Aboriginal Writing Group Poem

Action Read's Aboriginal Writing Group meets weekly to work on reading and writing skills, and to make connections to indigenous worldviews and principles. These include the importance of balance, storytelling and community; the significance of elders, respect for traditional knowledge and connection to the land; the importance of silence and listening, experiential learning and mentorship, and much more. The group also learns about the seven grandfather teachings and honouring and connecting learning to the different aspects of the medicine wheel - intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual.

Informed by this approach to learning, the following poem was created by the group in observation and celebration of the beauty and colour of the changing seasons. We hope you enjoy the vivid images and feelings they create!

Spotlight on Learner and Volunteer Cassandra-Lynn Garrett

Cassandra-Lynn Garrett

Cassi came to Action Read in 2013 to attend our computer and cash register training groups. At the end of the groups, Cassi decided to stay to work on improving her writing and math skills.

Cassi’s main interest and focus is on her writing. She has a large collection of poetry and is currently working on her personal life story with her tutor, Sophie.

Cassi also volunteers at Action Read and at the Guelph Y, working with children. She has shown real leadership by speaking publicly about her personal struggles and what she has gained from coming to Action Read. Soon she will put those leadership skills to further use by joining the Action Read Board of Directors!  She works on our front desk (her smile is contagious), as well as helping with other community activities such as our “Scrabble in the Square” at the Downtown Gives Back event.  She recently participated in a United Way video, a link to which can be found on the Action Read homepage.

 

Cassi has overcome many barriers in her life and has not let her disability stand in her way of setting and reaching her personal goals and dreams.

 

A few months ago, Cassi wrote a poem to submit to the Canadian Mental Health Association – Hamilton Branch” during Canadian Mental Health week. Cassi won 2^nd place and her poem has been put up for auction!  Cassi's courage and impressive communication skills are evident in her well-received submitted poem:

 

 

Why is the world such a difficult place?

Why are my problems getting harder to fight?

Why is my past coming to haunt me?

Surfacing above me; causing me to suffocate.

Why is something so easy, so difficult for me?

Just tell me why I have to be the consequence of your many mistakes.

Problems arise daily for me, all because you chose to drink.

Generation to generation, mother to daughter,

My life is a reflection of your drowning in misery.

My life is my life, but I didn’t choose this,

To be defined as a failure because of a bottle.

My life is challenging, it will never be easy.

It will never be easy to live with a disability.

 

   Written by Cassandra-Lynn Garrett

 

 

 

Spotlight on Volunteer Bev Nuttall





                                                                                    Artwork by Lori Portka

   While Steaming Broccoli

 

It takes courage to question

and to sing in a crowd,

when I really feel timid

and don’t want to be loud.

It takes love of myself

to challenge the norm,

to expect a great deal

and not to conform.
 

It takes faith when a loved one

is snatched from above,

a belief in a force that encompasses love.

 

It takes trust when the stakes

seem to reach up so high,

that the walls and the borders

eclipse from the sky.

 

 It takes humour to laugh

when the world seems so grim,

to chuckle when sadness

attacks from within.

 

It takes work to express

clear, articulate thought

when my mind jumps around

to the groceries I bought.

  

 Bev Nuttall, February 21, 2012. Written while making dinner
 



Bev Nuttall, May 2015

Bev has been a volunteer tutor with Action Read for 2 years. She began writing poetry in 1996 on the 7^th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. 

Bev lived in Beijing during this time, volunteering for Canadian Crossroads International teaching English to middle school students and their teachers. She witnessed first-hand the student-led demonstrations and protests calling for government accountability, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and the restoration of worker’s control over industry. On June 4 troops with assault rifles and tanks inflicted casualties on unarmed civilians, resulting in bloodshed that was unprecedented in the history of Beijing.

Bev returned to Canada and began teaching English as a Second Language in the Waterloo region as well as working for W.P.I.R.G. – Waterloo Public Interest Research Group. In her role with W.P.I.R.G, Bev was an advocate for education, the environment and social change. Much of the poetry she writes is about social justice, the environment and self-discovery.

 

Mother to Daughter

My dear daughter let me tell you

that life has not always been good

That life has not always been good

I feel life is like hills and valleys

The hills are the good and happy times

And the valleys are the bad and sad times

But dear daughter, after having you

Everyday is a hill as big as a mountain

I will never giveup with you by my side

Please never give up working on your dreams

Life will look better tomorrow

With lots of hills in our future

Thank you dear daughter

For all your love and support


author unknown