A nice quote from the website of an organization I am working with these days:

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.

— Lin Yutang, Chinese author, inventor, and translator who was once detained at Ellis Island

“Do you remember what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries when the world was in its childhood.”

— Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet

Nineteen years ago today I set off on a short walk on a beautiful Ottawa spring morning traveling about eight blocks from our apartment on Frank Street to my office on Cooper Street. For me it was the first day of work at the National Association of Friendship Centres and the first real salaried job I had since leaving university in August 1991. I remember the walk well, remember the warm morning, and the feeling that I was lucky to have landed a job with a great organization, especially after a winter of living on meager UI benefits. I knew then that, thanks to the determination of my friend Marc Maracle to hire me, my life’s work would unfold from this place.

And so it has. Working for the NAFC gave my crucial skills in beginning to practice facilitation, in beginning to see the true challenges of community work and in working for Aboriginal communities as an oshkebewis, an Anishnaabemowin word that means “helper of a medicine person.”. I identify strongly with that term as I often have the sense that my work is all about working with the medicine of community, finding ways to restore wellness and energy especially in places riven with conflict, fear and desperation.

I owe a huge debt of thanks to Marc for finding a way to hire me on that spring day and to my first boss Terry Doxtator and our board and staff. What I got from them was a solid grounding in skills and a generous and supportive place to practice. I consider myself a Friendship Centre success story, one of the many people across Canada who cut their teeth in the Friendship Centre movement and who have taken their skills and experience into the wider world. Everywhere I have travelled I talk about how important Friendship Centres are to the indigenous communities of Canada and I’m proud to embody that value.

So a big Nia:wen to Marc, wherever you are out there. One day you’ll find this post and receive once again the gratitude that I owe you for kicking me into the world with such fun, support, challenge and faith.

Yesterday my childhood football team Tottenham Hotspur saw it’s magnificent 2010-2011 campaign begin a slow limp to a disappointing ending.  This was an incredible year for the team, making the UEFA Champions League at the close of last season, narrowly qualifying for the group stage, going on an incredible run to finish top of the group and then knocking off AC Milan to get to the Quarter Final, one stage further than our fierce rivals, Arsenal.   Along the way we have had some great victories and matches, including some incredible league derby games against Arsenal, and some scintillating attacking football from PFA Player of the year, Gareth Bale. Injuries, mistakes, an arid strike corps and a late, fatal dip in form have meant that the Champions League is all but out of reach for us for next season.  Yesterday’s travesty at Chelsea, a game which the Blues won 2-1 on goals that were not goals at all (the ball HAS to cross the line, players HAVE to be onside in order for a goal to count, technically speaking) has sealed our fate.  I was feeling a little melancholy about it this morning when I came across this lovely animation of Gareth Bale’s performances against Inter Milan this year, a true coming of age for a great footballer.  Bale is a lovely young man, soft spoken, competitive and incredibly blessed with speed, stability and a superb talent for crossing the ball with his left foot.  When he scores he makes a little heart with his fingers and runs straight to the fans.

He has been the best part of what has been, to be fair, a really fun season to follow, perhaps more fun even than the 1981 FA Cup year, when Hoddle, Ardilles and Villa thrilled my 12 year old heart.  The old refrain now sounds…always next year.