Never Give Up

After the launch of the Can You Feel It? campaign I snuck out of the opening ceremonies of the conference. This morning two of the keynote speakers went out to local schools to talk to the students. Waneek Horn-Miller went to Lansdown Public School, and Joseph Boyden travelled to Lively High School to speak to a group of students there, and I was lucky enough to join him.

Joseph spoke to a large crowd of students in the school gym, not only from Lively High but also from two other local high schools. The entire gymnasium was captivated by his talk, which started out lighthearted before turning to more serious issues. Joseph began by performing "Female Moose in Estrus" for the crowd, his best moose cow impersonation, and then challenged the students to outperform him, putting $20 on the line. No one took him up on this offer, despite some students being very confident in one of their peer's moose calling abilities.

After winning the crowd over, Joseph began to tell the story of writing Three Day Road. He spoke of how his inspiration for these characters was the great-grandfather of friends he had when growing up on Georgian Bay. This man was a hunter and trapper who became a sniper in World War I, and eventually was the most highly decorated First Nations solider in Canada. Joseph also gave us a brief overview of parts of the history of Canada that we do not nearly as much about as we should: the residential schools. He told the students what residential schools were like, and of the horrible conditions that native students went through in them. I know that for myself this talk opened my eyes to issues that I admittedly knew far too little about before.
Despite talking about such heavy issues, I did not feel as though I was being lectured too. Joseph repeatedly told us that he was not trying to berate but felt that it was his job as an author to try to bridge the divide between cultures in Canada.

He also inspired the audience to never give up and keep pursuing their goals. He talked of his struggles in becoming an author and how there were many let downs before his dreams came true. He talked of times in his life where he was depressed, and mentioned some of the personal demons he battled, but eventually things turned around. I know that this inspired me to keep pushing forward towards my own personal goals, and I am sure that many others felt the same way.

At the end of the talk a brave student accepted Joseph's moose call challenge... and won! To wrap up the presentation Joseph reminded the students that you must always be willing to make a fool of yourself as a public speaker, pulled out his jaw harp (an instrument we have in common, and the only other person I've met who owns one), and played a tune.

This weekend, when it will be time for me to take a break from writing, I will be able to finish reading Three Day Road, and I cannot wait to read Through Black Spruce. For fans of Joseph's work, he tells me that these are the first two books of a trilogy and the third will hopefully be completed next year sometime. Joseph, in case you're reading this, thanks again for the inspiring talk, and one day I will be able to play the jaw harp as well as you!

-Josh