In a brief downtime I watched a presentation byf David Boxley Sr. A key point at 29:20. I remember the first time meeting him as a young person and an impeding pressure to forge the path for dancing and preservation. If I could tell him the field he coudln’t go into was a real meaning that gave way for “wolf of the sky” to make sense of.

Many sacrifices have been made for us to make art because if nothing else I was taught that art is a luxury not an essential for survival. I am happy and moved by him acknowledging Nathan because he mentored Steve as much as Holm mentored me.

Alaska Natives joked as well as the BC people about the “Seattle tribe”. and I laughed at it when I was a teen but when I feasted with them and met David in person to learn what that meant I felt I was the butt of a joke. At that same time I was given an essay about “Snakes and Clowns”. about Tsa-qwa-supp.

Pookubs taught me humility and not to lose the forest through the trees.

In my way I want to write this to thank him for humility and to also understand that if I don’t see the world as he does or the people he comes from I have my place in this world and it is the land that drives the art, not me. There is room for many personalities in this house but this house of Si ał is awakened and we can appreciate our place but also know the limits of our reach.

I’m proud to regard his son as my friend but also to say we are fighting to protect our culture equally so. We can be wolves of different houses and co-exist.

There will never be another Mungo Martin, there will never be another Young Doctor. Robert Davidson is not the song of Bill Reid. As artists we are just remixes of the right ingredients and food for thought.

I had to learn many languages with the uncles who made me into a man now. We don’t all wear masks or wear capes but we are still moving the tides along.

My Kiya would say as a teacher as much as Taqsablu that it’s not about the paint you wear but the time you wear it and to take it off when the time is done.

If there is a wolf in the sky there is a wolf in the water.