I am...

I've done a hell of a lot of self reflection lately. I've grown so much. I've learned so much.

I just have to put it all out there, because im not always the best at communicating my thoughts and feeling verbally.

I'm 21 now. Twenty One. For two decades and 382 days, the world has known Jeannie Janice Christina Grey-Scott. I've been the heartbeat for some and a headache for others. I've done much succeeding, and much fucking up. 21 years is enough time to make some questionable decisions, but also enough time to learn from and grow out of those questionable decisions. I was born with birthmarks on my fingers and toes. I'll die with tattoos on my hands and holes in my skin.

I was born to a mother from a polar paradise, to a father who was never there, but i was given a dad in place of that. A woman who handmade my winter clothes, she rubbed my back and braided my hair. A man who made me panicakes and read me books. He taught me how to read a clock, how to ride a bike. I have brothers who threw oranges at me, who painted race cars for me to put up on my walls, They defend me and protect me. I am lucky.

I had a grandmother who was born a nomad. She had more skill in her little finger than any one of us could wish to gain in a lifetime. and a grandmother who was a nurse and a midwife -a fiery feminist firecracker.

I had a grandfather with an intimate relationship with earth, he knew the seasons, the ocean and the skies. He knew what he could get in return as long as he continued to give. and another one who was a poet, a writer, a self proclaimed peace monger. He knew the power of the Word, and without my realizing it, gave me the gift of knowing how to use it. a little pretentious of me to think so, right? whatever... this is a 'me me me' post anyway...

The Inuit are my people, first and foremost. I love my culture. I love my family. I love my language. I love my food. I love kuniks. I love katajjaq. I love the sound of snow crunching under my feet. I love dark winters and never ending summer days. Its the most beautiful thing in the world. I hope that in my lifetime, I can have done the honor of sustaining that way of life.

I was born in a blizzard. 21 years ago, the canadian sub-arctic still snowed in October. Now, in November, it rains. I wonder what my grandfather would think of that? if he would know how get around in such drastically different world... if his knowledge would still be relevant. I fight climate change because i would hate to think his experiences were all in vain. I fight climate change because my mother was raised in a cold climate, yet her grandchildren will never really know that. I fight climate change because i cant accept the fact that it dosent snow on my birthday anymore.

I once spent hours everyday primping and preening. I spent hours beautifying myself so that i could be like Kelly Rowland, like Tyra Banks, like that girl in the music video. You know the one? in her skin tight skirts and bikini top, inch long, jet black eyelashes. I wanted to be beautiful. I bought that. I ate it allll up... a woman must be sexy, she must be docile, she must be skinny, she must paint her face to be desirable. No. Not anymore. Now i march for women's rights. Now i understand the image i was buying was destructive to my spirit as a human being. As a woman. I am a woman. I have hair on my legs, I have brains in my head. I have a VOICE. I have generations of women before me who FOUGHT for ME to have a right to that voice. They fought to give me the right to equality, to give me opportunities to live up to my full potential. I will not let those women down. Their struggle will not be in vain. I will not choose make up over democracy. I will not choose to objectify myself while women all over the country and planet do not have the right to say no. I am lucky. And my heart and my spirit give me no other choice but to fight for other women to have those same rights. I refuse to be part of the problem while others give their lives for the solutions.

I am young. I have the energy to keep this fight alive. I have the ability in every cell in my female body to sustain the momentum of this movement and every movement towards social justice for that matter. Of course I'm not alone. My peers are equal to me on every human level, but like i was (and to some extent, still am), many are too preoccupied with that pimple on their nose. The next blockbuster hit. The Habs. Not too many young people willing risk anything to protect the future, or people on the other side if the world. But that's not true either. Young people are the driving force behind so many social justice movements across the globe. We get the short end of the stick, and that, unfortunately is not gonna fly. I fight, along with my fellow youth FOR youth. We are the future, but most importantly, WE ARE NOW. We are now, so be afraid. Be prepared for major social shifts, be prepared for fundamental changes in this whole entire system that we all collectively occupy.



Imagine how difficult it is as a woman in this world? Now add that up with being an indigenous person in a post colonial world? add still the of being coloured... now add sprinkle in the aspect of being young.

Yea, so i basically got the shit end of every stick the world could trow at me. But I take that as a privilege.

I am a woman. I am an Inuk woman. I am a black woman. I am a young woman. I'm Jeannie Janice Christina Grey-Scott and I am a force to be reckoned with. By the time I'm through, this world will work in my favor, and to the favor of all those like me.

remember this, always: "Love is the movement."