love Letters: the iloveartists blog
Feb
6
It’s that time again. Oft-maligned-Mondays may not bring you a whole lot of joy, but here is one thing that I do look forward to. Sharing, and hearing about, the media of the past week. So let’s get into it.
Please list items below that you’ve been WATCHING, READING, LISTENING to, EXPERIENCING and/or CREATING. Through this exchange, we can have insight into what media and arts we are consuming, and open up dialogue on the pieces we wish to.
Tags: conversation, discernment, media, Media Monday
Posted in Media Mondays | 2 Comments »
Feb
3
The Bleeding Heart Art Space is in BETA mode. We are looking for BETA testers to help us experience what the Space may bring to our community and our city, before the doors open. Bleeding Heart BETAs are nights that somehow reflect the vision, values and manifesto of the Bleeding Heart Art Space.
Over the next few months we’ll be hosting events in the city dubbed as Bleeding Heart BETA’s, covering a broad range of arts from a various perspectives. We hope you’ll join us for some (or all!) of these upcoming experiments in what an ART / SACRED / COMMUNITY space might look like.
Here are some highlights so far;
February 19: Conversation on Chris Millar’s AGA exhibit The Untimely Transmogrification of the Problem. At The Carrot | get details.
March: Director’s conversation on Harvey at Concordia University College.
June: NEW EYES: Bridge Songs 2012
We are also putting together a night of short film, and a chance to create in community. Stay tuned.
If you have any ideas for a Bleeding Heart BETA night – let us know at info@iloveartists.ca
Tags: bleeding heart art space, Bleeding Heart BETA, conversation, The Carrot
Posted in Bleeding Heart Art Space, Events, News from iLoveArtists | No Comments »
Feb
2
Welcome to the project. The idea is to find one thing, small as it may be, to give thanks for each Thursday. Through this project I’ve found thankfulness is one of the best ways to grow hope. I hope you’ll grow some with me.
Perhaps my favourite, or most meaningful ‘thank yous’ are offered up for the simple and small. Those little but concrete gifts life lays at my front door, ready to be discovered while I’m going about my business. These small, concrete things are apparently your favourite fuel for thanks too, if last weeks slew of Facebook responses to Thank You Thursday are any indication (thanks for sharing by the way).
So it’s four o’clock yesterday and I’m downtown, racing my way to the LRT station. But first, to the flower shop. It’s been a tough day for my wife and I want to get her something small and smile-inducing. I know she loves gerber daisies, and even though I don’t have much money to spend, I know they can usually be had for a few dollars a piecee; right in my budget. I know a single daisy isn’t much, but I’m banking on that whole ‘thought that counts’ thing.
Weaving between the hordes awaiting a bus home, I arrive at the Artworks, just outside City Centre mall downtown. I see the daisies outside, and then to my delight and surprise, a ‘SALE’ sign on them. 10 for $10. Now there is a deal. But there aren’t 10. Hmmm. Perhaps an even better deal is to be had? I inform the staff inside and a friendly woman tells me to choose as many as I like – $1 a piece. So, my $3 will now buy me not one, but three flowers. Things are looking up! I head out to the display pail (that doesn’t sound nearly as fancy as it looked) and select not 3, but 5. I’m going all out on this one, taking my newfound gift and growing it before giving it away.
The final product - a beautiful bouquet, had for a song.
I head back into the store, flowers in one hand while the other hand digs for the $20 bill in my pocket. And digs some more. Then, frantically, some more. There is no $20 bill. There are no bills at all. I switched pants in a rush this morning getting ready for a field trip. I transferred pockets, but not completely apparently. I forgot my $20. I realize all of this just steps away from the till. I sheepishly inform the woman as she takes my flowers and begins to wrap them. I feel so ashamed, the look on my face confessing, I am sure, ‘yes, I am not only too poor to buy a nice bouquet of flowers at full price, I’m also too poor to buy your flowers at a blowout price. Please pity me’. I find such pity. I explain that I will just have to buy as many as I can afford, which, after rifling through my several coat pockets, is roughly 2.5 flowers. I get a surprising reply.
This is where the thanks comes in.
The woman looks at me, considers my situation (I explain to her the ill-performed pants-pocket transfer of that morning), and decides to bestow mercy. ‘Just take them all’ she says, accepting my paltry sum. And so I leave the store with five flowers. I leave towards home, towards my waiting wife with five beautiful daisies I couldn’t really afford. It’s a beautiful little gift for her, given first to me, and I am thankful.
Now sure, as I jog towards my train, confused as to how I could have missed that $20 bill in the morning, and only that $20 bill, wondering if I actually dropped it somewhere, then digging down, down deeper in these pants with pockets much deeper than my usual pants (and much much deeper than the women’s jeans I sometimes wear - there, I said it) – sure I find the $20 bill then. And sure I turn a 180 and return to the flower store, offering to settle up, even more embarrassed. And sure I’m told not to worry about it, and then I add a bit of guilt to my embarrassment. Sure I know those flowers were headed for the garbage anyways at days end – not two hours away. Sure all of that really happens. But looking back today, none of it tarnishes the gift; the simple kindness I was shown in that store, reflecting the simple kindness I wanted to show my wife when I got home.
I’m looking right at those five little daisies this morning; three red, one orange and one white, and they are making me smile. They remind me that even in the midst of a crazy day, even when you don’t really have what you need to do what you’d like for someone, a little bit of effort can be multiplied by the kindness of others. I know it’s not always the case, but sometimes the world just conspires for the Good, and sometimes we get caught up in that. And I am thankful.
Emily Dickenson wrote that ‘hope is the thing with feathers’, but perhaps, today, hope is the thing with petals?
What are you thankful for?
It’s your turn. Grow some hope with me and think on one thing you can be thankful for – big or small. Share it in the comments below.
Tags: flowers, Hope, manMom, Thank You Thursday, thanks
Posted in Thank You Thursday | No Comments »
Jan
30
The Oscar nominations are out (see them on the Academy website here). Have you made a mad dash to your local multiplex to play catch up? Let us know, with Media Monday.
Please list items below that you’ve been WATCHING, READING, LISTENING to, EXPERIENCING and/or CREATING. Through this exchange, we can have insight into what media and arts we are consuming, and open up dialogue on the pieces we wish to.
Tags: academy awards, conversation, discernment, media, Media Monday, Oscars
Posted in Media Mondays | 6 Comments »
Jan
26
Welcome to the project. The idea is to find one thing, small as it may be, to give thanks for each Thursday. Through this project I’ve found thankfulness is one of the best ways to grow hope. I hope you’ll grow some with me.
Many of you know that I have a not-so-secret alter-ego; manMom. When my wife went back to work a few years ago I embraced it full force, taking care of the kids, cooking meals, doing laundry and a hundred other little things. With the kids in school and me back at work this year, I’ve not shed my manMom role entirely (I’m still a part time manMom), but I’ve had to put some things aside, like volunteering for field trips and in-class help at school. Well, no more my friends. That particular manMom is coming out of retirement.
Even lugging around a massive stroller now brings fond memories for this manMom. Time heals all wounds.
For those who don’t know, I have resigned from my current job, and while I will be working again soon, I have a little bit of time off. It just so happens that this week both of my children came and asked me, with drooping puppy dog eyes, if I could join their class for a field trip or activity day in the next couple of weeks. And it just so happens that I was able to finally say YES. It feels good and I am thankful.
Next week I go to the Royal Alberta Museum to conduct experiments on rocks and minerals with my son’s grade 3 class. The week after that I visit my daughter’s class to help with a mural painting project, working alongside their Artist in Residence. Yeah, school really can be that awesome.
This all comes at a great time, as my kids and I have started a column for the Rat Creek Press about exploring Alberta Ave with, and through the eyes of, children. The column will premiere in the upcoming February issue, as we share our experiences at the Deep Freeze Festival fireworks display. It’s got me thinking about my manMom role more and more. It’s got me full of thanks for that role.
Overall, I’m thankful for the time I still have with my kids, as they get older and bigger each day. Not too long ago I could cram them both into the stroller pictured above. They don’t fit anymore. And soon they won’t fit other things, like car seats and perhaps even being tucked in every night. And soon I’ll lose at wrestling. The time of the manMom (at least the hands-on, fully involved version) is shockingly short, so I’m thankful for the adventures that make the most of that time. I’m thankful I’m still a manMom.
What are you thankful for?
It’s your turn. Grow some hope with me and think on one thing you can be thankful for – big or small. Share it in the comments below.
Tags: Hope, kids, manMom, parenting, Thank You Thursday, thanks
Posted in Thank You Thursday | No Comments »
Jan
23
Did somebody catch the number on that January? Yeesh time moves fast. Hopefully you’ve been making the most of it, and fitting in some quality books and films and sounds and art at the same time. It’s time for a Media Monday.
Please list items below that you’ve been WATCHING, READING, LISTENING to, EXPERIENCING and/or CREATING. Through this exchange, we can have insight into what media and arts we are consuming, and open up dialogue on the pieces we wish to.
Tags: conversation, discernment, media, Media Monday
Posted in Media Mondays | 7 Comments »
Jan
19
Welcome to the project. The idea is to find one thing, small as it may be, to give thanks for each Thursday. Through this project I’ve found thankfulness is one of the best ways to grow hope. I hope you’ll grow some with me.
We’re having company tonight. Probably.
My wife and I have begun a grand experiment called Friend Soup. Every Thursday night we invite friends for soup. We invite a lot more people than we can likely feed, and we ask them to bring something along. We invite them to cook with us, eat with us, clean with us and talk with us. We don’t ask for an RSVP and each evening knock at the door is a blessed surprise. Some of the friends know one another, some don’t.
It’s risky business, showing up with who-knows-who-else to eat who-knows-what. And yet, for one week so far anyways, we have a community that’s up the the challenge. Our first week brought two boiling pots of soup, a few bright red beets, 10 or so friends and just enough bread to go around. It also brought good, soul-feeding company.
Today, looking towards another evening of Friend Soup, I am thankful for that good company. I am thankful for a time when I can share the joys and pains of my day and hear the same from friends. I am thankful, simply, for community. In the midst of our current deep freeze, I’m more than a bit thankful for soup, too.
These Thursdays function a lot like soup, really. A lot of people from a lot of different contexts thrown together into a pot until their flavours meld with time and asking and telling, producing a brew to warm the soul. Too many too-similar people and you get a bland broth. The more complex the flavours, with care to integrate each well, the tastier. Now that’s good company. I’m thankful that I can look forward to that tonight and I’m thankful for the ideas of people like Danny Schweers and Josh Culling that inspired this adventure.
And now, it’s your turn
What are you thankful for this Thursday? What sort of company do you keep? Take five minutes and think and pray and wrestle to find the thing you are thankful for this week, and write it down below. We don’t need an essay (though you can feel free), just a word or a phrase does nicely. Let’s grow hope together.
What are you thankful for?
Tags: community, friends, Hope, hospitality, soup, Thank You Thursday, thanks
Posted in Thank You Thursday | No Comments »
Jan
9
Well, the holiday ground is settling and we are officially into 2012. It’s time for a Media Monday.
Please list items below that you’ve been WATCHING, READING, LISTENING to, EXPERIENCING and/or CREATING. Through this exchange, we can have insight into what media and arts we are consuming, and open up dialogue on the pieces we wish to.
Tags: conversation, discernment, media, Media Monday
Posted in Media Mondays | 3 Comments »
Jan
2
Happy New Year! Now that we’ve all had a few days off, how have you been using your time? Have you hit the theatres over Christmas? Maybe you’ve experienced a magical candlelight service or choral concert? Have you been breaking in that new boxing-day-blowout HDTV? Are you well into that new book or bombarded by the choices on your new Kindle? It seems many friends have been gifted with media this season, as well as the time to enjoy it. I’m no different. So let’s take a moment to share our experiences.
Please list items below that you’ve been WATCHING, READING, LISTENING to, EXPERIENCING and/or CREATING. Through this exchange, we can have insight into what media and arts we are consuming, and open up dialogue on the pieces we wish to.
Tags: Christmas, conversation, discernment, holidays, media, Media Monday, new years
Posted in Media Mondays | 9 Comments »
Dec
22
Welcome to the project. The idea is to find one thing, small as it may be, to give thanks for each Thursday. Through this project I’ve found thankfulness is one of the best ways to grow hope. I hope you’ll grow some with me.
Christmas is just a few days away, and it is on everyone’s mind. I’m feeling some of the excitement and wonder I had as a boy as I type this in front of our family’s tree, full of lights and ornaments and gifts my wife and I wrapped last night. We’re all done, and that’s one thing I can certainly give thanks for today. It has me thinking about this holy day, and about all of the reasons I should pause and say, ‘thank you’.
This year our Christmas message at church has been, ‘can you hear the baby cry?‘. It’s a powerful question to me, amidst all of the noise and claustrophobia that can come with Christmas. Can I still hear the baby crying in that dirty little animal stable? Can I still sense the wonder-full message of the Christ child all these miles and years away? The miracle is that yes, I can. The 2000 year old ripple has become a wave in my life. Truth be told, though, I’m not thinking of that baby this morning – at least not directly. I am thinking of all the ways that story incarnates in my life. I’m recounting all the ways the Word takes on flesh in my holiday time. I’m thinking of all of the gifts that flow from that Great Gift.
Come on, come on
ring those bells
2000 years old
there’s still stories to tell
This Christmas I am thankful for family. My own was family was broken, mended, then broken again and then mended again. It has all left me with a lot of Christmases to attend. This year that feels like a good thing, as we begin our celebrations tonight and roll on through the next few days. More food. More family. More fun. I am thankful for the gifts under our tree, that this year we were alble to get a few more than last year, and that my wife and I were able to buy something for each other, a ritual we’ve all but skipped some past years. It feels nice, having a bit more this year, to be able to give a bit more, too.
I’m thankful this Christmas for friends. We spent time with many of them at a Christmas party a couple of weeks back. We had a visit yesterday with friends who’ve moved away. We are blessed with so many great relationships.
I’m thankful for work this Christmas. I get a staff Christmas party next week, and that’s just one little way the blessing of a job manifests itself. It’s something I did not have last Christmas. All of my time ‘on’ makes these next few days ‘off’ even more blessed. And oh yes, I am very thankful for days off.
I’m thankful for the hope of change. I’m part of many groups and projects where there is opportunity to change our little corner of the world, be the Bleeding Heart Art Space or Urban Bridge Church or The New Eyes art and music projects or The Carrot Community Arts Coffeehouse or the Nina Haggerty Centre for The Arts. These things brush up against my life, pull me in and remind me that Christ, who was born into our world that starry night, never left. He lives on in the love of so many people right here and right now. I can hear the baby crying in the work of those trying to patch and mend and heal the brokenness in their (and my) community. The baby has grown up into a fine young man all around me. The Word has taken on flesh and this Christmas I am remind that He wears it so well.
It’s a powerful story, this old Christmas tale. I was reminded of the futility of trying to make a better story last night, attending my childrens “winter concert”. Not only is it no longer a Christmas concert, for what I can only imagine are political “socially conscious” reasons, it’s not even a holiday concert. It was barely a winter concert, all about believing in yourself and the answer to making the world a better place being found inside of you. Inside of me. Outside of this baby, miraculously, beyond all hope and reason, showing up in the middle of nowhere like concentrated lightning, there is a distinct lack of real hope. All we can muster is, “look within yourself”. Well this Christmas I’m not buying it. I’m looking out, and I’m looking up and I’m looking to the stars and remembering that one was brighter than all the rest and led the way, not to my own self-esteem, but to a stable without esteem. To a baby, crying.
Above all else this morning, I’m thankful for that baby.
And now, it’s your turn
What are you thankful for this Christmas? Can you hear the baby crying in your life? In what little ways has he made Himself know to you and yours? Take five minutes and think and pray and wrestle to find the thing you are thankful for this week, and write it down below. We don’t need an essay (though you can feel free), just a word or a phrase does nicely. Let’s grow hope together.
What are you thankful for?
Tags: Alberta Ave, arts on the ave, coffee, Hope, Thank You Thursday, thanks, The Carrot
Posted in Thank You Thursday | No Comments »
