Thirty Six Years
Dec. 6th, 2025 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muccamukkThirty-six years ago today, a lone gunman murdered fourteen women at Polytechnique Montréal, before taking his own life.
The names of the women were:
Geneviève Bergeron
Hélène Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Maryse Laganière
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michèle Richard
Annie St-Arneault
Annie Turcotte
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
CBC: Montreal to honour 14 victims of Polytechnique massacre at ceremony.
Globe & Mail: Progress on combatting intimate-partner violence stalling under new government, advocates fear.
The names of the women were:
Hélène Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Maryse Laganière
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michèle Richard
Annie St-Arneault
Annie Turcotte
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
CBC: Montreal to honour 14 victims of Polytechnique massacre at ceremony.
Globe & Mail: Progress on combatting intimate-partner violence stalling under new government, advocates fear.
2025 Big Bang Artist Claims are now OPEN
Nov. 30th, 2025 12:29 pmcap_ironman_fe posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
cap_ironman
Tis the season: Cap-Ironman Big Bang Artist Claims are NOW OPEN for the 2025 Cycle!
This Bang cycle comes with significant changes to the process, including better support for our participants, a longer timeline, and leaning more heavily on our tumblr and Discord presence as we see larger corporate socials surveil and collapse. Social media is more beholden to algorithms than ever; our reach is reduced and we rely more than ever on word of mouth and organic community channels. TL;DR, tell your artist friends to come check out what our writers have worked so hard to make!
As such, Claims this year are FCFS via google form. The form is now OPEN! Unlike in previous years, there will NOT be second claims, so if you would like to work with a writer, move swiftly!
You can browse all ten writer entries at this easily-navigable directory (NOT viewable on mobile, you MUST browse this on desktop), or see a masterpost of links to all entries here (mobile-friendly!). Directions on how to claim as an artist are here.
Please reach out at cap.im.events@gmail.com or on Discord with any questions!Music Saturday
Nov. 29th, 2025 11:00 ammuccamukkSome great interviews with Siibii on Unreserved: Unapologetically Indigenous & Healing, self-discovery and love with Eenou trans pop artist Siibii. I really like their whole EP.
The whole Tom King Situation
Nov. 28th, 2025 05:20 pmmuccamukkSome impactful opinion pieces by First Nations authors:
Niigaan Sinclair: The inconvenient truth: Thomas King’s admission he isn’t Cherokee hits hard.
Tanya Talaga: Thomas King’s storytelling now feels like a betrayal.
Jesse Wente: Jesse Wente on Thomas King and finding hope in a hard moment (Video: 42min).
Thoughts:
I'm glad Lee Maracle and Murray Sinclair didn't see this betrayal. I wonder how many more are to come.
Personally, as a basic white girl who casually follows CanLit discourse, I'd heard the rumours for close to ten years, and assumed they weren't true because it seemed like the Cherokee Nation would've said something. And it just felt to obvious, maybe? Surely someone would've looked into it when the Michelle Latimer situation happened? Guess not! Or maybe they did, and this is how long it takes to gather that level of detail.
My hot take (which I've heard going around a bit): you can't be in King's position and not know that. A lot of us with roots in that part of the world have family stories about Cherokee ancestors, myself included. Which a lot of people believe because why would their families lie to them? Then you learn it's a whole trope, and look into it, and realise it's just family mythology. Or don't, because you're not claiming anything based on it, anyway. But if you're speaking on behalf of a people, as King was, not having the least curiosity, or desire to reconnect with family, feels like wilful ignorance at best. (Which is why the rumours felt too obvious. Surely, I thought, he must have made sure.)
It's not something that is making me, personally, reconsider my CanLit canon. I read a few books by King, and enjoyed them, but he wasn't a favourite author.
Palate cleansers:
Elamin asked Jesse Wente for some recs, and here's his list (copied from the episode description on YouTube):
Finally, let's laugh about a funny time someone got fooled: 'Made-up quote' in Canadian satire site The Beaverton fools Time Magazine.
Niigaan Sinclair: The inconvenient truth: Thomas King’s admission he isn’t Cherokee hits hard.
Tanya Talaga: Thomas King’s storytelling now feels like a betrayal.
Jesse Wente: Jesse Wente on Thomas King and finding hope in a hard moment (Video: 42min).
Thoughts:
I'm glad Lee Maracle and Murray Sinclair didn't see this betrayal. I wonder how many more are to come.
Personally, as a basic white girl who casually follows CanLit discourse, I'd heard the rumours for close to ten years, and assumed they weren't true because it seemed like the Cherokee Nation would've said something. And it just felt to obvious, maybe? Surely someone would've looked into it when the Michelle Latimer situation happened? Guess not! Or maybe they did, and this is how long it takes to gather that level of detail.
My hot take (which I've heard going around a bit): you can't be in King's position and not know that. A lot of us with roots in that part of the world have family stories about Cherokee ancestors, myself included. Which a lot of people believe because why would their families lie to them? Then you learn it's a whole trope, and look into it, and realise it's just family mythology. Or don't, because you're not claiming anything based on it, anyway. But if you're speaking on behalf of a people, as King was, not having the least curiosity, or desire to reconnect with family, feels like wilful ignorance at best. (Which is why the rumours felt too obvious. Surely, I thought, he must have made sure.)
It's not something that is making me, personally, reconsider my CanLit canon. I read a few books by King, and enjoyed them, but he wasn't a favourite author.
Palate cleansers:
Elamin asked Jesse Wente for some recs, and here's his list (copied from the episode description on YouTube):
Books:
The Knowing by Tanya Talaga
Bad Indians Book Club by Patty Krawec
The Idea of an Entire Life by Billy Ray Belcourt
The Boy From Buzwah: A Life in Indian Education by Cecil King
Survival Ojibwe by Patricia Ningewance
Danger Eagle written by Jesse Wente and illustrated by Shaikara David
Film & TV:
Saints and Warriors (coming soon to Crave)
The Knowing - documentary series based on Tanya Talaga's book (on CBC Gem)
Aki by Darlene Naponse
Uiksaringitara: Wrong Husband by Zacharias Kunuk
Meadowlarks by Tasha Hubbard (coming soon to theatres -- it’s a drama adaptation of her documentary, Birth of a Family, available on the NFB website)
Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man by Sinakson Trevor Solway
Finally, let's laugh about a funny time someone got fooled: 'Made-up quote' in Canadian satire site The Beaverton fools Time Magazine.