In the spring of 2019 I completed a 2.5 year Masters Program in Community Music. I used arts based research to examine the transformative effect of this program on my perception and use of arts in community – its value, effectiveness, resonance. I gained a new level of appreciation for the telling of story in times of change, and wrote an allegorical story called “Seven Swans, Seven Rooms”, which I hope will be published in 2020.
We’re at full stop on westbound 401 and collector lanes, just before the Wilson exit. It’s been an hour of this, and I’ve been watching the construction truck inch it’s way across the gridlock for the past twenty minutes. The truck has a huge arrow on the back of it, pointing right. Rush hour folk … More Sunlight through leaves
I’m glad July 2019 has happened, and I’m just as glad it is done. Feels like I put in five or more hours every night in heavy emotional weight-training at the “Know Thyself” YWCA. Felt like I’d be there forever, grunting & whimpering through gut crunches, then woke up this morning with a clear head, … More Trouble the Beauty
My appearance belongs to you more than to me. This became clear through my work for #Selfie in 2014. It is a kind of negotiation – I choose my glasses, my haircut, my clothes, which are all clues about the way I would like to be perceived. You see these choices in living action in … More #M_Other
Pick yourself up off the floor, sweetheart, and go figure out what success means to you now. Way you go now, that’s it. The drama’s just a distraction you made up to keep you down there, so drop it. Get up, and get going. Something has happened; my starting point has shifted. No, it’s more … More Disruption
Today the breeze is playful and cool, pushes me out of bed, teases me out of my sluggishness – it was a long night of paying attention to good friendship, while L was in surgery. My liver was talking all night long. It went well, Kate writes, he is resting now. I’m in first coffee … More Morning
The piano room is the only space I’ve yet to spend decent working time in, these past three months. It calls me today, teasing out some soundtrack to the observations, the tectonic shifts of spring 2019. I’ve spent the last three days going through two months of correspondence I’ve not had time to properly respond … More Recalibration
Alright, I’ve given Paglia a fair shake, but alas, no. The energy required to sift through her self-aggrandizing provocations to find nuggets of meaningful insight is more than I have to spend, especially when other books beckon. Let it be known that I approached her latest with goodwill and open curiosity, and made it through … More Late in the afternoon,
