Fresh, funny, and imbued with infectious energy, Northerny tells a much-needed and compelling story of growing up and living in the North. Here are no tidy tales of aurora borealis and adventures in snow. For Dawn Macdonald, the North is not an escape, a pathway to enlightenment, or a lifestyle choice. It’s a messy, beautiful, and painful point of origin. People from the North see the North differently and want to tell their own stories in their own way, including about their experiences growing up on the land, getting an education, and struggling to find jobs and opportunities. Expertly balancing lyric reflection and ferocious realism, Macdonald busts up the cultural myths of self-interest and superiority that have long dominated conversations about both Northern spaces and working-class identities.
Authors
- Pages
- 72
- Published in
- Edmonton, CA
- Series
- Robert Kroetsch Series
Table of Contents
- Front cover 1
- Title page 6
- Copyright page 7
- Contents 8
- 0. 10
- First Things 11
- 1. 14
- Roadside Wildflowers of the Northwest 15
- 11 Conversations 17
- 5 Ways of Shutting Up 19
- Littlest 20
- The 2nd Shortest Day 21
- The Failure of Winter’s Five-Year Plan 22
- Quickness 23
- Increase 24
- Aperture 27
- A Strange Request 28
- Changelings 30
- The Fungus Speaks 32
- 2. 34
- About the Author 35
- Fire Water Asbestos Mold 37
- Bird’s Ten 38
- Binaries (1) 39
- Binaries (2) 40
- The Kingfisher 42
- Walking the Long Loop 44
- ONLY GENIUS CAN SOLVE THIS PUZZLE 46
- Transcribed on Leaves and Thrown into the Wind 47
- A Boring Poem 48
- 3. 50
- Lately we’ve been talking 51
- Our 80s was Iron Maiden 52
- We are tasked to speak truth 53
- Please Leave On 54
- The Forts 55
- Gun Etiquette 56
- Charts 57
- Apologies to a Mouse 58
- Naturalist’s Notebook. Backyard, July. 59
- In a Scrub Pine 60
- At Hidden Lakes 62
- The town filled up 64
- There’s a lot I can’t talk about 65
- 4. 66
- Look at how we didn’t know 67
- Occupational sclassification schema 68
- Every Yukoner owns the 1979 69
- LongGone Outhouse Blues in 14 Lines 70
- The Bloodshoes 71
- Unregulated Waste Management Facility 72
- The One Tree 73
- Wasp Summer 75
- This Isn’t the House. 77
- Chit Chat 78
- “There’s only two stories,” 79
- Acknowledgements 80
- About the Author 82
