The paradoxical effect of losing a loved one is that their sudden absence can become a feverish comment on that which remains. That which remains rises in time from the dark with a burning physicality — a luminous super-presence — as we acquaint ourselves with this new and different world. In loss things — both animate and inanimate — take on an added intensity and meaning. ~ Nick Cave Continue reading Nick Cave on Loss
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A Montreal-based poet digs into our fascination with music and its relation to our search for meaning. Outside of her poetic output, Waterman has collected a diverse collection of essays about creativity on her blog, The Mindful Bard. Many of these … Continue reading Kirkus Reviews: Review of Dervish at the Crossroads
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I couldn’t be happier with the cover design for my book, Dervish at the Crossroads. The brilliant Rafael Chimicatti beautifully captured the book’s central metaphor! Guernica Editons plans to release the book in October. Due to the pandemic, there may … Continue reading Written, Illustrated, and Typeset– Get Ready to Read!
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Wanda Waterman The Brilliance is hard to pigeonhole. The music is a mix of classical and pop, so you might call it prog rock with no hubris, or classical music with no pedantry. The highly original sounds created by the … Continue reading The Brilliance Interview
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Wanda Waterman It’s a common misconception that racism is over and done with and so we don’t need to worry our pretty little heads about it. The horrific crimes perpetrated by human beings against each other out of a sense … Continue reading Why Racism?
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Thor Simonsen is a creative entrepreneur and the mastermind behind Ajungi (AH-YUNG-EE), a collective made up of 19 Nunavut singer-songwriters whose debut album is being released today (November 22). The idea for the recording project came to Simonsen via his … Continue reading Healing Through Music in Nunavut
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Wanda Waterman “There’s a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that’s all some people have? It isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan.” ~John L. Sullivan in Sullivan’s Travels “O Brother, … Continue reading Why Did Sullivan Travel?
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Bree Taylor is a Canadian singer-songwriter of pop-inspired country tunes full of authentic feeling and deep affirmations of life and love. The just-released video for her song “Drive” is a delightful road trip full of fun, natural beauty, and the … Continue reading The Bree Taylor Interview
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Wanda Waterman “The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.” ~Tacitus You have to love this oft-repeated horror flick scene: Our hapless hero or heroine is lying in bed when they hear a noise and feel driven … Continue reading Why Fear?
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After Giorgio Finetti (AKA Jofi) delighted me with a piece of music that was ideal for my poem “Clouds of Paris” (which quickly morphed into the song “We Two Gypsy Thieves), I told him we couldn’t stop now. In a … Continue reading My Desk, My Planet (the song)
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Wanda Waterman Instead of hate, celebrate. ~Prince Here’s a short list of things that get a lot of flack for no good reason— and why we might try looking at them from their good sides. Drinking and gambling The problem … Continue reading Why Down on So Many Wonderful Things?
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Wanda Waterman “In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.” ~Elizabeth Gilbert “The jewel tree opens … Continue reading Why a Jewel Tree?
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Wanda Waterman “We need to pay it forward. As we have access to power, we need to bring others along.” ~ Helene Lerner While living in the Middle East I was often struck by how arduously women competed for the … Continue reading Why, Lisa Bloom?
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Italian composer Giorgio Finetti sent me this beautiful piece of music, perfect for a poem I’d written about flying over Paris en route to my love, with whom I can only speak French. https://drooble.com/l/310di Continue reading We Two Gypsy Thieves
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Wanda Waterman Fully immersing ourselves in a creative project activates a different part of our brain. We lose track of time and our surroundings. Minutes blend into hours, and there are no thoughts apart from what’s happening in the present. … Continue reading Why Mindfulness in Art?
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Wanda Waterman “Religion isn’t about believing things. It’s ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness.” ~ Karen Armstrong Skeptics often wonder out loud why religion is still … Continue reading Why Religion?
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November 24, 12 noon, Café La Cote R – 1366 Rue Ontario Est, Montreal, Violet Show: 12:00-12:35 12:00 – 12:05 Introduction 12:05 – 12:25 Wanda (poetry / singer-songwriter) 12:30 -12:50 That Nikki You Know (poetry / singer-songwriter) Rose Show: 1:00 – 1:30 P.M. 1:00 – … Continue reading Come Hear Me at the Violet Show!
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The Mindful Bard loves music inspired by literature almost as much as literature inspired by music, which is why William Susman is one of our favourite composers, so adept is he at paying homage to language with his mesmerizing sounds. … Continue reading Collision Point: William Susman and Piccola Accademia degli Specchi
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Was delighted to meet Ben Cumming (AKA Becoming) last week and get a chance to listen to his masterful guitar and amazing, wide-range voice. Ben is from Australia and is touring the world sharing his songs, and we’re blessed to … Continue reading Becoming
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Monday night I met the singer, guitarist, pianist, writer, deep thinker, blues zealot, and all around amazing Sarah Roubato– just a week before she was getting ready to board a plane back to France. Oh, well, guess I’ll just have … Continue reading Sarah Roubato
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Gilbert Cantin has just released a digital album of some of the songs we’ve written along with Chantal Lepage. Check it out here, and if you like the music, please support us! ~Wanda Continue reading Bad Words
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Originally posted on Wanda Waterman:
Dervish Soon to Hit the Crossroads I’m ecstatic that Guernica Editions has decided to publish Dervish at the Crossroads, my book of creative nonfiction about my experiences as a music lover and journalist. The book… Continue reading Soon to be released . . .
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Wanda Waterman Only art penetrates what pride, passion, intelligence, and habit erect on all sides – the seeming realities of this world. There is another reality, the genuine one, which we lose sight of. This other reality is always sending … Continue reading The Monthly Mindful Arts Consumption Report
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Everyone should be respected as an individual but no one idolized. ~Albert Einstein Rapine, avarice, expense, This is idolatry; and these we adore; Plain living and high thinking are no more. ~William Wordsworth The practice of idolatry harks back to … Continue reading On Ending Idolatry
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This quote from the Declaration … Continue reading Bringing Principles to Life With Vision
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Wanda Waterman A writer’s desk is her planet, I’d mewed, Hands on my hips; that’s how I’d sparked the feud. Thus my defense: No place to write– It leaves the pen a vagabond: sad plight! To come to … Continue reading My Desk, My Planet (poem)
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Money rules us when we sacrifice our highest callings to it, and we rule it by putting it to work in the service of our highest callings. Continue reading Escaping the Tyranny of Mammon When You’re Poor
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Wanda Waterman ‘How do you know when the gold is purified?’ we asked him, and he answered, ‘When I can see my face in it [the liquid gold in the crucible] then it is pure.’ ~ Amy Carmichael Marital counselling … Continue reading The Gift of the Crucible
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Wanda Waterman In one of the final scenes of the brilliant documentary Latcho Drom the gypsy chanteuse known as “La Caita” sings “The Blackbird” before a city: Why does your wicked mouth spit on me? What harm is it to … Continue reading Gypsies in the Digital World
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Wanda Waterman You can either be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It all depends on how you view your life. ~ Paulo Coelho The state of deliberate victimhood has much to commend it. … Continue reading The Unexpected Perks of Victimhood
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Wanda Waterman Whereas the free market contributes to global warming by transporting food to us from all over the world, be it resolved that we will grow and purchase most if not all of our food near our homes. Whereas … Continue reading Twelve Resolutions for Limiting the Harm of the “Free” Market
