In this part of the play all three protagonists reveal the problems they have. Rusty announces that he is really unhappy with his life. Even though it hasn't been stated before, his angry and short-tempered behaviour hinted towards this fact way before this statement was made. He complains about his bad marks in school and tells the other two that he is not good at traditional native tasks like hunting. Additionally he likes a girl that doesn't even know that he exists. It seems to me that the topic of girls is one of the few topics that they can all relate to and have in common. Keesic tells the dramatic story of how he is in love with a girl called Nungohns, who belongs to the same clan and is therefore impossible to date for him. Even if he would just run off with her, they wouldn't survive because they depend on the help of the entire clan (especially during winter time). Michael is the only one with a girlfriend, but doesn't seem to be happy. His girlfriend doesn't like his spiritual side and thinks about breaking up. While Michael's as well as Rusty's problems seem to be solvable, Rusty's seems hopeless.
After Rusty reveals his problems in his particular time period, Michael tells that -unlike Rusty and Keesic think- there are a lot of problems appearing in the future. He states that his tribe has lost its culture, because it has all been explained away, forgotten or just walked away from. He claims that his tribe swapped their culture for money. Dreamer's Rock turned into a tourist attraction and doesn't seem sacred anymore. Only one field with sweetgrass is left, but the members of his tribe don't care about it and don't even know that it exists. This loss of Native American values and traditions caused especially by natives mixing their culture with that of whites seems very interesting to me. It is one of the major themes throughout the play and would need to be discussed with the students. What is more important? Is it normal that a culture changes over time? How could we preserve it? Who plays the major role in this process of change?
After Rusty heard of the big changes made he thinks aloud of leaving him a littel time capsule. Michael all of a sudden remembers why Rusty seemed so familiar. He actually did send him a time capsule adressed for 2023. Since Michael doesn't reveal what was in the time capsule, quite some creative task could arouse from this particular paragraph. What did Rusty put in the time capsule? When and where does Michael find it? Write a diary entry about it expressing their thoughts. Comparing this to the task we introduced on Tuesday, it should be much easier to take their perspective. As Friederike stated, I agree that the task we introduced wouldn't be too suitable for working with the play, because the protagonists come from a completey different cultural background and are all boys. This makes the taks we introduced extremely difficult even for university students.
Keesic also states the problems he and his tribe are facing during his particular period of time. They have hardly enough food and never know when food will be available the next time. While all of them face different problems, no one is one hundred percent happy with their life. Michael says that they have quite a bit in common and are all Odawa. Keesic highly disagrees to this statement and starts a fight. In his opinion neither Rusty nor Michael should be allowed to call themselves Odawa, because they brought dishonor to the tribe. Michael explains that every culture has to progress. He and Rusty tell Keesic about the treaties the natives have signed. Michael tries to explain that the Odawas have changed, but that at least they still exist. Again the topic of change and lost of native traditions seem to be the overall theme.
At this point I think it would be a good task to discuss the reason(s) for the meeting. "Toronto" means a place where important meeting take place. What happened at this meeting? Why did the great power bring them togehter at particularly this place and time?
Towards the end of the play Michael reveals what Rusty gave him. It was a newspaper article dated 2023 stating that he will become Grand Chief of the Aboriginal Goverment. What made him reveal the secret? Afterwards the meeting (Toronto) comes to an end. While Rusty starts singing in Indian about hearing the voice of the people the other two disappear. When he stops, he find a crow feather under his knapsack which seems to stand for a sign from above. Before leaving the rock he respectfully places his hand on the rock and says thank you in the language of his tribe. At this point I think it would be interesting to discuss the changes Rusty went through. They seem very visible at this point. He seems to finally be proud of being native and thinks of himself as being worth something.
Altogether I really liked the play and think it would be suitable for students. Comparing it to Drew Hayden Taylor's play "The Berlin Blues" I would probably prefer "The Berlin Blues", because it discusses German and Native stereotypes alike and I would assume that students could better relate to it.
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