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Lessons Learned By Blair McDonald
A
s many in the Tamworth and surrounding area know, this summer marked the passing of my father, Greg McDonald. Greg was a proud, lifelong resident of Tamworth who was known to many for playing and coaching fastball and hockey throughout his life. In anticipation of the deadline for this article, I went back and forth on whether or not I should write about this very subject. In the end, I gave in because as I’m learning when death comes, its comes with its own lessons, lessons that bring us into contact with the mysteries of life and the pressings of time. It might seem strange to even imagine that we could put the words death and teach together. For some, death remains
the very thing that for humans we remain “unteachable” about (search the work of French philosopher, Maurice Blanchot). For me, one of the strangest things about going through a loved one’s death is seeing how life doesn’t stop for any of us. Of course, many of us could say this is an obvious. But I never really understood it until now. I can remember clearly looking out the window in the moments following only to notice the indifference of the outside world – a couple walking across the parking lot, a janitor mopping a spill in the hallway, a woman digging through her purse, kids running across the hospital lawn. In this very moment, our world changes, and outside life marches on without so much as a blink.
BIZCARD
The Scoop’s The other unexpected thing is the way
Tamworth’s rising literary profile By Mike Paterson
T
here’s something special about a good owner-operated bookshop. It speaks to the imagination, it excites the mind, and it can even inspire a few dreams. But cultural shifts and online shopping mean that, even in big cities, they can be hard to find. So Tamworth is unusually fortunate to have its Book Shop: one that, beyond its shelves of new, near-new, and carefully refurbished volumes, steps outdoors from time to time to give good writing fresh expression in the open air. Since 2009, the Book Shop in Tamworth has hosted summertime poetry readings: free, outdoor presentations by some of Canada’s leading poets.
random household objects take on special significance. In the days that followed, banal, household items flooded Call us today to reserve your space: 379-1128 me with memories: a pair of running shoes in the closet, a pair of his reading Poets appreciate the setting, even glasses sitting on the shelf, a half bottle if the ambience is occasionally of cologne, his handwriting on a piece interrupted by a passing motorbike of paper, a recently completed Whigor a neighbourhood power tool. Standard crossword puzzle. Even when “People around town are always very JUST 39 BUCKS FOR A BIZCARD AD. $110 FOR 3 I was home this summer watching TVPurpose & considerate noise when they “Hope, Belonging about in Long Term Care” with him, he asked me whether the song know we have a reading,” said The Book ISSUES. YOU CAN’T BEAT THAT! in this one commercial was a real song Shop’s owner, Robert Wright. “And we do or not. At the time I had no idea what it appreciate their thoughtfulness.” was, but it turns out it was “Renegades” by the X Ambassadors (it turned into August’s readings featured two longone of the biggest songs of the summer). standing friends of the Book Shop — Now, every time I hear that song, I can’t John Donlan and Susan Gillis — and a help but be reminded of him. new face at the lectern, Jason Heroux.
F I L E
The great 19th century French writer Marcel Proust had a name for this experience: memoire involontaire (involuntary memory). Proust claims that we can experience unintentional memories when our senses are unexpectedly triggered by a moment like, for example, the smell of a particular flower or food, a song or even the feel of something. Never have I become more aware of this idea until now. As bittersweet as it may be, around Chartered Accountant every corner, one never knows where the next memory will come from. And to be 6661 Wheeler Street, honest, that’s ok.
John McClellan
Tamworth, ON K0K 3G0 613-379-1069
“John Donlan put the programme together,” said Robert. John Donlan grew up in Baysville, Muskoka. He remembers his father hauling logs with teams of horses and neighbours keeping skunks, crows, and porcupines as pets. It was an upbringing that instilled in him the awareness of place and nature that is so evident in his poetry.
Napanee & District Chamber of Commerce
He has five books of poetry to his credit and has seen his work has published in 47 Dundas St. E • Napanee Canada, the United States, and in Iran: 613.354.6601 in anthologies, magazines and poetry journals. www.napaneechamber.ca
He was last year’s Writer in Residence at Networking • Business the Saskatoon PublicSeminars Library and read from writing he completed there at$$ the Programs That Can Save Businesses Volleyball Book Shop. Tamworth School Ask Us About Membership
Adult Indoor
Fri Oct 2 - Fri Dec 18
Susan Gillis, the other familiar face at the Tamworth readings, teaches for a Cégep in Montreal but spends a part of her summers in Ontario.
Solid Gold Organic $40 to play. Pet Food.Indoor 100%shoes a must. She has won various national awards and organic! No Chemical award nominations for her poetry. Her 7 - 9 p.m. weekly books include The Rapids (nominated for Preservatives! Beef, unless PA Day. the A.M. Klein Award), Twenty Views of Lamb and Fish/ steven@moorepartners.ca the Lachine Rapids and Whisk. Come on out and play some susan@moorepartners.ca Vegetarian Formulas. Jason Heroux, who made his debut Pick-up or recreational delivery volleyball at Tamworth in August, is based in Kingston. He has two poetry collections and have available. Please calla fun time! www.moorepartners.ca 613 • of 379 • 5958 to his credit — Memoirs an Alias and for more information and catalogue. Call the Regal Beagle: 613-379-1101
The Stone Mills Fire Department is holding a Blanket Drive. We are looking for blankets to use at emergency calls. If you have any blankets you would like to donate please drop them off at the Township of Stone Mills municipal office. Thank you, Stone Mills Fire Department
Emergency Hallelujah — and has been published in Canada, the United States, Belgium, France and Italy. “Jason is a young writer with a quirky, original style that draws people in fairly quickly,” said Robert. The readers had a smaller-than-usual audience in August. “There was a major poetry event in Perth, Ontario on the same day and some of the poets we’d usually see weren’t with us and we drew fewer people than normally,” said Robert. “But what we found was that the chemistry of a smaller audience worked out nicely and there was a special interaction between the reader and the people who came to hear them. “A lot of writers come with friends, and at our last reading all three writers presented new work.” The readings conclude with free refreshments and there is time for audience members and poets to meet and talk. On 20 September, the prominent Albertaborn writer, Stan Dragland, Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Western Ontario, and Kate Cayley both read, with music by Toute Ensemble. Kate Cayley is this year’s $20,000 Trillium Book Award winner, for her collection of short stories, How You Were Born. Stan Dragland now lives in St John’s, Newfoundland. His new book is Strangers and Others: Newfoundland Essays. The Book Shop’s 2015 season will close on October 4 with readings by Britishborn poet Carolyn Smart. Carolyn Smart is director of Creative Writing at Queen’s University and the author of a number of books. Her poems and essays have been published in more than 150 magazines in Canada, the US, Britain, India and Australia. She has made radio and television appearances and given public readings across Canada and the United States. She will read from her new collection, Careen, which explores the story of Bonnie and Clyde.
October / November 2015 • THE SCOOP
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