Heather Whaley

I 'finally' completed and mailed off my story block to Pearl-Anne for the 2007 StorySave quilt project. I was overwhelmed at one point. How would I begin my wonderful masterpiece? There was so much brewing in my mind that I procrastinated and let everything else take precedence until I was forced to try and meet the deadline. Much to my surprise (and delight) the storyline turned out to be very different from the original plan.

I knew exactly what I was going to create back in the summer of 2006 when I committed to contributing a story block. It would be a collage of landscape and symbols with several ethnic fabric materials that would represent the various cultures from my hometown, Thunder Bay, Ontario where I grew up.

The 'story' would speak for itself. It would dance a reel with a strip of Scottish tartan; 'Stewart' tartan, for my immigrant father; play an Irish tune on my mother's heirloom piano around a bit of Irish tartan, for my immigrant great-grandmother; a violin melody would serenade a flapping Italian flag for my immigrant grandfather. I' d mount the faces of the Beatles for my grandmother who came over from Liverpool, England! This wonderful creation would be etched with Ukrainian ribbon for my 'best' childhood friends, Eva and Mary. And a hearty Polish flag would wave for our many family friends who swapped home-made perogis and sausage for my father's beef & kidney pies.

I would definitely have to include Lake Superior. The City of Thunder Bay lies along its coast. I would ... (gasp!) draw a sketch ofthe Terry Fox monument that is displayed 7km east of TB at the head of the lake, where Terry finished his lengthy run for cancer research.

Oh, yes! And I'd include the 'Sleeping Giant', Nanabijou, the legendary Ojibway Native who was great protector of the Anishnabwa people and friend to West Wind, and who's large stone figure lies along the shores of Thunder Bay as punishment for defying Gitchi Manitou's (Great Spirit) instructions to welcome the 'white-faced' people arriving by canoes to the new land. Legend has it that Nanabijou had found silver in the rocks on the island and fearing the strange people would take their riches, he had his people hide the silver on a near-by islet and then caused a great storm that overturned the canoes and drowned all the newcomers. Gitchi Manitou was furious and turned Nanabijou to stone. He fell back along the shores of Lake Superior where he now lies with his arms folded across his chest. You will see him if you are standing on the shores of the City of TB and looking across the water. He is resting while the spirit of the Deep Sea Water, (Gitchi (big) Gummi (lake)), glares at him.

This WAS going to be a visual masterpiece to show EVERYONE the richness of Thunder Bay's culture!

But, as if I had no choice in the matter, this "spirit" of the Deep Sea Water's voice called to me many times saying, "'Tell' them your stories little by little. Relax, shape them and define the details so that they are imprinted in your mind, just as I am imprinted in your mind." He pushed and prodded and stuck his great form in the forefront of my mind until every scrap of material I was handed, or looked at, pieced together a design on the square until Nanabijou sighed and lay back down. Thus, my 'masterpiece' became an abstract of the Sleeping Giant resting over a bird's eye view of the Great Lakes. Lake Superior is marked with a 'titch' of silver to show where Thunder Bay is on the lake. The Sleeping Giant is trying not to gloat.

The story of the Sleeping Giant has many versions. This was one of the first native stories I heard as a young child. It is believed to be true for it is "where the truth lies" right there in my hometown! Nanabijou now welcomes everyone who comes to the city.