What a week! Now is the time to unwind and to escape to Athens and listen to Malidi’s story of her life-changing journey and the light she shines on our own struggles. Malidi means “to always find a purpose and path in life” in Kawakwaka’wakw, the language spoken by the native people of the Pacific Northwest coast. Malidi is the given name of Linnea Dick, writer, painter, and ceremonialist of Kawakwaka’wakw, Nisga’a and Tsimshian heritage and daughter of documenta 14 artist Beau Dick, who sadly died a few months after his daughter spoke and before the exhibition opened in Athens. Now you can start your weekend by hearing her speak to you as part of the program focused on the topic of Democracy is not Freedom. Freedom is a Practice. As with last week’s session, you can go it alone or follow our numbered prompts below. Please pay attention and you will soar.
1. Receive a traditional welcoming
2. Give thanks to those who have come before you – to the chief, those who hold the knowledge, noble women, those who paved the way
3. Listen to another language
4. In Canada, native people have been punished for speaking their own language
5. Malidi’s father was beaten for speaking his own language
6. Malidi’s father is Beau Dick, Chief Big Whale
7. Hear Malidi and Candice Hopkins laugh together, those who know Chief Big Whale well
8. Malidi grew up in a carving shop
9. Imagine growing up around carvers, dancers, chiefs and noble women
10. Chief Big Whale is a carver, a dancer, a chief, and is Malidi’s best friend
11. But that was not always the case
12. Once, as a teenager, Malidi lost her way (who has not lost their way as a teenager?)
13. She turned to drinking, to drugs and self-destruction
14. She hurt people around her (who has not hurt people around them?)
15. Chief Big Whale had a heart attack
16. Here is the twist in the tale. Listen closely
17. The family turn to activism, to protest in the To Make a Statement movement – against loss of culture, against abuse and for the environment
18. The family performed a copper-cutting
19. Take a shield of copper – very sacred to these families – has names, history, dances, tells ownership and rights as a people – cutting it is a very big and painful act; a statement that of cultural oppression
20. They went on a journey
21. From Vancouver island to the Parliament Building and performed the copper cutting ceremony there
22. Growing up Malidi felt out of place – through trauma and abuse – bullied for being different – had a different way of thinking – she lost herself because she wanted to blend in
23. But going on journey, and seeing people that had same values, other than materialistic value – she felt at home (are you feeling at home now?)
24. On the final day of the journey of 10 days, while marching on the highway outside of Victoria into the city,100s of people joined them, walked with them, from many different nations and cultures to find 3000-4000 people waiting at the Parliament Building.
25. After journey ended Malidi finally found herself and started to practice her traditions and culture. She became who she was.
26. Her name means ‘to find a way on an uncharted course’, for her, it means to ‘follow the heart’. (Follow your heart)
27. Do you ever feel anxious?
28. If so, imagine someone turning to you and saying: ‘we are here with you’
29. Other people hold us up
30. Hear the following myth to explain how this works:
31. Once there was a boy whose mother died in childbirth, he had a cleft lip and his father hated him and other children didn’t speak to him, because he spoke funny, an outcast, strange, withdrawn, no sense of purpose, wondered to himself ‘why am I here?’. One day the children teased him and he ran away. He started to climb a mountain with the idea to climb to the top to jump off. Then there was a strange noise and quartz crystals started to attach to his body. When he reached the top, he jumped and flew. He flew around the world 4 times. He then returned to the children who had abused him and he embraced then and shared a dance with them.
32. Malidi has danced this dance
33. Malidi’s people believe in connectedness – to other beings, animals, mother earth and all of the environment. Through this connectedness, we hold each other up, in spite of terrorist acts against us, we hold the terrorists up too and offer forgiveness. Through love we can bring about change. Sure we do have to fight, but not with cruelty, violence and war. We will fight with beauty, to show people a different way.
34. Malidi wishes you a brighter day in her own language
35. We need to listen to heterogeneous voices, to hear other languages so that we can dance between words. Now off you go, have a drink, move around, and we’ll be back next week.