How to describe the doctoral journey as an Indigenous person in white institutions… It’s like trying to swim through oceans which are unrelenting, while your non-Indigenous peers float past in the life rafts of their parents and the systems that grew them. Sure, sometimes they get nauseous from the motion of those waves, maybe an unexpected hit might leave them damp, and there are variations with some using a sail, others using oars, and the most privileged ones motoring past in a speed boat…but overall they are on top of it while the majority of your physical form is beneath the water, working with all your might to just keep your face clear enough that you can gasp for air. Theoretically you are heading to the same destination, but what the journey takes, and what it costs you, and how long you need, really does not compare. Spectators might ask, so why get in? Why even try and swim that distance? Because you can hear your ancestors, family, community, and descendants cheering for you. With every breath, with all that it costs, they encourage you forward, for them, for the future, for all it will unlock in your ongoing fight of sovereignty. And ultimately you hope that when you do get there you can be the one that builds a raft for your descendants, so that they can journey where they choose, always with their heads above the water.