Essay for Week 9: Assessing the British North American Unit

Assessing the British North America Unit

(Me and my friend Taylor posing with a local Native American tribe during Commencement 2013)

I just had to asses this week’s reading unit on British North America Native American stories! I love Native American stories so much. You’ll see that throughout all my comments on this week and next week’s readings. They are so full of life and have points or morals to every story they tell. Each character in these stories has a personified spirit where as they usually would not exist. They all have a personality and the stories generally explain a phenomenon of the world! Like why the Loon has red eyes or how the moon was created. My favorite stories were the creation stories in the beginning of the unit (Creation of the World, How the Earth Was Formed, and Creation of the Earth). I know my understanding of the creation of the world is a combination of evolution and Genesis, but I admire so much the imagination of the Native Americans. I didn’t have any least favorite stories. They all were so good! I did not need any extra background information. I had just enough knowledge and already knew a fair amount about Native American culture to read this week. I think I chose this unit because British North America seemed like a combination of American ideas and Native American ideas. I was wrong, it was just Native American, but that’s why I chose it! My goals in this class are to enjoy the readings and so this unit fit in perfectly! I had no complaints. I learned so much about how Native Americans explain things. There is a spiritual reason with a story behind literally everything in their surroundings. It was incredible to me. I also learned that they did not just interact with their surroundings, but also use it to explain their lives. Such a symbiotic relationship. This was my favorite reading week so far and I can’t say enough about its wonderfulness!