Update

I am back on Haida Gwaii now, after a trip to South Africa with my mum, JJ (who will be 3 in November), and lady Shannon. It was an epic trip!

I've recently had a few inquiries about the Red Hot Jazz Pirates: an all-Indian Jazz band that featured one of my ancestors, George Lawrence (on the far right, standing in the picture). One of my mum's cousins, Eric Gabriel, is working on a documentary about the Jazz Pirates.

Another Lawrence Project update: we've been in touch with Joseph Lelyveld, the author of Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India.The book has been controversial, in part because it suggests that Gandhi may have had some kind of homosexual liason/interests.

We've been in touch with Lelyveld because in the first edition of his book, he identifies Vincent Lawrence (my great grandfather) as the newcomer untouchable in the "chamber pot incident." Gandhi doesn't name who was the low caste untouchable in the incident, and only says that he was Christian. In the literature, Vincent Lawrence seems to be the only notable Christian at the time, and so it's not surprising that Lelyveld suggested that it was Lawrence who was the unnamed person.

According to our records, there isn't any good evidence to identify Vincent Lawrence as the Christian involved: Vincent Lawrence had already been in Gandhi's employ for 4 years by that point, and was not a newcomer; and our records show that Vincent Lawrence was of the Kshatriya caste. We also have evidence that they had a good friendship and that their families spent time together socially.

Lelyveld has corrected the error in the second edition of his book, taking out references to Vincent Lawrence and including an erratum. I consider the matter closed.

I am not sure what is next for the Lawrence Project. Mum is planning to write a book. I've learned a lot about the family history, but the completion of a movie still seems a far way off. 

Looking for an Editor

A lot has happened since my last update... I've had a baby boy named Journey James. He's about two and a half years old now. Lady Shannon and I are living with him on Haida Gwaii, and large island off the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. We came up here when I accepted a position with Northwest Community College, as their Director of Education for Haida Gwaii. This was due in part to my work on the Haidawood Media Project. The position with the College didn't last: I was let go at the end of January 2012 during a budget crunch. Ironically, I am now back to making two more Haidawood movies.

I have plans to return to South Africa this summer to present at the International Association of Cross Cultural Psychology meeting in Stellenbosch, South Africa. I will be presenting on Aboriginal Language Revitalization in British Columbia, and plan to show one of the new movies we're making.

I am also looking for an editor to help me dust off the old footage from 2007, and have another go at editing together a 20 minute movie before we arrive in Durban on July 5th. Here's the ad:

Final Cut Pro Editor 2 week gig. Will edit 40 hours of footage down to a 20 minute documentary, starting on June 1st and ending on June 12th. Must be on Haida Gwaii or Vancouver.