TWC Writing in the Covid19 era

April 1, 2020...stuck inside....|Covid-19.......I accepted an invite to an online writing session with Toronto Writers Collective

An ordinary moment

An ordinary time. An ordinary moment.
Today is April 1.
Today is all fools day.
This is a very ordinary day.
A day to fool around, a day to prank who you can, without taking it too far.
I say to you that today April 1, 2020 is my new ordinary.
It is a day filled with uncertainties.
Uncertainties created by a famous intruder called.....
I will call it.....I will not give it power by naming it....C19
But I cannot avoid naming it, can I?
I cannot avoid hearing about it.
Every single day I have been hearing about it.
Nothing pretty though, nothing complimentary.
In a way we speak about it with respect, more fear....but fear and respect rolled into one.
We fear it because it only causes...death, destruction, disruption, displacement, despair, depression...social and physical degradation.

Amid all this chaos.
I unfortunately or fortunately feel excited.
Excited for the change this will bring...
I know my life will change forever.

First time attending a TWC workshop.

Attended the TWC (Toronto Writers Collective) workshop for the first time on Tuesday August 6, 2019.

I took a fancy to the organization after it was mentioned at a meeting I attended some time ago.  All thanks to Michelle.

Well here is my unedited musing.

Writing to a prompt:

A poem by Langston Hughes -  A dream deferred.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Nothing happens I think

Maybe regret happens, regret for not having pursued this dream.

But, but I say, sometimes a dream deferred is actually necessary to make and maybe reignite another dream.

Maybe the right word is uncover, uncover another dream.

I see a dream deferred in many ways, for I have many deferred dreams.

They did not fester, they did not rot. I'd say I awoke to bigger dreams.

An optimist at heart, these are the words of an optimist.  Someone who wants to see the bright side in everything and everyone.  Someone who deliberately flips the script to see the good side.

I wouldn't be where I am today if I could not see my dreams deferred as a route to a bigger or newer dream.

So to you, Hughes: it may dry up, that dream deferred may dry up, but there is a re-incarnation of another dream.

Dreams never fester, if anything they ferment and maybe become better versions of the original.

Times up!

Next

Prompt: 

Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood

In today's world these words conjure up mixed feelings.

Freedom - We must live in the now, we must live in our century.  Are we free?

What is freedom?

We are free, yes we are.

Free but constrained by laws, constrained by societal norms.  We are free to go wherever we please, work wherever we please and free to say whatever we please.

Equality might want to say that we all are free like the above.  We all have the same opportunities and the same shot at mobility.

Brotherhood speaks to kin.  Perhaps brotherhood narrows to family, maybe brotherhood to race.

What group makes up a brotherhood?  How deep must the connections be to be considered a brotherhood.

Siting these words from the position of a warrior....I want to forget the past.

Times up!

On a stuffy foggy day.

Started with a bang. Usual walk to the stop.
Wait, wait, bus is three minutes late. A sign that I should keep an eye out.
So said, so done. I had to scram my head off for the bus to stop. It is spring after all, it's broad daylight.  But when they're late this is what happens. Drive like a bat out of hell to get there on time.
Its the eve on the weekend. TGIF
Bus is still half full.  Always wonder, do less people work on a Friday?
Its raining cats and dogs now.  Never quite sure why it should be raining cats and dogs though.
Hoping that my umbrella will hold up. They don't make umbrellas as strong as they used to.
I can breathe, I can breathe. The air is not saturated with the smell of weed and cigarettes. Aha! maybe this crowd is off on a Friday, worth tracking for sure. I am looking around,  only a few familiar faces.
Today is supposed to be a much warmer day than yesterday, more humid too. This might account for the stuffiness.

My attempt at free writing while commuting

I can breathe today. Still the smell of cigarettes linger, not like yesterday. The day is brighter, the air is lighter. It is a lighter ride in everyway.
The bus seems clean too, or maybe I looked down. I may need to change my seating preferences. I don't want to say why.  We can't choose who sits next to us but we can choose where we sit.  It's a group of people, me included, on our way to work.  It's an hour long ride after all.  Gazing at different structures now. Nothing earth shattering pops up, just neck exercises. Turning inwards, inside of the bus. Most people are on a device. Mostly cell phones, spotted an e-reader too.
Varying degrees of dress. Did we all dress for the same weather.  The fact that I have on warm sock/boots (not winter) and some have running shoes and ankle socks means there's a clear divide. Lol! I have company though.
Getting closer to my first stop.
Think I will stop for now.
My attempt at free writing.

A long lost post, discovered after downloading the blogger app...2017

What a great weekend!
May 26 and 27, 2017

Well it was all about the TESL Toronto Conference.

Friday was a quite the eye opener.
I gravitated towards writing.  That thing which I really want to do but always eludes me.  It's all in my head you know.  Just can't seem to put it on paper.
Well after a session with Chuck Sandy that went away very fast especially the fear of writing.
Here I am trying to get it going.  To many interruptions I say.

April 4, 2018

Refugee Rights Day.

On this day I decided to try out a lesson plan shared on twitter by @bcteal.

https://bcteal.wordpress.com/2018/03/14/refugee-rights-day-2018/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

I thought the subject would be a touchy one so I cleared it with my Coordinator first.

So it actually did turn out to be.  

I tried to follow the lesson plan as stated but did sidetrack to fit my team.  

Of course like a good teacher I led them gently into the subject.  

Pictures up! 

Everyone walked around quietly taking in the six photos.  Next, time to say what you thought about the pictures.

Wow! Just Wow!

My student literally opened up in a literary way that really surpassed my expectations.  So many emotions were expressed.  

Each picture meant something to someone.  

Sadness, optimism, hope and acceptance.  

The most popular or most commented on was the photo with the boat.  That picture as seen below shows lots of people on a boat in the middle of the ocean.  Many are seen hanging from the sides of the boat.   The picture according the students conjured up the thought of danger.  Danger to the vulnerable, especially and older people.  They made reference to the many media reports of boatloads of migrants overturning in the oceans.  One student had a close friend who perished.   

The second photo garnering lots of attention was the one with a sea of tents.  

The views were at different ends of the scale.  The represents loss was a view shared, the thought that someone or families left the comfort of their homes to end up in a tent.  A tent with the none of the amenities that one is accustomed to.

Another view on the same picture was that the tents represented hope.  They represented a transition.  "They" were in a place other than the place of pain.  Maybe the migrants in those tents were grateful for a shelter.

Whatever the opinions we had a very good discussion on this important day.

"As I Began To Love Myself":
 - by charlie chaplain or kim McMillen

As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today, I know, this is AUTHENTICITY.

As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody as I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this person was me. Today I call it RESPECT.

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow. Today I call it MATURITY.

As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance, I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens at the exactly right moment, so I could be calm. Today I call it SELF-CONFIDENCE.

As I began to love myself I quit steeling my own time, and I stopped designing huge projects for the future. Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm. Today I call it SIMPLICITY.

As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health – food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism.Today I know it is LOVE OF ONESELF.

As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is MODESTY.

As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worry about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where everything is happening. Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it FULFILLMENT.

As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But As I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this connection WISDOM OF THE HEART.

We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing new worlds are born. Today I know THAT IS LIFE!