You don’t want to hear the storyof my life, and anywayI don’t want to tell it, I want to listen to the enormous waterfalls of the sun. And anyway it’s the same old story – – –a few people just trying,one way or another,to survive. Mostly, I want to be kind.And nobody, of course, is…
Close Encounters: Conor Byrne Pub
In which I attend an open mic I moved to Seattle at the start of February, and it has been a bumpy transition. I tested positive for Covid the day we got the keys to our house and was knocked out of commission for a good six weeks. Finally surfacing and slowly regaining the strength…
Tell your story
April 13, 2023 The following is a piece about a song I recently wrote with Patricia Vuvu, who is originally from the DRC and grew up in South Africa. I met Patricia while helping to organize the “Experiences with Displacement” panel for the Migration Summit 2023. This is a monthlong event that happens during April…
Be who you are
Do you ever feel alone in the world? Let me be the first to assure you that you are not. I know this because while I have a tendency to feel blue and alone in my struggles, when I put these thoughts down on virtual paper and send them out into the world I often…
Why share our stories?
Sharing our stories is important because it helps each of us to believe we have innate value just by virtue of existing. We live in a time where sharing vulnerability and authentic truth is not encouraged. It is better to avoid pain or suffering and to keep it inside in a hidden place. Many of the individuals…
Music is the way forward
It’s been almost a year since my husband and I moved from France back to the small town in central Arizona where we had been living before moving to Belgium five years earlier. Sound confusing? Welcome to my life. I have been moving every two months to two years since I left my parents’ house…
If a tree falls
Note: The identities of participants in a songwriting workshop I describe in this piece have been made anonymous. It’s been a long time since Sarah and I have been able to work together in person to offer poetry and songwriting from stories. The other day, I realized that it has now been more than two…
I am a story
Two years into the Covid pandemic, it is difficult to imagine a time before when Sarah and I could visit the Fedasil Arrival Centre each Monday and interact with people from all over the world. I met Sarah on my very first visit to the center in January 2017, and we met on Mondays until…
It’s a long story
Sarah and I are very excited that our project, “On the Move: Poems and Songs of Migration” has been chosen as one of five finalists for the 2021 Amateo Award for arts participation projects across Europe. Even with the added stress of travel during the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, we are planning (in shallah) to travel…
Give me a chance
Sarah and I are thrilled to have been chosen as one of five finalists for the 2021 Amateo Award for volunteer projects promoting arts and participation in communities in Europe. We are so grateful to Amateo for recognizing our project, “On the Move: Poems and Songs of Migration.” We are honored to be among five…
Guiding Song 