What Will I Write About?

A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses. ~Jean Cocteau

The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~John Keats

Spring is my favorite season. Tulips, daffodils and crocuses poke their heads up through the earth, and brown, dry grass gives way to a lush, green carpet. Nature allows things to quietly unfold. There’s no rush – all the flowers that will ever bloom take their time, knowing their natural beauty will eventually appear.

Every spring, we can count on the natural order of things to unfold as they should. If I can have faith in that simple truth, why don’t I trust in the same process, when it comes to my gifts?

Last week, I attended Ideal-Way’s first poetry workshop. Our first National Poetry Competition is underway, and one of our volunteers suggested we bring together a group of intellectually disabled individuals, to give them some basic knowledge in creating a poem. Our aim was to create an atmosphere of fun, first and foremost.

And it was fun. We played games, recited playful, interactive poems, and then asked them to fill in the blanks of a poem.

No one asked for a special pencil – “Excuse me, but I can only write with the HB #2 pencil my Grandma gave me when I was five” - or a good luck talisman guaranteed to ward off mental blocks. Although there were a few tentative smiles, every person jumped in with both feet.

Almost every poet stood at the front of the room, and either had their poem read out by a caregiver, or read it themselves. The same look of triumph lit up each face. If they were worried about the outcome, this fear was eclipsed by a desire to let their light shine.

To be honest, I would rather have root canal without anesthesia than stand before people and read my work. I marveled at their willingness, or rather, their eagerness, to walk through their fears. As one blogger noted, “when you walk through your fears, your faith in yourself will grow, allowing your next step to be easier.”

I just need to follow their lead: loosen my grip on the outcome, and trust in the process. If I take a small step, and wait for my gifts to quietly unfold, they will begin to emerge, slowly but surely, like flowers in the spring.

But why stop there? Why not offer workshops, events, exhibitions, and contests for the intellectually disabled? In short, by offering them various opportunities to unearth hidden talents, we give them the opportunity to shine. Judging by their faces, they are more than willing to explore new territory, if given half a chance.

That’s the gift I unwrapped, later, from the first Ideal-Way Poetry Workshop, held at Christian Horizons, in Toronto.

(See slideshow in sidebar for photos of our first poetry workshop.)

Photo credit: Dan Lee

Unite for Hunger and Hope

Today is Bloggers Unite for Hunger and Hope Day. Along with thousands of other bloggers, today's post is about world hunger.

When I woke this morning, I could hear a loon calling to its mate, birds chirping outside my window...and my stomach growling - a signal that I shouldn't even think about lounging in bed another minute.

As I sat at the table with a bowl of granola, I read an online letter to the editor of a local paper about the need to reduce bus fares for the intellectually disabled. As the author of the letter said, "As a society, we fully know that some people are unable to work at high paying jobs and pay a high cost of living. When the cost of living has gone up, the income for these intellectually disabled people does not rise like other employees. In poor economic times, they have less to spend than the rest of us."

I couldn't help but wonder that if, as the author noted, some people "have less to spend than the rest of us", what other essentials are they missing in their lives?

And just how many people are therefore living with long-term hunger? It struck me that hunger is not something I need to worry about. We've all gone hungry, from time to time, but I have never experienced long-term hunger. The kind of hunger that, according to the Freedom From Hunger website, "negatively affects people’s health, productivity, sense of hope and overall well-being. A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal development and contribute to [intellectual disability]."

Let's face it, I've lived a pretty cushy life, my body untouched by the ravages of hunger. Elsewhere in the world, "This year (as every year) 11 million children younger than 5 will die needlessly, more than half from hunger-related causes.

815 million people in the developing world are undernourished. They consume less than the minimum amount of calories essential for sound health and growth."

Closer to home, over 700,000 Canadians are assisted by a food bank every month, and The Daily Bread Food Bank notes that "47% of clients accessing a food bank have a disability or serious illness."

So...What can one person do to help millions of starving people all over the world? When you put it that way, it sounds overwhelming. But maybe one person can reach out to help one family.

Food Banks Canada urges us to work together, for "individuals and organizations do make a difference. By lobbying, working for change and raising awareness of the hunger problem, progress has been made towards both short and long-term solutions to hunger in Canada."

The Cleveland Food Bank came up with a list of creative special events - ideas that would be easy to implement, either in a business, nonprofit, or as an individual.

BAKE SALE: Have employees donate baked goods and sell them to others in the company or to neighboring companies. Inform neighboring companies of the sale and invite them to participate.

DRESS DOWN DAY: This event is perfect for companies with formal dress codes. Participants pay $5, for example, to dress down for a day. Pass out buttons or put up signs that display the reason for dressing down.

RAFFLE: This is perhaps the easiest way to raise money. You sell tickets for a chance to win money or a prize. When all tickets are sold, select a winning ticket at random. The most effective way to raise money is through a raffle of donated prizes. Ask your vendors or clients to contribute!

AUCTION: Have employees donate anything from a home-baked pie to a weekend at their vacation cottage. You can also solicit donations of gift certificates and other items from area merchants.

LUNCH : Sell pizza and pop for lunch one day. A local restaurant might donate the pizza or sell it to you at a reduced cost for your cause. Ask for donations in writing and follow-up with a phone call.

CONTESTS: Promote competition between departments by holding different contests. Whichever department collects the most food wins a lunch or ice cream social. One company holds a "Food Collection Display Decorating Contest".

COOKBOOK: Produce a cookbook featuring employees' favorite recipes. Sell them to employees, customers, vendors and friends.

COIN WARS: Plan a penny war at your organization. Each department collects change in a container. Employees throw bills into the container of another department in order to "cancel out" that department's change. In other words, change in the container equals positive points, bills equal negative points. The team with the most positive points at the end of the war wins.

If none of those ideas appeal to you, then consider making a secure, online donation to your local foodbank.

What have you done in the fight against hunger? I've given a few suggestions, but I'd love to hear from you.

I'd like to end this post with an excerpt from The Perfect Pantry, which says it all:

ENDING CHILDHOOD HUNGER IN [NORTH] AMERICA

An inspirational and achievable goal. Recipe adapted from Share Our Strength. Serves 12 million children.
Ingredients:

Volunteers with soul
Event participants with interest
Chefs and restaurants with heart
Corporations with a conscience
Local organizations and partners with vision
YOU!

Combine a huge desire to help end childhood hunger with a dash of inspiration. Blend with volunteers, chefs, corporate partners and event participants. Generously add perseverance. Taste and adjust ingredients as necessary.

Serve with a bold, innovative and unique national hunger strategy to surround every child with nutritious food where they live, learn, and play.

Include state and local governments, organizations and nonprofits who can help families help themselves by increasing access to the public and private programs that can provide food to those who need it.

[This bold yet achievable recipe is best served with hope. With your help, we will end childhood hunger in [North] America. To learn more, visit http://www.strength.org/.]

Get Swept Away

Yesterday, I sat by the kitchen window and looked out at the wind. Not the wind, itself, of course, but the tall trees bowing low, the clothesline shuddering against an unseen force.

The world seemed out of control, the normal balance upset – a mirror of how we sometimes feel when our lives are torn apart, or we're just feeling 'out of sorts'.

The windstorm gave me an excuse to revisit my favourite place in the house. I like to sit at the table, sipping my morning coffee, my to-do list on the back burner, at least for a while. I haven’t been doing enough of this lately. And by ‘this’, I mean taking the time to merely observe. Listen, watch, and bask in the moment. Deer, chipmunks and raccoons have been visiting us, enticed by the carrots and corn strewn over the ground. But the animals have wisely stayed home – the wind’s sound and fury sending them scurrying for cover.

The white noise of the wind buffeting the house was oddly comforting, and it lulled me into a peaceful state of mind. I closed my eyes.

I wanted to think about a long stretch of beach. Toes buried deep in powder white sand and cloud streamers scrolling across a cobalt blue sky.

Instead, my ‘shoulds’ reared its collective ugly head:

Stop wasting your time...You should be writing! You have a blog post to work on, and it’s not going to write itself…

Lately, whenever I pick up my pen, it feels like the words have a weight of their own, unwieldy and cumbersome, they fill up the page but like the wind are all “sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Or, at least that's how it seems.

I went back to the beach, in my mind, and thought about Susan Boyle. The woman who was not afraid to stand on a stage – in front of an unsympathetic audience and less-than-thrilled judges on the TV show 'Britain's Got Talent' – and belt out her song. She belted out her truth, her dream, and her vision. If there were any doubts, shoulds, or what ifs, they were left in the wings.

Why are we drawn to this kind of story? Never mind that we loved seeing various shades of shock and awe on the faces of those who had just derided her, or were entranced by her undeniably beautiful singing voice.

Is it because we like to live vicariously through people like Susan Boyle? She embodies everything we'd love to be, and her message to the world is powerful and life-altering: never mind what people think about you; ignore your own inner demons; and, most importantly, never give up on your dream.

That’s especially good to know on those days when you feel swept away by events in your life. When the storms hit and you need a sanctuary, a place to go where nothing else matters but the high of living out your dream.

What about you? Where do you go when you feel overwhelmed, swept away, and not exactly in control of things? Do you paint? Sing, dance, write poetry?

(P.S. If you write poetry, take the plunge and submit your work to Ideal-Way. The IDEAL Poetry Contest opened on April 1st and ends June 30th. Any persons with an intellectual disability living in Canada at the time of entry are eligible for the contest. There, you’ve just taken your first step towards shaking off your doubts and fears!)

Here's another inspirational story:



Photo credit: FotoRita [Allstar maniac]

It's All About the Art

Neil MacDonald, on the left, one of the finalists in the 2009 Ideal-Way Art Show, with his photograph of a canoeist on a lake.


When was the last time you had a gasp-of-awe moment? Maybe you were in a canoe, first thing in the morning. You were deep in thought… or possibly in a meditative state, all thoughts safely shelved for now. You turned a corner, and there it was: the dawn’s early light spilling its colours upon the water. And you gasped in awe. A transcendental moment you will never forget.

The word ‘transcendental’ is described as “being beyond ordinary or common experience, thought, or belief.”

There’s something about a transcendental moment: when you are immersed in it, everything falls away.

As I stepped into the Varley Gallery’s Eckhardt McKay House in Unionville, over the weekend, a wave of something akin to the early-morning canoeist’s discovery washed through me.

I already knew that the best 70, of more than 500 entries, in Ideal-Way.ca’s First Ever Art Contest for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities would be on display. It was the energy in the room that I wasn’t prepared for – the creative energy that drew over 1,000 visitors, and busloads of winning artists with their families, friends, and caregivers, from all across Ontario, to the hallowed halls of the Group of Seven artist, Frederick Varley's historic 1840s home/studio.

As Don Yeo, the CEO of Ideal-Way said, “we welcomed eyes which were wide with amazement and mouths agape in awe."

Mark Fitz-Gerald, our winning Artist VIP volunteer from Ottawa, told us, "I came to see my art at the Show and I left with a new family."

But something was missing. John Vicic, one of the artists, made his way to the over-sized canvas that was set up specifically for the intellectually disabled artists visiting the show. Paint whatever you want, we told them. John had stepped away from the crowd, and as he took up the brush, he entered into another place.

And that’s when the penny dropped. When an artist is in the creative moment, everything else falls away, but the Inner Editor never leaves his or her side. Its voice shadows the artist, and whispers, “Is that the best you can do?… Your last piece was much better…let’s face it, you’re losing it…”

The missing piece from this Art Exhibition was a lack of creative angst. The 'ego' was nowhere to be found. Each of these artists showed up in the creative moment, and asked no questions. As one artist said, “My art is all about freedom. I’m free when I paint.”

It was a life lesson for every person in the room. The artists were not interested in external validation. They did, however, offer encouraging words to the other artists.

Imagine, it was all about the art. Period.

I’d love it if you would share your experiences — your stories, family photos, or home videos.

What happened when you dared to let the paint fly, or you picked up the camera and captured a moment?

Spread the Word to End the Word

Today is "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign. The goal is to "make people stop and think about their hurtful and disparaging use of the word 'retard.'" Check out the Special Olympics site for ideas on "How to Take Action." Or, go here to "pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities."

In her blog post today, Terri Mauro said, "In the spirit of ending the "R Word" in all its forms, I'm going to be spending some time today removing "mental retardation" from my materials for parents, replacing it with "intellectual disabilities." The term has become too tainted by the slang slurs derived from it that I'm not comfortable using it, and since the Arc and Special Olympics seem to have adopted "intellectual disabilities" to describe the diagnosis, I'll follow their lead."

In Barriers, Bridges and Books, the author eloquently describes "the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign (as)a vision of respect and they are using the tools of education, media, and more to respond every time and cut away what does not belong in that vision."

Tomorrow, The Spread the Word to End the Word campaign will be over. But that doesn't mean we can't brainstorm together and come up with our own how-to-take-action ideas. What can each of us do to spread the word?

Art Show 'A Wonderful Bridge to Inclusion'

The article below appears on the Community Living Ontario's website and is written by Natalie Miller.

About 100 original works will be on display at Unionville gallery
Friday, March 13, 2009 -- by Natalie Miller

From large, colourful abstract paintings to three-dimensional sculptures, an upcoming art exhibition will showcase the diverse works of Ontario artists who have an intellectual disability.

IDEAL-WAY, a non-profit organization that supports people who have an intellectual disability, received more than 500 pieces of artwork through its first province-wide art contest. Of the 500 entries, a juror has selected about 100 pieces which will be on display in the McKay Art Centre at 197 Main St. in Unionville next month. The IDEAL-WAY Art Exhibition runs from April 1 to 5.

Both the IDEAL-WAY and the art contest's juror are impressed with the calibre of the work submitted and optimistic about the potential impact of the show.

"After seeing the works, it confirms my opinion that art is beyond disability," says Andrew Hamilton, juror, Canadian landscape painter and fine arts professor.

"The artists who participated showed dedication and overcame many obstacles. While art provides an outlet it is predominantly a soul-searching exploration."

IDEAL-WAY says as an organization it is experiencing "widespread excitement at the number (of entries) and delight at the high quality.

"We are humbled by the response from all corners of Ontario," says Addie Daabous, executive director.

"This validates our beliefs in 'seeing ability in disability.' We were also impressed with the effort that so many organizations, schools and families put into supporting the IDEAL-WAY art contest."

Daabous notes several Community Living associations helped promote the contest and as a result IDEAL-WAY received entries from communities including Toronto, Thunder Bay, Huronia and Lennox and Addington.

While the art show is intended to provide an opportunity for people to showcase their work in a gallery setting, there is also an education component as well, Daabous notes.

"We hope to engage communities throughout the province to see what (people) can do rather than what they cannot do. The IDEAL art contest is one example of IDEAL-WAY's unique approach to positively re-educating mainstream society by publicly empowering (people who have an intellectual disability)."

Daabous says, for instance, while there may be one or two students from a particular school who have a piece in the show, their entire class, which includes students who don't have an intellectual disability, are attending to support their peers.

"This is a wonderful bridge to inclusion. These exceptional individuals have talents which the average mainstream person may never otherwise know. We are all equal, only different, and we all have our unique gifts."

One hundred per cent of any proceeds from the show, including works sold, go directly to the artists.

Admission to the show is free.

If you have feedback on this article, e-mail natalie(at)axiomnews.ca or call the newsroom at 800-294-0051.

Reprinted from Community Living Leaders, an online news service of Community Living Ontario. www.communitylivingontario.ca.

A Social Survey for Social Causes

Thank you, Qui Diaz, Beth Kanter and Geoff Livingston, "who are working on a special project, dubbed “Philanthropy 2.0″ to provide non-profits the information they need to best serve donors and advocates with meaningful conversations about their causes." Check out this blog post, "and take the survey. Give causes the information they need to best serve your desires for a smarter, better nonprofit industry that gets the social web. We’ll also give away ten copies of Now Is Gone by Geoff Livingston with Brian Solis to people who leave extra insights and feedback in the comments section. The most interesting comments will be selected."

A Social Survey for Social Causes