Thursday, September 8, 2016

my classes and the Special Needs Hotel

Dear student writers, just a reminder: the Ryerson class that starts Monday evening is full. I won't know till next week how many are in the U of T class, which starts in early October and runs on Tuesday afternoons, but please check it out - the link is on this website under Teaching. I'm pretty sure there's room if you can free yourself during the day.

As a reminder of how important creativity is in our lives, I had this note from a former student who is coming back to class. She's a university professor, a talented writer who struggles to make time in her busy life for her creative self.

It HAS been too long and not being able to steep in the creativity of others is withering my soul. Even the spouse has noticed and commented that I need to be writing more, and even said he is willing to forego my income if I want to quit sooner than later so that I can spend more time learning how to write. (That defines love, methinks.)

Methinks also. What a lovely story. And incidentally, she lives beyond Niagara on the Lake and told me she is training herself to stay up late so she can drive safely back all that way on class nights. Now that's dedication. That also defines love, methinks.

Just watched a gorgeous documentary on CBC called "The special needs hotel," about the Foxes, a hotel in Britain that provides restaurant and cleaning training and education for special needs young people, most of them with Down's syndrome, others with autism and ADHD. Profoundly moving to see the transformation in those young lives with care and attention, patience and a job. They all triumphed. If you get a chance to see this, don't miss it.

What is life, after all, but a special needs hotel?

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