Thankful Tuesday: Energy Abounds

This is Tuesday, so I am joining in the Thankful Tuesday party over at Micha Boyett’s blog, Mama: Monk (if its not thankful over there, rest assured, Micha will share something with you that will make you feel thankful for going there!).

This week I am thankful for all the energy that abounds in the people that Jessie surrounds herself with:

Natalie, who took the dance support specialist course (a unique program developed by Propeller Dance to train dancers to support/accompany people with a range of abilities in Propeller community classes) with Jessie and has joined the children's class where Jessie is a teaching assistant. Natalie also knows about Hannukah, so she put together a one-pager for Jessie on some basic words, practices, and, of course, food! Now Jessie wants me to find a dreidle! All, of course, in preparation for the upcoming Hannukah meal in Montreal this Saturday with DB's paternal grandparents. While Natalie has many other wondeful and endearing qualities, I am truly thankful for the effort she put into creating this one-page Hannukah guide for Jessie.

Caitlin and all the other staff, connectors, volunteers, organizers, and family members belonging to LiveWorkPlay who are there as role models and friends and people who listen to and honour Jessie's dreams and goals. And who are also there to help create a supportive resource and celebratory community that knows how to laugh and party.

Janet and Josh, sitting at our table at our first ever LiveWorkPlay family feast, who know a lot about living on their own and finding work and dating and were glad to share their excitment and knowledge with Jessie and DB.

Ximena, Liz, Moni, Robert, Bella, Phil, Shara, Renata, Jason, the incomparable Amelia, and a host of other dancers, mentors, and musicians with whom Jessie dances and teaches, and without whom Jessie would lead a very staid, routine, and boring life filled with chores and mom-defined goals, which might include cleaning her room. But, thanks to these wonderful, energetic, creative, and eclectic people, Jessie lives an unpredictable and always exciting, if often challenging (in the good/growth way) life filled with music and movement and joy and what the buddhists might call "right" action, speech, livelihood, and other bits of the eighth-fold (as I understand it, which isn't saying much!) path. 

My friend CG,and her daughter {RG} and her friends, who always include Jessie and can never ever think of a reason for her not to participate in whatever adventure they have up their sleeves. CG in particular, for her energy in what I can only call extreme cooking, a sport that she has invented to fully welcome every single one of her children (yes, all two) and their friends (all ga-zillion) who make that house their home. Jessie, of course, would eat Just About Anything, so CG's running usually has to do with some mess that Jessie has concocted, in (and sometime outside, like the time she threw her knapsack into the canal and CG had to go get a fishing rod to rescue it) that house.

I am thankful for all these people and their infinite energy. 

   

Jessie Flips: About Kingston

line up for Able Artists Forum

On November 21 and November 22 of 2012 I went to Kingston with Shara Weaver, Renata Soutter and Liz Winkelaar from Propeller and it was really fun. We went to present at the 2^nd annual Able Artists Forum for artists with disabilities, hosted by H’Art in Kingston. We talked about Propeller and integrated contemporary dance.

I LOVE to stay in hotels

Both Shara and Renata got a drive with me and my mom to Kingston and we listened to Justin Hines’ music and we talked. And when we were in Kingston we stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn. It was so amazing. Shara and Renata were next door in room 310 and it was like they were our neighbors. Liz and David stayed with my mom and me in room 308.

Kingston Old City Hall

Then we went into the space where the forum was going to take place: in downtown Kingston at the City Hall. It is a really old building and just a walk/wheel away from our hotel. We took a look around and Renata talked to the tech person who was helping us about the CD that we were using and we looked to see if the ramp and the space was okay to dance in. Earlier that day we went over our speeches, and it went quite well. Then we went back to the hotel to rest before the show.

Shara, me, Renata checking out the space

Then we went back to the hotel to rest before the show.

I like to write to relax.

Shara was really, really tired! They just came back from Calgary before doing another performance in Ottawa and then driving to Kingston! She even put her pajamas on to rest! 

Some of the other artists who were there included a visual artist with a mental health disability (Don King from Different Strokes), a musician who is blind (Barbara MacDougall), the famous Justin Hines, who was very inspiring, and then 3 dance company/artists. So, as well as us, Propeller, there was Melissa Addison-Webster who is doing performance art in Toronto with people with physical disabilities and who are part of the deaf culture. She talked a little bit about how long it takes to create a piece and to make sure that everyone has the support they need to participate. She has lots of energy and is very creative!

Renata, Liz, Jessie rehearsing on the carpet

There was also Menka from des pieds des mains in Montréal. She talked about setting high professional standards and she showed two videos. One was a dance piece, and the other was interviews with the artists about being an artist. Some of her dancers and performers have Down syndrome. I met some of them last year and we went out for food and a beer after the show and we had a great time. It was great to hear other artists with Down syndrome speak. It was in French, but there were subtitles.   

That night after the presentations were over we socialized and talked with people. It was really fun and really exiting, I talked with Menka from Productions des Pieds Des Mains. In Montreal there is a post-secondary school for artists with intellectual disabilities. They work on drama, speech, music, and dance, and they get jobs in movies and theatre. I’d like to go there and to dance with Menka sometime. But I don’t speak french.

Another amazing moment was when we went out to tea with Melissa Addison-Webster with Renata, myself and my mom, my mom and I had a Veggie burger to share and it was really good. I even had a beer. Melissa Addison Webster is a performance artist. She is way talkative and she asked me lots of questions about my life and my boyfriend and we laughed a lot. That was fun.

Shara, me, Menke (back) then Liz and Melissa

Shara, Renata, me outside H'art

And another highlight about this trip was with H’art of Kingston On the last day we visited and went in and spoke to the students, but it wasn’t planned. I spoke about performing and teaching and advocacy. There were a lot of adults and students with Down syndrome and other disabilities there. They are all artists too. And there was a great idea: Shara and Liz thought it would be great if I went back next year to teach a workshop. We’ll work on that! So that’s a goal. My mom and I also want to go back to visit and to talk with Katherine Porter (she started H’Art) about IPSE, Inclusive Post Secondary Education. They have a program there with Queens University.

Now I have to go finish editing my talk for the transition fair on Saturday.

The Hanukkah Chronicles, Part 1

This is how Part 1 begins. Part 1, because I know there will be other parts given that a) this is Jessie,  b)this is Jessie in love, c) this is Jessie in love with Drummer Boy (DB) who is as organizationally challenged as Jessie is, and d) this is seen as a MAJOR MILESTONE on the road to WEDDED BLISS, which involves a beach wedding and living happily ever after in Orange County California with Drummer Boy, as he pursues his wrestling (WWE to be exact) career, and his best friend, who will be managing him. Jessie, of course, will be walking the red carpet right onto the set of Glee along with Lauren Potter. Did you catch all that? So. Just in case you got confused, this is Part 1. And this is how it begins.

Drummer Boy has invited Jessie to celebrate Hanukkah with his father’s family in Montreal. This will be a chance for DB to share his religious and cultural heritage with her, not to mention introduce her to his paternal Grandparents!  This is a BIG deal, for both DB and Jessie. They have talked about this for a long time, trying to figure out when it might happen. This is almost even bigger than, well, other moments you might conceive of in your wild imagination. Bigger certainly if you measure it by emotional energy.

So, they are ready for this. Jessie’s first Hanukkah, first time meeting DB’s bubba. And DB says it’s in December, and Jess is already nervous (I swear she watches the soaps without me knowing, else how to account for this nervousness?) and then we ask DB’s Dad for the date.

December 8. December 8 sounds awfully familiar to me. Too familiar.

After DB leaves with his Dad, we look on the calendar and find that December 8 is Propeller Dance’s Community Day. A very big performance and celebration. Jessie falls to the floor, a puddle of tears. “Remember . . . “ I say and Jessie finishes the sentence through her tears, “every problem has a solution …” but I can tell that she doesn’t quite believe this one.

I do get to hear a diatribe about the importance of sharing your partner’s religious background, about the importance of meeting family, about … well, a number of things that I can’t quite recall because I stopped listening after the first sentence. She didn’t have to convince me of anything. I knew it was important to her and DB and told her so. But somehow this little glitch fed into her bizarre and reoccurring need to re-imagine her and DB as star-crossed lovers overcoming exceptional odds to be together. Exceptional odds like, for example, me and doctor lady (DB’s mom) driving them on dates, or maybe us even setting up dates for them, or maybe us paying for those dates, or maybe us making sure they have uninterrupted and private time together, or maybe … you know, those kinds of exceptional odds.

After recovering from her oh-the-world-is-unfair-and-no-one-understands-true-love meltdown we discussed the options and I assured her that if it conflicted with Propeller, this was one time where I thought she should do exactly what she judged to be best, as I understood how important it was to share Hanukkah with DB and his family. I think I left her gob-smacked, as I had to explain this about 6 times, assuring her that this was probably the one time where work might not take precedence. Of course, I was wrong. Wrong because Community Day is a big day and Jessie is definitely expected to be there as part of her job as teacher and performer.

Three public (i.e., in rehearsal) meltdowns later, I make an executive decision. I step back from real world consequences and having her develop her frontal and other cortices by problem solving and decide to just tell her that we will make it possible for her to do Community day AND get to Montreal in time for Hanukkah.

Guess what I’m doing late in the afternoon on Saturday December 8, right after Propeller’s Community Day?

Thank you, thank you. Just another Hail Mary Pass brought to you by MoM: Maker of Miracles.