Being There

This game goes by many names — I call it King Square

I met Melanie when I was 17. I was work­ing at a photo lab, the night shift. Melanie rode by, looked in the win­dow, and decided that I would make a good date for her friend Reg. I didn’t make a good date for Reg, although he is a swell guy. Last night, Reg and his band played at Zaphod’s in Ottawa, to some crit­i­cal acclaim. Tomor­row I’ll be tak­ing the train to Toronto to visit Melanie.

After Melanie moved from Ottawa to Toronto, we lost touch. A cou­ple of years passed. Then, on a trip back to Ottawa, she told me she was get­ting mar­ried. I laughed. It was the kind of thing she would have said in jest. I felt embar­rassed, but I was happy for her. I shouldn’t have been sur­prised when she told me she was going to have a baby.  And what a baby!  Tarig is one wacky lit­tle kid.

The bike racks are new

Hunt­ing­hawk Com­mu­ni­ca­tions is owned and run by Melanie. Melanie is an ardent advo­cate for health through her work with Hunt­ing­hawk, in her com­mu­nity, and as a mother. Melanie’s deep under­stand­ing of health changed my opin­ions about Indige­nous peo­ple, and the role that words can play in peo­ples lives. Melanie sees lan­guage as a key ele­ment of health. She helps gov­ern­ments com­mu­ni­cate with First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peo­ple about health. Melanie is inspiring.

If you are inter­ested in Indige­nous health, or the inter­sec­tion of lan­guage and health, check out Melanie’s blog. Melanie is also an avid cyclist! (although I hear her bike needs repairs)