Five Years a Writer

Last week's post contained many words and only a couple of pictures. This week's post has fewer words and more pictures -- words and pictures that tell the story of how I am feeding my creative spirit this summer.  Mostly, I am a writer, but I also love doing collage art, which I describe as my ' cross training ' that rounds out my art muscles and writer's brain. Regardless of the form it takes, my creative drive keeps me interested in, and focused on, making  things. In this world of ours, too often the objective is to simply  consume something produced elsewhere, so I find it soothing to the spirit to hold something in my hands that I have created myself, right here. One of a kind in every way.  Quite without intending to , one day  I discovered   that I had made a series of 'colour' collages -- all the same size, each one a celebration of a particular colour. Then, a promotion came across my email for 'print your own notecards' and I leapt on it...

Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood* by Hilary Peach Anvil Press (2022) *winner of Wilfrid Laurier University's 2023 Edna Staebler Award for creative non-fiction   Review  by Amanda Le Rougetel In short:  Five stars; h ighly recommended.  Buy the physical book; its weight (451 grams/15.9 ounces) belies the deftness of the prose contained within A FINELY OBSERVED , beautifully written account of a woman’s experience as the oft lone female welder on the job site. Crusty characters, foul language, sexist treatment, and good pay just about tell the tale. Without ever overtly teaching about welding or laying blame for her often less-than-honourable treatment, Hilary Peach brings the reader in to her trade and describes through story and characters what she saw on the worksites, how she experienced it, dealt with it — and survived it. Whether the worksite is in Peach’s home province of BC, across the US border, or down East in the Maritimes, her work t...

Four scenarios, three books and a few thoughts about how bloody slow some progress is...  SCENARIO ONE: It’s four a.m. and I am up for the day, having been woken by 17-year-old Holly, the cat who feels she needs fresh food *now*. I am too far gone by the time the tin is opened and the food served, so I just stay up, put the kettle on and tune in to CBC Radio to see if the episode of IDEAS catches my interest. This particular morning it does. Hilary Peach is giving a talk on her award-winning memoir Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood , about her career in welding. I am drawn in by her stories from the front line of her trade. SCENARIO TWO:  While I have never held a welding torch or cut, ground, and shaped metal pieces using immense heat, I have been in a classroom of pre-employment welding students who tested my mettle and almost caused me to run screaming from teaching as a job. That particular class was unruly and uninterested in learning anything I mi...

“Hmmm. Can I do it? Should I do it? Will I do it?” Stutter Stumble Silence Awkward mumble Another stutter Breathe   Regroup Stop being afraid of making a mistake   Dig deep for the words and Speak   Doing an interview in French on live radio is different than doing an interview in English on live radio. This will not surprise you, but I was reminded recently of just how different the experience is. I had written an opinion piece about the importance of the arts in our community and, happily, I discovered it published in our local newspaper on Thursday of last week . I had submitted it on spec, with no real expectation it would be accepted because many many years ago I had written an opinion piece on reproductive rights that was rejected for being polemic rather than interesting and, because we hold experiences in our body until we expel them, that experience was very much with me as I wrote and then submitted this op/ed piece. So seeing my words in print on page A7 (at th...

our fridge, pulled out from its cubby hole, ready for the repair guy The other day the fridge sprang a leak; that’s bad luck for us. It’s still working; that’s good luck — and help is coming. We are several months within the 5-year limit on our extended warranty for the fridge; more good luck — that the leak happened now and not later in November when all costs would be ours. That’s great luck, isn’t it. I’ve been thinking about luck ever since I got drawn into a podcast ( SEA OF LIES ) about a masterful scoundrel who swindled people out of money in both Canada and England. The story includes a body brought up from the sea in a fishing net, a daughter who posed as a wife, and a bunch of police officers diligent and persistent in their pursuit of clues and connections. The story hinges, in several moments, on pure luck. I won’t give anything away, but will say that the meticulous police work would have led nowhere (or might have led elsewhere) without a fair amount of luck: The wrong do...

I hit the road last week; I didn't make it far out of town, but the drive landed me in a whole different dimension  — the Winnipeg Folk Festival . This year marks the fiftieth (50th!!) anniversary of Manitoba ’ s beloved "people and music" festival to which people come from near and far. I was keen to attend because Allison Russell was playing on the main stage on opening night and I had never seen her perform live before. She did not disappoint.  For many of us able to get out of town during the summer months, the call of a road trip  can be a powerful thing  — regardless of the destination .  I’m no Jack Kerouac and I’ve never been close to Route 66 , but I do love the open road. Not so much the getting ready for it, but the being on it. The turning of the wheels and the being on the way to somewhere. That, for me, is the allure of the road.  I’ve never traveled on the road in a VW camper , though that is a fantasy that would exist on my bucket lis...