Maps conjure memories of spoil, of plunder and innocence.
Maps are journeys to illusions no one has learned from.
"Mapping Our Way Through History: Reflections on Knud Rasmussen's Journals," in Memory Serves: Oratories by Lee Maracle
Maps are orders marching men to old places already seen.
Maps conjure memories of spoil, of plunder and innocence. Maps are journeys to illusions no one has learned from. "Mapping Our Way Through History: Reflections on Knud Rasmussen's Journals," in Memory Serves: Oratories by Lee Maracle To alter direction humans must determine the worthiness of story. To alter direction humans must see that where they have been is undesirable. Humans must be able to speak of and to each other with purpose, which requires a change in their view of one another, which requires, too, altering how humans feel about one another. Humans must want to travel toward the development of a shared common society, but to engage in this process humans must understand both their different and common spirit. This requires a new language map, shaped so that it is free of insult and the unequal power attached to authorship and authority. This is a new story.
"Who Gets to Draw the Maps: In and Out of Place in British Columbia," in Memory Serves: Oratories by Lee Maracle We imagine that we don't want to hear sad stories, but it is our sadness that cradles our love. When we are sad for someone, it is a measure of our empathy. When we are sad for ourselves, it is a measure of love and justice in our lineage. When we dodge that sadness, we also negate the empathy, justice, and love.
"Memory Serves," in Memory Serves: Oratories by Lee Maracle Each aspect of a remembered event – teaching, story – becomes a teacher, a motivator. If we imagine emotions related to an event, hold them close and play with them long enough to become conscious, then memory cannot threaten, paralyze or overwhelm.
Further, we can use this memory to create story, to conjure fiction. "Memory Serves," in Memory Serves: Oratories by Lee Maracle Memory serves. We re-member hundreds of thousands of relationships – to wind, to flora, to fauna, to humans, to the dead, the star world, sky world, sea world. Everything from the humble snow flea on a glacier to the glacial age is re-membered for today and for tomorrow. There is no time differentiation in the conjuring of memory. Future is a remembered thing the very moment I give voice inside my mind to my imagined participation in tomorrow.
"Memory Serves," in Memory Serves: Oratories by Lee Maracle |
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