Oblique Poetries

oblique migration

2009-07-06T10:43:00.002-04:00

Oblique Poetries has migrated...please visit the new oblique nest!

DVD release

2009-01-12T12:44:00.007-05:00

An ambient film intended to be treated as a painting,
Moz is now available online at Kunaki.

Moz is my favorite piece in the Cloud Painting series
so far: Scott has created a beautiful symbiosis between
music and film here. Even more to my liking, the colors
in Moz are rich and the imagery is both whimsical and
compelling.

Ambient Video Installation

2009-01-02T19:40:00.004-05:00

Congratulations, Scott, on your first ambient video installation!

JANUARY at ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS

Le Temps de La Neige - Cloud Painting #13
Scott M2

A vintage television sits on an old wooden table. Rabbit-ear antennae extended, the
signal hopefully enhanced by way of crumpled foil on the tip of one damaged ear.

The forecast for the future is blue screens and blackness.
Television snow, a constant since childhood,
disappears with analog television sets as technology evolves.
A contemplation of transience and an appreciation of simple beauty,
Cloud Painting #13 pays homage to the time of snow.

January 1 - 31 from dusk to 2:00 am

Roadside Attractions
911 Davenport Road, Toronto

Visit us at City of Craft this Saturday

2008-12-08T16:24:00.016-05:00

Scott & I will be up bright & early next Saturday to mount
our new installation, CROSSiNG,
at this year's City of Craft.

You can find City of Craft at the The Theatre Centre
on Queen West @ Dovercourt from noon until 8 p.m.

Hope to see you there!

CROSSiNG – Cloud Painting #4
is the latest multimedia collaboration
between Lynn Harrigan and Scott M2.
Fibers meet electrons in an evolving work of
gradual transformation and revelation.

artists against war

2008-11-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

As soon as I saw the post on Toronto Craft Alert, I was behind this event. I've donated a piece; I hope it helps.

speaking of good causes ...

2008-11-19T20:06:00.005-05:00

fiber art portfolio

2008-08-17T01:23:00.010-04:00

Have a look at my new online fiber art portfolio.

Lake Lorwall jul 08

2008-08-16T23:32:00.003-04:00

Oblique Poetries online

2008-04-03T17:03:00.002-04:00

A brief excerpt from Oblique Poetries is now available online at Stephen Philips' Ambient Poetry site.

Oblique Poetries is the collaborative WordSoundArt project of Lynn Harrigan and Scott M2. Rooted in our poetry, multi-media projects are in development combining words, music, photography, and fiber art.

S H O W & T E L L

2008-03-08T14:31:00.008-05:00

On Tuesday, March 11 from 5.30-7.30 pm, I'll be at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery with pieces from the Aqua Reliquia installation...

Organized by Susan Rowe Harrison, the Show & Tell is "a casual opportunity to come together to share what you've been working on and get a peek into others' craft practices. This will also be an chance to check out the Collage Party installation - show up early to make stuff! If you are interested in participating in the Show & Tell please RSVP to susanroweharrison@gmail.com with a general idea of what you plan to share."

More information is available at:

Justina M. Barnicke Gallery
West wing at Hart House, University of Toronto
7 Hart House Circle
416 978 8398

FREE

Anyone is welcome! Warm beverages and treats on site.

hyperbolic crochet

2008-03-04T17:08:00.006-05:00

hyperbolic crochet by Becky Johnson

I just signed up for my first hyperbolic crochet workshop at the Knit Cafe. Led by Toronto's "queen of crochet math," Becky Johnson, this should be fun--even for a math-phobic like me!

r e a d i n g

2008-03-02T18:27:00.004-05:00

Last month I decided to read every story written by Alice Munro, beginning with "Walker Brothers Cowboy" and ending with "Messenger," the epilogue to The View from Castle Rock. As often happens, I found myself beginning at the end of the project when the title story of The View from Castle Rock won the vote for our February selection on A Curious Singularity.

Here's my interim report on the story:

While reading "The View from Castle Rock," an old adage about short stories came to mind, namely the one coined by Edgar Allan Poe in his essay, "The Philosophy of Composition." Poe maintained that the requisite length of a short story is "the limit of a single sitting." Although I have not finished reading Munro's story yet--I'm almost there--I have to disagree with Poe's assertion that, "if two sittings be required, the affairs of the world interfere, and every thing like totality is at once destroyed." This story is more of a novella in terms of length, but the "unity of impression" that Poe insists on hovers distinctly in my imagination even while "the affairs of the world" keep me from returning to "The View from Castle Rock." For me, so far, that impression is a sense of promise amidst the most unpromising circumstances, with a dash of foreboding thrown in to build suspense.

(Cross-posted at A Curious Singularity, Mar 2, 08)

Inspiration for Field Guide to Longing

2008-01-28T20:16:00.001-05:00

My favorite birthday present this year--indeed one of the best presents I've ever received--is the DVD Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, filmed in 1987, a year before The Big O's death.

According to Wikipedia, Bob Dylan wrote that "Orbison … transcended all the genres. … With Roy, you didn't know if you were listening to mariachi or opera. He kept you on your toes. … [He sang] his compositions in three or four octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff. He sang like a professional criminal. … His voice could jar a corpse, always leave you muttering to yourself something like, 'Man, I don't believe it'. His songs had songs within songs. Orbison was deadly serious–no pollywog and no fledgling juvenile. There wasn't anything else on the radio like him".

Plasticine + Bones

2007-12-03T22:16:00.001-05:00

Scott & I had a great time at Mike Freeman's launch of Bones
on Saturday night...Michael Fraser played paparazzi...

Gadzooks!

2007-11-27T22:33:00.000-05:00

My interview with Lisa Young ended up being pretty cool...check it out at Gadzooks!.

2007-10-18T23:05:00.000-04:00

The Drawer Boy is set in my hometown--Clinton, Ontario--and is my all-time favorite play!!

Theatre Passe Muraille presents
The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey

Michael Healey’s multi-award winning play The Drawer Boy burst out of Theatre Passe Muraille in 1999, becoming one of the decade’s most popular and successful shows across North America and around the globe.

To mark the 40th anniversary of Theatre Passe Muraille, the company is delighted to present the homecoming of The Drawer Boy in an all-new production. Don’t miss this special opportunity to see the new classic of Canadian drama in the intimate theatre where the phenomenon began.

The Drawer Boy is based on the true story of the creation of Theatre Passe Muraille’s Farm Show, which was developed by a group of actors who went to live in Clinton, Ontario in 1972. Funny and moving in equal share, The Drawer Boy begins with the clash of urban and rural, youth and middle age, the life of the artist versus the life of the farmer. It ends on a profoundly hopeful note of transformation through the power of storytelling.

Previews: Tues, Oct 23 8:00 pm -:- Weds, Oct 24 8:00 pm -:- Thurs, Oct 25 8:00 pm
Opening: Friday, Oct 26 8:00 pm

Limited engagement to November 18.

2007-10-18T19:35:00.000-04:00

PLASTICINE POETRY SERIES

FEATURING:

Michael Fraser

Lynn Harrigan & Scott M2

Truth Is

Kurt Zubatiuk

+ Open Mic

Hosted by Cathy Petch

The Central

603 Markham ST.,

1 block west of Bathurst & Bloor subway station

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 @ 8:00pm

HOWL on CIUT-FM (11:00 pm EST)

2007-10-16T16:52:00.000-04:00

Scott M2 & Lynn Harrigan join host Nancy Bullis on HOWL, Toronto's weekly
"breakdown of the zeitgeist of poetic expression" on CIUT 89.5FM in Toronto
and live on the internet at: http://www.ciut.fm/listenlive.php We'll be
discussing our upcoming performances and reading from Oblique Poetries.

we're on at 8 sharp!

2007-10-13T19:39:00.000-04:00

weds, oct 17, 07
Draft Reading Series
276 Carlaw, Suite 202

2007-09-29T14:39:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about the ethics of art-making lately.
I'm taking a closer look at the fibres I'm using and exploring sustainable
and cruelty-free options. I didn't give much thought to these issues
when I was focused solely on writing poetry. My obsession
with embroidery shows no signs of abating, though, and
it's opened up a whole new range of ideas to wrestle with.
To that end, I've started working on burlap and sourcing green yarns.....

Oblique Poetries @ Draft Reading Series

2007-09-29T13:28:00.000-04:00

Scott & I will be performing at the Draft Reading Series next month. Here are the details:

Draft Reading Series @ Labspace Studio
276 Carlaw Ave., Suite 202, Toronto
Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 8:00pm

in the meantime

2007-09-29T12:41:00.000-04:00

...celebrating our anniversary on Toronto Island

...waitin' for Bjork at V-Fest

...stitchin' at V-Fest

Labour Day dinner party

...Lake gazing with Charlie

Labour Day Retrospective

2007-09-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

Wards Island aug 07

2007-09-03T14:18:00.000-04:00

Lake Lorwall jul 07

2007-09-03T14:02:00.000-04:00

the Lake and the Stars

2007-07-02T21:17:00.001-04:00

Ideas for an Aqua Reliquia installation have coalesced: mixed media pieces, embroidery mounted in shadow boxes, and hand embroidered cotton panels are all part of the vision. The series of shadow box pieces is titled the Lake and the Stars.

Lake Edge in June

2007-07-02T21:09:00.000-04:00

entering the home stretch...yet again

2007-05-21T15:35:00.000-04:00

Just updated the Idiot Glee wiki with final schedules and due dates for my English classes...three weeks and counting until classes are over and I'm at Lake Edge Cottages for a weekend of r&r before exams begin.

Arcade Fire played Massey Hall this past week. Great concert--well worth dragging my tired derriere out on a Tuesday night. Enjoyed every song they performed.

Tommorow: Patty's treating me to a session of aqueous indulgence at Body Blitz. Can't wait!!

thinking about...

2007-05-09T23:03:00.000-04:00

altered books/assemblage project

2007-05-09T09:17:00.000-04:00

Here's one of the pieces I'm working on these days.
It's for the Aqua Reliquia installation : poems, visual art and
a soundtrack composed by Catherine Tammaro.

V O L T A

2007-05-08T09:43:00.000-04:00

Can't wait to hear Volta tonight!!!

in thrall

2007-05-06T12:15:00.000-04:00

Sonny Rollins played Massey Hall last night...and played and played...

Deer Park Poetry Group

2007-04-30T12:30:00.000-04:00

...a poem revised after our meeting at The Central last month:


WIDE OPEN


Sipping weak broth from a plastic cup
this southpaw with skinny braids
remembers running home from school
along a narrow walkway
that cut through the cluster of flats
where he used to live

As a young boy he longed to live in New Mexico
today he wonders if chewing apricot seeds
will break down the cancer

but when he is afraid he imagines
curling up in the sleeper
behind the cab of his old truck

After his passion for hunting took over
he built his first blind covering it with camouflage
mindful that geese always feed into the wind

He holds onto this patience for birds now
as he lies here wide open

eye spy

2007-04-29T21:07:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to sending my submission to the 1,000 Artist Journal Pages project. This is one of the pages that made the cut...

another Sunday afternoon well-spent

2007-04-29T18:50:00.000-04:00

Ode to Tutti Matti

2007-04-28T13:12:00.000-04:00

Enjoyed a leisurely dinner with Patty at Tutti Matti last night. The food was incredible: thank you Alida!

Field Guide to Longing 1.1

2007-04-21T23:55:00.000-04:00

Larus argentatus breeds across hemispheres resounds on Great Lakes
the east coast city parks garbage dumps

Lore three seagulls flying together directly overhead
forecast death

Mating abundant adaptive omnivore with complicated taxonomy
seeks same

2007-04-05T23:03:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Catherine Tammaro
for turning me on to the work of Alexander Calder:

Follow up.....

2007-04-04T17:59:00.000-04:00

Last night at the Drake Underground: Scott & I really enjoyed the PoetBureau's presentation of gw raspberry and Catherine Kidd -- not to mention the Wu Tsang Nixons with the incomparable Phoebe Tsang on violin.

Next month: Catherine Kidd is launching her highly anticipated novel, Missing the Ark, alongside Emily Holton's Little Lessons In Safety, at the Gladstone next month. Scott & I saw Emily Holton's exhibit, Celebrity Hand Jobs, at The Centre for Culture and Leisure in January and loved it.

Coming up....

2007-04-01T23:38:00.000-04:00

@ the Drake Underground:

Poetry | Process Performance
collaborative word cabaret

in the Underground at the Drake Hotel 1150 Queen Street West

Tuesday April 3th
7:00 – 9:00 pm, cover $7

Poets working in collaboration with other artists:
Gary William Rasberry
and Teilhard Frost
Catherine Kidd
Wu Tsang Nixons

www.poetbureau.com
416 410 8300 • info@poetbureau.com

Looking back...

2007-04-01T14:56:00.000-04:00

...on pictures from the dreamSTATE site.

m o r e . . .

2007-04-01T14:48:00.000-04:00

Check out more Buddha Machine Gathering #1 photos at StillePost.

Buddha Machine Gathering #1

2007-03-26T16:34:00.000-04:00

March Break 2007

2007-03-22T12:18:00.000-04:00

Oblique Poetries update

2006-12-02T19:26:00.000-05:00

As often as I can, I stop by Caldense on my way home from school to work on Oblique Poetries. Scott & I have a nice rhythm down at this point. I draw a strategy to inspire images & ideas, then lay the groundwork for the poem. Next, I pass it off to Scott who filters it through his own sensibilities. The final phase involves a sitdown collaboration to refine the results. We are enjoying the creative process and slowly building a promising manuscript of finished pieces.

Aqua Reliquia update

2006-12-02T19:17:00.000-05:00

Freighter on Horizon - Photo by Mikel B. Classen

Aqua Reliquia's development is proving to be a much more leisurely process than Moon Sea Crossing's. Images like this one from The Great Lakes Mariners website really stir the pot : ideas abound in my notes and sketchbooks & all I need to realize them is a series of uninterrupted blocks of time. Thankfully, winter break is coming up : I suspect this holiday, like our summer vacation on Lake Lorwall, will be a productive one!

bad karma

2006-11-16T17:50:00.000-05:00

a yummy party

2006-11-12T13:18:00.000-05:00

Last night, we headed over to Phil & Catherine's new digs in Cabbagetown
to celebrate Phil's birthday. Great people, conversation, wine, and snacks. Yum.

Lynn & Anne

Jamie & Monica

Lynn eating cheese

Saturday in Yorkville

2006-11-05T22:01:00.000-05:00

Scott & I met up with Catherine Tammaro & Phil Ogison on Saturday afternoon to attend Alice Teichert's opening at Gallery One on Scollard Street. Her paintings are gorgeous: exquisitely composed with intriguing images, arresting textures and brilliant use of colour. I look forward to reading the copy of j'eux that I picked up from Alice and, especially, to seeing more of her work.

After a snack at The Coffee Mill, Scott & I headed over to the Manulife Centre to see Manufactured Landscapes at the Varsity. A difficult film to sit through, but an important one. Visit the Mongrel Media website to see the trailer.

Sunday @ Sunnyside Beach

2006-10-29T17:04:00.000-05:00

beginning a new painting

2006-10-26T21:17:00.000-04:00

Sankai Juku @ Hummingbird Centre

2006-10-18T20:07:00.000-04:00

~cross-posted @ Idiot Glee

Kagemi's graceful moves cast a spell : troupe covered in white-rice dust

SUSAN WALKER

Toronto Star ~ Oct. 18, 2006. 01:50 AM

Sankai Juku doesn't just invoke a mood. The troupe's performances have the power to induce a state of mind and cast a spell over a packed auditorium.

Rattled urbanites attending Kagemi at the Hummingbird Centre last night went home a little looser at the neck and shoulders, breathing a little more gently and mentally carrying images of huge lotus blossoms suspended serenely in the air.

Artistic director Ushio Amagatsu and his six chalk-skinned dancers achieved something sublime with Kagemi (Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors). Amagatsu was the soloist, a conductor of the forces of nature, at times reminiscent of an underwater god bringing harmony to his domain. At other times he resembled a storyteller, conjuring up a scene with only the eloquent movements of his arms and hands.

He set the pace for the seven-part show, slowly carving the air with his arms, moving them sideways to suggest the gentle lapping of waves and standing on a circular platform beside a bed of maybe 50 or 60 giant lotus blossoms, their stems dangling to the floor. Six forms, three bunched up and three stretched out, lay beneath them. The flowers ascended on invisible strings to form a canopy, the individual blooms turning ever so slightly in the air. The white-rice dust that covers the dancers head to toe tends to obliterate personality in the Sankai Juku ranks. From Semimaru, who has been with the company since its beginning in 1975, to Ichiro Hasegawa, who joined two years ago, we know them only by the shape of their skulls. But in Kagemi, Amagatsu gives them a degree of individuality and, by allowing them to interact, nudges the dance towards a vision of a common humanity with tribal demarcations.

Raised arms and open hands made a constant motif. The fingers were outstretched, curled to form flower shapes or wiggling like antennae. Three bare-chested figures in loincloths and sashes moved up and down, in a forward kneeling movement. Three stood tall in long skirts that kissed the floor as they proceeded in formation. The gestures were like semaphore or hieroglyphics, repeated and reflected as the dancers faced each other. The image, the mirror and the reflection might all have been separate entities as they gathered, then parted and went their separate ways.

Occasionally a dancer opened his mouth wide, making the universal shape of the "a" sound, a round black hole in the middle of the face. It is as dramatic as Kagemi gets, yet it's moving. The music ranged from a thundering percussive piece, done on big skin drums, to a slightly melancholy piano solo and a piece of Japanese music for a stringed instrument.

In a scene where four dancers emerge in long gowns that appear to be covered in volcanic ash, the music is a raging storm of heavy-metal rock. The dancers are suddenly touching, silently laughing and grinning as they fingerpaint each other in streaks of red or black across the cheek or forehead. The final scene, in which six dancers reappear in creamy robes with ribbed overlays that look like the skeletons of fish, features more ritualistic movement. The dancers form a circle, opposition disappears and as they rise and fall in unison, they seem to be offering a promise of, or at least a wish for, peace.

Massive Attack @ Carlu

2006-10-08T11:26:00.000-04:00

Massive Attack played the Carlu Friday night : the band more than made up for the Virgin Festival debacle, offering up an amazing concert in a perfect venue.

Check out the review in yesterday's Toronto Star.

restrained elegance

2006-09-23T00:35:00.000-04:00

“The moment the brush touches down, the painter is free to explore. The brush carries the momentum as the artist explores the moment—moment and momentum are the springboard . . . The moment now becomes the distance.”

Barbara Guest

symbiosis

2006-09-23T00:06:00.000-04:00

click on image to enlarge

::: excerpt from Symbiosis by Barbara Guest (poet) and Laurie Reid (artist) :::
(Kelsey St Press, Berkeley, 2000)

::: art :::

2006-09-19T22:56:00.000-04:00

I'm very excited about my first art class with Catherine Tammaro on Thursday evening. Check out her work at Room 101.

excerpt from Aqua Reliqua

2006-09-17T01:40:00.000-04:00

::: Lake Lorwall, August 06 :::

WEATHER OFFICE DISPATCH

late fall

open lakes

low air

negatively tilted

bombs out

a record central dip

Great Lakes gusts

buffet 50 knot squalls

storm force winds

intensify isobaric pressure

between systems

gnashed warnings

fly over all lakes

the signal hoist

a square red flag

8 feet by 8 feet

black center predicting

storm force winds

hammering trajectories

marked violence

vacation photos

2006-09-17T00:57:00.000-04:00

Here are some of the pictures we took at the cottage on Lake Lorwall:

September = music poetry and more music

2006-09-15T20:48:00.000-04:00

Scott & I spent last weekend on Olympic Island at the Virgin Festival. We suffered the dampness & cold on Saturday for next to nothing it seemed : the festival ran behind schedule all day, so the Kid Koala and The Flaming Lips sets were cut short, inciting much discussion on Stillepost the next morning. Things ran more smoothly on Sunday, though, and we were glad not to have missed The Raconteurs and our old favorites, Broken Social Scene.

This past Tuesday night, we saw Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton perform Knives Don't Have Your Back (a gorgeous album that's quickly becoming one of my all-time faves) at the Gladstone Hotel.

Roger Waters is at the ACC this coming Wednesday, performing The Dark Side of the Moon Live. I'm not sure what to expect, just hoping it will be worth a late night mid-week.

Next Saturday, after taking in this month's installment of the Test Reading Series, we'll be at the Drake for Avant Nuit. I'm especially looking forward to the Akumu/Anne Bourne set. My favorite annual September event, Word on the Street, is the next day.

the party's over

2006-09-02T10:51:00.000-04:00

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. Here's what I've been up to:

I went back to work this week. Ugh.

Scott, Charlie & I spent the previous week at a cottage in the Ottawa Valley (near Algonquin Park). I picked up the photos yesterday & will post a few later this weekend. While there, I read angela rawling's wide slumber for lepidopterists (loved it!! gorgeous poetry & a beautiful book), Lisa Robertson's The Weather (a bit of a challenge but enjoyable nonetheless) and made serious headway on Aqua Reliquia (it's now firmly off the ground!).

I spent yesterday afternoon roaming around Centre Island. After a week on Lake Lorwall, I was in need of some serious Great Lake time. Feeling much better now.

from TWUC listserv

2006-08-13T11:43:00.000-04:00

This appears today in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal.

No Offense
By SALIL TRIPATHI
Special to the Wall Street Journal
August 11, 2006

LONDON -- On a balmy Sunday afternoon, nearly 60 men and two women
marched down the most famous street in this city's East End, Brick
Lane. A man called Abdus Salique led their chants of protest:

Maro maro jota maro

Monica-ke gaaler maro

(Hit hard, use your shoes to hit hard

Slap Monica's cheeks, hit her hard)

"Monica" is Monica Ali, author of "Brick Lane," which was short-listed
for the 2003 Booker Prize and the National Book Critics' Circle Award.
Its popularity has brought tourists to Brick Lane, and London-based
Ruby Films is making the novel into a movie. These protesters want to
stop them. Mr. Salique says the book has insulted the lane's
hardworking Bangladeshis: Ms. Ali knew nothing about them, since she
was only half-Bangladeshi and married to "a white man."

The Bangladeshis are certainly industrious. They own nearly 90% of the
12,000 "Indian" restaurants in Britain. Commerce flows through Brick
Lane freely, rejuvenating this depressed area, which has been home to
immigrants since the 16th century -- first the French Huguenots, then
Jews, who converted a church into a synagogue. Now the Jews have gone;
the synagogue has become a mosque for Bangladeshi Muslims; French
street names are written in elegant Bengali script.

Yet while the Huguenots and the Jews became part of the British
landscape, the self-appointed Bangladeshi leaders are demonstrating
that they're not willing to -- chiefly by rejecting a core British
value, tolerance. At the protest, some wanted to burn Ms. Ali's book,
which would have been a first in Britain since a Muslim group in
Bradford burned Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" back in 1989.

At first, London's establishment ignored the grumbling, but at the
first threat of marches and potential violence its mood shifted
quickly to appease the community that feels itself insulted. As
advised by the police and authorities, Ruby Films packed up and left
for another, yet-to-be determined filming location. Protesters pledged
to follow.

For some time now, liberal acquiescence has strengthened the most
radical attention-seekers in Britain. This is not only about Islam:
Hundreds of Sikhs attacked the Birmingham Repertory, closing "Behzti"
(Dishonor), a play written by a British Sikh, because its theme, of
rape in a Sikh temple, upset them. Hindu fundamentalists charged into
a central London art gallery that was showing the paintings of Maqbool
Fida Husain, India's foremost artist and a Muslim, because he had
painted Hindu goddesses in the nude. An irate lecturer from northern
England toppled wax statues of soccer star David Beckham and his pop
singer wife, Victoria Beckham, that depicted them as Joseph and Mary
at a nativity scene at Madame Tussauds.

The offended can switch off their TV sets, not buy the book they don't
like, even call for a boycott, and picket the play or filming. But
when a mob drives filmmakers away, closes an exhibition or a play,
threatens violence and scares the artist to go into hiding, that has
no small impact on everyone else's freedoms.
* * *

There is another reason Ms. Ali is so hated. Her novel's protagonist,
19-year-old Nazneen, comes to London in an arranged marriage. Her
husband wants her to stay at home and bear children. Ultimately, he
leaves Britain, but she chooses to stay. The predominantly male
protesters on Brick Lane are troubled by this portrait of an
emancipated woman. "This is England," a friend, Razia, tells Nazneen.
"You can do whatever you like."

Mr. Tripathi is a writer in London.

2006-08-01T12:44:00.000-04:00

From yesterday's National Post:

Jazz piano legend Oscar Peterson said he is shaken by "bigots" driving by his Mississauga home and shouting racial slurs. "[They were] calling my name and adding invectives," the 81-year-old said last night. "Bigots are everywhere." His neighbours told him they first heard the racial attacks while he was travelling in Europe with his family a few months ago. Then his wife heard them again on Saturday night, he said. "Being not only a husband and a father, I have to be concerned because when I leave the country, my family's here. I'd like to know that they are safe and not being abused." Mr. Peterson, one of the most accomplished pianists of the world, was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.

© National Post 2006

Paris looped

2006-07-30T14:35:00.000-04:00

Progress : Aqua Reliquia

2006-07-28T21:08:00.000-04:00

the best part of the whole process : staying on the scent of the narrative : just getting it down

Refilling the well

2006-07-21T16:41:00.000-04:00

This is my idea of freedom: no papers to grade, nowhere to be, and endless hours of reading.

Since Moon Sea Crossing closed at the Fringe, I've spent aimless days reading: Nick Hornby's latest, A Long Way Down; The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis; an advance reading copy of The Garneau Block by Todd Babiak; an interview with James Tate in The Paris Review; postings from the AlphaSmart group on Flikr; the August issue of Vogue; current and back issues of Misunderstandings Magazine, UnderCurrents, Brick & Poetry; and, lots of blogs & websites about books and writing (most notably, Kate's Book Blog).

I had (an admittedly neurotic) thought this morning as I stood before the bookshelf in the basement: What if our house burns down before I have time to read all these books? Maybe it's time to reread Siddhartha.

2006-07-18T08:36:00.000-04:00

diet coke and mentos

Moon Sea Crossing's Premiere

2006-07-07T14:13:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to report a 5-star review by Kellie Maltese @ Eye Weekly for Moon Sea Crossing, playing at the Toronto Fringe Festival this week.

Congratulations to Fertile Ground Productions!

"With emotions that are echoed by light and language, Moon Sea Crossing weaves together the plight of the Irish immigrant, the despair from crushed dreams and one woman's strength to rise above it all." KM

unHappy Canada Day

2006-07-01T10:37:00.000-04:00

I stumbled onto a link to the Edmonton Journal article, Munro giving up writing life, this morning. Sounds like The View From Castle Rock will be Alice Munro's last collection.

Less than 2 weeks until opening night!!

2006-06-25T16:43:00.000-04:00

Fertile Ground brings Lynn Harrigan's Moon Sea Crossing
(Black Moss Press 2005) to life in this one-woman show
premiering at the Toronto Fringe Festival.

Directed by Angela McMillan
Starring Sarah Schwartz
Original text by Lynn Harrigan
Live music by Scott M2 of dreamSTATE

Factory Studio Theatre
125 Bathurst Street (at Adelaide)

Thursday, July 6 - 8:45 pm
Saturday, July 8 - 6:00 pm
Sunday, July 9 – Noon
Monday, July 10 - 11:00 pm
Tuesday, July 11 - 1:00 pm
Thursday, July 13 - 7:30 pm
Saturday, July 15 - 5:15 pm

Tickets: $9.00 – Fringe Hotline (416) 966-1062

For complete information, please visit:
http://www.fertileground.info
http://www.fringetoronto.com/
http://www.lynnharrigan.com
http://www.dreamstate.to

BSS + Feist on Olympic Island

2006-06-25T16:08:00.000-04:00

Great concerts on Olympic Island yesterday. The weather was just right, the crowd was mellow and the music did not disappoint. Despite complaints about feeling under the weather, both Feist and BSS's Brendon Canning were in good voice. It was fun to see Star's Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell giving all they've got, too. The last time Scott & I caught the Stars, back in December at Lee's Palace, the tension between Millan & Campbell put a real damper on the show. Not tonight: everyone seemed to be in good spirits and having fun doing their thing.

PiNG news

2006-06-25T15:29:00.000-04:00

AMBiENT PiNG RADiO iS NOW JUST A CLiCK AWAY

As the 7th anniversary of the PiNG approaches, we're
thrilled to be able to share that excitement and inspiration
with even more of you via AMBiENT PiNG RADiO!
An online radio station at Live365 that captures the essence
of THE AMBiENT PiNG by featuring a mix of ambient,
soundscape, electronic, trip hop, dream pop, drone and
chill artists from both our local and global communities.
Hear artists that have performed at the PiNG as well as artists
whose work has influenced and delighted us over the years.

AMBiENT PiNG RADiO is a regularly updated collection
of music that reflects the spirit and sound of the PiNG.
You'll hear music by Robert Rich, dreamSTATE,
mara's torment, Massive Attack, Curve, Underworld,
Sylken, Numina, SADU, cheryl o, URM and much more,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

TUNE iN + PLUG iNTO AMBiENT PiNG RADiO NOW

Also Play these RealAudio Samples Recorded
Live at THE AMBiENT PiNG

dreamSTATE • 31/08/99
Wally Jericho • 15/02/00
karmafarm • 04/04/00

ping things radio
every Sun & Wed from 9pm to 12 midnight EST to hear music
from PiNG artists and other discs in the ping things catalogue.

Blogging Poet

2006-06-24T13:51:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to Billy the Blogging Poet for highlighting Oblique Poetries
in Episode III of 101 Blogging Poets in 100 Days.

Very cool!!!

Right on!

2006-06-17T13:20:00.000-04:00

Found this on the Bookninja site this afternoon and had to pass it on:

"Still fighting the power

Marilyn French makes me long for those days when women weren’t brainwashed into being afraid of feminism. That was a good few years. Sigh.

“God, how they attacked me in some quarters,” French says now. “And why? Because I told the truth. They said I was a man hater, and I never defended myself against that, because I do believe that men are to blame for the condition of women.” Still? “Yes. Even men who are not actively keeping women down, but are profiting from women’s position, or who don’t mind things being the way they are - they are responsible too. I don’t hate men. In fact, throughout my life I’ve always said I like men very much. But men are responsible for the situation of women.”
…
Feminism has even affected fiction positively, she believes. “I think male writers are depicting women as human beings much more than they used to … not so much, you know, just as cunt.” The downside, she says, is that “this spurious principle that men are superior to women hasn’t really shifted. Both within religion and corporations men want to keep the world as it is. But then patriarchy took thousands of years to evolve and it will take thousands to dissolve.”
…
“I was always a feminist,” she says, “because to me a feminist is simply any woman who thinks women matter as much as men do. I saw how the world was and I had been angry all my fucking life.”
…
“Women who say they don’t need feminism hurt themselves, because they really believe they are less important than any man. I always tell women: make the most of what you’ve got now, because the more we advance, the more the backlash will increase. They will try to take it all away.”

Amen. Never be afraid of it. Of course, that’s pretty easy for me to say. I’m the feminist with all the priviledge.

Posted by George"

p. s.

2006-06-14T00:17:00.000-04:00

I'm looking forward to being a poet for nine weeks (Aqua Reliquia and Oblique Poetries are churning in the back of my mind as I struggle to the finish line ... ).

arghhh!!!

2006-06-14T00:15:00.000-04:00

It's June. I'm a high school English teacher. Enough said.

Fringe update

2006-06-04T16:44:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Dan Renaud, Sarah's husband, Fertile Ground Productions now has its own website.

The first performance of Moon Sea Crossing at the Toronto Fringe Festival is on July 6 - just over a month from now!

Radio Without Boundaries

2006-05-27T15:07:00.000-04:00

A highlight from today's Radio Without Boundaries conference was an early afternoon soundwalk led by Andra McCartney. Walking through the Ryerson University quad, we paid special attention to the musicality of the sounds around us and the sonic ecology of the space.

Deep Wireless: where the POWER resides

2006-05-27T12:55:00.000-04:00

Opening the inaugural Radio Theatre presentation, Trevor Wishart was quick to clarify that his interest in vocal work resulted from a frustration with the limitations of technology – not, as one might expect, the other way around. Wishart’s American Triptych massaged the listener’s senses as his interpretation of the 20^th century’s most iconic voices traveled across the octaphonic sound field. Wishart’s performance possessed the emotional crests and troughs that one might expect from such tragicomic source material.

Micheline Roi’s pre-recorded piece, Silent Cecilia, was created for CBC Radio’s Out Front program. Roi’s voice emanated from the darkness, surrounding the audience with richly textured sound, made all the more compelling by the sense of urgency that fired it: “I am begging/begging her to answer, to witness/my…empty grinding at sound.” Gorgeous in its intensity, Silent Cecilia’s lyricism pulled the listener through its impressionistic and at times surreal storyline. Replacing the conventional narrative arc with an emotional one, the listener’s experience was guided by Roi’s evocation of image and memory.

Utilizing the voice to create a story, Gregory Whitehead’s The Power Play explored the power of “the lone voice in the night” that emanates from your radio. Anna Friz, the Fabulous Announcer, led her congregation – the audience – into the world of conjuring. Assisted by three mediums - Matthew, Idara the granola girl and Mike the dollar store owner (played by Richard Windeyer, Christine Duncan and Richard Lee respectively) - Fabulous drifted across the ether, catching various sonic spirits in her net.

Kathy Kennedy closed the evening with Sonic Choreographies, her multi-track pieces for 5.1 surround sound. Composed almost entirely of Kennedy’s voice and combining prerecorded material with live improvisation, Sonic Choreographies mesmerized the audience with moments of exquisite beauty that were, at various points, peppered with humor and sensuality. The first piece introduced the audience to the primal forces underlying vocal performance with an intermingling of howls and wails. The clearly female wails rose from under the howling and then descended as if to align their humanity with a more primal force. Breathe, inspired by a Deep Listening retreat led by Pauline Oliveros, exploited the musical possibilities of the human breath. Kennedy created some eerie effects by evoking images of thunder clouds and the sound of a whistling wind. Then, shifting gears, she ended with a playful sound collage representing last Sunday’s Power Up session. The collage opened with the sound of shoes scraping the sidewalk before moving on to a variety of reactions to HMMM. Ranging from the observation that it “sounds like they’re in the stars” to the certainty that humming is “good for your physical health,” the reactions underlined the idea that humming is a “good way to prepare yourself to be a vocal [element] in the world.”

Each year, the Radio Theatre performances remind me of Forest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates: while there is always one performance that just isn’t my thing, often the performance that follows it turns out to be more than I could have asked for and blows me away. One thing I can always count on, I’ve learned, is that I never leave the theatre disappointed.

Radio Art Salon

2006-05-26T17:32:00.000-04:00

Curated by composer Darren Copeland, the Deep Wireless Radio Art Salon features three sound art installations.

Of the three, I was most interested in Journee sonores, canal de Lachine. I first learned about the project when I interviewed one of the participants, sound artist Anna Friz, during the Deep Wireless festival last year. The project, undertaken during a phase of urban renewal, involved a whole slew of earwitnesses, sound designers and editors, writers and photographers. Aside from the fact that I was already intrigued by the project, Journee sonores was my favorite because it is the most interactive. The installation is equipped with a pocket fader loaded with 16 tracks of audio recordings, allowing the listener to create their own soundscape by raising and lowering the faders.

Conceived by Andra McCartney, the Lachine project attempts to document shifts in the evolving soundscape while "point[ing] to the relationships among different [sound] sources, such as auto and boating traffic, cyclists, industrial/construction machines and pedestrians.” Recorded on minidisc during a series of soundwalks, Journee sonores draws attention to the everyday sounds around us, encouraging each of us to explore the "murmurs of everyday life."

The Radio Art Salon is in the Drake Hotel back lobby until May 31st -- check it out while you can.

Looking forward

2006-05-26T12:54:00.000-04:00

to Zoe Keating & Imogen Heap @ The Guvernment tomorrow night!

ecopoetics

2006-05-23T20:47:00.000-04:00

At last, a copy of my favorite lit journal, ecopoetics, arrived in the mail today. Although it's a long wait between issues -- it seems like eons since I sent off my review of The Book of Music and Nature -- it's well worth it. Kudos to Jonathan Skinner for another excellent edition. Chock full of poetry, reviews and discussion, this is writing to savour.

More about that later, after I've had a chance to digest.

Some Powerful Art

2006-05-22T13:24:00.000-04:00

On a drizzly Sunday afternoon, a dozen or so radio art enthusiasts gathered outside the Drake Hotel for Kathy Kennedy’s final Power Up session. Kennedy’s goal was to create a HMMM down Queen Street West by combining a radio broadcast with the human voice. The HMMM was quite fluid; as Scott & I strolled eastward from the Drake, we listened to the hum of our transistor radio commingling with the lingering sounds from the other participants and pedestrians whose paths we crossed.

Renowned for her skills in sonic choreography and public guerrilla art, Kathy Kennedy aims to create situations that provide participants with the “opportunity to situate the self through making sound” in public spaces. Without a “critical mass of people,” though, Kennedy felt that today’s HMMM was not as successful as the one at the Music Gallery last week. According to Kennedy, it lacked the sense of community that the energy of a larger crowd creates.

In the midst of Power Up, Scott & I were lured into the Engine Gallery by a metal sculpture in the window that turned out to be part of a show by Cory Fuhr. The last time I visited the AGO, it occurred to me that most of what I’ve learned about the world – outside of my own lived experience – I’ve learned in art galleries. This thought returned to me as I explored the Engine Gallery, half listening to Scott’s conversation with Steven Schwartz, co-owner of the gallery and a painter himself, about the effect of various frequencies on the human nervous system. From there, the conversation turned to the effects of the large crystals Schwartz uses in the gallery’s display of Olga Zyta Balicki’s jewellery before moving on to a discussion about individual pieces in the gallery.

Just a few doors down the street from the Drake, the Engine Gallery presents the work of an interesting variety of visual artists ranging from mixed media paintings to photographs to jewellery. My favourite pieces were Jeremy Downe’s landscapes created en plein air; Cory Fuhr’s whimsical spider and violin metal sculptures; and a series mixed media pieces by Susan Szenes that looked like a lot of fun to create. I was particularly taken with Olga Zyta Balicki’s silver and pearl necklaces: they were both edgy and elegant. I also enjoyed the interplay of art and image in the some of the photographs in Scott Johnston’s show. The Church is a series of colour photographs depicting Toronto churches in various states of demolition. Some of the photographs were accompanied by verses from the Gospels. I was struck by the way meaning resonated in the juxtaposition of these moving images and familiar biblical verses.

After Power Up, we regrouped in the Drake’s Underground space for a panel discussion by the Deep Wireless artists-in-residence. John Oswald started things off by talking about Power Down, his attempt to change the climate of the Drake by bringing in new sound experiences for its patrons. Oswald pointed to the way constant, “canned” sound overwhelms the listener’s sensibilities. In conjunction with this, he noted the way his All Request Redirect Band also subverts audience expectations by drawing unexpected connections between musical requests and lesser known – and possibly more interesting – alternatives.

Kathy Kennedy’s talk emphasized her fascination with the way that “we hear through the body.” Interested in blurring the boundary between performer and audience, Kennedy finds herself creating opportunities for people to make sound in public spaces in order to “gain a sense of identity and relationship to that space through sound-making.” Kennedy’s HMMM project “gives people a context to listen to their environment in a new way.” Underlying HMMM is a commitment to a more active approach to technology and listening.

Contrasting the parallels between the aural and visual arts, Trevor Wishart commented on the evocative, dreamlike quality of aural landscapes, underlining the richness that a sound artist can achieve by exploiting the uncertainties found in this territory.

After the panel discussion, we moved above ground to the lounge for a Power Down session featuring Laurel MacDonald. I’d been looking forward to experiencing Power Down since John Oswald mentioned it at the artist’s reception a few weeks ago. After we made ourselves comfortable, I began to notice the absence of canned music. I felt a subtle but discernible shift in the environment, almost as though I’d removed a layer of clothing. The Drake patrons continued to talk until the lights were lights lowered and Laurel began performing. While there was still some talking, Laurel’s Gaelic songs, performed acoustically with some stamping for percussion elicited “shhh”s from all around us. According to John Oswald, this Power Down was much quieter than the last one.

Shortly after this, we reassembled in the Drake’s café. This time, I didn’t even notice the absence of canned music; I was too busy anticipating another Gaelic song from Laurel. Aside from my affinity to all things Gaelic, I really enjoyed the guerrilla element of this Power Down and the way Laurel’s singing reinforced Kathy Kennedy’s ideas about the physicality of vocal performances.

Stay tuned: although it’s unlikely I’ll be able to catch Tuesday’s performances at the Drake (instead I'll be buried under a pile of marking), I’ll be at the Radio Without Boundaries performances and workshops coming up this weekend.

Falstaff a Hit with Grade 9 English Students!

2006-05-18T16:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning, four buses left Weston CI for Stratford, ON. Every year, students from the IB program visit the Stratford Festival to see a play. This year, we saw Henry IV at the Tom Patterson theatre. I was pleased to hear my students laughing at Falstaff's antics during the show. For most students, this was their first visit to the theatre and I'm happy to report that it was an overwhelmingly positive experience for them.

RADiO iN AMBiENCE PART 2: NOiNO

2006-05-16T23:48:00.000-04:00

NOiNO (James Bailey, Matthew Poulakakis and Jamie Todd) delighted this evening's PiNG audience with two sets of richly layered soundscapes. Using various radio broadcasts as their source material, NOiNO manipulated the signals, exploiting their compositional possibilities with passages that drifted from pure ambience to eerie between-station noise. For most of the audience, the result was a satisfying sonic journey across the airwaves of the radio art universe. After an especially long day in an inner city high school, though, the noise element was more than I was up for. While I enjoyed the ambient sections more, overall I was glad to have made the trip downtown to hear my friends from NOiNO make their contribution to the Deep Wireless festival.

Deep Wireless 2006 - RADiO iN AMBiENCE Part 2

2006-05-14T16:59:00.000-04:00

Coming up this Tuesday: after the Weston Arts Evening, I'll be at THE AMBiENT PiNG taking in Part 2 of RADiO iN AMBiENCE. I'm looking forward to hearing from NOiNO (Jim Bailey, Matthew Poulakakis, and Jamie Todd).

Moon Sea Crossing rehearsal

2006-05-13T16:34:00.000-04:00

The Toronto Fringe Festival is less than two months away and our show is really coming together.

Sarah & Ange came over this afternoon; we talked about Sarah's costume, props, and the set.

After a read-through, we discussed the script and I began work on the new writing that needs to be done.

We've been assigned a venue: the Factory Studio Theatre. Our performance dates are listed below:

Thu, July 6 @ 8:45 PM

Sat, July 8 @ 6:00 PM

Sun, July 9 @ Noon

Mon, July 10 @ 11:00 PM

Tue, July 11 @ 1:00 PM

Thu, July 13 @ 7:30 PM

Sat, July 15 @ 5:15 PM

Welcome Madison Lee!

2006-05-12T23:14:00.002-04:00

Spring Arts Evening @ Weston CI

2006-05-12T12:09:00.000-04:00

Tonight is the next-to-last rehearsal for Three Women, a radio play by Sylvia Plath that I adapted for the stage this spring. Our tech run/dress rehearsal is on Monday after school and the show opens on Tuesday @ 7 pm. The performance features three outstanding actors -- Olga, Georgie, and Angela -- who are senior students at Weston CI.

In the second set

2006-05-09T22:38:00.000-04:00

Kathy Kennedy’s focus this evening was on HMMM, her community-based project of vocal improvisations. Using pre-recorded material as well as a field recording made outside her hotel room window at the Drake, Kennedy presented a series of vocal improvisations underpinned by the ubiquitous hum. The resulting sound was always interesting, whether gorgeous or edgy.

RADiO IN AMBiENCE PART I

2006-05-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

Using radio as their starting point, Debashis Sinha and Ben Grossman explored a range of moods drifting across the airwaves. Amidst the buzz and hum between channels, Sinha and Grossman created sound points of startling beauty. From snippets of talk radio to ragtime jazz, these sound points presented sonic snapshots of radio culture through the decades. Layers of percussion heightened the effect of their ambient atmospherics.

...

Between sets, John Oswald (saxophone) and Scott Thomson (trombone) treated the PiNG audience to guerrilla sound art with a spatialized horn interlude. Very cool indeed.

LiVE @ THE AMBiENT PiNG

2006-05-09T21:42:00.000-04:00

Last year, I wrote ll: iN THE LOOP :ll a weekly column for THE AMBiENT PiNG newsletter under the pen name, Luna Tek. I had to take a break this past school year when my teaching load got the better of me but I look forward to writing about PiNG events regularly over the summer.

To that end, I'm at the PiNG tonight, poised to review the Deep Wireless festival's RADiO iN AMBiENCE show. The first set features Indian percussionist and sound artist Debashis Sinha with world musician Ben Grossman. Kathy Kennedy, one of three Deep Wireless artists-in-residence, will perform a solo set of electroacoustic vocal compositions later this evening.

In Your Ear

2006-05-06T13:39:00.000-04:00

Featuring performances by well-known Canadian artists such as Christine Duncan, Paul Dutton and John Oswald with Sook Yin Lee, In Your Ear kicked off the month-long Deep Wireless festival with a radio program that ranged from the hilarious to the gut-wrenching to the just plain wacky.

The program was hosted by Anna Friz, last year’s Deep Wireless artist-in-residence, and broadcast live on CKLN 88.1 FM. Unable to make it down to the Drake for the evening, I tuned into CKLN and experienced the performances downstairs in my living room and upstairs in my studio as I finished preparing for my trip to Windsor the next day.

Highlights included Tell, a work-in-progress by Soraya Peerbaye and originally produced by Theatre Direct. A poem cycle based on the murder of Reena Virk, the performance riffs off various meanings of the word “tell” through a sequence of emotionally-charged imagistic poems.

On a lighter note, John Oswald & Sook Yin Lee presented the first North American performance of the All Request Redirect Band. Designed to expand the musical palette of audience members, the DJs asked for requests – specific or stylistic – and then redirected the listener to another selection. The first request, for Celtic fiddle music, was redirected to Konono No. 1, a band from the Congo known for playing the likembe, or thumb piano. Much silliness ensued as the DJs carried on from here, aiming to redirect 12 requests over 12 minutes. One redirect (from London Calling by The Clash to a song by the Young Marble Giants) turned me on to a post-punk band I’d like to hear more from.

Among the wackier performances, the antics of the Harvey Christ gang lived up the rep that they established at last year’s festival. Although I missed out on the visual dimension of the underground live performance, the comedic effects and vocal pyrotechnics came through over the air waves loud and clear. The same held true for the Bat, an improv performance by Toronto’s Impatient Theatre Co. As compelling as it was over the radio, though, I do hope I have another chance to experience this show live.

Always provocative, the radio art offerings presented this evening set the bar high for the events to follow. If you missed Wednesday night’s show, don’t worry: a one-hour version of In Your Ear will be featured on CBC Radio’s Ideas program later this year.

Danger: Power Down In Progress

2006-05-06T10:47:00.000-04:00

After school last Tuesday, I headed down to the Drake Hotel for the Deep Wireless artists' reception. The artists-in-residence introduced themselves and talked a bit about their contribution to this year's festival.

I'm especially looking forward to the Power Down performances scheduled this month:

May 3 to 28, various times
Power Down performances
curated by John Oswald
free
@ Drake Hotel + weekly radio broadcasts on CKLN-FM every Thursday at 2 PM

Radio without electricity! Well, almost. About once every second day the Drake Hotel will unexpectedly turn off the music in the restaurant, cafe or other locations and transform itself into an Avant Garde Irish Pub with singers, acoustic musicians, and battery powered radio artists curated and directed by John Oswald. Hang around the Drake and re-live the unexpected perks of the 2003 blackout!

Last day on campus

2006-05-06T10:34:00.000-04:00

I'm in the CAW student centre, catching up on work and enjoying my last day on campus. The University of Windsor has wireless access EVERYWHERE: woohoo!!

Scott & Charlie will be here mid-afternoon to pick me up. Then we're off to Amherstburg for dinner and a visit with Mimi.

The past few days have been glorious. The time I spent at the University of Windsor in the early 1990s was exhilerating and returning at this point in my life is even more so. I finally get why grads join the alumni association and maintain a connection with their alma mater. I'm at home again.

Pathways to Success

2006-05-05T15:33:00.000-04:00

The conference is wrapping up as I write this. What a phenomenal experience! It's been an intense two days: the stakes are high and every person at this conference knows it. The challenges facing our students - and those of us committed to supporting them - are very real and often daunting.

Commitment is what it comes down to: whether you're talking about the commitment to show up for class on time or to finish a writing project, it all depends on follow-through. That will be the challenge for each of the students who attended this conference: taking what they've learned here and using it to create change in their own lives. Anyone who has ever got to the other side - followed-through on a plan - knows that it takes passion and determination and tenacity. In the end, I hope this conference has stirred these qualities in our students. I hope they take something away from this conference that sustains them through the struggles ahead.

Back on Campus

2006-05-04T18:42:00.000-04:00

Our first stop today was the John Freeman Walls Historic Site in Puce, just outside of Windsor. We explored the route of the Underground Railroad and toured the site. One student was so moved by the experience, she picked up a twig from The Historic Walkway to save as a momento.

We arrived at the University of Windso r in plenty of time to settle into our rooms before dinner. Dinner at Vanier Hall was nothing like I remember it: the theme was Italian and the food was delicious. Definitely not your usual dorm fare.

There are a number of activities planned for the students this evening. Meanwhile, I'll be putting the finishing touches on my workshop presentation tomorrow. I'm feeling kind of nervous, hoping the kids will like what I have planned for them.

African Diaspora Youth Conference 2006

2006-05-03T20:58:00.000-04:00

I'm off to the third annual African Diaspora Youth Conference at the University of Windsor (my alma mater) tomorrow morning. On Friday, I'll be presenting a workshop that explores the parallels between the Irish and African diasporas.

Robert Rich's Trinity Session

2006-04-30T12:22:00.000-04:00

125 people or so filled the Church of the Holy Trinity last night for a concert by ambient musician Robert Rich.

A book launch for Metta Spencer's Two Aspirin and a Comedy preceded the concert. Editor of Peace Magazine, Spencer sets out to answer the question: can entertainment be good for us? Rooted in the premise that culture is an environment that we all share and are responsible for protecting, Two Aspirin and a Comedy argues that viewers experience the same health effects from empathizing with fictional characters as they do from real life situations and relationships. Spencer’s book challenges cultural producers and consumers to change the storytelling industry by fostering a climate for socially responsible entertainment. Culture as environment: a nice segue into an evening of ambient music...

A highlight of this evening, for me, was the opportunity to hear waveforms (the source material for dreamSTATE's 1996 Between Realities CD) in quadraphonic sound. Originally mounted as a sound installation in a holographic gallery in the Beaches, waveforms enveloped the audience before the concert and between sets. Although I've loved this music for years -- well before falling in love with one of its creators! -- this experience highlighted the fact that stereo sound just doesn't do this album justice. Last night, the waveforms swept across the church, filling the space with a sense of tranquility interstitially punctuated by moments of darkness as the music changed direction, signaling departures into less certain territories.

In the first set, Robert Rich performed his live accompaniment to Daniel Colvin's fine art film. Colvin's film presents a series of shifting images that explore our perceptions of nature, vision, space and art. The images morph through a series of aesthetic perspectives ranging from the abstract to the realistic to the surreal. Colvin's intricate use of texture and colour field creates the sense of an evolving human consciousness within the natural world. Rich's dynamic live improvisations added dramatic energy to the non-linear unfolding of the film. Haunting flute passages and delicately perculating sequences provided a layer of emotional resonance absent from the conceptually-based film images. The non-linear, non-verbal quality of this collaboration does, however, raise questions about accessibility. I sensed that I was not the only member of the audience feeling restless midway through this set. The music was less ambient than expected, lacking the quality of being "as ignorable as it [was] interesting." Unable to get lost in the moment, I recalled a panel discussion I witnessed at a radio art conference last year about the tyranny of narrative. Traditional narrative may deemed banal by the avant garde, but I still find it satisfying.

After a short intermission, Rich returned with a gorgeously varied and more deeply ambient second set. Green and red lazers provided the visual ambience, subtly underpinning the atmospheric effects of Rich's integration of tribal rhythms with steel guitar and flute. Adding to this, the gamelan-influence was more pronounced as Rich played more keyboard during this set. I had to agree with my friend Catherine Tammaro's response: "the second set really spoke to me."

All in all, a great event in a great venue. Another neat tidbit that came out of the evening: I discovered that Perren Baker, a friend of ours, recorded one of my all-time favourite albums, the The Trinity Session, here back in 1987.

2006-04-30T12:10:00.000-04:00

Midway into the second set, I decided to switch gears and write a new poem for my Oblique Poetries project. I hit the "random" button in my Oblique Strategies Palm OS program and drew Strategy #13 - What do you do? Now what do you do best?. Here's the result:

Lie still     exhale puerile
plumes     rest in concave
speculation     still lying
light without end
truth eludes you

I'm not sure how - or if - this little poem relates to Strategy #13. Might just be a response to the music.

All Sleek and Skimming: stories

2006-04-27T20:10:00.000-04:00

Book launch & readings
monday, may 1, 2006
8:00 p.m.
gladstone hotel ballroom
1214 queen street west
toronto, on