In the picture on the right here are some of the littlest protestors. Their signs proclaim their “Right to Play”
This photo was taken at International Children’s Day celebrations in Varanasi India. In such a world it seems hard to justify the time to blog.
Whenever anyone would talk to me about their blogs, they’d often talk about it as a way of living an examined life and a way of making sense of the past by constructing some sort of linear narrative about their life.
Makes sense. Perhaps a worthy goal but . . . Why did that make me feel tired?
I guess when you are at or past the halfway point of a lifespan as I am, you really want to live in the NOW more. You also want to look ahead and plan the best use of the future. Enough of looking back already.
Besides how much of life is linear?
Not my life. It has been one of flying off madly in all directions or gently falling from place to place in the currents of change and happenstance.
I am currently working for an organization called World Literacy of Canada. The picture above was taken at one of our programs in India. It’s a bit of a departure after having worked in the Arts exclusively for the past decade. But on the whole I am feeling more myself these days. It was one of those falling backwards by mistake into something that works, at least for a time. While I came in applying for one job and was hired for something entirely different, there’s been a lot about the past year that has been a great “fit”. I’ve met some wonderful talented and inspiring people and there have been many high points.
Right now I am really hoping that I will be able to apply for and receive funding for a pilot project that would link some literacy programs in India with classrooms in Canada. The goal would be to share stories about children’s daily lives between Canadian children and some of the poorest kids in India. The kids in WLC tutoring programs cannot afford to attend regular schooling.
So my starting point is Now.
Maybe along the way how I got here from there might be relevant.
3 Comments
Hi Linda your work with the Varanasi literacy program and aim to link children in literacy programs in India with children in classrooms in Canada,sounds like a wonderful learning expeience for all involved.
The path of life that we take, or are drawn along often has so many backtracks twists and turns that it is enough to make anyone tired!
Sounds like you are doing great stuff with your life in the NOW!
I’m sort of taking stock and making decisions about how (and where) to move forward after several years of studying Education. Think developing my relief printing skills and working (preferably in Education, but anything will do as long as I get a break from studying for a while) will take precedence this year.
Bye for now
Jane
I agree Linda, life doesn’t seem to be very linear for me either. I do seem to have developed more of a vision for myself as I’ve aged though! Sounds like your involved in a wonderful literacy project in India. I found a wonderful calliagraphic site http://www.cecilia-letteringart.com/
which has A Children’s Playground of Lettering, where kids can email their own experiments with writing,making, painting and drawing letters. There are lots of examples of Australian childrens work on the site, some from Canada and India would be a welcome addition.There is also a guest map where kids could enter themselves either individually or as a group. Thought you might find the site interesting anyway.
Bye for now Jane.
I coordinated a national writing contest for kids. We produced a CD-ROM of the winning stories. The stories can also be accessed online at: http://www.littleanimation4kids.com/W2R_HOME.html