Looking back over the last 5 months I see how much change there is, both within me and without.
I used to say half-seriously that I am not a noun but a verb. Most of the nouns, the solid unchanging entities in my world, have become become dynamic and shifting. The approximations of my life I saw last year no longer exist. My work in aging is finished. Fortunately with a wonderful swan-song.
I recently had a paper published about a project I finished almost 2 years ago. Music and Art in Action (University of Sussex, UK) accepted a paper back then and in a flurry of emails we polished it for publication. It was an account of how different arts disciplines were used to connect people who live near to each other but who had little or no language in common.The arts processes offered first steps in relating to each other that can be built upon.
Building Bridges, Opening Doors. https://musicandartsinaction.net/index.php/maia
Polishing it for publication presented a wonderful opportunity to remember the participants in the project – what was important to them, their willingness to try new ventures, their openness to each other even with few shared worlds.
I remember the severely disabled man who refused to give up and persevered with a joyful attitude that inspired us all; the man who expressed his feelings and regulated his depression through singing;, the women who believed in the power of community and worked to include everyone; those who overcame early training to be suspicious and mistrustful and how they put their prejudices aside.
I will miss all of these, my teachers.