Carolyn Bennett’s May 25th Town Hall on aging and issues affecting elders at Christie Gardens was a great success. She began with a Parliamentary Clinic where the audience could ask Carolyn about issues that were important to them. I appreciated her informal style, the way people were not only listened to, but were heard, and the expert way questions were fielded, political and otherwise. Carolyn’s long political experience and extensive knowledge of so many different files is impressive.
I kicked off the panel with a selection of readings from We All Become Stories that addressed issues of memory and fear of dementia, identity, transitioning from paid work to the rest of ones life and accessible environments. The audience – Christie Garden residents and many guests – was attentive and curious and ready to engage the panel with their concerns about these and other issues, like the health care system’s lack of attention to the personal needs of the elderly, due, as noted by Carolyn and others, primarily to underfunding. Being a panel member was a new experience for me, I enjoyed myself thoroughly and would do it again in a minute.
Coming up on June 5 is my last Toronto reading for this season at the Queen Saulter Library with Ellen Jaffe: The Power of Poetry: Out of the Ivory Tower into Everyday Life. We will be talking about the power and importance of poetry in our lives, how poetry is generated from experience and how-and why- poetry is different from prose.
Then I am off to my Manitoulin Island writing retreat where I’ll be working on revisions for my next book, Laundry Lines, Reflections in Prose and Poetry. I will be taking part in a few gigs on the island: reading at the Mindemoya Library to celebrate the opening of their extension, date to be announced. On July 19 I’ll be reading with other Manitoulin authors at Word in the Park at the Kagawong Park Centre. I have the 1:00 p.m. slot at the 9:00- 4:00 event.
There are a few others, still in the planning stage and I’m also looking forward to several meetings with the “Creative Gathering” organized by Kate Thompson, a group of writers, artists and musicians who meet monthly on the island. I’ve been envying them all winter and spring and can hardly wait to see what they’re up to. Stay tuned!
Ann speaking at Carolyn Bennett’s Town Hall.
Carolyn speaking.
