Let’s slow down, breathe, and hear something new. (And raise some money!)
A close up of fall leaves and warm autumn light.
Here we are on September 30th.
Today we’re pausing to think deeper about what it means to be here on this land, to do good work, and to slow down enough to really hear what’s happening around us.
If the importance of today is new to you, it’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation here in Canada, a day dedicated to honouring the survival of Indigenous communities in the midst of the ongoing traumatic impact of the residential school system. There’s more info here.
We made you something. It’s called Gentle Doorways.
This project comes from two roots. First, the longing to make more spaces to slow down in together, and second, our energy to raise more money for Creation Grants, in our fundraising project with the amazing people at Indigenous Youth Roots.
I think that slowing down is one of the most important ways I can interrupt the colonial values I was born into.
Slowing down lets me open my eyes to the world as it is, with its beauty, its bullies, and its bruises. It lets me step out of the frantic whirl of proving myself, to instead look at myself, ask the big questions about what it means to do good work, and make what’s truly mine to make.
In the words of Nikki Sanchez, “Rushing is a colonial strategy.”
So today we’re offering you something new. Asifa and I made it together, with the support of everyone at Firefly (especially Lesley who pulled it all together — special shout out!).
It’s a series of four self-paced writing sessions through the month of October to help you breathe deeper, listen to the world around you, and from that quiet place, ask the big question — what is your writing for right now? Stepping towards winter, what’s the right next step?
Every Sunday in October, bright and early, you’ll get an email from Asifa and me with a guided meditation, a poem, two writing prompts and a little project or instruction for the day. Each week will build on the last. We’re having a blast putting them together for you.
You can pay whatever you want for this experience.
When deciding what price makes sense, you might want to consider your access to generational wealth, and the privileges you’ve gained or lost because of your place in the colonial hierarchy. We’re suggesting anywhere from $10–$150.
Every dollar that comes in will go to Indigenous youths.
You’ve probably heard us talk about this before, but here it all is. Indigenous Youth Roots is an amazing organization with a youth council who receives and judges grant applications by other Indigenous youths for passion projects they want to take on. This money will all go towards projects based in creative expression.
We launched this project last year on September 30th, and we’ve exceeded our goal of raising $10,000. We’re hoping Gentle Doorways pushes us way over it. Asifa and I are volunteering our time, so there’s no overhead here, it’s a clear channel to funding these projects.
Push Week is right around the corner!
Next week is a big one for us! October 5–9, we’ll be filling the Zoom Rooms with motivation, structure, support, and space to write.
This is a distraction-friendly space that you can swim in and out of through the week.
We have two fall small group workshops with space left.
Short Story in a Weekend is an online class October 23–25 with Kim and Nina, designed with a big goal: Write a short story by Sunday afternoon.
City Sanctuary: The BIPOC Edition is a one-day in-person “retreat” on December 6th with Asifa and Kim at the historic (and accessible) St Matthew’s Clubhouse in Toronto.
Our community bonfire is this Saturday.
Rain or shine, October 3rd, Withrow Park. Come say hi, trade an old coffee mug for a new one, toast a marshmallow, make a writing friend.
The space is barrier-free and includes a wheelchair-accessible washroom, and a barrier-free indoor space if we get rained out. And it’s free of course!
And a poem for you.
Let’s let the incomparable Joy Harjo carry us out today.
Okay lovelies.
Can we take a breath here, in and out?
Joy Harjo writes in the poem above: “Sun makes the day new.” Today is about looking back, and it’s also about the hope that looking forward, we can step into something much much better. But that “better” needs the best of us.
Creativity is necessary.
Connection is everything.
Listening is unnegotiable.
Let’s keep connecting, dreaming, walking gently, and building good things together.
In it with you,
