So, after next year I will be leaving academia. I witnessed first hand how absolutely slow & incompetent university bureaucracies actually are–in three different countries–and simply don't have the patience to wait for approval from universities in order to do what I need to do.

I have many issues with academia–which is a shame cause there were many things I loved about it too–but the bad really outweighed the good. I didn't come to my homelands to be trapped in libraries and artificially-lit classrooms or commute hours everyday in the cold.

My biggest issue was that I was basically punished for having challenged myself intellectually and culturally–for having left home at 18 and moved to another continent to pursue my Studies. Everything was in my second and third language. I went through immigration processes.

After three and half years between France and Romania, working, studying, building a life for myself, I couldn't stay any longer. I felt called to return to Anishinaabewaki/Michif Piiyii to help revitalize Indigenous languages, among other things.

On top of that, I was being borderline bullied by my *profs* so I was ready to leave that place. Long story short, I returned to my Indigenous homelands, finally returned to my studies, excelled, was politically active on and off campus, and was finally betrayed by my university

So no, I don't want to spend another 5-7 years doing a doctorate when I could be a full time artist, when I could be getting more roles in film & tv, when I could be finishing my regalia, learning my language in community, growing tobacco, hunting, jigging, etc.

I really feel that academia requires us to placate ourselves in order to make connections, pull strings, obtain funding. When I do art, it takes me in the other direction, in art my politics are amplified.

It really didn't help that none of my transfer credits from my previous university in France were accepted by my current university. None. All those hours, those years wasted. Plus it didn't help that one or two Natives *in* academia were disrespectful towards me.

This was strange and confusing, considering the three white profs I had were nothing but kind and supportive and really went out of their way to help me. So getting talked down to by a Native academic who has yet to apologize was not great.

I mean I chose education over my own happiness–I told myself I'd never let anyway get in the way of my education–but I really regret that so much, because my experience within academia and dealing with university bureaucracies have been painful and slowly traumatizing.

Many more factors contributed to that, including campus racism and witnessing the arrest of a 13 or 14 year old Native girl who bussed in by accident on my campus. And a whole bunch of other stuff, but yeah f*ck it.