A young student sitting at a loan desk surrounded by fellow students standing. Image credit: Arson McTaggart “Please rise for the national anthem,” the voice booms over the speakers. The screech of chairs over linoleum; students stand, but their eyes drift to the one chair that doesn’t screech. O...
Image credit: Painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images) MUSKRAT Magazine is honoured to help share the Missing Matoaka Project and unveil the real story of Pocahontas. We believe that Indigenous stories must be told through the lens and voices of Indigenous people who bring...
Kahnawake born and raised, Brendt Thomas Diabo, is an ever evolving musician and actor. Diabo started his music career with two independently released EPs and singles while touring across Ontario, New York, and Quebec and on screen he made his debut with an outstanding performance in Adam Garnet Jones’...
Kalehia was warmly embraced by family when she stepped off boat at Kumalo, Moloka’i, onto her one hānau, the sands of her birthplace. Mom prattled on about her timing being perfect because, with Melenahe getting married and moving to Oʻahu, Kalehia could be a new apprentice to her growing lāʻau lapaʻau...
Yolanda Bonnell | Image source: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Yolanda Bonnell is powerful in White Girls in Moccasins. In the play she portrays, Miskozi, a brown Indigenous girl growing up in a dominating white-settler society who creates an inner white girl in order to survive while suppressing her Indi...
In the three plus years of working beside her, Kalehia had managed to successfully suppress her feelings for Tanisha Begay. After graduation, she couldn’t manage it for another minute. Fortunately, she didn’t have to. It was Begay who made the first move. They became lovers. It happened quickly. As they...
Clockwise from left to right: Julian Taylor from Canada, Stan Walker from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Miiesha from Aṉangu/Torres Strait Island (Australia), and Brendt Thomas Diabo (Mohawk from Canada) More and more Indigenous musicians are carving out a space of their own. Today the soundwaves are blessed w...
Six months later Kalehia returned home, exhausted after a long day of at the lab, topped off by an evening staff meeting. It wasn’t the job that tired her, or the hours. It was the ongoing challenge of working next to Begay, day after day, week after week, while keeping her feelings in check. Straddling...
Kanaka Maoli Cultural and Language Advisor: Bryan Kuwada As it turned out, events happened in the order Hiko had described. The job offer she least wanted came first. Kalehia’s anxiety rose to record heights when she declined it, but she realized the stress of working a job she didn’t like could trigger...
As she stepped out of the shower, she sensed a presence. Someone was in her casita. This was her worst nightmare: trapped in the bathroom, naked, without her cell. Where did she leave it? The desk? The nightstand? She didn’t remember. She hurriedly slipped on a sundress, uncaring that it clung uncomfort...
