john terpstra: the highway that became a footpath

The Highway That Became a Footpath


(after the other side won the civic election)


And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and I saw the holy city, coming down out of heaven...
and the holy raving protester who climbed into a tree
to resist the building of the last highway
was still in among the leaves,
but the tree had grown much taller,
and the protester had been living up there for such a long time,
not alone, that several generations of protesters now populated the canopy,
freely trafficking the branches of their swaying neighbourhoods,
as the six-lane highway
wound between the trunks below
as wide only as a footpath,
a red-dirt earthway, busy with pedestrians.
And the highway-that-became-a-footpath
led past the longhouse raised
during the same resistance, down in the valley,
for it still existed (both longhouse and valley existed still)
and other longhouses,
which were standing at that location several centuries earlier,
had re-materialized, their hearth-fires
burning still; an entire village, thriving
beside the hallowed creek that ran through the east end of the city.
And I saw the trees that formed the longhouse walls
take root, and continue to grow, 
forty thousand times forty thousand,
their canopy providing all the roof
that the people needed.
And from a privileged perch at the top of the escarpment,
watching as the new city came down out of heaven,
it was clear that the leaves of those trees
were for the healing of the community.


Terpstra, John. "The Highway That Became a Footpath" The Best Canadian Poetry in English. Markham: Tightrope Books, 2009.

in my father's arms by carl leggo

all my life I have wanted my father to hold me in his arms and tell me, I love you

I went to a counsellor, empty but still full of fear, and she walked

me through the tangled garden of five decades of living in the earth

to a quiet meadow where my father and I stood all alone with

the dandelions, both dazed and lost. I was once more a small boy.

Faraway I heard a soft voice, what do you want? I began to weep.

all my life I have wanted my father to hold me in his arms and tell me, I love you

We are each shaped by the first years of our lives; we learn how

to live with one another from the stories we have been invited to live

with others. Fathers and sons live in an alien world born in contest,

often confused, where we seldom know how to name our desires.

My father says, I'm a depression baby but I'm not depressed.

all my life I have wanted my father to hold me in his arms and tell me, I love you

In middle age I know my desires with an ache that pushes against

the walls of my heart, and I know I will never lie in my father's arms,

but I will still know my father in love, thankful for all the stories, written,

to be written, all fragments, only, subtending the whole and holy

story that always exceeds the geometry of the heart's tangled lines.

edward + the alberta museums association

this past weekend i attended the annual alberta museums association conference, where i had the opportunity to do the following:

1. introduce the first keynote speaker, one neil pasricha (pass-reach-ah),

2. moderate a session on 'stealing ideas', and 

3. facilitate a brainstorming session.

conferences are an interesting thing. they're intended to encourage and equip, challenge and inspire. and this conference did do that. this year's experience, however, was different for me as i was involved in different ways than previously - less of a consumer and more of a producer. which i might enjoy more, actually. 

that said, what i was able to attend was helpful and often inspirational. i quite enjoyed neil's presentation. he was honest, funny, humble, transparent. he shared about his life, and why he began his 'blog, and what that has made possible for him. it's really about enjoying the small pleasures of life. i see it as cultivating thankfulness, or a celebration of grace. or seeking out joy. 

i was able to take in 3 of the sessions offered. i chose to attend talks about branding, a presentation of student papers and engaging audiences. i took something from all of them. i really appreciated jocelyn daw's discussion of brands as more than simply a logo, or a website design. a brand is about so much more than the aesthetics of an organization - one's "brand" encompasses one's values, their promises, addresses the user's expectations. it is more about how we do 'x', rather than why. after all, people commit to vision, not plans. a good reminder. 

the student papers were interesting, but i especially enjoyed jessie beier's presentation about the idea of 'play' and its role in "meaning-making". the presentation was fluid, creative (i love prezi!) and allowed her to play. then again, anyone who quotes baudrillard in the first 2 minutes of their presentation has my attention. moderating the session on stolen ideas was a first for me. what i really enjoyed was the generosity of the participants, the realization that stealing ideas requires adjustments (thanks diane for articulating that thought!). we can 'steal' an idea, but as we all engage different content and present that content in different contexts, the end result - whether program, special event, exhibition - will be quite different. we have to trust that, and not fear the sharing of ideas, and approaches.

my own session was inspired by this year's theme of celebrating our successes as museum professionals. over the past numbers of years, i have been a consistent user of the alberta museums association's list-serve. i am more than willing to ask for assistance, suggestions, resources from others - it adds to my own knowledge and enriches me and my work. in turn, i love being a resource for others and sharing what i know and encouraging (or challenging) others. there are so many creative, knowledgeable and passionate people in the museum community, i wanted to offer a workshop where we could take advantage of that collective resource. i sorted attendees into groups and then gave each person the opportunity to get input from the others in their group for a challenge, situation or project. 

when we neared the end of the session, i asked if people had received some suggestions or learned of resources they hadn't previously considered, and approximately 80% of the attendees raised their hands. then i asked how many people had discovered some solutions for challenges, situations or projects they hadn't even mentioned, and the same percentage of people raised their hands. that makes me happy. and pleased. there were some other ideas stirred and plots hatched this weekend, but i'm going to save them. let's just say, i'm looking forward to seeing what unfolds.

once again, i realized that, after more than a decade of working within the arts & culture sector, i am no longer a novice in this field (though there are so many brilliant individuals from whom i can glean and learn), and i felt increasingly affirmed as both a leader and contributor to the larger conversation in and with the community of museum professionals in alberta and beyond. 

i have more to learn. and more to give.