Can Lit

"Names have power. This is the fundamental principle of magic everywhere. Call out the name of a supernatural being, and you will have its instant and undivided attention..."
-"Monkey Beach" by Eden Robinson

I find my Canadian Literature class, surprisingly, to be one of the best classes I've taken so far. Every year the spring courses amaze me with how good they are. The university is so beautiful and peaceful in the spring. All the leaves on the trees and the flowers come out and the air isn't too hot or two cold. The rain doesn't bother me too much, but it always rains on me when I forget my umbrella at home. I never get rained on when I have it with me in my bag.

Our professor is extremely knowledgeable about this term's subject in Can Lit: Indigenous Spirits and Monsters. I am completely truthful when I say that I had no idea this was the topic of our class. I went into this class thinking I would be bored out of my mind, but this class is tied with Literary Theory in terms of awesome (which is mostly the prof's doing). I expected both Can Lit and Literary Theory to be dull, but they surprised me. I am even taking a higher level Literary Theory class next year. Yes, I am insane.

The first book we are reading is "Monkey Beach". It's about a Haisla girl named Lisa Hill, who lives in the middle of British Columbia on the coast (and it's Haisla NOT Haida...our prof made a point of clarifying that after she showed us a review where the two names were mixed up). The book mixes relationships with family, growing up, dealing with loss and elements of the "supernatural". I won't go into too much detail because I'm not trying to write a review, but essentially the story is about the search for Lisa's lost brother, Jimmy. At any rate it's the most fun I've had reading an assigned book in AGES. I'd definitely recommend "Monkey Beach" to anyone who wants a good read.

The class is also interesting because we discuss the issues of fantastical or supernatural beings being real and a part of our world. We discuss the idea of the supernatural as being simply natural and I find that idea interesting. I've always had an underlying belief in ghosts and spirits...so personally I think this is all super cool.

I am also finding a lot of neat ideas and modes of thinking to use in WMRR...especially later for when Teumessian comes into the story closer to the end. I can't wait to write that part. I would write some of the later parts now, but I find I need to write this more or less in order. I will occasionally skip on chapter because details in that chunk of plot is easy to fix. However, since the story changes so much as I write it, I cannot write something 10 chapters from now in case something preceding it changes. The whole piece will become a mess. For now, I am keeping good notes.