What people in the US call Veterans Day is honored in Commonwealth countries as Remembrance Day—a celebration of the end of the First World War and a time to honor all who have served in the military across the years. We grieve that the “war to end all wars” didn’t, we remember those who gave their lives, and we hold in our hearts all who have served and sacrificed.
Who in particular are you holding in your heart this Remembrance Day?
So much of our communication these days is instantaneous: email, text message, video conference, social media in all its guises—bringing the pleasure of instant gratification, but also a mixed barrage of connections we treasure, spam we loathe, information we need or will never use or should never trust, all in an unstoppable torrent. Sometimes you need to draw back and wait for something that, like snail mail, will arrive in its own sweet time.
What have you enjoyed waiting for?
Elephants, it turns out, can learn to paint, creating beautiful, deliberate figures by holding a brush in their trunk. If you think art is only something to be created by the select, “gifted” few, you might want to think again.
How do you create art, in whatever form?
When the angle of the sun is right, sun shines into this cave, illuminating the rock formations and allowing small plants to grow. Sometimes illumination strikes us at improbable times and places, bringing a new perspective and an opportunity for growth.
When have you been surprised by a flash of illumination?
I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes.
―Vladimir Nabokov
Do you have a memory that has grown stronger and stranger with time?
