Planning a trip to Montreal anytime soon?

Here's a note from Tracey MacKenzie (180A) about a great thing to do in Montreal that connects to our look at First Nations culture and literature.

Planning a trip to Montreal anytime soon?

Last weekend I went with a couple of other international students to Montreal. We only
stayed overnight, and booked a hostel within easy reach of some good nightlife (but
that's another story).

It was quite interesting at the border, handing over a British, Swiss and Australian
passport, which showed two out of three of our ages as under 21. The young Canadian
immigration officer just gave me a wry smile when, in answer to her question "what is the
purpose of your visit?" I replied "cultural"! On our return the middle aged American
officer asked the same question and when I said cultural she said "really? what did you
guys see?". (Maybe it was a generational thing...)

Fortunately I could give her a true answer because, only partly due to the pouring rain
on Saturday morning, we went to the history museum
(http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/) where there is a really good exhibition of
Haida art and artifacts. It includes an enthralling mini documentary narrated by the
artist Robert Davison, showing him making some of the pieces. The Haida people come from
British Columbia not far from the Haisla lands and for me, having no prior knowledge of
First Nation people, this was a great way to think about the setting and traditions of
'Monkey Beach'.

I'd recommend it to anyone else on a "cultural" trip to the city.

Discussion Question: Blog assignment for Monkey Beach and Queen of the North

This week's blog assignment is on Eden Robinson's story "Queen of the North" and her novel Monkey Beach. What are your first reactions? What did you like most about the story and/or the book?

Also, what questions do you have about the book that you'd like us to talk about in class? Any questions you'd like to ask Eden while she's here?

YOUR RESPONSE TO THIS IS DUE NO LATER THAN 9/29