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A review by leahrdswan
A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby
4.25
I accidentally read this for the trans readathon, but this book opened my view of two spirit people.
"My grandmother said, you have two spirits in your body, mind, soul and your heart. She says, you're going to have a hard life, a real tough life because of who you are. You're carrying two spirits, and people don't want to understand that. Then she said, way back, seven generations from the time she was a little girl, she had been told that there were two-spirit people that lived among First Nation people and nobody ever made fun of them. They were regarded as special people. They didn't make fun of them that way, she said. Now it's like this because of what we're told we are. We are told we are savages, and we are nobody except if we join the other people."
Ma-nee has lived a lot through her life including drug and sexual abuse as well as physical and emotional abuse. It's amazing to see how much she's transformed her life and attempted to help others by fostering or working in different programs to help others.
I loved learning about her native culture. This book also briefly talks about many Native people she knew were sent to residential camps. Luckily she wasn't, but it puts into perspective that this didn't happen that long ago.
My favorite part of hearing her story was her grandmother. Her grandmother seems like such a lovely person and though I didn't get to hear from her grandmother personally, I'm glad that Ma-nee is continuing to share her stories.
"My grandmother said, you have two spirits in your body, mind, soul and your heart. She says, you're going to have a hard life, a real tough life because of who you are. You're carrying two spirits, and people don't want to understand that. Then she said, way back, seven generations from the time she was a little girl, she had been told that there were two-spirit people that lived among First Nation people and nobody ever made fun of them. They were regarded as special people. They didn't make fun of them that way, she said. Now it's like this because of what we're told we are. We are told we are savages, and we are nobody except if we join the other people."
Ma-nee has lived a lot through her life including drug and sexual abuse as well as physical and emotional abuse. It's amazing to see how much she's transformed her life and attempted to help others by fostering or working in different programs to help others.
I loved learning about her native culture. This book also briefly talks about many Native people she knew were sent to residential camps. Luckily she wasn't, but it puts into perspective that this didn't happen that long ago.
My favorite part of hearing her story was her grandmother. Her grandmother seems like such a lovely person and though I didn't get to hear from her grandmother personally, I'm glad that Ma-nee is continuing to share her stories.