Meet Marla: Blood Memory and Magic

• Marla is a second year midwifery student, a vegan, Pisces and into astrology and crystals.
• She has a Ukranian dad. Her mom is Pottawatomi; she is a residential school survivor.
• Marla has OCD and depression. She’s in therapy but doesn’t feel like it’s helping.
• She’s from a reserve in southwest Ontario and moved to Toronto for school.
• She likes reading, comics, old music and drawing.
• Sex positive but asexual.
• Loves her black cat, Pierogi.
• Hates the system.

You are going to learn about Marla by interacting with the module below.

You will engage with the content by reading the material in the Pressbook open textbook, working through interactive modules, and answering ‘Check for Understanding’ style questions through the module.

1.0 – Instructions

As you move through the interactive module, the authors want you to remember that getting an answer wrong can actually help to deepen your understanding. As you work through the interactive modules, you simply need to press the green button in the upper right-hand corner of the interactive modules to ‘Proceed’. In some cases, you will have access to some nested narratives where you simply click the grey arrow at the bottom of the screen to move through the story.

1.1 – Encouragement

We want you to have an opportunity to try, and try again in these learning modules. Success isn’t defined, in this context, by getting all of the answers right. Rather, success is learning through free experimentation, self-interrogation, and engaging with these materials with an open mind, curiosity and empathy.

As with anything, curiosity and empathy requires ongoing practice. You will deepen your understanding of what Indigenous learners encounter in their education and in their lives.

You will be asked throughout this learning experience to ask yourself about your own beliefs, and experiences. The more you do this, the easier developing and practicing empathy as a friend, instructor, colleague and citizen.

1.2 – Conclusion

Thank you so much for being a part of this learning experience. This was made possible through the hard work of many, many people including Indigenous student authors, illustrators, poets, and photographers. These stories are rooted in and informed by their lived experiences, and wisdom.