Maggie Blackbird

Romancing Canada's Indigenous People

After doing a post about my favourite heavy metal ballads, I have to include power ballads from the 80s.  I’m more of a “b” side kind of lady, so my list isn’t filled with popular songs.  I have quite a few, so this is a list of twenty.

In my last post about heavy metal ballads, I mentioned the song by Disturbed was a cover.  Sometimes  a band does such a great job putting their own stamp on a tune that it blows away the original.  Here are a few of my faves…

My last two posts focussed on British and Canadian television.  For the third installment, I’m blogging about American TV.  I’m in dire need of recommendations because there is only one current series I’m watching.  So please help a Canuck out. Some of the shows from the States I’ve watched faithfully over the years are:  Cold …

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I discovered a new author, Kathleen O’Neal Gear, a former state historian and archeologist, who writes historical romance about North America’s Indigenous people.  Her prose is rich in detail and her descriptions transport you back in time.  Currently, I’m reading This Widowed Land. Blurb:  Lovely Andiora is a Huron Indian in seventeenth-century North America. A …

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I did a previous post on TV shows, featuring the Brits.  This time it’s Canada’s turn.  Well, I am a Canuck LOL!  Over the years, the CBC has produced some good stuff, from Cold Squad and Trailer Park Boys to North of 60 and the Beachcombers. Canada’s current roster doesn’t disappoint.  There are reality shows, …

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My grandfather, grandmother, father, aunts, and uncles were forced to attend these institutions devised by the federal government and run by Christian churches to assimilate Indigenous people into Western culture.  These schools started after 1880 with the last one closing in 1996. To understand this period in Canadian History, I highly recommend A Knock on …

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I’m really enjoying Linda Acaster’s Beneath the Shining Mountains.  I’m halfway through and can’t say enough about her prose, setting, and characters.  This is the only Native American book in her backlist.  My fingers are crossed she’ll write more. Here is the blurb: 1830s Northern Plains of America. Among the Apsaroke Crow people Moon Hawk …

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I’m still on my Indigenous heroines kick.  Here’s the latest book I popped into my old but trusty Sony:  Running Wolf by Jenna Kernan. Rival Tribes… Running Wolf is a valiant Sioux warrior. During his first raid as war chief, he captures a surprising Crow enemy — a woman! This spirited fighter is unlike any …

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I’m a romance junkie.  I got into romance through Sooner or Later, a young adult tale about a savvy girl in elementary school who falls for a high school senior.  Daring, huh?  It sure was for the time period when the novel was released by Bruce and Carol Harte. Thirteen and seventeen is a big …

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Although I don’t watch a lot of romance movies (go figure because I love romance novels), certain couples grab my attention when I’m immersed in an action movie.  There are times when I do pop in a mushy DVD full of romance, and surprise, it’s the secondary couple I prefer.  And the other time, it’s …

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Since the Masters is next week, I thought I’d do a post on golf since many international players will be present from the various tours, the most prominent being the PGA.  As for myself, I’m partial to the European Tour.  I rather like the commentary of Dougie Donnelly, Sam Torrance, Jay Townsend, and Dennis Hutchinson.  …

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Since I’ve been on an Indigenous heroines kick, Kobo recommended Grass Dance by Kathryn Imbriani for me in my “recommendations for you.”  I liked the premise, so I purchased the book.  So far, so good. Here is the blurb: After General George Armstrong Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June of …

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