Beth's workshop at the Parliament Street library, Thursday Sept. 22

The day before yesterday, a summer bug hit. I actually took a Covid test, which was negative, but felt lousy and wondered about my trip to New York on Thursday. Today, though, better. And what a stunning day it was too. Fall is in the air, and yesterday was cool and gloomy, but today the sun is hot. 

On Saturday, which was very hot, there was a powwow just down the street in the Regent Park park, and my daughter's group was providing the food. There she was in her ribbon skirt, grilling bison burgers, which were delicious. There was a big Indigenous crowd, many dancers in jingle dresses or feathers, lots of kids, loud drumming. At the same time, the big Muslim population of Regent Park was also out, so there were women in niqab, boys in long white tunics with little white caps ... and many others of all nationalities. As always, I marvelled at the diversity of my city and especially my neighbourhood.

I'm so grateful to my local library for 36 years of great reading that I offered to give a free memoir writing workshop there, which will take place Thursday Sept. 22. I posted about it on IG, and someone replied Coincidentally, I happen to be reading True to Life as you post this! I actually just finished the exercise of writing as my negative voice and then defending my writing to the devil👺 The exercise opened me up to writing the first truth I’ve put on paper in months. So what I’m saying is, I’ll be there! 😂

So the good news is, at least one person will be in attendance.

I'm also working on a podcast about memoir writing with my young tech assistant Patrick; we taped one episode that I've heard and another that I haven't yet. There will be a series of talks and some interviews with local nonfiction writers. No idea what to do with it all. Stay tuned. 

Tomorrow night, the Cabbagetown Short Film Festival, produced by my friend Gina. Wouldn't miss it. Now packing for NYC. Just hope this sore throat vanishes.