I knew I wanted to do something creative for our first project, mainly in writing since that’s what I felt most comfortable with. But because all of our readings and topics revolved around distinct cultures I had no real knowledge or experience with, I felt uncomfortable trying to emulate them. So it took me a little while to come up with a creative writing project that was something I could do without cultural appropriation.
Eventually, I came up with the idea of a children’s’ story in a primarily English style. But, to tie it in with the subject matter, the story would reflect themes of colonization (in a much more PG-way). I wanted to center around a character who tries to help other cultures, but only in the ways that they know and without really listening to the people who lived there. In the end, they would learn to respect others better by listening. It’s a basic lesson for a story, but I think it’s important nonetheless, considering all we learned about in this course.
I also wanted the main character to still be likable in some capacity. Even though they did do bad things to others, I didn’t want them to do that on purpose. A lot of colonizers did do vile things to Natives, but they did it because they honestly thought it was right. No one does evil things just because. This is especially important for a child who might read this, because it shows them even if they have good intentions, they must take that extra step to really understand the problem and fix it accordingly.
Then, I settled on making them all animals. I did this to disguise the undertones of the story even more. That way, a younger child can read this and still get something out of it even if they don’t understand the message. You’re probably starting to see that I made an honest effort to let this be a true children’s story that can be read during bedtime, and yeah that was also part of it. Do I plan on publishing this? Not really. But maybe someday it can be used in a class or something (this is giving permission for any Teacher’s Cert. people to use my story in one of their curriculums, if you want).
The names are also pretty straight-forward. All the other characters’ names are literal translations of their Abenaki names. For example, Mategwas literally means “Rabbit” in the Abenaki cultures. Collie is a little more subtle, maybe. It’s short for “Columbus” and I don’t need to explain where that comes from. But also, the Collie is a type of dog in and of itself, so that works out, too.
All in all, I’m fairly happy with what I made. I think it does a good job of getting the message across in a neatly disguised way that makes it applicable in other ways beyond an assignment for a college class. I also think it has a good flow and readability that makes it a good story, overall.
To answer the question of “why does your response to this literature matter?”, I believe it does for the two reasons I just listed. It makes an important statement on global colonization, and anyone can approach and understand it, especially kids. I stand by teaching kids these kinds of things early (again, to a PG-extent) because it ensures they won’t repeat the same travesties in the future, even if it’s on a smaller scale. It makes sure they learn to understand people that aren’t like them, and helps them see their potential to change the world, for good or for bad.
Anyway, thanks for reading my story and now understanding where I came from. Like I said, I don’t personally plan to put this out there in a major way, but I’ll consider it in the future (Teacher’s Cert people still have my permission, just credit me for writing it).
-Colton
Sprockets and Springes 
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