Posted on October 19, 2020 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

 

“Country roads, take me home.

 

Do you ever feel like you’re caught in some kind of time warp?

I have written many posts on this subject before so you can go and check your Twitter feed, your Instagram account or feed the dog rather than waste precious moments of your life listening to me go on and on about the good old days. But I know you wont because you’re a sucker for nostalgia.

Everything old is new again.

I am still addicted to music from the 1960s and 1970s, so it comes as no surprise that I often listen to oldies while I’m baking or doing the dishes. My cable TV has several music stations, mercifully without ads.

On the weekend while I was puttering, I heard the song “Reflections of My Life” playing in the background. Surely you remember that 1969 one hit wonder by the Scottish band, Marmalade?

“The changing, of sunlight to moonlight, reflections of my life

Oh, how they fill my eyes.”

Nearly 50 years ago, I was single and a rookie teacher, moving to a northern community in Alberta for my first teaching gig. I had quite a bit more hair than I do today. I inherited a challenging class. I had been told by the principal that the previous year, this particular group of students had chewed up and spit out four home room teachers. Ah yes, the 8Bs. I’ll admit it wasn’t easy, but I can say with a great deal of satisfaction that I still keep in touch with a handful of those same students. Of course, being a neophyte, I didn’t have a sweet clue what I was doing but I hung in there long enough to be accepted by the students and the community.

One of my fondest memories from those days was performing music in the hallways. I was shocked to hear from my niece that this type of activity is no longer permitted in schools in Nova Scotia. Are educational theorists fearful that children might actually experience joy, along with Dylan and Joni Mitchell?

My lifelong friend, Dan, taught in a classroom kitty corner to mine. Every once in a while, when a change in atmosphere was required, we would grab our guitars and sit in the hallway playing tunes. The kids loved it and it gave us the energy we needed to get through another day. I also played a lot of sports in the north including hockey, basketball and badminton. And the occasional board game.

Fast forward to 2019. I am single, and a rookie teacher, moving to a northern community in Quebec for my first teaching gig in 40 years. I inherited a challenging class. During my interview for the position, I had been told that I would be teaching a difficult class. I’ll admit that it hasn’t been easy. Being a neophyte (for the second time), I didn’t have a sweet clue what I was doing but I hung in there and I’m back for a second year. I am learning what to teach but more importantly, I am discovering how to teach in a new era.

Last Friday was rainy, gray, and quite miserable. I keep my guitar in my classroom. It may well be the most important tool in my teaching tool kit. I had a free period. I decided to turn back the hands of time. I wandered down the hallway to the secondary side of the school during recess, guitar strapped to my back. I pulled up a chair and started to sing. As an elementary teacher, I am not often seen on the secondary side so there was a certain curiosity. I started with “Country Roads” by John Denver. This song is very well known up here. I moved on to “Hallelujah” by the other Leonard! Just about everyone in the free world knows the refrain. Next up was Raffi’s “Baby Beluga, a tune that I introduced to the younger children during summer camp where I was a volunteer. Because of the song’s subject, it is becoming a well -known tune in the school. I finished up with a song quite popular in the north called “Taanisi” by Twin Flames. It is a hybrid of Inuktitut and English. It was the first time that I tried singing in Inuktitut. I needn’t have worried about embarrassing myself because several students joined in. Give it a listen. https://youtu.be/bh5XSgozfTA.  It is a great song, and the photography is stunning. I had a great laugh when a student came by and dropped a quarter near my guitar!

As I was about to head back to my home room, I was asked to come into one of the secondary classrooms to sing one more tune which I happily obliged. I asked for requests and was a bit surprised that one young man suggested something from “the man in black”. I know a few Johnny Cash songs and luckily the one he wanted was one of the ones I knew – “Ring of Fire”.

As I meandered back down the hall (MDB!), I had this déjà vu of years gone by. A grin creased my face.

I played my first game of badminton the other night. The stiffness hasn’t left my body yet! I also played a board game with some colleagues last Friday evening.

Everything old is new again.

“I’m changing, arranging,

I’m changing everything, everything around me.” Reflections of My Life.

Have a great week.

 

 

Posted on October 12, 2020 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

Thanksgiving rocks!

 

“If you can’t be, with the one (s) you love, love the one (s) you’re with.”

Love The One You’re With – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Thanksgiving.

Giving thanks.

Yes. It is that time of the year when we stop for a few moments, somewhere between the main course and dessert, and ponder our good fortune. This is a Thanksgiving Day like no other in recent memory. At a time when mingling with family and friends is the focal point of the holiday, we are been urged in some provinces, begged in others and even mandated by a few, to stay home and keep away from others. It just doesn’t seem right.

Covid has interrupted the flow of life in so many ways. Some of my readers lived through the Great Depression. They understand hard times. They couldn’t get take out food  or groceries delivered to their doors. They couldn’t sit in the comfort of their homes and stream movies. No. They were scratching and clawing to simply survive. These same readers also lived through WW11. For these people, Covid places a distant third in terms of life altering events.

Some would call this “perspective”.

I was speaking to one of my daughters on the weekend. She asked me how things were going, my plans for this holiday, and for Christmas. She even asked me to gaze into my crystal ball and look a year down the road. Never in my lifetime has it been so difficult, if not impossible, to make plans any time in the future.

While I would love to have been home today with my family, that simply wasn’t an option, but I can assure you that I haven’t been hard done by. I had Thanksgiving dinner this past weekend along with some social events, with colleagues from work. Christmas looms and will be tricky for anyone planning to travel elsewhere. If the Atlantic Bubble stays in place, going back to N.S. is not a great idea. Self- isolating for another two weeks with a two- foot artificial tree probably wouldn’t fill my heart with the joy of the season. Only a fleeting appearance from Santa would break the monotony. If I travel somewhere else in Canada (Victoria is at the top of my list), I face the prospect of yet another quarantine when I return to Northern Quebec unless the long awaited miracle touted by POTUS appears on the scene and Covid is eradicated along with poverty and greenhouse gases. And racial discrimination.

Plan C might entail spending Christmas right here in my newly adopted home. It would be very interesting to witness some new Christmas traditions. A polar bear dip may be something with a very different connotation than the New Year’s Day plunge in the icy Atlantic! I spent one Christmas in India in 35 degree heat. I might as well add a -35 to the tally.

Long range planning is even more precarious. It’s hard to imagine what things will look like next summer.

Only one thing is certain as far as I can tell. With good health, anything is possible. With poor health, a person’s choices become very limited. I believe we would all do well to try our best to stay physically, mentally and psychologically well until a vaccine is found and we can return to some form of normalcy.

This will not be easy, but neither was fighting in the trenches or riding the rails looking for food during the Depression.

More than ever, we need friends and lovers. We need to lean on each other and pick each other up when spirits are flagging. We need to reach out and touch someone even if it’s only virtual. We need to be especially attentive to those who suffer from mental illness and loneliness. These twin evils (evil twins) often occupy the same space.

If you feel grateful, articulate this. Show your gratefulness by doing something for someone else today and every day.

Be kind. Be gentle.

Be giving. Be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. I know many of you have been waiting anxiously (?!) to hear the latest chapter in my telephone saga. I received an actual bill from my service provider. I have an actual account and they are threatening to take an actual payment from my bank account any day now. Thanks Ma Bell!

Posted on October 5, 2020 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Chesterfield Inlet December 1958

The photo above was provided through the generosity of Piita Irniq who attended a residential school. He told me that it was the first time that he had seen a Christmas tree, let alone any tree!

Another September is in the rear-view mirror. Some would say “good riddance”. Many people love September. Back home in Nova Scotia it signals the changing of the season. The leaves start to turn color, the days are becoming shorter, and there is a decided nip in the air. Here in Northern Quebec, we have already had snow, a harbinger of winter just around the corner. And of course, September is the traditional start of the school year.

“Back to school” days are different this year. Some students are back in classrooms while many others are learning virtually. The results are mixed and it’s far too early to predict what might happen in the ensuing weeks and months. As difficult and challenging as this appears on the service, it pales in comparison to what young children from the north were subjected to for nearly a century.

September 30^th was Orange Shirt Day in Canada. It was the day to show love and support for survivors of the residential school system.

Stop for a moment and think about this. What if someone arrived on your doorstep one day and told you that your young children would be taken from you and moved to a far-off community where the language and culture were totally different?

This is precisely what happened to thousands of Indigenous children in Canada.

Once again, I quote from the excellent book, “The Right to be Cold” by distinguished author Sheila Watt-Clouthier.

“The history of residential schools in Canada spans nearly a century, with the last school closing as recently as 1996. During this time, the federal government, in an attempt to aggressively assimilate Aboriginal children, oversaw the schools, many of which were run by Christian churches. Approximately 150,000 children in all were taken from their families to be “reeducated” in English or French and Christianity. Resistance was rewarded with punishment, and many students experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Today people are still trying to heal from these horrific experiences. What’s more, families were torn apart and unable to pass on tradition and culture when their children were abruptly removed from their communities. This has resulted in generations of trauma suffered by Aboriginal families across Canada.”

I am slowly coming to understand the plight of Aboriginal people. A number of people who live in my village went to residential schools. Many of their stories are documented in the excellent archives at the local museum.

None of us personally can right the wrongs of the past although governments have the duty and responsibility to honor treaties signed in good faith.

It pleases me to no end that our school is doing everything it can to keep the language and culture of the Inuit alive and well. Daily classes in Inuktitut are a staple and students in upper elementary and secondary take classes in Culture where they continue to learn about their heritage in meaningful, hands on fashion. There are after hours programs offered to those who want to learn more about the land, hunting ,and survival.

One suspects it will take a few more generations for the trauma of residential schools to subside. It will never completely be eradicated but more Canadians need to understand this shameful part of Canadian history.

Have a great week.