Nathalie Vachon

Saying Goodbye

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:05:57 +0000

Since July, I have been teaching English to one of the nicest Japanese guys I have ever met. I have so enjoyed teaching him and having the opportunity in this way to re-connect with Japan. Last week was our last lesson together and I wrote the following right after. He will most certainly be missed…

Saying Goodbye - by Nathalie Vachon

Today was our last lesson. Book 4, Side by Side, Tag questions. This tea is good, isn’t it? You like Japan, Don’t you? This has been great, hasn’t it? I’m going to miss you, aren’t I?

We focus on the lessons; I correct, help with pronunciation. But on this day, this last lesson I had to stay focused. Focus on the letters, the way the words roll off the tongue. Laugh at the mispronunciation of puppy (not poopy). Review present continuous. Take note of how I explain things with my hands. Remind him how we use ‘a’ the first time we mention something and ‘the’ the second time. A lion escaped from the zoo. The lion was captured.

I stay stoic. The teacher, formulating examples, trying not to think about this being our last lesson. I am not good at goodbyes. My heart is not good at letting go. So at the end of the lesson when Yousuke asks me to write down my favourite words or expressions I make fun. “You mean like Easy peasy lemon squeezy!?” or “Like Whatchamacallit?” Yousuke writes the word dream in Japanese characters, he points to it, says “I like this word. Nathalie, what words do you like?”

I make a list:

Dream

Imagine

Believe

Inspiration

Choose Love

Be brave

Then I fall upon the words:

Seek Kindness Always

Yousuke asks to buy 10 cards from me (with my paintings on them) and he asks if I can write my favourite words on each one. Seek Kindness Always. I choose this phrase. Be kind to each other, to others, also be kind to yourself, kind to nature, to spirit. Seek Kindness. I choose this phrase because kindness was what the Japanese people bestowed on me when I was in Japan. And I chose this phrase because it was the reason I said I wanted to teach a Japanese student English… so I could give back, show kindness back.

For six months Yousuke came once, twice, sometimes three times a week to stumble through words, to ask questions – “what does helpful mean?” to arrange nouns and verbs and adjectives to make meaning. And today all the words and phrases and workbooks and lessons culminated in three words SEEK KINDNESS ALWAYS. These were the right words to choose.

Yousuke held the bundle of cards up to his heart each one with the three words and my signature below. “Nathalie” he said “This is the best gift I could bring back home with me”

I try my best not to cry. I look down to hide the tears that well in my eyes. All I can say is thank you.

Ignore No Vision (after Maya Angelou)

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:49:50 +0000

PROMPT: Using two lines of a poem written by Maya Angelou to Oprah Winfrey for her 50th birthday (Ignore no vision… and increase your spirit), each writer was to create two lines of inspiration and encouragement to create a group poem. We picked numbers randomly to decide the order and here is the final poem:

Ignore No Vision – by Sabrina, Catherine, Carol, Alice, Vanessa, Maryaleen and Nathalie

Ignore no vision which comes to enlarge your range

And increase your spirit

Fearlessly, be your own champion

And tend fiercely to your sweet and tender dream shoots

Allow softness to grow your heart open

Accept tininess, accept flaw as the beginnings of power

Open one, two eyes and watch as the screen of possibility etches mirrors of brilliance on pupil.

Blink and let curtains of blue and yellow wash over soul window and rest into heart.

Ignore no opportunity to love and do right by you –

For that paves the way to truth, compassion and the creative heart.

Let the stories come. See, hear, feel, and tell them. They keep us alive and connected. Life is only that: stories, awakening us to the fullness of the human spirit.

You want to see? Then take off the blinkers. Close your eyes and let the pictures come. They’re big enough to fill a universe with hope, with joy and with love.

Look from front, from back, from above, from below

Build the textures, reveal the details

Find beginnings in endings for new stories and characters

Lift up, eyes open, eyes up, climb

Soar, seek, pass over, move on, leave behind

Holiday Open Studio

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:59:40 +0000

Ho, Ho, Ho!

You are most warmly invited my 5th annual Holiday Open studio…come on by for a little holiday cheer and to kick-start the season!

Holiday Open Studio!
395 Scarborough Road
Saturday December 3rd
11am – 3pm

With lots of creative gift ideas and stocking stuffers… there will be paintings, prints, cards, magnets, a cd of stories
(including Emma May’s Christmas Day) and the new Cadence Holiday Album, Cool Yule (hot off the press!)
Stop in for a little eggnog and some treats to get your holiday shopping off to a good start…
Hope to see you then!

warm wishes for a healthy and happy holiday season,
Nathalie

World on a Maple Leaf

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:19:37 +0000

I am so happy to announce the inclusion of Mischief and the Moon (the original Japanese Folktale I wrote inspired by my year and a half in Japan) in the recent publication of World on a Maple Leaf a collection of 25 folktales written by people from different cultural backgrounds who call Canada home. Rooted in cultures from around the world, the stories offer an imaginative world to students while promoting the true spirit of multiculturalism and educating students in the principles of diversity, equality and respect.

To buy additional copies, you can contact the publisher. UCCA (email NAYANIKA KUMAR at ucca@shaw.ca) can provide some free copies to be distributed to agencies where they can be made available to children, such as children’s hospitals, libraries, community centres, and other children’s agencies, especially the ones for low income families.

Where is She Today

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:01:56 +0000

PROMPT: This prompt came from the group scanning a set of books and picking out titles or phrases that jumped out. The phrases that Sabrina wrote from: ‘a tourist in your own town’ and ‘where is home’.

Where is She Today – by Sabrina Dias

Where is she today? Sometimes as she walks up her street of nine years, this thought pops into her head: “Does this feel like my home?” Or she asks herself “Have I really lived her this long? So why am I still asking myself if this feels like my home?” She finds this very bizarre. She is happy, she is content; life is very good for her. Neither she nor her husband is jobless, nor are they suffering from any terrible illnesses. They have no children so life is relatively calm and uncomplicated. But where is home then?

She is brown; her husband is white.

She is a woman; most of her colleagues are men.

She is the daughter of immigrants, an Indian couple who came here from Karachi.

She speaks English, not Hindi, nor Urdu, nor Konkani, nor any other of the many languages of India.

She doesn’t wear a sari; she wears jeans, lululemons and capris.

She doesn’t know how to make a chapatti, nor a dosa, nor other fantastic Indian dishes very well, but she tries now.

She has only been one time to India.

In India, she is brown and her husband is white.

In India, she is the daughter of immigrants, an Indian couple who went to Canada from Karachi.

In India, she is brown-skinned woman amongst thousands of brown-skinned people in the street. And her husband is white.

In India, she speaks English, not Hindi.

So where is home?

Today she sits at a table with five women. All are writing, pen to paper. They are warm, and soft, and open. There is one language here, it seems. One colour. One age. There is one common, shared goal here. Or rather, it is a shared feeling. There is an absence that she feels here though. Where is the pressure to find that specific element, to tug at it and identify its place in her self, or identify herself as she may be in this place?

Teeth

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:52:19 +0000

PROMPT: Write about teeth!

Teeth – by Sarah Batten

I have not been to a dentist in years. I won’t say how long. I ask myself why. I have come to the conclusion that I do not go because of the dentist I was forced to go to as a child. He was brutal. That is the only word that springs to mind. I felt as though I was abused by him. I guess I was, but perhaps not in the usual way. He was so rough; his hands were not the least bit gentle.

Dr. Dmitri and his assistants would stand over me breathing out their strong, bitter, coffee breaths. “Hoooooow are yooooouuu todaaaaay Sarah?” Before I could answer I experienced a sea of hands coming at me and grabbing inside my small mouth.

The sounds of that high pitched weeeeeeeee drill. The scratching, scraping of the metal tools.

“Ah, it’s only a small one. No need to freeze.” What?! I cannot describe the immense pain that followed. The pounding through my head, my veins, my ears.

“Owwwwww!”

Suddenly I felt a sloppy, wet kiss on my forehead. What was that? What just happened?

“Good girl”, he whispered.

I was horrified. I sunk down into the big, clunky dentist’s chair. I could smell a combination of orange fluoride, cement, gum, coffee, body odour and cigarettes. And now that smell was stamped on my forehead. That horrible stench is how I imagine all dentist offices smell.

Why did I have to go that that dentist? Because he went there. We had to do everything he did. His doctor. His dentist. His house. His rules.

My mother’s husband. But that is another story. Not a teeth story.

Health, Food, Creativity Weekend at Luc’s Sculpture

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:24:07 +0000

Saturday, Oct. 29 & Sunday, Oct. 30th
10am-7pm

Health, Food, Creativity focuses on health and wellness through our unique expression, creativity. It is a space you can experience and explore who you are through doing good to the self, earth, and everyone else! There are places for purchasing healthy products & art works, playing with cay, participating workshops run by health practitioners, healers and artists. I will be offering a workshop in Creative Writing on Saturday at 3pm.

Location:
Yuri’s Village & LucSculpture
663 Greenwood Ave.

Contact:
yuri@yurisvillage or 416-466-5773

Entrance Fee:
$12 for one day access
$20 for 2-day access
12 years under are free
Student & Senior: $8 for a day, $15 for 2-day

Abbey’s Monster

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:36:25 +0000

How is Abbey supposed to sleep when the monster in her closet keeps howling, banging and scratching at her door? And to top it off, her parents can’t seem to see the monster. Abbey has to be brave and face it herself. But as Abbey discovers, monsters aren’t always what they first appear to be.

Abbey had a monster in her closet. She was sure of it. And each night as bedtime approached, Abbey did everything she could to avoid going to bed, and to avoid that moment when…

the light would go click and the door would go creak and the latch would go clack… and the sound of that monster always came back!

The Beach Studio Tour – Fall 2011

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:12:14 +0000

It’s just around the corner…

Take a little stroll through the Beaches, listen to the leaves crunch, wander into an artist’s studio, have a cup of tea and take in the beautiful work of local painters, potters, jewelers, photographers, textile artists, sculptors and metal workers… Yes, it is time for the Fall Beach Studio Tour!
* Friday October 21st (6pm -9pm)
* Saturday October 22nd (10am-6pm)
* Sunday October 23rd (11am-6pm)

23 Artists welcome you into 14 Studio locations in the Beach… see www.beachstudiotour.ca for more info or pick up a brochure along Queen Street or Kingston Road (keep your eyes peeled for the yellow bikes with brochures in the baskets!)

An Inspiration

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:06:38 +0000

As some of you know, my Uncle Paul has always been an inspiration to me. Where my father encouraged me to be a doctor, dentist, lawyer and stay clear of the arts (of course he meant well, as many parents do) my uncle lived a creative life and was living proof that an artist can not only survive but can flourish. I wasn’t sure if he really knew how he was a beacon for my own creative dreams but before he passed away this summer I tried to let him know.

And after he passed away I wanted to do something to honour all that he meant to me and to so many others. This song was written in hopes of capturing how dear he was to all of us.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI3zGsjEOfs

Written, created and produced by Ross Lynde (hubby extraordinaire) and myself. Photos care of my also wonderful cousin Pierre-Etienne.