“How place names impact the way we see landscape” by B. Toastie.

“A 3,000-foot cliff called El Capitan is a name ringing from conquest. It is named after the Mariposa Battalion, which was an Indian-killing militia during the mid-1800’s”says Toastie. The original name of this peak is called the “Measuring-Worm Stone”. This original place name was changed to a colonizers name, which helped us be unable to see the true landscape underneath. “These place names and the stories behind them define how we perceive and connect to the landscape". The stories are important for us to remember because they are telling us something about ourselves and our past. “They can also provide us a sense of belonging. The lands of these place names have strength and beauty”. They say that, “everything has life, power, and healing so if you introduce yourself and approach it respectfully then nature and life will help you”. “Place Identity has dimensions of self that define an individual’s personal identity”, and it also helps relate to the physical environment, as to Earth. “But when the place names are named after settlers, they lose their significance and give the dead power”. The inaccuracy of histories reflect the many layers of colonization, dispossession, removal, abuse, environment, and cultural degradation. We lose a piece of our connection to those areas.

“Sharing One’s Skin” by Jeanette Armstrong 

“I cannot be separated from my place or my land. The ones who are dream and land together..”, that's what the Okanagan community tell themselves, that is their original identity. They say that without any real deep connection to the environment, and to what humanity is we can tend to lose our place. They continue to say that, “confusion and chaos start to enter”. Armstrong and her people have their own way of expressing life. They identify themselves with the four main capacities of self, and they are: the physical self, the emotional self, the thinking-intellectual self, and the spiritual self. The physical self connects to the interactions between our bodies and our environment. The emotional self connects to our feelings, mostly pertaining to our hearts. The thinking-intellectual self connects to our minds or the thoughts that we process. The Okanagan’s state that, “the spark that ignites”, refers to the thoughts that help proceed to an action. The spiritual self connects to our true self power, referring it to the living source of our life. This spiritual self also affects all the things that we engage ourselves with.  The title “Sharing One’s Skin” refers to a reflection of who we represent and a reconnection back to our land and communities. “Our one skin”, refers to the Okanagan people as the relationship to others meaning that we share more than a place, that we share a physical tie that is unlikely to be human. Each person is born into a family and a community. The heart is where community and land come into our being and become a part of us because they are essential to our survival.