creative forces

 Blog # 159...November 2024  

When he celebrated the fifth anniversary of his publication Reasons to be Cheerful, David Byrne said "We imagined we might do it for a few years...Now, nearly a thousand stories later, we’re looking toward the future with more optimism and hope than ever before. " 

Same for me with this blog. In September 2011, thinking it was a one-of, I wrote about the young musicians devoted to the patients, families  and staff at the Toronto Grace Hospital. Since then I've continued to notice how art and artists enlarge and enrich our thinking and feeling worlds. Hopefulness is my feeling of choice and for me it's connected to a sense of  home.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what constitutes home. I remember when, where and how I've felt at home over the years,  I moved many times when I was in my twenties and thirties, able to work and live in different countries, languages and cultures. I was surprised not to feel at home when I came back to Toronto...we'd both changed.

Today,  I'm very grateful to have this view from my front door. My sense of home continues to shift as the house reflects years of experience - met too,  especially my eyes and ears...they've seen and heard so much. I'm  getting used to feeling at home with the person I am now and working with what I can and want to do. When I used to rush out, I probably never noticed the beautiful yellow of the ironwood tree that only lasts a couple of days once a year. 

And I'm conscious that wherever I am, it's the people who surround me that create my home.

I recently discovered novelist Penelope Lively's memoir (thanks Sara!)written ten years ago when she was eighty. She captures many things I've felt about aging, putting in place "feisty, grumpy, focused on the past" as features rather than the stereotypes they've become. Although we are very different people, I felt understood when I read her thoughts...at home.

On a much more serious note is the journey made by thousands of people leaving their homes to escape wars, climate and economic conditions. They arrive here to share the country we're so lucky to call home.  I often wonder if they feel the safety and opportunities gained have been worth the loss of country and culture. And of course, the people right here attempting to make a home on the street or in shelters are constant reminders of the inequities around us.

Just as an artist prompted me to write this pensive piece, another artist will take us out.  David Byrne seems to be a glass full kind of guy, encouraging us towards cheerfulness. Writer Elizabeth Renzetti, pretty glass full herself, cautions us not to rest on our oars about equality, especially where women\s rights and positions are concerned. Her work always manages to bring some humour into serious matters without diminishing their importance. Her new book What She Said reminded me that I could keep worrying and still laugh, sometimes at the same time.

It's getting dark now, time to get some treats on board to rage at the dying of the light.  See you in December!