Blog # 54…February 2016
We’re so lucky in Canada to have a number of national
treasures…natural resources that aren’t found in the ground, growing in the
forests or under the sea. Everything from pop stars to comics, novelists and
actors - we see their names in the news, smile to ourselves and whisper to the
person next to us “they’re Canadian you know”. When George Elliott Clarke was recently named Canadian
Parliamentary Poet Laureate, it seemed a good time to celebrate some of my
favourite treasures, he's first up...
I was introduced to George's folk opera Beatrice Chancy in Dartmouth in
the 90’s and have followed the journey from his native Nova Scotia to Toronto,
where he just completed a 3 year term as
our poet laureate….”imagining words of beauty and emotion to mirror and echo the cultural
mosaic that is Toronto”. His Influences
range from Miles Davis to Ezra Pound, with Irving Layton, Malcolm X and Pierre
Elliot Trudeau thrown in for good measure.
Moving to the national level will give him a chance to bring his fresh
voice to our government and our identity…I can hardly wait.
Sophie Milman was a nineteen year old business student at
University of Toronto when she began to have success as a jazz vocalist and
decided to switch careers. Born in Russia and raised in Israel, she makes use
of her rich exposure to the languages and cultures of many countries to bring
depth and variety to her performances. The
intangible cultural property that is her voice can be sampled online in her
2007 Make Someone Happy or 2009 Take life Easy. (couldn't resist that delicious phrase).
The Gardiner Museum of Ceramics took off in an intriguing
direction when it invited Kent Monkman to mount an exhibition. He was prompted
by the bone china in the collection to centre his undertaking on the source of
the bones…the buffaloes that had roamed the plains of his native Manitoba. Themes in his art often explore the way indigenous history has been presented (or misrepresented) by19th
and 20th century artists.. The Rise and Fall of Civilization that appeared
at the Gardiner late last year gave us a whole new look at the connection between the
harvesting of buffalo to make fine china and the dwindling resources available
to native people.
Too late to see that
show, but watch for his work elsewhere.
No news of the family we’re supporting but they appear to be
safe and are taking advantage of the waiting time to learn English - we correspond with them regularly through our Arabic speaking member. In the meantime we are
benefitting from the experiences of the groups who have welcomed their families
already, honing our sensitivities to their situations and learning how to
be supportive in ways that are helpful and not smothering. More to come.
