started school here. I was different from everybody else. I could not run, plays sports, or do most of the things that the other kids could do. I did not know how to get through the problems I had. My brothers were the ones who told me I wasn't much different from anybody else and got me playing with many of the kids that I would not play with before.

A real indyun!

1) I've decided to leave the reserve. I am not happy with being an Indian, I'm going back to Toronto to pursue my black life again. Dealing coke may have got me in jail, but damn the money was good. And the women... Oh my god the women! I'll be off this rez by tomorrow and back in the streets, dealing coke and banging hoes. Stupid Jane and her hugs, and Stanley with his eerie resemblance to me. And that god damn drunk keeper, I want to punch him out every time I hear that stupid laugh. I'm leaving now, screw tomorrow.
2) Garnet talks about "the wind" that whistles through him. The wind he describes is his loneliness that he has felt over the years. "The wind" is finally going away now that he has been reunited with his family.
3) I got lost in an IGA when I was like 8, I went to the front of the store and cried for my mom... I found out that she was right outside the door. That is the only time I have been lost.

keen'n'me question

1) I feel awkward being around these people that call themselves my family. Its so weird to have that feeling of a family being around and having all the others on the reserve treat me as if they knew me all my life. I'm afraid that if I don't leave now, I might do something to upset them. I like the weird feelings that I have being around my family. I think I'm gonna stick around the reserve and see how things roll out.
2)When Garnet talks about the wind that blows through him, he talking about the loneliness he experienced and the missing memories that he had. When the wind started to stop blowing through him, it was because he felt like he belonged.
3)A time that I felt lost like Garnet was when I first moved Saskatchewan because I was not used to a school that was k-12 and had not even a quarter of the amount people that was in my grade alone at my old school. I didn't know anyone, when everyone else knew each other. In my old school I used to know a few people in each of my clases like how everyone else did.

Children Throughout the Ages

The concept of a child has changed drastically over time. In the middle ages children were considered to be a miniature adult. Children were exactly like their parents and had to act "accordingly". They did everything their parents did; nobody thought they needed special treatment or protection. Health care was poor and because of this children didn't live very long, therefore people referd to their kids as "It". Overall the concept of children wasn't anything like it is today.

In the 18th and 19th century the concept of a child started to change. People realized that children were innocent and in need of protection. Children did not work as much due to child labour laws. Even though people didn't make their children work anymore, they still got beat on quite often. In sunday school, heaven was often described to children as "a place where children are never beaten. People started child protection organizations for the health and safety of children. The concept of a child was starting to change for the better.

Now days children live in a "better" way. Children don't work due to child labour laws, and there parents caring for them. Therefore children were not seen as economic necessities, in other words they were basically economically useless. People started to recognize the emotional importance of children. Parents show love and care for their children by nurturing them. People now adopt babies for the love as appose to children that can work. As you can see the way people think of children and the way they treat children has drastically changed over the years.

Children of the Ages

Children in the middle ages were seen as young adults. If they got into trouble they were punished like an adult. The majority of children died from disease when they were babies. This is because there was a lot of disease and peoples life span was short.
Childhood in the 18'th and 19'th century were seen as needing protection, being innocent and worked like adults. In the 18'th century, children were beaten. In the 19'th century, the first child protection services started. This is because children started in to the labour industry. They were seen more childlike.
Children in the 20'th century were no longer seen as an economic necessities. Parents were now the main source of income now.
Children in a way, were considered useless. Children were more loveable. This is because children were now free to be child and they could have fun.

How Families Change in Centuries

Children In the Middle Ages:
The children were supposed to act like they were an adult. They were seen as mini adults. Their clothes and their body proportions were just like the adults. The children did not get special protection and treatment, however the children could be punished. When kids would get sick there was a good chance of them dying because there was no medication to fix the illness. They had expected them to die because of how bad the medical system was. Times were alot tougher back then and they had needed the help from the children so it was just expected that they worked extremely hard. They didn't have time to raise the children properly so they had to grow up quickly and mature fast.

The 18th & 19th:
Childhood was starting to change by now they were slowly beginning to give protection to their children. However in the 1800's child labor was commonly practiced and the children had accept it. Part of the 19th century, most workers were under the age of 11. They worked as hard and as long as the adults/parents. The kids quite often had the worst job because of their size, they were often given the dangerous jobs. The children were forced to work to help bring in the money, however that is not right because the children were suppose to be protected from family and they shouldn't of had the dangerous jobs they were given. They should of had the jobs that would be easy for them and non-harmless. Many of the poor urban families, and parents forced their children to engage in scavenging and street peddling. Only by the 19th century did the first child protection organizations emerge. Children were a crucial source of labor in the family economy, and a source of financial support. Child protection should have been emerged much sooner then the mid 19th century. The children should have had their lives alot easier then they were. They shouldn't have had to bring in money for the family, that should of been the parents job.


The 20th Century:
Children are no longer workers for the family! Mainly the worker of the family should be the father/man, and now it is starting to be that way. Paople started seeing children as "useless" and thought they were costly. They weren't workers for the family because the parents were able to bring in enough money for the family. They thought of them as useless becuase the kids used to work just as hard as the man in the family or harder. The children for adoption today is usually new borns. People like adopting the children at a young age so there not to big and they can watch them grow into an adult.

Childhood Throughout The Ages

Childhood in the middle ages was harsh. Children were expected to be just like adults because life in the middle ages was hard and many people died young. Sickness, disease, and death was well known in the middle ages because of lacking heath care. Because of the poor heath care the parents of the middle ages wouldn't get to attached to their children. they were expected to do every thing their parents did.
The Children of the 18th 19th centuries were very disciplined. In the 18th century worked crazy hours in dangerous work environments. Many children in both the 18th and 19th centuries were used for theft and begging because they were easy to control and gain sympathy from people. In the early 19th century child labour protections were created to stop the children that grew up in these hash conditions from being a problem to society.
Children in the 20th century are considered useless for economic productions because of their age and immaturity. Parents grew emotionally closer to their children because they started to have time for them and to be more caring towards them. Parents that adopted, would usually get a baby. Babies were the children to get.

Children throughout the ages

The Middle Ages

In Middle Ages children were seen as miniature adults. They were to act according and do every thing an adult would do. They would partake in a social life beside their parents,even when there was sexual acts, swearing and some times death. Babies and young wouldn't live long or often didn't live at all so many parents would call the kid "it". They would show very little love, seen the kid as another mouth to feed until they were sure "it" would survive. The kids never got special treatment and were beaten and punished like an adult would be if they broke any rules.

The 18th and 19th century

In the 18th and 19th century children were seen as weak, easy to draw into temptation and often were beaten. Adults seen beating their kids as a way to teaching them right from wrong. Many adults thought that they shouldn't be the only ones who work, so they made their own kids work long and hard. They seen children good for going in to small little places where no adults could go.Some poor families made their kids bag for money and scavenge for food. Some abandoned children were recruited by bad person to helped in robberies and prostitution.

The 20th century

Parents no longer needed children to work any more because the man of the house hold was suppose to bring home the money. People finally realized that kids are innocent, emotional, and needed to be protected. The one bad thing about having kids at the time was that it's to costly and many people saw them as useless.

Children Throughout the Ages

Children in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages children were viewed as adults. In the Middle Ages children were expected to act like their parents. The children were allowed to see everything that a parent was allowed to see back then. The life expectancy of babies at that time was low. The parents had a lot of kids so at least a couple would survive. They didn't get too attached to the kids. They called them "it" until a certain age when they were sure they would survive.

Children in the 18th and 19th Century

Children were starting to be viewed as needing protection. Child labour was allowed especially on farms because they were relied upon them to help. Children were allowed to be beaten. It was a way of teaching them right from wrong. When adopting many people preferred teenage males because they were hard workers. The first child abuse organizations were formed to take children out of abusive homes and give them a "proper upbringing."

Children in the 20th Century

Children were no longer needed to work because machines took their places. The dad was expected to be the sole bread winner. The children were viewed as expensive to keep. Parents got more emotionally attached to kids. Babies were adopted more because they were more precious at this time.

Poem - Late... oops :)

The lift I take soaring through the air- next
I stand
Looking
Beyond
Reason
I'm at the top
I swallow my stomach and the fear goes with it
Now a deep breath and no excuse to turn back
I close my eyes, I feel safe
With what I can't see
The work is mind
I push off with my right
Poles in my hands
Two planks under my feet
My fear disipates as I pick up speed

Christmas Memory

The magic of Christmas- that warm fuzzy feeling that you can't seem to feel any other time of the year. The fluffy white snow a blanket of white on the ground, the rooftops, and the trees. The bright Christmas lights hanging off each house, brightening the opaque unlit streets. Everything was perfect, carols were playing off in the background. Our tree was up, presents were set nicely under it. It was Christmas eve. However, there was one thing missing.
My mom was a cook, but unfortunatley she wouldn't be cooking our Christmas dinner. She worked up north in Alberta and wasn't coming home until the next night. She cooked for the guys that worked on the oil rigs.
My grandparents came over in the morning so my brother, dad and I wouldn't feel too lonely without my mom. Bright and early we opened a few presents, but we were awaing the evening when mom would get home to open the rest. I even wrote her a song. My grandma made us a pork roast for an early supper. Soon after they wished us a Merry Christmas and headed home. The three of us were so anxious for my moms arrival! When we saw that truck driving up a rush of emotions hit my family! There were tears, laughter, and a lot of talking once mom got out of the behicle. Soon after, we ripped into the presents and we all just enjoyed each others company. We hadn't seen her for two weeks! For our Christmas dinner we went to Denny's and ate hamburgers. It ended up being much better than a big turkey supper. It doesn't matter what you;re eating, what you have or what you're doing at Christmas time (or any other time for that matter) but who you're with makes all the difference.

Christmas in Caroline

Excitement was in the air. There was snow on the ground that reflected the Christmas lights from the windows. Inside the house was nice and warm. Christmas shows on the T.V. In the corner stood the Christmas tree. It was never a prefect shaped tree, but once we were done putting the lights on and decorations you couldn't tell. I had just finished putting the food out, when we heard the sirens.

This ment that Santa would be riding around town on the fire truck. So we put or coats and shoes on and went outside to see him. The fire truck had Christmas lights on it and there was music playing. If you were on the side walk you got a candy cane. This was always a highlight of Christmas Eve. When he had passed we returned inside to finish supper. A mixture of junk food.

Eventually it was time for bed. But before we went to bed we got to open a present. It was pajamas or mitts. Since I was older now, my brother would be the one to wake me up in the morning. Very early. We’d go turn on all the Christmas lights and gather around the tree, taking turns unwrapping gifts. When we were done, we took out the leftovers from the night before and eat that (along with candy) for breakfast.
Through out the day we entertained ourselves with our presents, watched more Christmas shows or helped my mom cook Christmas dinner. This is one of my favorite Christmas because it was my last one in Caroline. But now I’m making new ones that I’ll remember for ever.

christmas memory

Christmas is a very festive time of year. Every Christmas has its own little memories that make each one special. The Christmas year that I was in second year peewee a family from my hockey team did a charity thing. We would go to Wal-Mart and get a card that had an age and gender on it then you would go around and get presents that match the card that you got to give to underprivilaged children. That isn’t the memorable part of this event though. The part that was most fun was that when we went to the Unras house (the people that paid for it all) the parents were wrapping the gifts, and I'm sure everyone knows what that means. Trevor, Adam,
Derrick and I took the cardboard rolls from inside the wrapping paper and had a big fight with them. When they started to break we took duct tape and made them really solid (they hurt). We did this for about an hour and a half. We started to get bored so we changed the game a little bit. We went into the basement, turned off the lights, moved the furniture and started to beat the shit out of each other. That was the best cardboard tube war I have ever had during any Christmas.

Christmas story thing

Last year Christmas was at my house. We had my sisters were over and they have a lot of children. At the time it was 9 kids total. Carla and Amy had stayed the night and this consists of Carla, Amy, Jim, Christian and 8 children. They stayed the night on the 24th and us older people were up playing poker and had a few drinks. We didn’t get to bed until late.

The first thing in the morning I awoke to children screaming and other children jumping onto my bed. The day had come. It was Christmas morning. After breakfast was present opening. The children could barely keep from jumping off of the walls and I took my usual job of handing out each person’s presents. It was an awesome time and it was funny watching these kids jumping up and down and going crazy.

My favourite part of Christmas is being with the family. I rarely get to see most of them so the time together is great. That is why I like Christmas. Being together with the family is by far the best part. It’s better than the presents. It’s almost as good as the supper, but nothing is that good.

Smell That Fresh Christmas Air

The rancid smell wafted through out the room; it was a perfect success. Only about an hour earlier did my brother wake me up and tell me to get out of bed because of the boredom of being alone. In our family we could only open our presents when everyone was awake, but we were allowed to get every thing that was in our stockings. I went and got my stocking and dumped everything that was in it out. There it was, the prize of that Christmas; stink bombs.
We tested out our prized stink bombs in our basement living room. It wasn't that bad at first but then the full effects of it came. My brother and I ran out of the living room gagging. I realized that we had a great power and that to me it was like a nuclear bomb.
The idea struck both my brother and I at the same time; we had to put a stink bomb in our sisters' room. We snuck into their room as if we were thieves, set off the stink bomb and skedaddled right out of there. A few moments later we heard gagging and yelling as the smell wafted through the room. My brother sat outside their room laughing at our success. Their door opened and the next thing I new was that I was been tackled be four of my sisters as my brother got away.
Although I had felt pain and had a few bruises that was one of the best Christmas memories I had.

Just the good Ol boys, never meaning no harm beats all you never saw, getting in trouble with the law since the day they was born. So last christmas my brother-in-law Wayne and I were feeding the cows a bail, when we seen five coyotes playing in the snow together. I hopped out of the tractor and bee-lined it to the house to grab the gun and some shells, then grabbed Wayne's truck and picked him up. We switched drivers and head to the field. We circled one little bush and a coyote came running out behind us. He whipped the truck around and hopped out but he made the driver side closest to the coyote so i had to run around the truck and by the time i got there the coyote was face down in the snow. We got 5 coyotes that day. Then drove back to the farm because dad was waiting there to pick me up. I then realized i dropped my phone where i got out to shoot the coyote. So Wayne and I went back and turns out it fell in the door which is lucky because it would have been wrecked in the snow.

The end

Santa's a doucher

I don't remember the first time i encountered the magic of christmas..... but i imagine it went something like this. Long ago in the big city of Saskatoon, me and my father were shopping in the mall, when i saw the fat jolly man himself, sitting there in his chair taking other kids wish lists. I asked my father if i can go sit on Santa's lap, he said no because he is a 40 year old pedophile. But not really at all, he said yes and i told Santa that i wanted a hot wheels ring of fire. I never got it and thats when i found out that Santa wasn't real. That was a real kick in my twigNberries.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

The noise was loud, the bang rang in your ear, it left a blank thought in your head. You thought, what could that have been, what makes a sound like that? It was around eight years ago, a cold winter day and christmas eve. We were all sound asleep and heard this noise. I could hear mom and dad running around the house trying to find out what was going on. I walked out into the kitchen. When I got there the lights flicked on and you could see what happened.

The tree had fallen over, there was needles and water everywhere. After a few choice words from dad, we picked the tree up. The water from the tree came out of the base and drained out onto the floor. Most of the gifts under the tree were wet and ruined. The next morning we got everything sorted out and had to replace some gift and others could be washed. Looking back on this experience it really wasn't that bad of a night. Overall everything went fine and everyone was ok.

Christmas Memory

Some of my favorite christmas memories took place on last years christmas. It was my first christmas in Toronto, my mom, aunt and uncle, and two little cousins were there so it was nice that there was a huge amount of people. We did our usual christmas routine, we usually go to church on christmas eve to do carols and stuff like that which i don't particularly enjoy, but last year it was much more fun than usual. After church my mom and my aunt went to make dinner and my little cousins and I were making a gingerbread house. It was so cute watching my little cousin Nash get icing and candy all over place since he was only 1 at the time. That was something I really enjoyed doing with them because we had so much fun. After dinner was done and we were all just hanging around, one of the families from the church came over to have christmas dinner with us, and they were a huge family. I think there was 8 kids and then the parents, so it was really packed... but it was full of christmas spirit that's for sure. I thought it was really fun being around new people and they were really nice people. I thought this was one of my best christmases because we had a lot of fun with the other family and it was just really... christmasy.

Awesome Christmas Memory

It was a blustery snowy morning as I rushed downstairs to open presents with my brothers. That year we had a 7 foot tall tree that brushed the ceiling. We all sat down on the couch and started passing out presents. My dad passed me two rectangular parcels and in them were two boxes of four-ten shells. My dad smiled and said, “we are going to use them when we borrow Dakota's four-ten.” My brother passed me a great big present and as I gleefully ripped the paper I saw a gleaming black barrel. As I pulled out the barrel to bring out the rest of what was in the box my heart was pounding. Sitting on my lap was a new gleaming four-ten. My dad looked at me with a big smile on his face and said, “I got it for you bud.” That day I will never forget standing out on my front steps shooting cans with my brand-new gun.

A Christmas that I really didn't enjoy was last years Christmas. It was a horrible time because I was awake at 10:00 and had to wait til 3:00 to open gifts because my sister and her fiance were at his parents. My other sister and I were getting anxious staring at the gifts as there sitting under the tree waiting to be opened. Finally 3:00 rolled around and they came in and thought they should visit a while before we start, tha didnt last to long because my dad, Krista and I were quite ready to start opening. My dad doesn't like to wait very long either, he is kind of like a little kid when it comes to things like this. Ashley and Wes were in no hurry because of course they had already opened some gifts so they were in no rush like the rest of us were. It was getting close to 4:00 and we had finally started destroying paper and seeing what we had got from everyone!....Turned out to be a good day!

The Man who Finds......

1) This story was terrible, why did you make us read it, i get that it teaches a lesson but telling the truth first, and blah blah blah, but i don't care that this kid got caught steeling, he should have been a little bit better at it, maybe took some steeling classes or something.

2) This story is similar to a movie i have seen, that i don't quite remember the name of, but this dad finds out that kid has been a thief his entire life and when he is like 40 the guy decides to tell his 60 year old dad that he has been a thief, and the dad was secretly one too. that is all.

3) The point of this story is to send a message to people to just tell the truth before you start lying and it will probably work out better than if you had lied and got caught.

Poem from the boys point of view - The child who walks backwards

My next-door neighbor questions my mom
about all of my injuries.
Mother tells her that cupboards and doorknobs
have given me black eyes and worse.
She says I'm bothered by dreams,
but really I'd rather be asleep than awake.
My neughbor knows I'm not that clumsy,
I climb her tree's like a pro.
But mother continues to say
I'm just a clumsy kid.
Well if being a clumsy kid
consists of running into her fists,
than I'm the clumsiest kid ever.
My mother tells my neighbor I walk backwards
into fireplace grates. Well really my mother
pushes me, burning the backs of my legs.
All my friends sign my casts
there's a new one every week.
I don't see why my mother bothers
getting me casts wen she breaks me
all over again.
My mother tells my neighbor
I run into things,
walk backwards,
and break my legs while she's sleeping.
My mother
is a liar.

The Child Who Walks Backwards

Part 2

3. Many things in the poem stand out in my mind. One of the specific things that stands out is cupboard doors imprinting shapes on his face. That specifically stands out because I can see and feel what happened at that point and it makes me want to do something to help. I know that child abuse is severely wrong and should be stopped. This entire poem kind of shows me how severe it can get and why I want to stop it.