Relentless

Tuesday is "table time." Pastor Quinn and I set up our table on the corner near the Bissell Centre to hand out clothing and winter boots. Folks came by and politely took what they needed, and loaded up on Halloween candies and bananas that were possibly frozen (it was -14 and the wind was cold; the bananas had no chance).

And the people didn't have much of a chance either. Eight police officers and a group of cheerful city workers in hazmat suits came to throw the tarps and belongings of people huddled against the building into a waiting garbage truck. I can't imagine how those workers can do what they do every day of the week. I almost cried.

Police and clean up crews are paid outrageous amounts of money -- this is what our tax dollars get us, when they should be used for building supportive, non-market housing and offering the necessary physical and mental health care to the downtown community. My heart breaks every time our homeless folks are relentlessly forced to march on as if they're only as valuable as their belongings being tossed into that garbage truck...

But I helped three people into warm winter coats this morning, shared chocolate bars, and gave away eight pairs of boots. 

Small comfort.

Please, write your politicians. Housing is a human right. If we were all as relentless in demanding housing as Police and clean up crews are forced to be in clearing encampments, there wouldn't be a housing issue.

Monday Music Appreciation #43: William Prince and Serena Ryder "Sing me a song"

This song just played through my radio on good old CKUA (if you haven't listened to CKUA yet, it's available through the link on the right side bar lower down, here on these moodlings). This song always makes me smile. I have come to love the voices of these two wonderful Canadian musicians, Serena Ryder and William Prince -- they're less polished than a lot of the singers I hear on other stations, but that's definitely part of their charm. 

Too many people have been told in their pasts that they can't sing, and that makes me sad. True, some are less tuneful singers than others, but singing is good for the soul, so I'm always encouraging people to sing. Plus, as someone who has always loved to be sung to, I just love this tune's message -- it ain't gotta be good, it ain't gotta be long, just sing me a song...

Rallying for housing

Back in early fall (or was it even as far back as June?) the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (ECOHH) planned its HOUSING HEALS HOMELESSNESS Rally at the Alberta Legislature for November 23rd, the day after National Housing Day. We figured more people would be able to attend on a Saturday. Of course, no one knew we'd be rallying in a blizzard!

In the initial planning, there were hopes that 4,000 people might show up to stand in solidarity with (and bring blankets for) the well over that many homeless individuals braving the cold in our city right now. As we set up in the snow this afternoon, those expectations dropped significantly.

In the end, we did have about 80 intrepid folks out (I made an effort to count them), which was actually pretty amazing given the snowstorm. We also managed to keep our program to 45 minutes so people's feet wouldn't freeze. Martin Kerr and Maria Dunn sang for us, and Jim Gurnett, Nadine Chalifoux, Bernadette Iahtail and Rylan Kafara offered personal reflections and information on the present affordable housing crisis. Lloyd Cardinal and his drummer friends sang for us, and Johnny Lee offered the opportunity to smudge.

Christina (my kiddo) and I periodically led a stomping chant with arm actions to try to keep the crowd warm. "Build Housing!" had everyone's arms over their heads in a roof position, and "Not Shelters" had them crossing their arms over their chests. As you might imagine, it was rather effective at keeping blood flowing on a chilly day. That kind of motion is what folks who stay in homeless shelters have to do when it's cold, walk and swing their arms and stomp their feet, often over 30,000 steps per day. How else does a person stay warm when they're forced to leave their shelter for most of the day only to have mall or transit security chasing them out of public spaces?

Below is today's chant, my first attempt at interactive slam poetry. If you're having a housing rally, you're welcome to adapt it for your own purposes. All of the situations in the verses are experienced by people in our city; I'm making nothing up.

Please consider writing your politicians to demand affordable and supportive housing with rents no more than 30% of peoples' wages. That kind of effort is the only way things will improve for all the people out on our streets across this wintry country...

Housing Heals Homelessness! Build Housing, Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

 

1.     Danielle Smith, you gotta help me (Got no place to live)

It's freezing cold here on the streets (Got no place to live)

Jason Nixon, build me a home (Got no place to live)

Your shelters force me out to roam (Got no place to live)

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

 

2.     Shelter beds can be worse than a tent (Got no place to live)

And I can NOT afford to rent (Got no place to live)

There's bugs and thugs and trouble inside (Got no place to live)

I need a private place to hide (Got no place to live)

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

(Speaker/Singer -- 5 min)

 

3.     Our family came from a place of war (Got no place to live)

We’re not sure what we came here for (Got no place to live)

Our apartment's small, our rent is high (Got no place to live)

We live so tight; we want to cry (Got no place to live)

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

 

4.     I have a disability (Got no place to live)

There's little accessibility (Got no place to live)

Medicine -- or a roof overhead? (Got no place to live)

Can't afford both; there's trouble ahead (Got no place to live)

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

(Speaker/Singer -- 5 min)

 

5.     My partner's abusive, my marriage is done (Got no place to live)

I'm on the streets and on the run (Got no place to live)

We live in my car; it's much too cold (Got no place to live)

but my daughter's school is across the road (Got no place to live)

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

 

 

6.     My student loans are way too high (Got no place to live)

I work three jobs and can't get by (Got no place to live)

Couch surfing's all I can afford (Got no place to live)

Or homelessness is my reward (Got no place to live)

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

(Speaker/Singer -- 5 min)

 

7.     I broke my leg; boss fired me (Got no place to live)

Depression got the best of me (Got no place to live)

Addiction's become my best friend (Got no place to live)

Some days I wish the world would end (Got no place to live)

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

 

8.     Justin Trudeau, you must know (Got no place to live)

You have the funds, just make it so (Got no place to live)

Sean Fraser, we're tired of this fight (Got no place to live)

Feds and Province must do what’s right! (Got no place to live)

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live – Not Shelters!

Got no place to live – Build Housing! Got no place to live!

 

Build Housing – Not Shelters!

Build Housing – Not Shelters!

Build Housing – Not Shelters!

Your humble poet, Maria K.

Meet Remi

On November 2, my husband's birthday, we picked up our furry little bundle of joy. On the three-hour drive home, we debated names as the little one chewed on toys or slept on the back seat between my daughter and me. None of us could agree on anything name-wise, and our puppy was still nameless when we went to bed that evening (not that he let us sleep much... puppies are like that).

So the next morning, I told Lee that if he and Suzanna could come up with something they agreed upon by the time I got home from Inner City Pastoral Ministry, I would go along with it. And so Remi was named for his little moustache (French?) and his tendency to paddle his feet when held in the air (Remi translates as "little oarsman" or something like it in some language or other).

I'm not sure I've ever been as tired as I have been in the past few weeks. We've been taking turns when the puppy wakes at night, but we're not young like when our babies needed overnight care. We're managing, though, and we're loving this little critter, marveling as he learns new things, laughing at his antics, and enjoying puppy kisses and cuddles. His delight with the first snowfall was hilarious, and on Sunday night, he managed the entire 20 minute evening walk Lee and I take every night, though it took 30 minutes with all of Remi's exploratory starts and stops.

We've had visits from a few friends who can't resist puppies, and this post will have a few more folks showing up on our doorstep, I expect. Just call before you come to make sure I'm not taking a nap!

Elli's documentary

I first met Elli fourteen months ago today and was immediately struck by her warmth and kindness. In the space of a very short period of time and subsequent conversations and texts, I knew I had met someone incredibly authentic and deep, someone who had been through a lot, but who knew herself better than many human beings ever do because of her own personal struggle to be true to herself. Now, Elli is all about finding and creating joy.

Over the past year, Elli, with the help of a Telus Story Hive grant and some good friends, has put together a wonderful documentary to share her life experiences so that trans young people can learn that they are not alone, and hopefully, find joy on their own journeys. Elli's honesty and her willingness to open her life up so that others can learn and understand is incredibly brave and generous, especially as the government of Alberta prepares to enact some terrible anti-trans legislation, to put it mildly.

Coming Home -- at least the first 5 episodes (I have yet to view the 6th) -- is definitely worth watching. That I am even saying so is a sign of how far I have come as a human being -- ten years ago (as my own trans child was coming out), the conversations in these videos would have made me deeply uncomfortable, but because I now know many people in the queer and trans community as friends (and family), my perspective has shifted in a major way. I know in my bones that our gender/sexuality is a special part of each of us, and that no matter how we identify, we are all Creator's beloved children and must do what we need to do to be true to ourselves, or risk dying inside.

As mom of a trans child, I have found hope and joy in Elli's documentary in spite of present circumstances. I want to believe that we as human beings can all become more accepting and inclusive of those who are different from us by welcoming them into our lives as they are.

Today is Trans Day of Remembrance, a day when we honour the lives of Trans persons who have died because of anti-trans violence over the past year. It's a very difficult day for many people who have lost friends or who already don't feel safe because of their gender difference. The day I met Elli, as I walked with a different trans person, a full water bottle narrowly missed is. It was hurled by some teens yelling slurs.

I hesitate to offer Elli's first episode because Trans Day of Remembrance is a day of mourning, and Coming Home is about joy. 

But if mourning prejudice and the injustices perpetrated against trans people can be combined with a deeper understanding of what it's actually like to be a trans person, it can bring about healing, too. So I offer the first episode of Coming Home here because Elli and her friendship have helped me to heal and grow in unexpected ways. If you are able to watch this on YouTube, the other episodes should follow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okZjq3SMk-U&t=7s

May we all be as kind and courageous as Elli!

Important event November 23rd

The week ahead is National Housing Week, a time for people to become more aware of the lack of supportive, non-market housing available to those living on the margins of our society due to 30 years of government inaction in providing such housing.

As a ministry team member for Inner City Pastoral Ministry, I'm only too aware of many people who live on the streets of downtown Edmonton because they can't afford a home of their own. Shelter beds will never be an answer to the problem as I've noted many times in these moodlings. Unfortunately, the family of Alberta's Minister for Housing and Seniors started the first shelter in Edmonton, and he is so proud of that legacy, he can't see how terrible shelters are for the health and well-being of community members who are already living with trauma. He ignores the need for permanent homes for the homeless. Nor is our premier interested in solving the problem beyond hiring police and clean up crews to continually displace the tents and tarps of homeless people who have nowhere else to live.

If you share my concern about the lack of housing, which is a nation-wide problem, please consider supporting events going on across the country for National Housing Day -- the easiest way to find one is to use your internet browser, type in the name of your community along with National Housing Day 2024, and see what comes up. 

Here in Edmonton, I'll save you the trouble of looking -- join me at the Alberta Legislature North Plaza at 1 p.m. Please, spread the word and bring friends! The program will be short and family friendly. The poster below holds all the key information. Hope to see you there!

Monday Music Appreciation #42 for Remembrance Day -- In Paradisum from Fauré's Requiem

I'd never heard Fauré's Requiem until Friday night, and with 200 voices from four choirs -- the Richard Eaton Singers, Chorale Saint-Jean, the University of Alberta's Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers -- and some wonderful soloists, I was blown away. It was a beautiful thing to hear on this Remembrance Day weekend, and at the end of it, the audience held silence a few moments longer than usual before breaking into a standing ovation. Long enough for me to breathe, "Wow!" and take another deep breath in and out.

Here is a beautiful version of In Paradisum from 2013, a video of the Royal Choral Society recorded at St. Giles, Cripplegate, near the Barbican in London. I tried to find a video with orchestra and 200 voices, but this was the largest choir I could discover on YouTube, so you'll have to imagine what it would be like to hear it with twice to three times as many singers and a full orchestra to boot. Just amazing.

In honour of those who have fallen in the World Wars that we remember today -- may the angels indeed lead them into paradise -- and with a deep desire for peace on our planet, I leave this with you. 

Music and meditation

I've been meaning to leave this here in my moodlings since before Canadian Thanksgiving! Sharing this information isn't just about appreciating music like my usual Music Appreciation Mondays, but about inviting my readers to participate in it and use it for prayer.

I've posted many times about Taizé in these moodlings, as I've been singing and praying the music of the Community since the early 90s or maybe even earlier, but I only managed to visit what I soon recognized as my spiritual home for the first time in 2014. My experience there was an affirmation of the importance of ecumenism in my life, and it's part of my reason for serving with the Community of Emmanuel at Inner City Pastoral Ministry. 

I deeply believe that Christians can and should pray together as much as possible, regardless of theological and dogmatic differences between churches, and the prayer of the Taizé community is a beautiful way to do that. We gather to listen to scripture and let it speak to our hearts without interpretation, we spend time in silence together, opening ourselves to God, we offer the prayers of our hearts, and we sing beautiful harmonies together, uniting our spirits.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the 2024-2025 season, and an invitation to a very special evening's peace prayer the day before Remembrance Day (this Sunday already!) We will gather, as the brothers of Taizé do every Sunday evening, and sit in silence before God for 30 minutes, praying for peace. The remainder of the hour-long prayer will be a simplified version of what happens in Taizé three times a day. 

I hope you can join us. If you would like a printable version of this poster, please contact me @ the email address under "The Moodler -- Maria K." on the right sidebar, and I'll be happy to email you a copy. Or better yet, come to the prayer and you can have a hard copy that I've already printed.

With the wars happening in our world and concerns about the election for our neighbours to the south, we can use all the peace we can pray for!