Blog # 56…April 2016

I'm early off the mark with this post, wanted to give everyone a heads-up about my favourite holiday... so think up a joke to play on someone tomorrow, nothing mean is the only rule..

I heard the five finalists for the Charles Taylor prize introduce their work recently and decided it was worth another look at our national treasures. The prize, in honour of  the respected Canadian historian and writer (not to be confused with the former leader of Liberia or a flock of other Charles Taylors) was established in 2000 and has been awarded annually since 2004 to a Canadian writer of non- fiction judged to be the best in their field.   Ben McNally hosts the event every year, he and his bookstore are national treasures too.

This year’s bunch made the choice particularly difficult and the five finalists should all be considered winners. According to Taylor’s widow Noreen, who is the force behind the prize, the field has shifted greatly since the award’s inception…when most of the entries were books of history by university professors. Gradually non-fiction has become less academic, more popular and accessible to the general public. Winners over the years have included Wayne Johnston (the first) Carol Shields, and Richard Gwynn.

This year’s finalists (from a list of over 100 submissions) were:

Ian Brown confronted his 60^th birthday with the decision to document what the year brought.  Sixty is a candid and touching look at ageing - semi gracefully (as he puts it). As a person confronting a large birthday this year, I appreciate the prevailing stereotypes of old people being shifted to a broader sense of what we’re really like.
Roger Angell, who writes about baseball, and other things, has also done a good job of it in This Old Man. He’s neither Canadian, nor a contestant for the Taylor prize, just saying.

Camilla Gibb’s world was turned upside down when the partner with whom she was looking forward to the birth of their first child suddenly decided to leave. In This is Happy, Camilla searches for stability with a constructed support network.  In our age of unconventional families, happiness is defined as having loving people around, not always relatives, not always having a smooth time either, but surviving day to day with grace (sometimes) and humour.

David Halton is the son of Mathew, a well known war correspondent during WW2.  In Dispatches from the Front,   David, also a journalist, presents us with a warts and all portrait of his father who met and interviewed most of the key political figures of the era - Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and FDR. His love and respect for his dad and the work he did is a tribute both to his father and to David’s ability to write as a balanced journalist.

Wab Kinew reconciled with his father a year before his death. A survivor of the residential school system, his father had brought the lessons learned there into his own family - a lack of love and nurturing that is passed on through generations, The Reason We Walk is Wab’s account of caring for his father, coming to an understanding of how he’d become the man he was as well as realizing how his own parenting has been influenced by his childhood experiences.

Rosemary Sullivan has given us a glimpse into the lives of Canadian literary figures Gwendolyn MacEwan, Elizabeth Smart and Margaret Atwood.  Her latest biography Stalin’s Daughter takes her, and us, into a totally different realm. Svetlana Alliluyeva, born in 1926, was Joseph Stalin’s youngest child and only daughter. To know the fascinating story of her early life in Russia and India, her defection to the US and renunciation of her father’s regime and her flirtations with a range of religions, you’ll need to read the book. Although as I said at the beginning, all five writers are winners, Rosemary was awarded the RBC Taylor prize on March 7^th.  

Still waiting for the refugee family...and I hope some of the frustration people feel about delays in welcoming Syrian families can be directed towards the people of Pikangjikum and other northern settlements who live in brutal situations too.

Blog # 55… March 2016

“Art is not a luxury, it is a necessity”…both words to live by and the title of a book by artist and art therapist Diorbhail (Gaelic for Dorothy) Cameron.

I have a great respect for art therapy, although, when I was working in psychiatry I preferred to involve artists in a different way - giving people a chance to explore, experiment and have a rest from therapy.  But, about five years ago I met Diorbhail, who lives and practices art therapy in New York City and discovered a kindred spirit.

                                                                                                                                                                     

An Geurran,
Path leading to where her family members are buried

As an artist herself, as well as a person who has experience with mental illness, Diorbhail has spent most of her life painting and contributing to the lives of marginalized people in NYC. A strong influence on both aspects of her work is her Gaelic heritage...her sensibility formed by the mystical landscape of the Western Highlands of Scotland where she grew up. She sees a strong resemblance between the revival of interest in the cultures of North American Natives and the Gaels…both cultures live outside the mainstream and offer expanded perspectives on the land, art and spirit. My Campbellness resonates with that too.

Seannir's Passing
Song of the passing soul
(Grandfather's death)

Encouraged to paint while going through her own therapy, Diorbhail started to take courses in psychology and began involving herself in social issues. She began with domestic violence, establishing Abused Women ‘s Aid in Crisis and encouraging city officials to establish protected housing. She went into one of the first shelters intending to use art to work with children and found that the mothers wanted to join too… and the staff. This beginning led to innovative programmes in senior centres. work in homeless shelters and the establishment of Broadway Community Inc. a drug and alcohol rehabilitation agency serving a downtown area for twenty years.

 “I have never heard of  retired artists” she said in a recent interview  and Diorbhail continues to take an active interest in using art to help people find better ways of dealing with life…something dear to my heart too.

Now that the magic number of Syrian refugees has been reached, our Iraqi family may get their chance to come and join us….hope so.