creative forces

 

Blog #149…January, 2024

I’m starting 2024 with a suggestion: to replace the acronym STEM, which has flooded the field of education in the past few years, with STEAM.  So the important foundations necessary for innovation, problem solving and critical thinking would be Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. Seems obvious doesn’t it?

I’ve just read something that unleashed a flood of nostalgia -  one of the great things about books - and this may prompt memories for you too, I hope so.

When I was a kid, my best friend Barra's backyard sloped invitingly into the Don Valley. Our parents warned us not to go ‘down the Don’ as we called it, but of course we started drifting down to see what was there, being content at first to go as far as the path that stretched a couple of hundred yards through green and perfect woods, maybe originally an Indian trail.  Pretty soon, we started venturing further and further, to the railway bridge, down to the River, there was no Don Valley Parkway to get in the way, and along to the Brickworks - in full production then. We’d occasionally see a solitary shabby man and know to take off even without any street-proofing. Our little gang spent hours running, hiding, discovering plants and small animals, laughing,  poking each other and playing games we made up. Someone’s dog called Skipper was a good sport about being part of the games. I’d arrive home for supper, not feeling it was important to mention to my parents where I got so dirty.

So when I heard Lucy Black on the CBC talking about her novel The Brickworks,  I immediately got on the phone to Ben McNally and ordered a copy. Historical fiction isn’t usually on my list, but this promised to be close to home, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Alistaire and Brodie are a couple of Scotty guys who meet up at work  building bridges around Buffalo. The time is late 1800’s and Lucy Black captures the times with its differences and similarities, totally drawing me into the lives of a couple of working class immigrants more than a century ago. They become friends through a common love of fishing and on a trip over the border, they discover a place in southern Ontario with an abundance of shale and clay - the ideal materials for bricks. The story unrolls with misfortunes, adventures and ultimately their success at building a business - The Brickworks - and finding love.

 Maybe it was my Scottish roots that piqued my interest in this, or maybe the word brickworks triggered a visit to memories of running through the Don when it was wild and beautiful, and with the sense of being somewhere I wasn’t meant to be, which still has a certain appeal. Losing myself in the world offered by a book is a great way to end this difficult year.

Here's hoping for some relief from the pain and suffering of so many people in the world - abroad, here too. I'll keep blogging along, it helps me make sense of some of it and tolerate the rest. 

Wishing you health and happiness in the new year that arrives in a few days...I'm off the grid for a bit to regroup after the holidays, back in February when the afternoons will stretch out and spring will be just down the road.