Tag Archives: Al Purdy A-Frame Trust

No time for reflection

Journal,

Man, I can’t believe how bloody hard it is, seemingly, to make a bloody blog entry. It’s been weeks! I suppose that means I have no time to reflect, just go, go, go. (I just got a new white leather chair and this is the first time I’ve had a chance to sit in it for any length of time. It’s quite modern in design and the back curves around, kind of hugs you. Me, I mean. I think I like it.)

This will be brief for I am still recovering from the Al Purdy A-Frame Trust fundraiser Josef and I hosted on Sunday. I’m not sure why exactly, or how, but preparations took over my life! It was a lot of work and I’m more than a little disappointed in the turnout. Actually the turnout wasn’t too bad—the head of the trust Jean Baird said there was an event in Toronto recently with over 100 people in attendance that didn’t raise a dime— but there were more Vancouverites here than Bowen Islanders, which I find hard not to take personally. I’ve been a resident on and off since 1993 and at times feel like an outsider even after all these years. Oh well, everyone enjoyed themselves, the weather was glorious and we managed to raise awareness and a bit of dough for a great cause. Al Purdy was one of the contemporary Canadian poets my high school English teacher gave me to read, one that I could relate to with our shared working class roots.

I attended the Verse Map of Vancouver launch last week with a friend who was actually being a pain in the butt, hurrying me along all evening and Continue reading →

The fun never stops! Poetry, his and mine.

Journal, poems, , , , ,

Listening to Miguel Migs playing Bump Selectra, a dub selectra mix on the Beat Blender play list on Soma FM, recalling the meeting Josef and I had with the RDI consultant this morning. It was a fairly productive meeting though I suffered a headache the entire time. We need to work on Junior’s non-verbal communication skills. Less talking on our part as well, so that he is forced to reference, check in with us. An over-reliance upon words keeps him in his own head in a sense. It’s so frustrating that he was misdiagnosed and not identified as ASD until age 10! He was prescribed years of speech therapy which turns out to be the last thing he needed. Vocabulary does not equal communication. We want him to look at us before talking, before launching into a topic. It is imperative for him to shift his attention to the person he is interacting with. Get in his face, literally, is what we need to do. There are techniques like pausing until he references us, feigning incompetence and doing something unexpected. All these things force him out of his static thinking mode. Our objective is to help him develop flexible thinking and dynamic communication.

The fun never stops! As we all recover from our fabulous AURAL Heather performance enthusiastically recieved at the Violet Femmes 2 compilation showcase, I now must focus as well on a grant application for the next week, for the Canada Council Spoken Word and Storytelling program. I want to write up a proposal for a Continue reading →