We recently found a mysterious book on the 365 bus in downtown Montreal. It turned out to be a diary written by a young Cree woman living in Montreal, we’ll call her Maggie. We decided to publish the least scandalous parts of it to share with our readers.
We thought we should introduce Maggie to you before we dive right into her diary excerpts, so here are a few details of her life to help you get to know her.
Name: Maggie Age: 22
Hobbies: reading women’s magazines, renting movies (and returning them late), making Cree crafts (but never quite getting them right)
Aspirations: to be a politician, but she’s too honest and too shy
Occupation: political science student, looking for a summer job
Talents: gives great advice to family and friends
Best friend: Helen, thin, pretty, gossipy, obsessed about tweezing eyebrows and shopping at the GAP
Marital status: recently dumped ex, on the lookout
Ex-boyfriend: Mark, hockey player, got her cousin Joan pregnant back home
Likes: dollar store deals, sending cards home to family and friends, but never on time (Valentine’s in April, Christmas in October)
Dislikes: cousins who sleep with boyfriend, boyfriends who sleep with cousins
Secret crush: cute waiter at neighbourhood cafe
Pets: goldfish with rock stars names (Mick, Bono, Bowie, etc.) that die often that she keeps mourning over and then replacing
Obsession: 1-800 horoscope lines that rack up her phone bill
Diet: at home prefers tea with tons of sugar, in Montreal is a coffee girl. Also Angela’s Pizza, cereal for supper and jello, since it’s non fat
Exercise: has a growing collection of various videos, but has never used them
Home: small 2 room on St. Mathieu, conveniently located near Angela’s Pizza
Furniture: double bed, covered with her treasured ‘blanky’ from childhood, walls are papered with photos of models torn from her magazines to encourage her from not pigging out and gaining more weight, dreamcatchers that aren’t quite finished hanging everywhere, no couch (friends sit on floor and take turns on the one chair she owns)
Pet peeve: getting stuck in the elevator at her building after class when she’s at her hungriest; also girl in class who’s really ‘into’ Native stuff and is always asking her about traditions, legends, Cree words, etc.
Family: parents are back up North, very traditional older people, just don’t understand why their daughter is so intent on living in Montreal and going to college. They agree with her grandparents: when will she just come home, get married and live in the bush with them? Her older sister lives in the community too, is married to a BandCouncillor, and has 4 kids. They’re pretty close but don’t really understand each other
Nightime hangout: Crescent with friends from home, funky cafe on St. Laurent with friends from school
Secret passion unknown to anyone: she loves singing Karoake, but is too shy to really do it
Look for Maggie’s Diary in upcoming issues to find out more!
