It is the final day of April, and I am sitting in a third floor room typing away as the rain falls in a cold, wet blanket outside my window. These past two weeks, I have traveled under the auspice of Story-to-Song to two very different locations, cities, and climes in Canada.

Last week, I visited Vancouver for a visit with my sibling and a week of frolicking around a beautiful city, through forest, along the water’s edge, and down sidewalks lined with cherry blossoms in bloom and myriad locally owned shops and restaurants.

My sibling and I continued what has now become a tradition of songwriting when we are together. We composed a song about what it meant to spend a week together after a separation of over two years. My sib took a keen interest and delight in the little soprano pineapple I had brought with me from Lowell; I began teaching them some chords, and we were playing and singing songs together within minutes.

Less than 36 hours after my plane landed in Boston, and I was headed north for Montreal to meet my music and business partner for a songwriting demonstration and paper presentation at a conference called Deindustrialization and its Aftermath: Class, Culture, and Resistance. It took several conference submissions before we found the right one for Story-to-Song. We will be offering our presentation on a day devoted to oral traditions as a way to give voice to the changes happening in once industrialized areas.

I can feel my entire being come alive when talking about songwriting and composing music, so this has been a special couple of weeks. It has become my intention, post Sandbox Accelerator, to create and pursue as many possibilities as my health and wellbeing will allow while working a full-time day job. I hope to soon be able to completely commit my energies to Story-to-Song. I will keep you posted as I move in this direction.

Stay tuned for details about my experiences in Montréal and at the conference!

Here is a link to learn more about the conference itself:

http://storytelling.concordia.ca/deindustrialization/

As always, thank you for your support and encouragement.