Aboriginal voices:
An evening of poetry and prose

> ‘EVENT’ hosts successful reading at Aboriginal Gathering Place

pieces ranged from narrative accounts
of her life as a young adult in the prairies

Rebecca Peterson
Humour Editor

 

n October 27, EVENT magazine

hosted a reading and author
meet and greet with four prominent
indigenous writers in the Douglas
College Aboriginal Gathering Place.

The evening started with an
opening address by Aboriginal Student
Services Coordinator Dave Seaweed.
During this address, Seaweed explained
the significance of the gathering place
as well as the art installations within
it, including the four-metre Coast
Salish welcoming figure at the back
of the room by artist Susan Point.

EVENT editor Shashi Bhat then
took the mic to welcome the first featured
author, Jonina Kirton, an award-winning
poet of Métis and Icelandic heritage.
Kirton explained that the inspiration
for much of her poetry is drawn from
her life experiences, and her attempts to
connect to the spirit of her ancestry. The

 
 
 

of her work explores this revelation as well
as intimately recounts certain moments

      
 

struggling to in her life. She
find her place _ [= read her short
in the world, aa Ss story “Chins

to more = = —— and Elbows” to
figurative = a ; the audience,
examinations 5 ~ = " . = demonstrating
of her cultural = her frank and
heritage = = humorous

and family narrative style,
dynamics. and then
Many of the read a few
pieces she poems written
read were during a

from her first book, page as bone ~ ink
as blood, but she also shared a few works
from her next collection of poetry, set for
release in Spring 2017 by Talonbooks.
Next was Cree-Métis/Icelandic
author Carleigh Baker, a writer of
short fiction and nonfiction as well as
poetry. Baker was late in discovering her
Aboriginal ancestry, only meeting her
Métis family when she was 30, and much

perilous expedition up north with
a team of writers and documentary
filmmakers. Baker also has a book set
for release in Spring 2017, a collection
of short stories titled Bad Endings.
After a brief intermission, Cree
author and UBC Creative Writing
Program graduate Larry Nicholson
took the stage. His poetry was often an
all-out celebration of his Aboriginal

Photos by Analyn Cuarto

heritage and his life growing up ona
reservation. The audience was included
in his performance of his poem “Big
Brown Beautiful Bannock-Stuffed
Indians,” a call and response piece that
filled the Gathering Place with sound.
His poems ranged from boisterous and
lyrical, to individually contemplative.
Finally, EVENT Poetry Editor and
accomplished author Joanne Arnott
read from her newest book, Halfling
spring: an internet romance. The
poems were intimate pieces of personal
narrative, ranging from prolific and
almost ethereal to short and tongue-
in-cheek, many of them expounding
upon her relationship with a man she
met online, as well as her love of the
Canadian landscape. It was a gentle end
to a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
EVENT magazine publishes
works by Canadian authors three
times a year, and often holds contests
for burgeoning writers. For more
information, visit www.eventmagazine.ca.

Chairman of the Board: The great capitalist con

> ‘Monopoly’ board game review

Ed Appleby
Illustrator

 

onopoly is everywhere:
board games, apps, and
even in your Happy Meal. And it
is, and always has been, awful.
Monopoly (1935) is a finance-
themed board game for two-eight
players “designed” by Charles Darrow
and originally published by Parker
Brothers. The goal of the game is to
purchase property and drive all other
players into bankruptcy by rolling
dice and moving about the board.
Many a family has been broken up
by its grossly unbalanced gameplay.
Player dominance is mostly based
on random dice rolls in a game that
takes hours to play. Hasbro, who now

owns Parker
Brothers,
has made
Monopoly
versions of
everything
from Star
Wars, to
Adventure
Time, to
dogs. Almost
everyone
owns a

copy, and I
own three
(Classic, Lord of the Rings, and
Simpsons). Monopoly’s domination
of the board game world would be
unfathomable but for the fact that it
was the standard bearer of “modern”

 

board games like
Clue (1949) and
Risk (1959), the
product of bored
family evening
games in a world
before Netflix
and the Internet.
But being
an awful game
isn’t Monopoly’s
worst sin. As
regular readers
of this column
may know,
I like to credit the designers who
make board games. This comes from
my background as a cartoonist and
illustrator, careers plagued by rampant
plagiarism and straight-up theft. It

Illustration by Ed Appleby

pains me to credit Charles Darrow
with Monopoly because it is just a
copy of Elizabeth Magie Phillips’
The Landlord’s Game (1906). This
was a not-at-all-fun game meant to
explain Henry George’s tax theories
and the dangers of capitalism.
Darrow simply added a few tweaks
to make the game more enjoyable,
and then sold it to Parker Brothers.
Never buy Monopoly. There
are so many better games that are
quicker, more fun, and better tested,
especially contemporary games
like Catan (1995), Carcassonne
(2000), and Ticket to Ride (2004).
If you already have a copy of
Monopoly at home, at least the
lid makes a nice litter box.