Creativity, Owning It

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain To bring into being something that did not exist before is a gift to yourself and others. Something new or original is valuable. It may or may not have benefit in the economic sense. It is nonetheless of value and meaning to the artist. Most of my formal education was in …

Continue reading Creativity, Owning It

Poignant, Hopeful, Maybe Even Joyful

Hibiscus, national flower of Haiti. In February 1986 Jean Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier was deposed as President of Haiti and went to live in exile in France. Ordinary people were no doubt hoping that the near 30 year brutal rule of his and ‘Papa Doc’ (his father) would come to an end. However the general …

Continue reading Poignant, Hopeful, Maybe Even Joyful

A Harvest of Memories

In my summer break as a student in 1975 I took a job in Canada. Looking back it was doing something I am not now proud of. Picking tobacco. How doing this squared with my convictions at the time I don’t remember. I do know that smoking and tobacco was not seen as negatively back …

Continue reading A Harvest of Memories