The Hillman BU EduTech Project
Presents

DAVID WESTFALL
NORTHERN ODYSSEY OF A TRAVELLING PROFESSOR
www.hillmanweb.com/westfall/dw01.html


NORWAY HOUSE


This is where my career at Brandon University began full-time—
the BUNTEP class at Norway House in September 1988.


 My term at Norway House was a different kind of adventure from my previous teaching experiences.


The dock and lake behind the school.


It was a no-frills operation: no indoor plumbing,
just two outhouses high on a windy slope overlooking the centre.
The wind whipped the door open as soon as you sat down
unless you used one hand to keep it shut with a handy loop of rope that substituted for a latch.
Aah, the good old days!
But we took it all in stride, mud up to our knees and all.


When the indoor plumbing froze up at the STP centre 
we had to go outside.
For a while there was an outhouse, 
but when the snow thawed 
a small ice lake formed in front of the facility.

Dressed appropriately in my high rubber boots, 
I trod across the thin ice in the late spring, 
sure that the water was not deep.
Suddenly I plunged through the ice up to my thighs.

A sink hole had formed at the bottom of “Lake Westfall,” 
as the amused students called it from then on.

Perhaps it is still there, reappearing every spring. 
Beware!




My first BUNTEP class


Rossville School
It all looks so different today,
thanks to paved roads and indoor plumbing almost everywhere.



 
 
 


Bobby Clarke


"Bigfoot"


Footprint


Souvenir

THE NORWAY HOUSE "BIGFOOT"

The Sasquatch industry has revved up  a little in Norway House thanks to ongoing and recent media coverage. There are numerous websites devoted to all things Bigfoot. Some people are trying to make a little industry of what appears to be lacking substance! An interesting phenomenon of human behaviour.  The Yukon one turned out to be a Wood bison.

It should be fun, anyway. Maybe there will be cryptozoological adventure tours to the area, which could include people dressed in ape suits to startle and titillate visitors! My concern is that it could be a replacement for the authentic wihtiko stories about the cannibals who almost certainly existed here and there, as well as the psychotic individuals who believed they were actually turning into wihtikos. As the language is lost, so are too many of the pieces of folklore from the pre-European contact cultures.

Some of the Media Coverage

Bigfoot Sighting in Norway House: Blog and Footprint Photos:   At dawn on Saturday, April 16, 2005, Bobby Clarke, a Manitoba ferryboat driver and Native of the Norway House Cree First Nation noticed something, a "big, black figure," "a massive creature" on the opposite bank of the Nelson River, about 300 meters away. Clarke videotaped what many say is a Sasquatch. Follow-up 2007 Sighting

A fluke encounter with a Bigfoot has changed a man's life.
 There's Something Out There: A Bigfoot Encounter
CTV Documentary Promo ~ March 31, 2007
 A CTV Original documentary examines how a fluke encounter with a Bigfoot has changed a man's life and a small Manitoba community.  In April 2005, ferry operator Bobby Clarke wrote a new chapter in the legend of the Bigfoot. His 40-second video of a mysterious image ignited speculation that it was in fact a genuine Bigfoot recording.  A publicity storm ensued, putting Bobby and the small community of Norway House at the forefront of the greatest cryptozoological mysteries of all time.  There's Something Out There: A Bigfoot Encounter is a production of Farpoint Films, in association with CTV.


THOMPSON


Thompson BUNTEP Class ~ June1989
We had students from all over the North in this class.


MALAWI


Malawi Students
 I went to Malawi in July-August 1991 to teach a summer course (winter there).
This was prior to my stint as coordinator at St. Theresa Point.
It was truly a mind-altering experience, almost surreal!
Malawi Signs
Two amusing representative signs I noticed in Malawi.
I like the Chichewa "poopsya." It does sound a bit threatening, don’t you think?


CRANBERRY PORTAGE


The Mighty Archer of Cranberry Portage


OXFORD HOUSE


Oxford House ~ ELA Methods Course
Bears - Bears - Bears


SIOUX VALLEY


Sioux Valley ~ July 2002


Brandon University Convocation 2005 & 2006

2005

2005

Convocation 2006
These convocation photos are from 2005 and 2006.
The previous years I was away attending conferences and presenting there.


PUKATAWAGAN


Pukatawagan Farewell



Receiving Pukatawagan Farewell Gifts

THE WESTFALL PHOTO JOURNAL IS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

 
 

Back to the David Westfall Project
www.hillmanweb.com/westfall

Visit All The Hillman Pukatawagan Features at:
www.Brandonu.ca/eduweb/puk
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EduTech Research and Creation by
William Hillman
Assistant Professor ~ Faculty of Education ~ Brandon University
2007/2012
hillmanw@brandonu.ca