"We've always been a studied people, so I started studying
the English and their history," Big Head says with a laugh.
"In talking with Narcisse Blood (a former Tribal council
member and now on the Board of Education), he tells me Chief Red
Crow's shirt is in the national museum in London. Also, George
Coming Singer, a World War I veteran from here, is buried in
England and we had planned to visit his grave and place tobacco
there."
However, they cancelled their trip because of the outbreak of foot
and mouth disease in Britain. Instead 15 students and four
chaperones went to New York city.
"In past years the [local] Warriors basketball team has gone
to Japan, England, Ireland, and Mexico, and the girls' team is
going to Cuba this year. I asked, 'What about those kids who just
like reading and don't play sports?' I thought we should do
something for them. We secured support from local people and
backing from Blood Tribe Social Development.
"New York was awesome," Big Head says with the sparkle
still in her voice, as she recalls the Broadway shows they saw.
This summer Big Head also met with Jennifer Kelly, an
instructor with Red Crow College on the reserve, through the
University of Lethbridge. Kelly says many of her students talk and
write about their residential school experiences.
"She has commissioned me to get all their stories together
and work with her to combine them. I will then write and direct a
play on those boarding school experiences. We are looking at
April, and the first time we show it will be at the Southern
Alberta High School Drama Festival. It will be the first time I've
ever done scriptwriting, but Carl is going to help me. He was
raised by parents and grandparents who have gone through that
system.
"I don't want it to be a depressing play, but I do want it to
be truthful. In August of 2002, Treaty 7 will host the World
Indigenous Education Conference at Kananaskis, and they want me to
showcase the play there as well."
You can bet it will be well worth seeing, as Ramona Big Head sets
out on a new venture to involve her students in drama and the
legacy of the Blood people.