Good for a Queen! Moment with Arzu in Ganja! The Caucasus One year ago, I was preparing to leave for the Caucasus. From my young America, I was excited to head in a direction with so much history. What do thousands of years of history leave behind? I was intrigued by what had Queen Tamar left behind after bringing her country’s history to its peak. What a surprise to learn that she was so [...]
There were no borders within me This morning I wake up and the word that comes to me is "border." For those who dream of a world without borders, I would invite you to be patient. I was born 24 kilometers from Ontario. On Rural Road 7, which is now Route 388 in Duparquet, the last village before the border. Men came and went from lumber or mining jobs. We never talked about borders. The word was not [...]
"Being strong means being able to learn and to support what we know, in other words, to hold on and live" (Women who run with the wolves) When I came back from Sudan, I spend a week sitting by the river running through my garden. I no longer knew how to think and live my situation when I had seen what I had seen. My personal quest taught me, if I want to find inner [...]
I'm in Sudan... in my head. Just before that in Belize and in Mali . If I had an average of 3 weeks of visits per country, to include them in both in English and French on the websites (Letsmeetonearth.org) and (rendezvoussurterre.com) I must add another 4-5 days. And I do not count the days of technical difficulties. At the moment there is one in the passage from English to French and I have to wait while we [...]
Perhaps we should all rejoice that Donald Trump chose "Make America Great Again" as his campaign slogan -- for the pleasure of all humanity, every time he invokes the phrase brings us that much closer to the last time we'll ever have to hear it. In a global society, there is no more place for a country that bills itself as the "greatest and strongest" in the world, especially when these words mean using a great arsenal [...]
The green of the new misty rice fields. Three months in India. I have been undisciplined and did not take notes every night. I have lived and learned. I wonder sometimes if writers read. I write and say I need to read. I read and I say, I want to write. But I am in a country I am discovering and that often does not understand itself. I feel so ignorant when comes time to write about it. [...]
Earthquakes happen where it is usually predicted that they will. So this spring 2015, when I took my decision, I knew that the base I stand on would shake, move and maybe even disappear. That is fine with me. I need a new garden where birdsongs will be unknown. There where the inner and outer voices will renew. Purring of a new machine. The new garden will be those of the families of Central and South Asia. Les tremblements de [...]
This morning my mind is in The Solomon Islands as there has been a tsunami alert after an strong earthquakes. I look to the map and hope Isabel Island is far enough form the Santa Cruz islands for my family to be safe.Like if it was yesterday: A day in Nareabu... 6:00 The church keeper beats on an empty gas canister hanging from a breadfruit tree. The Fihu family rise quickly, put on their church clothes and quietly join the [...]
At the beginning of the 80’s technological advances and the capacity to travel became more and more accessible to all, the terms “global village” and “international communication” were excitedly on the tip of everyone’s tongues. I was TV producer in an advertising agency in Paris and surrounded by people who had no hesitation in saying they were part of the greatest communicators of the world. I still had much to learn and my vacations consisted of visiting different parts of [...]
Working, writing and producing in two languages is a timely exercise. Each language is a philosophy, a humour, a poetry that seems to move something else within me. It brings another world to reach and to talk to, other tones, other colours. I post on Facebook and want to speak to the world and two languages are not enough. Sometimes, because of this, I go into silence. I had a friend who would stutter in French and did not in [...]
