Category: Rez Notes
In old movies, whenever you hear background sounds and talking, the audio is almost always faked to enhance the effect of the visual art of the film. One such sound was the crowded room background, people talking to each other, just out of range and just indiscernible enough to convince ...
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The other day my friend Tina and I chatted how a year can make a big difference, how life takes us from one place to another.
Yes, we’re a year older, wiser or, for some, wilder. We’ve changed or tried not to change. The choice is ours; that’s the beauty of ...
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A lot has happened since the last time I checked out the social climate of the world. In a whirlwind month of November, Friday the 13th became a day known worldwide for terrorist attacks against the people and values of France. Terrorism has been going on for some time now ...
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I am currently writing this column from Attwell Coffee in Mississauga, Ontario.
I don’t know how many happy Eeyou faces I’ve seen online with their trophy moose. Some selfies with their beasts made me chuckle – especially the one of my friend, Deputy Oujé-Bougoumou Chief Lance Cooper, posing with his moose ...
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A mysterious message arrived via Facebook the other day. It stated that I was to receive a package on the plane later that day. I was about to leave on a hunting trip and had just put a caribou neck in the oven for a 10-hour stint. Oh well, wait ...
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by Joshua Iserhoff
I love this quote from one of the best movies of all time, Forrest Gump: “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.’”
How profound is that?! Life isn’t fair at times, but that’s okay. Life goes on. It ...
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The sizzle of my poor man’s steak – the pork chop – produced a satisfying smoke that tasted real BBQ and felt comfortingly sooty. The main course – strips of sirloin pork doused in a generic sauce and hot buttered corn on the cob gently wrapped in foil – looked ...
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Looking at the moon, clean and bright against the sunny sky in the crisp, deep blue openness of a July moment, made me remember Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. It was July 20, 1969, and even though we couldn’t see anything happening a quarter-million miles away, to ...
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I very much enjoyed my time at the newly renovated Capassit Lodge in Oujé-Bougoumou recently. It is all class – magnificent.
Since it is still under construction, sometimes things might not have gone as smooth at a well-established hotel. But our dear friend, new manager John Boudrias (yes, the singer!) and ...
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In case you haven’t noticed, it’s winter in the land of the wandering polar bear, with the biting and burning winds in this sub-zero climate we like to call home. Taking note of this, the wind chill hovering around minus-50 and my thermometer actually not registering anything, I venture out ...
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Happy New Year to all of you! It is my hope that we all succeed and triumph over the obstacles we may face in 2015. I can honestly say that 2014 was an incredible one. I saw this little curly blonde girl on YouTube standing in front of her washroom ...
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I am sitting in a warm cabin just beside Pikauba River, in the land of Innu. Words cannot describe how these past few days have been. We have trekked many miles and have seen the breadth of the land from Mistissini to here.
We may have tasted possibly all seasons since ...
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“Guatemala, land of eternal spring where Native people and Europeans have lived together and made the country rich with traditions and culture” is how my Guatemalan friend Dana describes her country. I couldn’t agree more.
I had the chance to attend the World Indigenous Business Forum in Guatemala in late October ...
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One of the best things about Halloween is getting scared silly. These days, scary is really scary, as many people can apply makeup with ease and look deader than usual. I suppose that many a zombie, flesh-eater, nightwalker and wannabe dead person will be the big costume hit for this ...
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I live in fear of hitting a moose with my chic Honda Crosstour. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Facebook pictures of wrecked vehicles from moose hit-and-runs.
Several weeks ago, my father found an injured moose near the site of yet another encounter with a car. The car was ...
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The snow was coming down hard on this early September morning. Winds were gusting and howling like the proverbial banshee, and furious cloud formations starkly contrasted the snow and created a false sense of darkness. A small flock of Canada geese showed up low on the horizon, doggedly fighting strong ...
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Greetings from London! (UK please and thank you!) I’m actually en route for Paris as I write this; call me International Josh.
I don’t know about you but I love to travel. I have never been to London and at 36, I regret not coming here earlier. There’s something about London ...
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I wonder where our sense of humour comes from? Why does it pop up when it does, sometimes inappropriately, but most times with exact timing for that last zing of a joke, bringing out peals of laughter and good times. It’s not that joking around is something that can be ...
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Youth Grand Chief Joshua Iserhoff
Here I am in mid-air again with the Roundtable crew flying from Whapmagoostui to the heart of the Cree Nation, my hometown Nemaska. The stars have aligned to visit this wonderful place again.
This time I brought along Googoom Mary Iserhoff, my dad’s mom and the only ...
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Recently, a young Inuk woman started plucking her gift from home, a goose, on a train in Montreal’s métro. This was recorded on a cellphone and uploaded to the Internet. It went viral for all the wrong reasons.
Eventually, the young woman came forth to explain that she’s an Inuk simply ...
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You know you’re getting old when everything turns into “a moment.” Every beautiful scene, cool breeze, old song, a certain smell turns emotional and it is in that split second that time stands still. I’ve been having a lot of those lately! And the best thing about this age is ...
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Nemaska reached 35 degrees C during the recent heat wave and it was simply divine. Flew to Waskaganish for a meeting and had an amazing time with Fran, Clark, Sheila and Red (thank you for the tea and bannock). My room was freezing from my singing AC. I stepped out ...
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Long ago, before Facebook and email, before television and radio, before we knew what a university was or an outside place to get schooled without being taken away by force or trickery, there was the hands-on training method.
This was called the old school way of learning. If you didn’t listen ...
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As many people do, I reflect on the past year with leery eyes and see much turmoil and awful events that didn’t merit my attention. But, there were several embarrassing moments that will forever remain etched in a history that you would prefer to forget.
Take, for example, the transportation industry. ...
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The wind swept my driveway clean, but my neighbours didn’t do so well in the super storm that reminded us that winter still exists, as eight-foot drifts stranded nearly everyone in the small community of Great Whale River. The night before, we tuned into the radio bingo game and wondered ...
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I am often asked what I am passionate about, about what drives me. Well, I am passionate about moving forward. I am passionate about upgrading all areas of my life, including my gadgets. I love a challenge. I like when I am told “No.” Actually, I am thrilled when I hear, “It won’t work, you will have ...
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