Snow

Stretch-

Grasp the frigid air

Directions pulled out

Of a liquid slowly dying

a starburst of water

A branch of light crystallized

Amidst darkness

A soft movement

A dance played out in fractal precision

Elsewhere, uniform shadow

Reveals the same -

Liquid and night

Caress each other

With the precision of careful lovers

That couple in solitude

While falling to a canopy

of one hundred billion similarly captured lights.

Buffy Ste Marie - FNH Magazine Article

Sometimes we are lucky enough to get a glimpse of person’s life, like looking at a landscape painting in a gallery. If you approached one, you wouldn’t dare assume that the painter saw only the world in small squares. And if you looked long enough, your own imagination would fill in the grey space; where a rock face becomes a mountain range, and painted harbors whisper of shores on the other side of the world.

This is the sense one gets of the life of Buffy Ste Marie. She seems to represent something more than a singer, an educator, or an activist. Perhaps that was why she has received eight Honorary Doctorates, and why we were honored to interview her about them:

People get really excited when they know you're coming to town, especially around here. Did you imagine that you'd be creating and having an audience for this long?

Thanks for the good words. No I didn't think I'd last in show biz more than a week, but I expected the songs might, and I deliberately tried to make certain songs that would cross languages and generations. The songs were about classic human themes, including the ones about specific Aboriginal issues.

Your first honorary doctorate is from the University of Regina (1996).  What did you think when you'd received the news?

I thought it was really nice, especially since it was a Doctor of Laws degree, which is their highest honour; and for them to give me this particular degree represented sort of a wonderful milestone in Regina, which has so many times been associated with systemic racism. Also because they are a sister university to the (then) brand new First Nations University in Regina it meant a lot to me, as I too support FNU. The acceptance speech I gave focused on ‘Whose heritage is it anyway?’ I love interacting with universities. In a way they are the most conservative but also the most liberating of institutions […] I hated high school but loved university. It saved my life and I recommend university to anybody who can possibly get there.

In your acceptance speech, you said,  "the teachers who taught me best were people who never had the ghost of a chance to go to university. So I take great delight in sharing this honour you give me with them." Have people come forward to thank you for this?

Oh gosh, people come up to me after every concert, every speech, and I know so many people in Regina. And people in Regina particularly are used to me being grateful to family and community people, and yes they express their thanks to me for the little things I do too. In the last few months I've done the Aboriginal Achievement Awards, the Regina Folk Festival, and a couple of weeks ago the commemoration and symphony concert for Chief Paipot, so there's been a lot of thanks and pride going around. We all acknowledge each other, express thanks and gratitude […] It's kind of a family tradition.

Is there something you'd like to say to those considering University that would help them on their future journey?

I hated high school (really needed to get out of town), but I loved university. It changed my life big time. My advice: if there's any way, give it a try. Try it semester by semester. If you hate it, you can discontinue. But every semester you get more great subjects to choose from. Interesting things you choose yourself from a very delicious catalog, subjects that high school never mentioned. […] You'll have a roof over your head for four great growing up years and come out the other side with a degree and a head full of experiences.

             Buffy Ste Marie’s life – and the effects of her work reaches much further than this record can attest. She also created the Nihewan foundation to “help people go to college,” and also created the Cradleboard project to “serve kids in grades 3-12 and teachers college.” Her work in education, like her music and her words – like the waters of an ocean, seem to touch the harbors of many shores.

Find out more about Buffy Ste Marie at www.buffystemarie.com

Old Night Mare

(This is the third edition of this poem. I like it a lot, but thought initially it could be a bit more accessible. So I tinker every now and then. It was one of my very first poems, and sums up my frustrations pretty well)

Old Night Mare

The price of office,

The badge of one’s complacency

Is a burden told by taut green drapes

By endless debate on old problems

By Commissions, policies

And repeated redress

Caveats and conventions

Comprise the broken body

to a face we believed

just and fair

Corridors Crisscross ahead

Of a blackened tower

A façade of peace –

Hollowed by smoke and ash

Our direction has been taken from us:

Men once hopeful

Are pulled downward

Tired old skin drawn out over green lamps

Tables and carpeted stairs-

Melting into the scenery

Pulled downward into depths

Lengthened by the heft of countless attempts

At legislative redemption

While the blood of good intentions oozes outward

Seeps through the floors

And downward into the bowels

Of our good parliament

Glycemia

(This was a response to a discussion on sugar.  For two years now, I've had this poem. Unlike all the others, I just can't find a way to improve it, or maybe I just don't want to.)

Glycemia

In front of me, the cake bleeds itself onto the paper

Fuscia, green, and azure dyes invade the pristine surface

Like a pen stroke interrupted,

And my thoughts pour out wild onto the kitchen table.

Time

Is slipping down the wall

Gripping imperfections

With a hold like cold molasses

-- It tears at the paint

Pulls our eyes to the floor

Where the weight of

Lost expectations

Settle

Turns

Where your shoulder meets the wall,

Writhes in the folds of your clothing

Switching back and forth

Pulling at your sleeves

Confusing me --

Finally weary of the encumbrance

You rest your hands in your pockets

Shuffle your feet,

And look away

Jumping between us

It finally thieves our words

Senses victory,

Splashes on the floor

And disappears-

Seeing it leave I look up

Just as you tell me

You don’t have time

I nod and turn to the door

While above our heads

Another moment forms

-- Anxious to steal

Could I touch you?

If I was just a shoulder, could I touch you with the rounded part? Could I slide my entire being down your back and ask you to notice?

Or should I turn myself around and float away

So that even this small part of me becomes unknown to you?

Should I wait until you touch me? What would happen then?

Will small bumps ascend on my skin?

Will shivers outline the small of my back?

Will tremors sculpt the length of my thighs?

Will the Frigid air sear my inner places

As my chest fills with remembering

-- The body I once had?

An interview with Buffy Ste Marie

Below is an unedited interview with Buffy Ste Marie via email. It was completed between September 15th and September 20th, 2010. This is the basis of an article published in the next issue of FNH Magazine. The article is about aboriginal recipients of honorary doctorates.  All rights reserved. Enjoy ...

1.    (People get really excited when they know you're coming to town, especially around here.) A musical career that spans forty years is ... not easy. In the sixties, did you imagine -back then- that you'd be creating and having an audience for this long?

Thanks for the good words. No I didn't think I'd last in show biz more than a week, but I expected the songs might, and I deliberately tried to make certain songs that would cross languages and generations. The songs were about classic human themes, including the ones about specific Aboriginal issues. You can see lyrics and hear some of them (like Universal Soldier, Until It's Time for You to Go, Up Where We Belong, and No No Keshagesh) at my website: http://www.buffysainte-marie.com

2.    You produced 15 albums from 1964 - 1976, 2 in the 1990s and a collection this year. Of course, you released 'running for the drum' in 2009.  At any time, did you wonder if that was it - that you weren't going to get any new music out there?

I create songs for "in here" more than for "out there". I record all the time at home. But creating a collection of songs is not the same as releasing them, marketing them as if they were tomatoes or tires or any other product in the marketplace. There would have been no sense in releasing “Running for the Drum” while George Bush was in office and record companies stood between artists and audiences, supporting some and shelving others. Anybody can release an album now on the internet. 

3.    You've received and honorary doctorate from the University of Regina in 1996.  What did you think when you'd received the news? 

I thought it was really nice, especially since it was a Doctor of Laws degree, which is their highest honour; and for them to give me this particular degree represented sort of a wonderful milestone in Regina, which has so many times been associated with systemic racism. Also because they are a sister university to the (then) brand new First Nations University in Regina it meant a lot to me, as I too support FNU. The acceptance speech I gave focused on ‘Whose heritage is it anyway?’ I love interacting with universities. In a way they are the most conservative but also the most liberating of institutions, and I do like to offer a unique approach to whatever they're already doing, whether I'm working with them on the arts, Aboriginal issues, multimedia, education, Native science curriculum, whatever. I hated high school but loved university. It saved my life and I recommend university to anybody who can possibly get there. 

4.    You said in your acceptance (broadcast on channel seven) speech that "the teachers who taught me best were people who never had the ghost of a chance to go to university. So I take great delight in sharing this honour you give me with them." You then named them. Have people come forward to speak to you, or thank you for this? 

Oh gosh, people come up to me after every concert, every speech, and I know so many people in Regina. And people in Regina particularly are used to me being grateful to family and community people, and yes they express their thanks to me for the little things I do too. In the last few months I've done the Aboriginal Achievement Awards, the Regina Folk Festival, and a couple of weeks ago the commemoration and symphony concert for Chief Paipot, so there's been a lot of thanks and pride going around. We all acknowledge each other, express thanks and gratitude a lot, not just me, everybody. It's kind of a family tradition.

5.    Indigenous knowledge has been making inroads into universities and high school for a while now. But Indigenous Canadians still have trouble getting through standard schooling. If you could imagine a Native child's school experience, what would it include?

It varies with grade level, but generally sciences, government, social studies, their own language, their own band/tribal history, indigenous culture studies, Canadian and world history, English/French, math, geography, art, music, sports. Certain books like “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” “Indian Givers,” “Native Roots,” “Morning Girl,” and books by Aboriginal authors like Louise Erdrich, Tom Highway; long list, short answer.

6.    You've received more since then, from Waterloo, OCAD, Emily Carr Institute, and Carleton (I'm hoping I didn't miss any...). I've only been to one Convocation so far - but I know that the honoured person speaks to the crowd.  Do you ever feel a little overwhelmed at the number of awards?

Eight honorary doctorates

University of Regina - 1996

Lakehead University - 2000

University of Saskatchewan 2003

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design - 2007

Carleton University – 2008

University of Western Ontario – 2009

Ontario College of Art and Design – Toronto 2010

Wilfred Laurier University, Ontario – 2010

Yeah, that is a little overwhelming. Most people don't actually know what an honorary degree is. A university gives an honorary degree to someone who, in the considered opinion of a judging panel, has done their Ph.D work off-campus that would usually have been done on campus. A Master's degree means that you have mastered the material. A Ph.D (doctorate) means that you have added something new to the field, like published new information or discoveries. There are stiff rules that universities use or their accreditation would be questioned. 

7.    Did you think back then that you'd receive honorary doctorates from so many universities?

No. I never expected to receive any award for anything! I thought I was going to India to study Music and the Sacred at Shantiniketan University. Instead I wound up in show business, with a philosophy degree and a teaching certification nobody knew about.

8/9.    You also have worked in education and for communities. Can you say a little about the Nihewan foundation and the cradleboard teaching project for our readers?

In the 1960s I was a young singer with lots of airplane tickets and lots of money. I used my concert airplane tickets to spend my down time in indigenous communities, often where I already knew people but sometimes not. I saw lots of people who had no idea how to go to college. I used concert monies and founded/sustained my Nihewan Foundation to help Native people go to college, and later expanded it also to support non-Indian students in Aboriginal studies. I see that exchange of knowledge as a two-way door. 

In the mid-1970s I initiated the Cradleboard Teaching Project, an extension of the same philosophy, but designed to serve kids in grades 3-12 and teacher’s college. I designed it both to provide accurate, engaging curriculum in science and other subjects through Aboriginal cultural perspectives; and also to connect Aboriginal classes with non-Indian classes as they study our curriculum together as study partners. While I'm on the road, we do not operate the partnering program, but the curriculum is online and free at www.cradleboard.org for elementary, middle and high school students. Go to: http://www.cradleboard.org

10. Our magazine is sent out to Indigenous students, faculty, their families, community members, and friends. But this magazine also goes out to potential students - straight from high school and also through access programs.  (I fall into the last category) Is there something you'd like to say to those people that would help them on their future journey?

I hated high school (really needed to get out of town), but I loved university. It changed my life big time. My advice: if there's any way, give it a try. Try it semester by semester. If you hate it, you can discontinue. But every semester you get more great subjects to choose from. Interesting things you choose yourself from a very delicious catalog, subjects that high school never mentioned. You don't have to choose a career, just go get educated. You'll have a roof over your head for four great growing up years and come out the other side with a degree and a head full of experiences. 

11. Finally, is there anything else you'd like me to mention or anything else you'd like to say?

Only that it sure feels good to travel all over the world knowing that if I can't sing for awhile I have that degree in my pocket and won't starve. I travel with my band, three hot Aboriginal guys from Winnipeg, and we all value our post-high school education in filmmaking, music, philosophy and art. Riding around in a van with a rock n roll band can be very, very smart: some great conversations. Hear our music and see our Tour Photo Gallery at my website:  http://www.buffysainte-marie.com