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3 LEARNING TO HEAL: A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF INTRAFAMILLAL.TRAUMA AND RECOVERY Matthew W. G. Stewarî A thesis submitted in conformity wiîh the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Cumculum, Teaching, and Leaming Ontario institute for Studies in Education of the University of Copyright by Matthew W. G. Stewart 1998
4 National Library Acquisitions and Bibliographie SeMces Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions et services bibliographiques 395 We(lingtwi Street 395. nie Wellington OthiwaON KlAW OmwaON K1AW Canada Canada The author has granted a nonexclusive licence dowing the National Library of Canada to reproduce, loan, distriilbute or sell copies of this thesis in microfonq paper or electronic formats. The author retains ownership of the copyright in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it may be printed or otherwïse reproduced without the author's permission. L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive permettant à la Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduire, prêter, distriibuer ou vendre des copies de cette thèse sous la forme de microfiche/nim, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. Ni la thèse rii des extraits substantiels de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement reproduits sans son autorisation.
5 For EWeth
6 LEARNLNG TO HEAL: A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF INTRAFAMILIAL TRAUMA AND RECOVERY Matthew W.G. Stewart, Doctor of Phiiosophy, 1998 Department of Curriculum, Teachhg and Le-ng University of Toronto ABSTRACT The basic story of extreme intnfimibal violence is one of survival. the story of living while one is dyin& being annihilated by a physically stronger but morally inferior (parental) force. Dying is the act of becoming disembodied, the act of being swaliowed into what 1 have come to know as the dark cavems of the great fish. The biblical whale provides the key metaphor in my inquiq into sels trauma, and ni~val. By acknowledgïng that extreme intrafdal violence is integral to the childhood experience of many adults, some ofwhom are teachers, I hope to create a space for their stones to be told as weil. How do teachers and students come to grips with the highly mis-educative experiences of terror and trauma that nevertheless hold powerful lessons? Teachers and students need new maps for understanding these lessons, in the hope that they can learn what conaitutes an educative expenence. - In mis-educative experience lies the seed of educative experience. The student who has been swaiiowed on the way to death but cast out into life needs the help of a compassionate listening teacher to help hider make a map of the insides of the great fish. Only then can the great fish be seen as a vehicle, an undenvater boat, a slimy submarïne. The joumey inside the great fish becomes integrated ùito the story of the whole joumey. It becomes a key component in the Jonah-student-tacher's education, rather than a mis-educative detour. The rnap of the insides
7 of the great fish shows: (1) the way which is death-in-we; (2) the "belly" or the place and the 1esson, which is Me-in-death, and (3) the way out which is new We. Thus, the belly of the great fish cornes to be seen and appreciated as a critical place of growth where the lonah-studenttacher's new selfwas being created, a paradolricai type of womb, a new matrix of meaning. Survivors ofchronic htrafaaulial violence have been swdowed manv tirnesa again and again Their stories need to be told and heard. But how can they be told? Arts-based storying curriculum creates space for the telier, the tale, and the tehg. These aories, like this inquis. mot be forced to fit into a scientsc, paradigrnatic form or mould. They need space to breathe Their form and content uiform each other in a circular, self-supponing dance. This arts-based narrative inqujr into intrafamijiai trauma is constructed like a natural rhizome, growing underground, in darkness. It sends up shoots of unpredictable plural selves and voices, in unpredictable places, at unpredictable rimes.
8 Acknowledgemeats Thank you Professor C. T. Patrick Diarnond, Supervisor of my OISUUT Thesis Cornmittee, for cuurageously stniggling with me and tbis materiai. You are the moa brave tacher in my We. Thank you for creating space for me and this healing inquiry through your compassionate listering, your consistent patience, and your laughter, as you guided me through this intense journey. niank you for sharing your own poetic research with me, and for being a generous and deep weu of other researchers' work. Thank you Professor H. Howard Russeil, as Member of my OISUUT Thesis Cornmittee. for your steadfastness, your teaching stories and your penetrating questions. Thank you Professor David Booth, aiso as Member of my OISUUT Thesis Cornmittee, for your wisdom and passion, and for teaching from your heart. Thank you Professor Margaret Olson, now at St. Francis Xavier University, for helping me to take the fïrst step into graduate studies, and for walking beside me al1 the way. Thank you Professor Deborah Berriil, servuig Queen's at Trent University, for your generous and spontaneous support in Peterborough, and for the teaching-ieaming opportunities you provided in your classrooms. Thank you Dr. Wfiam Wehrspann, Assistant Professor, psychiatrist, University of Toronto Medical School, for being my first compassionate adult witness. Thank you for your bravery as my therapist-teacher, and for "being there" for my children and me over the past many years. Thank you Professors Diarnond, Russell, Booth, Cole, and Clandinin, for honouring this thesis with your cornplex, openhearteâ questions during my oral defense, March 25, 1998.
9 Thank you Kristllia Mae Hopkins and JulRis Rath for your contributions in support of this wo*. Thank you Christine for tahg good care ofour family. Thank you Marc Silnicki for your fiiendship and technical support.
10 Table of Contents PROTECIlVElMEASURES... PREFACE... How 1 Came to this Topic: Self, Trauma, and SuMval... Franklandhope... Herman and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder... My Definition of Exireme Intrafamilial =olence... Bibiical Whale: Key Metaphor in this Inquky... MapofSurvivd..... Map of Survivai: A Healing Map of Hope... Article fiom Toronto Star, October 10, 1997: "Exhibit offers a whale's eye view of world" Rhizomatic Organization ofthis Arts-based Inquiry CHAPTER 1 MY STORY OF SURVIVAL..... MyNonvoice... My own Tnisting Father Voice... My Untnisting Voice..... My Voice and My Parents' Child Abuser Voices My Suicida1 Voice... Unsent Letter to my Mother-Taken to Dr. Wehrspann Instead MyThaVoice... MyTnickBaptism... vii
11 Blue Jay Messenger Voice MyNarratorVoice VoiceoftheRaped Helping Children and My Playful Child Voie My Big Fearless Happy Daddy Voice MyVoiceofDeath My Untrusting Voice Again Brave and Biblical Voices Dore Illustration: "Death of Samson" No Quantitative Voice for me MyTruckbody LifeBeyondBarbwire Interlude: Short Story "Drawing" Opie Illustration: "The Sacrifice of Jephthah's Daughter" MyDefiantVoice Dore Illustration: "The Egyptians Drowned In The Red Seau Dore Illustration: "Jonah Cast Forth By The Whale" Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and Sorrow My Mother's You-Deserve-To-Be-Punished Voice My Mother's Dying Voice A Prayer for my Mother Darlene's rm-the-boss Voice
12 My ViSiting-A-Very-~-Pe~~~n-In-The-HospM Voice... My Mother's I'm-Too-Tired-To-Tak Voice... Conversation with Great Fish: Matîhew and Daddywhale My Mother-ki-A-bonle... Darlene's Abused Daughter Voice... My Understanding Brother Voice... My Meditative Voice... Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and MummyOISE/UTwhale Article fhrn Toronto Star, October : "Bonding with undersea behemoths". Chapter 2 OTHER RESEARCHERS STORIES OF TRAUMA AND SURVIVAL My Scholarly Detached Voice Searchone SearchTwo Annotated Bibliography Interlude-Writing and Teachers Statistics An Interlude for Voices Resilient Bal Voice My Healing Body Voice Gagged Orange Voice
13 Disbtegrating Orange Voice Chapter 3 MY NARRATIVE INQUIRY OF WRITING TO HEAL MyWriterVoice... MyHealùigSelf... My Sumivor Voice and wctim Voice... My Thkd-person Researcher Voice... Other ScholarIy Researcher Voices... Basebail: Game of Selves and Names... PalimpsestofVoices... Chapter 4 TEE FIEAr,ING OF STORES Cbapter 5 FROM DEFENCE TO LAUGHTER: FTEAr,ING UUGHTER Stress and Secretory Immunoglobulin A: Empirid, Quantitative Measurement A Healing Teacher-Sîudent Laughingmoment ChucklingLetters A Prayer for my Brothers and Sisten Laughjngmoments with my Family Healing Circle of Humour: Family Letters Letter to Gobinde and Caleb and Efi Lettertoseewa
14 "ThankyouandHappyBirthday" "Wilton'sX-maswishing" LettertoEli7iiheth Heaiing Circle of Humour: Electronic Letters Chapter 6 HEALING READING AND WWTING..... Chiidren's Literahire: A Lea-g Log... Intedude: Rusty's Adventure-One of my Chiidren's Storybooks Conversation with Professor Olson... Letter to Professor Diamond... Letter to Professor L..... Canadian Children's Literature: A Parade... Annotateci Bibiiography... My Nonsense Jonah Storybook for Children: A Little More: Chapter 7 ARTFZTL EEALING PLAY: FROM BOATS TO POPBOTTLE PEOPLE- ANOTHERLEARNJ[NGLOG Boats Canoe Sailboat Paddiewheeler
15 Birdboat Boat of Under-Standing Finding mer Family Members-Uther Memories Dadboat Visiting Graves: Diary Entries... LetterfiomProfessorG... PopbottlePeople... Bud Janet Bud-wiser... Sprout... Brenda... Buddy... Bud-at-home BaseballBud Hector People-Mover Motorhome Chapter 8 ARTFUL DIALOGUES: COMRSATIONS WITH ANCESTORS AND CREATURES xii
16 Crowded OISE/UT Classroom... "Letter:" The Magic Word Spoken and Head... HealingLetters... From Big Matthew to Little Mattkw... From Grand-dad Algemon: My Father's Father From Gramma Win: My Mother's Mother... ATalkiogAnimalinSaiphire... Dore Illustration: "The Angel Appearing to Bdadl... Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and Rage... Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and M ation Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and Ferdinand Truckmusic: Diary Entry... Schooltrucks... Meditation... MyOpenSelf... Calmsafe Interior Place..... Interlude: Three Meditations... A Prayer for my Father... Chapter 9 IMPLICATIONS: HEALING TEACHERS... My Teacher Voice Interlude: Entries fiom my Leaming Log...
17 Unsent Nonsense Letter to Professor OIson's boss Letter Sent to Professor Olson's Dean Letter to Professor Diamond LettertoProfessorL Drawing: In the Classroom Drawing: Outdoor Classroom Drawing: Outdoor Classroom LI L- Letter from Professor T Interlude: Two Etymological Classrooxq TheAlienatingClassroom TheHealingClassroorn Letter to Professor Miller Letter to Professor Booth Releasing this Inquiry Releasing Me REFEmNCES APPENDIX Sources for this Arts-Based Narrative Inquiry Forms Employed in this Arts-Based Narrative Inquiry XIV
18 PROTECTXVE MEASURES Rofessors C. T. Patrick Diamond, David Booth. Jack Miller, Margaret Olson. and Deborah Berdi have given me consent to use their names in this text. Names of some professors and othen are disguised at their request. Some are changed in order for this story to be told. OISE/UT librarians' names are Carol Calder, Marian kss, and Christine Borowski. My daughter's name is Knstina Mae Hopkins. She corroborates my autobiography, to lose. as part of this inquïry. Her name was disguised in to lose as Angela. Her husband's name is Jeff. To avoid confusion between my daughter and my partner Christine, my daughter's names are joined: Kristina-Mae. My son's name is Wilton. His name was disguised in to lose as Trevor. Other narries throughout the text include Christine's daughters Sara and Robin, and her sons Ram Das and Gobinde. Ravi Inder is their father, and Jovanna is their step-mum. Jesse and Gabriel are Jovanna's sons. Julius Rath is the narne of my brother-in-law. In to Io=, which he corroborates in this inquiry, his name was disguised as Jack. The narnes of my siblings and parents are disguised throughout this text using the same as those in Plavh~ to losc. Dates, locations, and other information have dso been disguised. The names of my patemal grandparents: Algemon and Emily. My matemal grandparents: William and Winnifrzd. My patemal great-grandparents: Benjamin and Louisa Rose. Their last names are disguised. Jan, Rhea, and Joanne Rowland are my friends in Millbrook near Peterborough. Other friends and colleagues include Marc Silnicki, Catherine Downey, David Neelin, Margaret
19 Edwards, Sandy Greer, Jeff Edrnonds, Lesley Maiioy, Bernice Lever, Mary Cousens, Eli, Caleb, Marie, Elizabeth, Cara Sullivan, and Dilshad Macldem. Dr. Wehrspann, my therapist-teacher, was Nathan in to 10s~.
20 ... his flesh was fiesh his blood was blood; no hungry man but wished him food; no cripple wouldn't creep one mile uphill to only see him srnile.... and nothing quite so least as tmth -i Say though hate were why men breathebecause my father Lived his sou1 love is the whole and more than al1 e. e. cummings "My father moved through dooms of love" Cited in Williams, 1969, AU that is really essential is that ctiildren be genuinely loved and treated as individual human beings. Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson & Sanford, * e How 1 came to this Topic: Seif, Trauma, and Swival. In domestic situations where extreme violence is the nom, that violence, as 1 experienced it, is predictable only in its randomness and neverendingness. Neverendingness does not imply future- orientation, for exactly the opposite applies. Neverendingness seems to shut out hope, thereby shutting out the possibiiity of a future. Hope gives an oppressive situation a future, and hope is created bom, and Lives within one's body cells. Hope is the mainspring of human existence... Without hope, there is no incentive for leaming, for the impulse to learn presupposes confidence in the possibiiity of improving one's existence. (Juneil in Eisner & Vallance, 1 974, 1 23) 1 was bom into captivity, terror and domestic "war." This is my "experiential background" (Eisner, 1994, 182)-rny karting point" (Dewey, 1897,6). As a child, 1 could not lem how to
21 hope for a future. I had no --wu experience of Life to help sustain me, to help me believe in a life âfter-wx. 1 could not then lem how to gain faith in my own existence-in-the-finire. I couid not leam how to generate it fiom within. But I wanted to live so 1 Iearned how to focus dl my energy on my war situation. In my very particdar situation, 1 could not have done otherwise. 1 agree with Frankl that No man and no destiny repeats itself, and each situation cails for a different response... Every situation is distinguished by its uniqueness, and there is always only one right answer to the problem posed by the situation at hand. (Frankl, ) While my siblings may have experienced the same family war different fiom me. it was not until 1 survived the traumatic experience of writing my autobiography that 1 began to learn how to imagine the possibility that 1 might be alive the next minute. Only then did 1 leam that I had endurd my war situation. Only then did 1 begin to live, instead of surviving. Connelly and Clandinin (1988) describe al1 situations as oriented in the future, building on those in the pas& as "lead[ing] to another situation" (8). Situations are also "directional." that is. guided toward the hiture by our hopes or aspirations, "by the ends we al1 hold out before us" (9). Connelly and Clandinin's theones of situation, although applied specifcally to the classroom, also apply to the home: "Al1 situations are historical... What happened in a classroom five minutes ago influences and is part of what is happening right now" (7-8). 1 am encouraged to see the scope of Connelly and Clandinin's work expand over time from the "Almost no one lives his or her life at random" (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988,9), through the more inclusive "stories of being abused" (Clandinin & Connelly, ), to the encompassing stories of "a life of war and random death" (Connelly & Clandinin, 1995,74).
22 Unlike me, F r.(1962) had leamed how to hope Jxfore-wa, before king taken prisoner. His hope sustained him dunng-war in the face of "hopelessness of imminent death" (39) during concentration camp experiences. Through hope, he expected an afier-wjir. a not-war future. He cultivated his sense of humour by telling jokes to his friend about the "crazy" things they would do after their Iiberation (42-43). The prisoner who lost faith in the future-his future-was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future. he lost his spiritual hold... We ail feared this moment-not for ourselves, which would have ken pointless, but for Our friends. (Frankl, ) Prior to king taken prisoner, Frankl had accumulated life experiences that were not essentiaily concemed with his immediate survival, and he was able to draw on these experiences to help his self survive. Es maturity enabled him to gain criticai distance fiom his situation. He could see his survival problem in ternis of material for a lecture-an after-war experience similar to his before-war experience-that he would deliver in the hiture! It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking forward to the future-& ~pecie a e t e e. And this is his salvation in the most dificult moments of his existence... Both I and my troubles became the object of an interesting psychoscientific study undertaken by myself.... (Frankl, l962,72-74) The value of his single case study. undertaken by and of himself, lay in its concreteness as an effective tool for survival. Its value was defined as having inherent worth in terms of practicality, that is, its usefulness. The devance of his research beyond the war situation is shown by his study forming the bais for his later theories on psychiatrie "logotherapy" as are still king practiced (see Allport in Franki, 1962, xii). Similarly, one of my survival strategies has ken my planning to address future audiences, where 1 would read from my published autobiography (Stewart, 1995),
23 and demonstrate my bats and Popbottie People (see chapter 6), using my public Lecturing Voice. Survivors of war and survivors of extreme intraf'al violence share a cornmon psychological distress cded pst-traumatic stress disorder. As Herman ( 1992) found, Only after 1980, when the efforts of combat veterans had Iegitimated the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder, did it becorne clear that the psychologicai syndrome seen in survivors of rape, domestic battery, and incest was essentially the same as the syndrome seen in survivors of war (32). However, it is one thing to learn how to endure great suffering amid seemingly inevitable death at the hands of a clearly identifiable "outsider" enemy as a mature adult. It is a similar but dso different thing for a child to leam how to endure king forced to continudly face deprivation and death at the hands of family "insiders," one's caregivers who cal1 the experience love. In my autobiography, 1 portray how my struggle from early childhood to mid-teens just to stay dive in our farnily home constituted the formation of my war personality: Once a week, [my teacher] read about ten pages of eothismbo, 34th printing, to the class. When he read the part where Bonham was remembering how he used to have toes , 1 felt grateful that 1 stil1 had mine. Bonham and 1, we know war, 1 thought. Today we're still dive. 1 curled my toes inside my shoes to celebrate. (Stewart, 1995,73) FranklVs desperate situation was radically different, yet eenly similar to mine. His poignant, first- person account of living and dying, like my own, is grounded in undeniable imrnediacy and realistic practicaiity-survivd being both realistic and practical.... some features of the situations always differ. Hence transfer is a process that has generalizing feanires. A person must recognize the sirnilanty-but not the identity -between one situation and the next and then make the appropriate inference. (Eisner, 199 1, 198)
24 My act of recognizing the similarities between Franki's prisoner of war situation and my own enables me to connect also with empathic compassion to other children and adulu in other war situations, domestic and international, past and present. The work of Conneiiy and Clandinin (1988, 1990,1994, 1995) clearly demonsuate that teachers' =thinking, =building, t construction. mting, ~telling, and =living of their Life stories provides teachers with simcant insight, i formation, and, therefore, learning. However, when a teacher's own chiidhood stories are predominantly stories of extreme intrafarnilial violence including rape and torture, the very act of teh hg and reliving these stories becomes an intense, traumatic experience-more so for the tellerlwriter than the untraurnatized listenedreader because the =living of the story also happens physiologicaiiy within the teiler's body. The basic story of extreme intrafamilial violence is one of sumival. the story of living while one is dying, king annihilated by a physicdy stronger but moraliy inferior (parental) force. I define extreme intrafamilial violence as harsh rnistreatrnent of a child by a famil y member such that the child requires medical intervention and/or hospitalization. The term includes the most severe elements of abuse-physical. sexual, and emotional-child battery, maltreatment and neglect, and pst traumatic stress disorder, up to and including one breath shy of murder. Dying is the act of becoming disembodied, the act of king swallowed intowhat 1 have corne to know as the dark cavems of the great fish. The biblical whale provides the key metaphor in my inquiry into self, trauma, and survivai. Connelly and Clandinin's (1994) work encourages teachers to give "an account of their lives... the experiential knowledge that is embodied in them" (149) by using their multiple perspectives of self. If we are allowed to "give an account of our lives," we must be equally
25 allowed to give account of Our deaths. Through enacting the holistic cunicuium (Miller, 1996) we can acknowledge and honour the deaths of some of our selves so we can create the space for new selves to be conceiveci, created, and bom. To allow some of our selves to grow old and thin and die rneans we embrace choice. Swivors' childhood selves die acutely painfd young deaths without choice. The adult, in the act of idicting life-threatening bodily trauma on the child, prepares the great fish of death. Unable to endure the physical pain and Ioss of bodily energy, the child welcomes the great fish. Under such severe conditions, escape into the relief of death cannot happen fast enough, but the great fish cannot be mshed. The great fish will taste this meal; being swallowed takes time. Neither the adult nor the child have the power to cause the great fish to relinquish its meal. Digestion begins in the mouth. By acknowledging that extreme intrafamilial violence is integral to the childhood experience of many adults, some of whom are teachers, 1 hope to create a space for their stories to be told as well. The question is how. 1 do not want to =tell, ~Iive the countless traumatic stories of my dying. Those terrible moments dominated my childhood and early teenage experience. During the act of dya at-this-moment in intense physical pain, time changes-there exists no past, present or hiture, because there is no way to relate bodily to tirne. When one is dying now, one does not expect or hope for a future, not even a next minute. Imminent death erases the future because hope is king swallowed by the great fish. The present is being swallowed. Nothing in my past prepares me for this swaliowing. The event has no inherent meaning while it is happening. It is. Being swallowed, that is the dl. What is happening is loss of the world, loss of one's self, Ioss of one's sense and senses. Questions waste precious life energy. Indeed, for a child to make the deliberate act of choosing to think under such ovenvhelming
26 conditions is not possible. She is learning BQB! to be swailowed. In the act of dying, d e Iearns bow to die. In the excruciaihg moments of dying, she has no time nor energy for trying to hope bow to outwit death. Al1 that exists is this unbearably intense moment when 1 feel myself king swallowed 1 know I am dying because my blood and body energy and my will to fight to live are draining from me and I have no control over anything at all. The fish is too great. 1 cannot know even if 1 have borne the unbearable until 1 am aware-conscious-that 1 have been cast out and am dive again. A survivor until the next time. The retelling and reliving of such intense death-in-life stones is a painful, yet cmciaily important educative process. Holistic teachers actively demonstrate, by example, their cornmitment to a relevant curriculum for the survivor of extreme violence. The student's educative experience of being heard helps hidher to lem how to hear the teacher, and others- even his or her own childhood self. Having a protective. numiring atrnosphere in which the trauma stories can be told. retold and relived is of central importance to this concept. Although 1 have not yet learned how to feel safe anywhere. particularly the classroom "made unsafe by participants" (Connelly & Clandinin. 1995,74), 1 am slowly learning to feel sa =. Feeling that 1 am heard is centrai to this learning. When the survivor is allowed to tell hisîher stories, s/he is allowed to rnove, for we never tell the same story twice. This educative process is aiso the healing process of "letting go." The traumatized teacherlstudent may not have access to any past experience other than that which is mis-educative; one cannot Econstruct what does not in some fom already exist. Rather than the ~constniction. ~organization and -formation of hisher life of trauma, this
27 student's chief concem is the constniction. -. m. and formation of a new He, a life that never was. Hidher healing focus is the generahon of new experience, and new ways of understanding these new experiences. How do teachedstudents corne to grips with the highly miseducative experiences of terror and trauma that nevertheless hold powexfbl lessons? Teachers and students need new maps for understanding these lessons, in the that the student cm learn what constitutes an educative experience. They need to learn how they are "always in a constructive position. We our experience, not sirnply have it" (Eisner, 1991,60). The arts-based, holistic curriculum aiiows these creative new maps to come into being. Map of SuJrvival A white-tail deer eats apples from my apple tree in September. It defecates in among the brush near my loghouse. Next Spring, a new wee apple tree sprouts forth. How? That exact apple was on that exact tree at that exact time. That exact deer cmnched that exact appleseed open in its jaws without destroying it. It passed through the deer, protected exactly like that, to land in that exact spot on the earth at that exact moment. It survived my stomping on it every time 1 took out the ashes from the woodstove, and a bitter winter. This is a miracle. mile that apple was being eaten and digested that appleseed was on its way to becoming a tree. This must be so; it is now an appletree. Gentle Reader, I combine words deliberately in order to hear more "than what has already been heard and seen. [I hear] what a word mean" (Worsham, 1987, 234). 1 shift from past to present tense and back again unpredictably; living this inquiry means reliving many layered stones in the present moment Learning and healing happen now. I also leave gaps in the text in order to present whole poems and wordpictures to you.
28 Map of Survivai: A Heaiing Map of Hope Jonah, while king swailowed and digested, was still on his way to Nineveh. See the man in the jaws of a Right whale. in the Toronto Star article "Exhibit offers a whale's eye view of world" (October 10, 1997), page 12. For Jonah. king swallowed was a detour. This must be so for Jonah made his way to Nineveh king swailowed Jonah and his friends probably called this a miracle. Through Jonah's major mis-educative experience of king swallowed, he leamed something. mis-educative experience Lies the seed of educative experience. The act of surviving the experience of extreme intrafamilial violence is a miracle. Countiess forces and factors, some knowable, othee unknowable, corne together at the same time to create the miracle. Whether one attributes the miracle of the survival of the appleseed to Nature, the miracle of Jonah's survivd to Gd, or the miracle of the survivor of extreme intrafarnilial violence to Fate, makes littie difference. What is critical is one's deep wpreciation of the miracle. Survivors and their teachen need to know that. Too many are swailowed and never seen again. Being part of the great fish, Jonah becomes "great fished" and reciprocaily the great fish becomes "Jonahed." How is the great fish changed by swallowing Jonah? The sustained terror of becorning "great fished" does not vanish after Jonah is cast out Naming the callers of the great fish, the abusers, is an integral pari of the survivor's healing story. When the abusers would not permit life, the suicida1 survivor learned to cal1 the great fish him/herself, in a desperate attempt to exercise a vestige of control over hislher own death. The survivor needs to hear the difference between his/her name and the narnes of hisher abusers This is the way to self-acceptance, and hope.
29 Wbit offers a whale's eve wew -01 in new show. OPEH WiûE JeofOEEs does some work on the jam of a right whale at new show at ROM hm the NaturalHistarJrMusetnn of Los AngeIle~Couniy~ Bileen whales take in water by floatjng 7%eGmtbaek buttheytexld60o9tthe~ ".M,saOls-3't spen eatadeaxrtsizefb4tüeyradp *akotbedwbales -==wntdrirww-= squidm~mtfiat- TbsLarslest-- tbsrwstbat~~beba motnbakswirhthegim& 4ldd~fnchadrsa'8& a=--- F 8llyZLThaiIiarJta t l l e ~ ~ Eugatrm dmtdaie33 are endqpmd Tbea inciude therfgbt~twoof~ --enhnwtnabggear in Narra Scotia's Bq of rn ~ ~ f h b l p c r m ~
30 Organbtion of this Arts-Based Inqtiry The swallowed snident reeks of the great fish and must find hidher way anew among others who have been swallowed, and still others who have not. The student who has been swallowed on the way to death but cast out into Life needs the help of a compassionate teacher who is grounded in arts-based, holistic storying curriculum to help himher make a rnap of the insides of the great fish. Only then can the great fish be seen as a vehicle, an underwater boat, a slimy submarïne. The joumey inside the great fish becomes into the story of the whole joumey. It becomes a key component in Jonah's education, der than a mis-educative detour. Arts-based narrative inquiry is not a search for truth but a never ending reconshuction of meaning, based on persona1 and aesthetic approaches. We seek to chart those previously forbidden features of the terrain that include human awareness of lived expenence. Rather than providing precise descriptions of what to see, this map suggests promising directions dong which we might look. (Diamond & Mullen, in preparation) The map of the insides of the great fish shows: (1) the way m, which is death-in-life: (2) the "belly", - e or h t which is Iife-in-death; and (3) the way PUI. which is new life. The bodily meaning of this map, like this inquiry, is reveded only through the story of its construction. Narrative also convinces... because it provides a web of meaning and of connectedness to events. which reassures people that things happen as they do because they take place in a mord universe. (Parry & Doan, 1994,Z-3) This map takes its honoured place among many other maps of the student's knowledge, ali subject to re-vision as his/her inner Iandscapes change. A deiegitimized, postmodem world is a place without any single daim to truth universaily respecte4 and a growing realuation that no single story sums up the
31 meaning of life...no story or theory is sufficient to correspond fuuy to its subject matter. (Parry & Doan, 1994, 10) Thus, the beuy of the great fish cornes to be seen and appreciated as a critical place of growth where Jonah's new self was king created, a paradoxical type of womb. a new matrix of meaning This narrative inquiry is such a map. Self-inquiry into the world of Our experience provides an arts-based metaphor for education wherein knowledge of the world is yielded through knowledge of the self. If everyday experience provides an ideal context for the construction of knowledge, self-narrative helps contain and convey the character of that encounter. (Diamond & Muilen, in preparation) But Ionah was swailowed only m. Students who survive chronic intrafamilial violence have been swdlowed again and again. Their stories need to be told and heard. But bw can they be told? Arts-based storying cumculum creates space for the teller, the tale, and the telling. These stories, like this inquiry. cannot be forced to fit into a scientific, paradigrnatic form or mould. They need space to breathe. Theû form and content inform each other in a circuiar, self-supporting dance. This arts-based narrative inquiry into intrafamilial trauma is constructed like a natural rhizome, like Wild Ginger or the Fragrant Water Lily (Elliott, 1976,54, 1 12). It grows underground, in darkness, and sends up shoots in unpredictable places at unpredictable times (see also BoId & La Claire 1987, 100)..Ais mode1 of a rhizomatic web.as, generaily a way of thinking, a way of writing, that contains multiple lines of association; that is organized not only linearly, but laterally; that follows, not a single hierarchical outline, but a labyrinth of continually retuming, crisscrossing pathways. Each particular step or link within a rhizomatic whole can be conceived as a line between two points, but the - 9 pattern is not linear, because there is no beginning and end, no center and
32 periphery to be traced If a link is a he, it is both a he that we follow and a Iine bat draws us in, iike a fish... also a net that catches us up. (Burbules, 1997,s) Like Jonah, 1 throw myself overboard into the vast sea of this inquiry, to embark on this wild ride in the darkness.
33 MY STORY OF TRAUMA AND SURVIVAL To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... a time to keep silence, and a time to speak... (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-7) 1 begin this chapter by listing the questions that guide my inquiry. They are meant to sustain me and you, Gentle Reader, and not conserain our quest to understand trauma and how 1 survived. 1 açk: How can the child physically and psychologicaily survive extreme intrafamilial violence? How can this child who has been effectively silenced by the terror of extreme intrafamilial violence ever be heard? How can this student learn how to lem? How can this student Iearn about hiinherseif as a Being-in-the-world with others? How cm this student learn to integrate his/her expenence and knowledge of extreme violence into a story within a wholesome story of hope? How can this student's teacher add the stories of geography and arithmetic to this student's life story of facing imminent death at home-of going through the great fish? How can this student endure the traumatic retelling and reliving hidher story without king swallowed again by the great fish, without a compassionate listener/witness/guide who is first supplied by another, but ultimately by the victim-survivor? How can this student leam how to develop his or her voices and grow into a nurtunng human king unless dhe is numired fmt by other compassionate human beings? How can teachers understand what this student is living unless they open their hearts to hear hisher voice(s)? Gentle Reader, my pain is heard only to release it and to enlist your empathy. My voices need to be heard and are capitalized. They record and ensure my survival.
34 Gag. Hold your breath, Gentle Reader, and Say the word aloud. Hear how it cornes from the mouth fast and easy. Gag. It's just a monosyilable; you can neither locate nor feel the word in your body. Now Say it aloud again, slowly, as you exhaie. Ga-g. Feel it in your throat. The word starts and stops by choking itseif. Now Say it aloud again, more slowly, exhaling as you stretch the word. Ghaa-aahg. Recognize the sound of yourself when you vomit. One of the most consistent and repugnant mernories of rny childhood and early teenage life is that of my father withdrawing his snotty white handkerchief From the front right pant pocket of his tailor-made blue pin-stripe suit and sang that whole handkerchief into my mouth while holding the back of my head with his left hand To stop me from begging for mercy. To stop me from crying out during the torture he was about to ioflict on me. To stop me from being heard by himself or my rnother in the next room, or my older and younger brothen and sisters about the house. To stop me from hearing myself. My existence kept being distilled down to one unbearably intense moment when 1 was not allowed to scream or breathe. But... it is right to scream under tomire, because screaming is a concentrated expression of the last vestige of human dignity... it is a man's way of leaving a trace, of telling people how he lived and died. (Mandelstam, 1970, cited in Alvarez, 1992, 1 3) Except 1 did hear myself. In my autobiography (Stewart, 1995) 1 told the story of sharing this story with my therapist-teacher, Dr Wehrspann. Now, Gentle Reader, you too can come with me into the belly of the great fish. "Dr. Wehrspann], being here, king heard, is akin to taking dad's snotty gag out of my mouth. The first Ume he gagged me and strapped me from head to toe both sides on his bed, it al1 seemed to happen in slow motion, as if time had slowed down,"
35 "1 how what you mean. Last winter 1 was driving about five miles an hour down a little hil and hit some ice and slid right through the intersection for what seemed Like a long the, temporarily out of control and poweriess to Save myself-" "-But while you were out of control you were trying to regain control. You didn't let go of the steering wheel and close your eyes and resign yourself to crashing-" "-No. I held on and watched and resigned myself to crasfiing." He laughs. "It was al1 over in a few seconds." "That fist tanning, and the countless hundreds that foiiowed it, lasted so long, sometimes 1 feel iike they're still happening, but in reality they probably lasted only about half-an-hour each. I held on and watched too but 1 never stopped try ing to Save my self." "You were totaliy overwhelmed-" "-Not totally. At least not instantly. As long as 1 could think, 1 tried to fight. Until 1 blacked out. "How?" "It's crazy, but it's tme. A paradox. 1 couldn't fight my dad while he was beating me but 1 could too. The gag absorbs al1 the moisture in my mouth and dad says "bite" it so I do but he means bite it only once. 1 can't breathe and 1 can't Say anything out loud but my insides yell No No No really loud and I tell my mouth to bite and bite and when he starts strapping me I'm lying on my tummy chewing like mad and make the gag wet and smaller and tuck it in my cheek like a squiml so 1 c m breathe but 1 have to push my forehead into the mattress to stretch my neck and lifi my chin to get air because if 1 tum my head he rnight hit me in the face. 1 am littie because my dad is so big but 1 must be big because the tanning is taking so long and when he straps my feet 1 think oh good now it's over but then he yells "roll over." The pain is crazy; 1 can barely think with my body screaming so loud so 1 study how he does it, by starhg in his eyes and taking in the whole picture. How he holds the strap like this and stretches it behind his head and how he brings both arms down. aiming, like this and lets go with his lefi hand and how his right hand keeps swinging down like this and how when the strap hits my chest fmt it pushes me down into the mattress and how when dad's hand is lower than the mattress both ends of the strap lick my sides and bounce me up a little and how he catches the loose end with his left hand when it flicks back like this and how his sweat drips off his face onto me and how he stands up straight to do it again and how he moves his feet a liale sideways, closer to the door before each stroke, so al1 the lines on my body are straight, and how his rhythm is so predictable. Then suddenly, between whacks, 1 can think, so 1 scream inside my head louder than my body No No No and tell my body to not listen to the pain. 1 think one inch of life and 1 picture a hard black shape about one inch by one inch by one inch, like a lump of coal, hiding deep inside me, behind my stomach, that not God nor dad nor
36 pain can break open. because only 1 cm unlock it from the inside. So 1 imagine myself hiding inside it and 1 think nyah dad you stiu can't get me but then he hits me in the testicles and it gets harder and harder to tell my hands the words stay at my sides so he can hit me there again. Pm dying. so 1 teil my body to stop breathing and close my eyes and 1 Ut my other self up out of my body into the air-" "-Dissociation-" "-Cal1 it what you like. I'm in the corner of the room above the lamp and watch my dad strap my body. I dont feel pain, or cold, but 1 hear everything. I'm dead. 1 don? have to go back there if 1 dont feel like it. That fmt tanning, [Dr. Wehrspann]. 1 leamed that life and death meet, like Links of a chain, where âisintegration of self and unity of self happen simultaneously." "l've never heard it articulated Iike that before. Write it down." "And when dad swaps the front of my toes my dad yells at me to get out of his sight but my body can't move because I'm not inside it and he keeps shouting and strapping here and there criss-cross. 1 love my brave self, 1 do not want to abandon my body, so 1 go back into rny body into ail the pain and it's hard work to think words and tell myself what to do and slide over the edge of the bed ont0 the cold red concrete floor. 1 scoop my clothes against my privates with one hand and crawl out of his room and crawl past Mum and everybody in the kitchen and out the door toward the outhouse and the last thing 1 think is black." (Stewart, 1995, ) My brothers and sisters and 1 washed al1 those gags with Javex on laundry day, hung them on the line. ironed, and folded them. for my father never ran out of handkerchiefs. My own Trusting Father Voice The day of my daughter's wedding, in August, ironed and folded two Cotton table napkins with embroidered blue flowers sprawling out of their corners-one for my son Wilton, and one for myself. We helped each other fasten cuff links, suspenders, and bow ties, laughing, as we eased into our Tuxedos in the washroom by the cafe in the Royal Botanical Gardens. one hour before the ceremony. Jeff, the groom handed me a yellow rose boutonniere-a gift 1 had requested. "My bide is waiting for you outside, sir," he said.
37 Dear Kristina-Mae, you look iike you just fioated dom hm Heaven. 1 feel more joy and thanldulness than 1 can possibly contain and my napkin with blue embroidered flowers sprawling fiom its corners helps me create space in my eyes for more joy. Joy in my knowing that you know 1 love you. Wholesomely. No question. No fear. No possibility of momentary forgetting, not today. Today 1 cm only trust this joy that overflows me. This voice is my open heart. No secrets. No shame. This voice is cairn-misted and trusting as sprawling flowers. No need to say it aloud. 1 am here for you, honoured to be your daci. Thank you for blessing my life. Thank you for king- "Dad, are my earrings straight?" "Yes, S weetheart. You look lovely. Breathe. " My Untrusting Voice Sometimes 1 forget I'm a good dad; 1 believe that other, Untnisting Voice. That voice is loud and tries to disguise itself as rowdiness, when any good listener can hear it shake with fear. When 1 make the mistake of letting that voice overpower the othea, I lose my balance. 1 feel like 1 never knew trust at dl. 1 am lost, and my life, which is grounded in my desire to be an honourable father, is worthless. In despair, 1 am suicidai. How do we learn to distinguish our voices? How do we lem to integrate Our own sirens, those voices that cd1 us toward danger, destruction, and death? How do we learn which of our voices are actually the synthesized voices of othea? How do we leam to distinguish their voices? How do we Iearn which voices must be heard now, which must never be heard, and which must wait to be heard? How do we Iearn which voices to trust?
38 My Violent Voice and M y Parents' Cbild Abuser Voices One of my voices. previously the loudest and most temfying, has faded completely away. 1 needed to hem, and ailow others to bear witness to my hearing of, my own Violent Voice in order to begin healing from the wounds of abuse 1 endured for the b t fhen years of my iife. During the writing of my autobiography (Stewart, 1995) and intense therapy, 1 came to hear the differences between the Child Abuser Voices of my parents and my own Violent Voice. 1 acknowledged 1 had a problem. My parents did have problems; they were always right Only their children had problems. If the conditions which penetrate the home are authoritarian. rigid, and dominating, the home wili increase the climate of oppression. As these authoritarian relations between parents and children intensify. children in their infancy increasingly intemaiize the patemai authonty... htemalizing paternal authonty through the rigid relationship structure emphasized by the school, these young people tend when they become professionals (because of the very fear of freedom instilled by these relationships) to repeat the rigid patterns in which they were miseducated. (Freire, 1970, ) How often our parents voiced the expianation that al1 our problems sprang out of our disobedience to them and to God. How dare we question their interpretations of the King James Version of the Word of God, inspired by God Himself (II Timothy 3: 16)! How dare we not "obey the voice of the Lord your God..." (Jeremiah 26: 13)! Our father, as the Obedient Servant of God (Hebrews 5:9), and Our mother, as the Obedient Wife of the Servant of God (Titus 2:5), tried to teach us obedience (Ephesians 6: 1) by using violence sanctioned by God (Proverbs 10: 13, 26:3). How often our parents equated love with brutaiity, quoting Scripture to justify sadistic cmelty. Their favourite: "He that spareth the rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes" (Proverbs 13:24). Solomon echoes the words of his father, King David:
39 "...thy rod and thy staff they cornfort me" (Psalm 234). And my father, as Obedient Servant of Goci, diligently followed the example of the Heavenly Father: "For whorn the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6). I have never found cornfort in king beaten, but I have often heard my older brothen, Norman, Greg, and Michael, voice their belief with pride thai, because dad beat them, they have never spent a night in jail. Being beaten made me more defiant, not obedient. My inquiry is not meant to embarrass or question my siblings. The story must be told. When 1 becarne a father, and 1 wanted my children and their mother to obey me, we were dl in trouble. I sought help until I found a therapist-teacher-dr. Wehrspann-to help me leam how to accept responsibility for myself so 1 could lem how to be a Ioving dad I am no longer afraid of king with children; no voices of my parents intnide on that joy. Trust. I still spend considerable energy trying to create a safe environment for myself, trying to feel safe. 1 realize that I may never accomplish this goal. although over time I do feel saf~. More importantly, what my children and other children know, and what 1 know now. is that 1 provide a safe place for them. My Suicida1 Voice I was suicidal every day of my life until after my autobiography was published desperately wrestling with my own violent nature, trying to be like my father. The writing of my autobiography took me twelve yean from when my father died. That's how long it took me to integrate being suicidal while 1 was writing my story and trying to learn how to be a loving dad to my children.
40 ... the most important things in our lives, what we value rnost, have equal power for hllrt or for healing... The morc important and powerfbl something is to us, the riskier and more dangerous it may be to o u being. (Conneily & Clandinin, 1994, 150) 1 most feared becoming a rapist and a terronst, words that accurately describe my father. 1 needed to write to leam how to face this fear. Only through the traumatic writing of did 1 come to realw that my struggle to come to tem with being violent was how 1 was the opposite of my father, how 1 was choosing to be, in fact, myself. In the act of straining my father through myself, 1 discovered a body of my own, selves of my own, voices of rny own. Separate from him. The act of me listening to my own voices, of recording, erasing, and re-recording hem on the page becarne also the act of me hearing my selves, of becoming my own therapist. It appears, then, that the "action of telling a stoiy" in the safety of a protected relationship cm actually produce a change in the abnormal processing of the traumatic memory...[ and] relief of many of the major symptorns of pst-traumatic stress disorder. The &vsioneurosh induced by terror can apparentiy be reversed through the use of words. (Herman, 1992, 183) 1 discovered this for myself. "Every penon is a psychologist" (Hunt, ). Through autobiography, 1 taught myself how to speak. A living thing seeks above al1 to dis- its strength-life itself is Will to Powe~; self-preservation is only one of the direct and most frequent resul& thereof. (Nietzche, 1907, cited in Aiken, 1956,217) The most important word 1 Ieamed how to speak was my name, Matthew. My belief in that one word helped me accept responsibility for being violent: "...one punch and 1 rnight as well change my name to Hennan" (Stewart, 1995, 132). 1 declared my "right to a narne by which [my] parents, brothers, sisters and fiiends can cal1 [me] and recognize [me] wherever m may be" ("Rights of the Mozarnbican Child" cited in Errante, ). As Luke the physician
41 (Colossians 4: 14) knew, some words have healing power. And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die...the centurion sent fnends to hun. saying unto hhn, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: Wherefore neither thought 1 myself worthy to corne unto thee: but Say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.[j esus said] 1 Say unto you, 1 have not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel. And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick. (Luke 7:2-10) In this exarnple, whose words had the heaiing power? The words of Jesus, or the words of the faim centurion in believing in the healing power of Jesus' words? 1s it the word spoken in faith. or the faith in the words spoken that does the healing? Both perhaps? I found (and stiil find) myself in my struggle to be who-1-am-becorning.... the focus of one's identity is not centred on the sameness of an underlying substance but on one's process of actualizing one's life. The emphasis changes from 'Wat am I?" to "Who am I?" This "who" is found in the peaon's actions... Narrative presupposes and draws on the human cornpetence to understand action. Self identity becomes linked to a person's We-story, which connects up the actions into an integrating plot. (Polkinghome, 1988, 15 1) Being a loving father is centrai to my self-identity, an integral part of who I am. I'm still arnazed, but thankfbl that I've made it. For three years, while 1 was writing rny autobiography full-time, 1 lived alone in a loghouse in the bush. The location was isolated-my nearest neighbours about a mile away, similar to the physical isolation that 1 lived as a boy. 1 didn't set out to live there three years, that's how long my job took. Three summen and three winters 1 spent there, Iike Jonah's three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. One moming, about 7:30, I wrote the word "mother" and becarne firious.
42 Unsent letter to my mother--taken to Dr. Wehrspann Instead Like a windshield loves a moth at 70 miles per hour you are my loving moth er. (Stewart, September 3, 1990) 1 went outside to split wood. I could always power my way through, if 1 chopped the same piece of wood about 77 times. I split wood until sundown, learning how to see the line in the piece of wood where it was willing to yield. When my aim was me, the wood splif with one blow, Iiterally flying apart, leasing mernories of al1 the birds that had landed in the me of which it was part. Where was 1 willing to yield? Where inside me was my line? How could 1 te11 the horror of my life and survive the telling of it? In-sight: memory yields to imagination. Meanings in this penonal realm are c m rather than abstract, as in language, science, and art...p enonal rneanings are concrete in the sense that relational understanding is not a fragment, a perspective, or a transformation of some other more complete experience. Rather, it is itself the prototype of experience in its whoieness or concreteness. (Phenix, 1964, 194) My ThankW Voice 1 began to give thanks to the trees for wood for heat and for paper upon which to write. I trirnmed the apple trees, and watched deer and the groundhog (whom 1 narned Willy) corne to eat apples. As you know, Gentle Reader, new apple trees sprouted up From the deer droppings. During hunting season, 1 roamed around the 100 acres in my red coat, shouting, to warn the deer of the hunten parked on the road in plain view of the apple irees. Instead of killing the wasp on my arm, 1 learned how to catch one of its wings in a spring clothespeg, and set it free outside. When 1 sat very still, butterfiies landed on my toes. Their little "feet" tickled mine! I learned that 1
43 was not ail alone in the world. Writing is a techne, an art, understood in its original sense of "a bringing forth," and it brings forth bw, not wm, things are and how things be. Mon subtly, it brings forth allusions to what is conceivable but unrepresentable: The impossible, the other. Writing brings forth a world, a world of possibility, and opens up a space in Being in which we are invited, not cornpelleci, to dwell dong with others, other beings and other things At re-rnembers our connection to the earth. (Worsharn, 1987,235) The innocence of butterflies touched me deeply. Each one is a miniature Jonah; metamorphosis happens inside dark cocoons. Each one brought me a gift of pure beauty. Each time they opened their wings they lifted my heavy heart a little. How can something so Iight, so fragile, fly thousands of miles? They must be little angels or healing words. In 1984,I hired a yacht for a half-day to take Kristina-Mae fishing on Lake Ontario, and we only got one nibble. But while we drifted, a cloud of Monarch butterfiies descended for a few minutes to rest, magically transforming our plain white boat into a floating butteffly sanctuary. Butterfly wings are "completely covered in tiny, Bat scales, "shingled" in overlapping rows" (Klots, ). Scales-a word we generally associate with the skin of fish. We were fishing; we were hoping to snare some innocent creature from the depths. We had a V-8. We bore down. We ha- a fish- finder. We had down-riggers. We bore down. But the gift floated dom from above, touching our hearts. We cannot demand gifts; they float to us when we are ready, when we are open to receive them. Paper is one such gift. 1 stopped wasting if. I began to give thanks to the trees for providing resting and nesting places for birds. 1 began to listen to the songs of bluejays, robins, cardinals, and the wings of the hummingbird. 1 began to rise early, with them, and often stood naked outside, bathed in birdsong.
44 I'd rather lem f m one bird how to sing that teach ten thousand stars how not to dance (cummings, cited in Matthiessen, 1950,934) 1 changed my mind about cutting down an almost-dead thomapple tree; a white owl landed on it and kept me Company most of one night. There is a resonance that is sounded between the unknown depth in the self and the unknowable depth in the nature of things. Deep calls to deep. Here the distress of alienation ends. We are at home in a mystery that suggests some meaning of which we are a part, though we cannot know it in any precise conceptuai way. And given any kuid of meaning, we are thus given one more motive to sustain us in our solitary journey as mortal beings through this world....as our perspective changes, beautifid and ugly shift with them. In the one learns not to pick apart beauty from the whoie... These rocks and trees are companions with me in suffering...[ they] do not indulge in the impertinence of foisting lessons upon us. Thei. method of instruction is more circuitous and indirect, but perhaps ail the more potent for that. (Barrett, 1979, ) 1 began to give thanks for the birdmuck on my windshield No birdmuck, no bird. Birdmuck on my windshield slows me dom, and that's what I need to do. My bodily trauma is like a dumptrucldull of toxic muck. Muck is not bad. It is part of life. No muck, no life. I'm leaming to spread my knowiedge about trauma-muck very thinly, carefully, in the rhubarb patch of education. Through my inquiry, 1 can help teachea grow who can help abused children grow. As Hanson, ( 1986, 133) explained, Just as imagination can take us to our selves it c m carry us out of and beyond ourselves-if we are interested, if see some object as dearer to us than ourselves. (cited in Witherell & Noddings, 1991, 89) Through wnting my autobiography, my life, 1 worked out some muck. 1 needed to write that muck to create space inside for joy. In the writing, 1 kept finding moments of joy in the muck. As I build this inquiry, Gentle Reader, I perpetually revise, editing out the muck. Sometimes I
45 can't see that what rrn writing is muck-1 Iose my faw. My thesis Supervisor. Professor Diamond, draws my attention to sentences with too much muck-mger-in them. 'mat do you mean here, Matthew?" he asks. 1 mean 1 need to growl. Writing this is hard work and it hurts. 1 need to rom. His question helps me remember not to growl and roar, Gentle Reader, at you. What you are reading is not my fmt ciraft. As 1 worked muck out of myself writing my autobiography, Life itself becarne more valuable to me. I began to lem how to see and hear, as Dewey (1934) understood seeing. Seeing requires sustained attention to the qualities of an object or situation; it is exploratory in character. Recognition is the act of assigning a label to an object. Once assigned and classification has occurred, exploration ceases. (Dewey, 1934, cited in Eisner, 1988, 17) 1 cultivated my child-like sense of wonder and awe for the beauty around me by slowing down and noticing some of the i~~merable gifts floating my way. Each gifi that 1 could see, that 1 allowed to touch my heart, dislodged a iittle fear. The mernories of king with my brother Greg in his truck are such gifts. 1 remember these stories as a way of honouring them. My Tmck B apk Ever since 1 was a little boy, I've loved trucks, and this year 1 finally bought my first one-a Suburban. One of my eldest brothers, Greg, had a front-end Ioader for filling up his yellow and black dumptruck when 1 was a young boy. If 1 begged him enough, he'd take me away from the violence at home for a day. 1 stand on a linle hill where Greg cm see me while he loads up the dumptnick. He lowers the empty bucket-the front scoop-of his Ioader onto the ground, and tilts it upward. I climb in and lie down on my back. Loader's engine revs. The steel arms on either
46 side of the body of Loader lift Bucket Bucket is a hugesteel pair of warm han& offering me a giirnpse of the summer Sun, of the open sky. Slowly, Loader moves fonvard and stops. 1 must be above the full dump. Dow cornes Bucket, only a couple of feet, and stops. Greg never lets the anns of Loader hit the top edge of the dump. He doesn't want me to fall too fa.. 1 must be above the last load of gravel Bucket put in the dump. As Bucket tilts fonvard, 1 roll ont0 my right side. 1 see where I'm going to land. Bucket keeps tilting downward and here 1 go downplop. Bucket and Loader back away. 1 stand up and look around and flap my arrns like I'm a bird. "Yeah!" 1 shout. "Thank you! What a great ride!" My brother smiles as he walks toward the truck. "Okay, kid," he says, "now climb into the cab. Let's go." Greg hauled al1 the broken concrete and rock and gravel to build the pier in Morganville. When he was backing his dumptruck down the steep beach with a full load, I'd sit forward to look out his right sideview mirror. He always made sure his truck was as level as he could get it; when the hiil dump is up the truck cm tip over if the centre of gravity is not maintained over the chassis side to side and front to rear. Level: matching the curvature of the earth. The surface of the lake is level, not flat. The waves of the lake splashed round the big set of double tires. Up went the dump. Of al1 the dumptnickvoices I've ever heard, that dumpgoingup voice is stiil my favourite. It is the sound of the hydraulic purnp working, pushingup the heavy load It pumps hydraulic fluid through the pressure hoses, from the reservoir on the chassis, into the piston. The dumppushingup piston is made of three telescopic sections. The top of the uppermost section is hinged to the underside of the front (the part closest to the back of the cab) of the dump. This
47 section cornes up fit When it is fwy extendeci, the second section extends out of the third section, which is hinged to the chassis. As the piston elongates, the top of the dump moves farther away fiom the cab. The whole piston "leans back" (away from the back of the cab) to maintain its position perpendicular to the load it is lifüng. "zh-fi-&-&' Low and slow. Pushing up power. The whole truck shakes. "~-&-~-&," The front wheels of his truck bounce up and down off the ground as the weight shifts. Through the back window of the cab 1 see around the huge dumppushingup piston. As the dump rises, it exposes its underbelly, its rows of welded steel ribs. 1 see between the truck's chassistwo big steel beams that run the length of the huck, and where they were connect with steel cross-memben. I see the drive shaft, and the universai joint-the big knuckle where two Iengths of the drive shaft join. 1 see the hanger bearing-the U-shaped support for the driveshaft. 1 see the lake lapping the rear end-the big bulge for gears-in the middle of the rear axle and where the universal on the drive shaft connects to the pinion yoke on the rear end. 1 see the leaf spnngs buckling under the load. 1 see where the dump hinges at the back of the chassis. I see the lake steaming as it splashes against the muffier closer to the cab. "Zh." The dump stops. Nothing inside it moves. Greg swings out his door, pulls the lever on his side of the dump to release the tailgate, and swings back in. "B-Zh-&&." Then the load lets go and dives into the water. The whole lake moves back. Now the
48 mck is hungiy again. One truckload at a the, we budd a iittie peninsula out into the deep water. A gmd place for the whale to poop out Jonah. Greg m s the hydraulic pump off; the weight of the empty dump forces the hydraulic fluid back into the resemoir. The dump comes down slowiy; the hose-pump mechanism acts as a govemor. Down comes the dump with ifs own dumpcomingdown voice. "Pshhhhhhhhhhh-thmp." The nmowest, uppermost section of the telescopic hydraulic piston slides down inside the bigger one. "Pshhhhhhhhhhh-thmp." The second section siides inside the third one. "Ps hhhhhhhhhhh- krk-krk--p." The dump settles on the chassis. Greg puts his truck in its lowest gear. "Bull Iow." he cai1s it. The truck crawls up to the road. "Rrrohwrrr-rrrohwm-mohwrrr" is the voice of Bull Low. Every gear has a different voice. Only novices need tu check the tachometer-the gauge that indicates engine speed in revolutions per minute (RPM1s)-to know when to change gears. Expenenced tmck drivers know when to change gears by the sound. Twenty-seven hundred rpm sounds different than 2750 rpm. A professional truck driver does not need to use the ciutch to change gears. This does not cause darnage to the truck. It's harder downshifting without the clutch than upshifüng. It's a matter of timing-the driver meshes with the truck to the point that slhe acts like part of the truck's guts. The reason you use the accelerator after you take the mck
49 out of one gear and before you engage another-as you change gears-is to match your engine speed, transmission speed, and road speed. In the act of giving a name to their trucks, truckcirivers acknowledge the "personality" of their hard-working machines. Greg never called his truck by its name, printed in big black letters on both yellow doors: Haulage. Greg's Haulage. He gave me a beige plastic bottle-opener. a key chah, with "Greg's Haulage" printed on it in green capital letters, and his phone number too. 1 carried it around in my pant pockets until the name wore off. Greg's old truck smelled of oily rags and gas and tmls and pipesmoke and red Amphora brand pipe tobacco on the dashboard and pine air freshener. Smells of freedom. of kindness. Some days my tmck smells just like that, even though 1 quit smoking a pipe over ten yean ago. I only started to smoke to be like him. Greg took me to auctions with him too. He'd look over a tractor or a bulldozer and holler a price to stars the bidding, then waik away to look at something else. Most of those machines smelled good. Cared for. I didn't smell like that. My father drove trucks too, but 1 always vomited in them. In my isolation at the loghouse 1 could feel myself opening to life like a yellow rose to the Sun. Does not the rose, nsing from the dark earth, like a Jonah-flower. help hold the sun alofi on the shoulders of its radiating, fragrant beauty? The fragrance of a rose transcends gravity. The reason for the rose is its bloorning. How could 1 open my heart to the world instead of protecting myself from it? What gift could 1 humbly offer to others? The art in my heart. My writing. Me. But if poetry is your goal. you've got to forget al1 about punishrnents and al1 about rewards and all about selfstyleci obligations and duties and responsibilities etcetera ad infinitum and remember one thing ody: that it's you-nobody else-who
50 detennines your destiny and decides your fate. Nobody else cm be alive for you; nor can you be aüve for anybody else. Toms can Dicks and Dicks cm be Harrys, but none of them can ever be you. There's the artist's responsibility; and the most awfd responsibility on earth. If you can take it, take it-and be. If you can't, cheer up and go about other people's business; and do (or undo) tili you drop. (cummings 1 %3/I 98 1,24) We we fear death. We fear the pain of Me. We forget our fear when we give th&, when we rejoice for king part of Creation. Blue Jay Messenger Voice i th& You God for most this arnazing day:for the leaping p nly spirits of trees and a blue me dream of sky;and for everything which is natural which is idite which is yes (i who have died am dive again today, and this is the sun's bllthday;this is the birth day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay great happening illimitably earth) how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any-lifted from the no of aii nothing-human merely king doubt unirnaginable You? (now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of rny eyes are opened) (curnrnings l9wl98 I,9 1 ) On October 15, 1993, at 850 in the morning, a Blue Jay landed on the woodpile on other side of the window directly in front of my desk The bird pecked the glas so hard 1 thought it might break. "Pay attention!" I'm here! I'm dive! See me!" it banged. "1 see you!" "I'm watching you!" it banged. "Watching over you! 1 am Part of The Great Spint
51 watching over you! Hear me!" "1 hear you! Thank you!" A pair of Blue Jays kept me Company all winter. 1 do not miss them now: they are part of my heart. Every Blue Jay 1 see or hear is a Living gift. 1 wrote my autobiography and others called it cathartic. Did I vomit something bad out of my system through writing? No. 1 did not let go of the past through writing; it cannot so simply be done. Blue Jay knows that if it lets go of the branch it will fail onto the rock below and break its neck and die. It cannot let go; it wants to live. 1 have never met a suicicial bird. never heard of one walking deliberately into the path of a dumptruck Blue Jay reaches for the next branch and. in the reaching, he flies, becomes part of the sky. This is how he learns, how he rernemben that the sky will hold him and carry him. He does not try to leave his past behind rather al1 his past equips him for flying forward-he cannot fly backwards-into his future. 1 change the past, not by trying to change it, but through acceptance of it. My recollections are my way of wrestling with life and death. My Narrator Voice In the act of voicing my story, 1 was creating a narratork voice as well as my own, which were sirnilar but not the sarne. 1 had experience writing concrete poetry with different narrators. This poem speaks with the Voice of the Raped-a combination of my voice and the voices of my sis ters:
52 rm onepiece where you grab me most but if 1 wasn't so unbreakably split upthemiddle like the wide end of your axehandle where would you wedge your anger? (Stewart, May 6, 1991) Leaming how to weave together the protagonist Narratofs Voices of my autobiography and my other voices was particularly distressing. The Narrator's Voices included the merged voices of a youngster being tortured and a therapist-teacher's suicida1 client, being spoken in the present tense, as dernonstrated in the extended passage above. My protagonist Namator's Voices included those of a suffering father, a lover, and so on. The task becarne more cornplex, as I linked and merged these voices with the different voices of every other character in my story, especially those of my suffering brothen and sisters, my children, and their mother. 1 do not want to h m any of them. It was hard work to transform such an ovenvhelming amount of sadness into an inquiring work of art without losing my sanity. Yet 1 was unwilling to "take the heart out of the simations CI was] trying to help readers understand" (Eisner, 1992, 37). How to tell the story and rnake it readable to the reader and to me now? My autobiography has become part of the larger healing story that is this inquiry, wherein 1 extend compassion to myself. Telling it enabled me to learn how to live, to move on to tell fhis healing research story of helping children. Part of my story includes this song: Like a concrete bridge under water 1 drowned in my insecurity, Slowly, my sorrow Iead me to laughter, 1 dont have to die to be free.
53 I walk in sandals, but 1 swim iike a sailor. It would be another Jonah story Had he tossed the captain over, For not saying the words to calm the sea Like a broken blue boat full of deep blue water 1 drifted, and lonely winds blew me To a cove, to drop anchor Where none of my friends could see. I walk in sandals, and 1 swim like a sailor. It'll be another Jonah story When he tosses the captain over, For not saying the words to calm the sea. Like a boat with new saiis, I'm stronger, Heading back out to sea With a Ioad of my fiends who know the danger, We dl need to live to be free. 1 walk in sandafs, and 1 swim like a sailor. They know I'm the other Jonah story For I've tossed the captain over. And 1'11 Say the words to cairn the sea Helping ChildrenlMy PIayfd Chiid Voice Walk, walk in sandals. Swim, swim like a sailor. Live, live your own Jonah story. Toss the captain over. And Say, Say the words to cairn the sea- (Stewart, February 1996) When Kristina-Mae was a toddier, she didn't like her Uncle Randy-the husband of her mother's sister. Whenever he approached her, she held onto my leg and would not let go until he left the room. I believed that she was picking up or responding to sorne signal that I couldn't detect, and I didn't try to force her to humour Uncle Randy. My daughter didn't trust him; neither did 1. Not long ago, 1 built a playhouse in the basement for Our fiiends' children. 1 sit in it with
54 hem, and we tell stories and eat pie and drink milk. They laugh to see me sittïng on such a little stool. 1 tell them, with my Playfui Cldd Voice, that, inside. ï'm still stilllite too. Recently, Gabriel (aged 3) and 1 had a talk about the thunderstom. We dtcided a purple home named Bimble was dnving a bulldozer on our roof. Tm often rve heard the Word of God used to exhort adults to act like grownups: "When 1 was a child, 1 spake as a child, 1 understood as a child, 1 thought as a child: but when 1 becarne a man. 1 put away childish things" (I Corinthians 13: 11). Part of becoming a healthier man means 1 recover and integrate, not disown my Playful Child Voice. Society pressures us... but we must resist, because when we kill the child within us, we kill ourselves... what is inside my old body is deeply alive, simply because 1 preserve the chiid within me. 1 also think my body is beautifid and as alive as this child who 1 once was and continue to be, this child who leads me to love life so much. (Freire, 1985, 197) My birthday present to myself when 1 hinied 38 was a used set of five Tonka Mighty toys-a dumptruck, a front-end loader, a bulldozer. a truck-mounted hydraulic shovel, and a grader. 1 played with them for a year, before sanding and painting them blue. They are al1 parked beside the playhouse, waiting for the children. When they come over to visit, 1 grab one too and we al1 roar around the basement. When Fm in a restaurant or other public place. king gmff and rowdy, toddlers come up to me and tug ai my leg, speaking their own language. How do they see me? How do they hear me? They touch me with their little han& and funny words, offering me a gift. 1 feel honoured. By taking time to notice them. I also notice and take care of the little boy 1 used to be that desperately needed positive attention. These children bring me the gift of my own chilciself. I figure maybe they're saying "I've been hearing you al1 the way back there where my Murnmy is
55 sitting, see her? Now it's your tum to hear me-" That's fair. We have a iittie conversation. 1 always thank them for coming to visit me. 1 mean it "Thank you" is the word thaî brings lifets gifts. Not "please." 1 used to beg rny father and God for mercy. My father used to cal1 ail of us beggars, which we were, by his commd No more begging. "Thank you" means 1 appreciate the gifts 1 have been given and give. Breath. Flowen. Rocks. Trees. Children's voices. Kristina-Mae had trouble sleeping as a baby. She cried instead. The doaor cded it colic. When 1 held her against my chest (1 dways held her on my damaged left side) and danced around the house singing loudly in my Big FearIess Happy Daddy Voice she floated away to cireamland in about one minute. Colic? She was lonely. I too have colic. Some things are not to be stomached. My Voice of Death Basically, my large intestine doesn't work properly. 1 process the world with my guts. My guts are highly sensitive to spices of any sort. Gentle Reader, please be assured that words like "guts" are not offensive. They are real, like my own experience. 1 am not trying to demonstrate "sociai science but ethnographie realism... lived life, at once raw and subtle, coarse and cornplex" (Greenblatt. 1997,20). I'm about twelve pounds overweight from eating bread. Comfort food. Bread doesn't hurt my guts. At any moment, 1 can tell exactly where my food is in my digestive tract My gut is raw, and food feels like razor blades as it moves ihrough.
56 pain stamped on my every airtight watertight breakfast memory pain i see it for the first time feel it under my butter and strawberry jarn pain i taste laughter it's just another word for bread (Stewart, July 26, 1993) As 1 mite this thesis. 1 focus al1 my attention on creating this sentence, one word at a time. I speak out loud as 1 write to help myself focus. The chronic pain 1 experience fhroughout my whole body-like I'm made out of shards of broken glass-is partly a result of my large intestine's failure to process my food. Many doctors cal1 it fibromyalgia Dr. Singh, my Homeopath calls it toxaemia. Dr. Wehrspann, my therapist-tacher. calls it psychosomatic. 1 call it my Voice of Bath. Inasmuch as 1 have no bodily knowledge of painlessness, 1 can only associate this intense pain with king beaten by my father. I endured so many thumps in the guts with two-by-fours or his fists or boots or cane that 1 often had blmd in my stool as a youngster and teen. 1 was afkaid pieces of my guts would corne loose and fa11 out of me. When he reached out and snared me with the crook of his cane, it dug deep into my descending colon on my left side, and as he twisted his wrist 1 felt like 1 was literaily breaking apart inside. If rny colon is in pain because of aclxiety, then that organ is not just a piece of biologicaiiy hinctioning flesh. It has some link with consciousness and a particula. mode of expression... My colon was unhappy, and if 1 could attend to its cornplaint 1 rnight begin to understand what was making it uneasy, or, so to speak.
57 "diseasy."..many people going to the doctor have their own "cognitive maps" of their bodies, their own imagination of what the body looks like inside and what is going on at the moment in its illness. If we weren't so insistent on univocai meanings, wanting only expert opinions, which are as rnuch fantasy as patient's thoughts, about what is going on, we might pay more attention to the patient's imagination of the illness... The word means "not having your elbows in a relaxed position." "W1 cornes from the Latin m. "having hanciles," or "elbows akimbow-a relaxed posture, or at least not at work. Dis-ease means not elbows, no elbow room. Ease is a form of pleasure, disease a loss of pleasure. (Moore, 1994, ) Most days, my brothers and sisters and 1 urinated and defecated where we stood, in terror, whenever our father called our names. The sight of an enemy stimulates in the brain those pattern formed by the previous experiences of the individual with that enemy, and also the experiences of the race whenever an enemy had to be met and overcome...we find an inhibition of the functions of every organ and tissue that consumes energy, but does not contribute to motor eficiency. The mouth becomes dry; the an-reatic secretio~... letewed: mltic actign stops. The obvious purpose of ail these activations and inhibitions is to mas every atom of energy upon the muscles that are conducting the defense or attack... though an enemy today [sic] rnay not be met by achial physical attack, yet the decks ani cleared for action, as it were, and the weapons made ready, the body king shaken and exhaustedjf the activities are consummated, the fuel-glycogen-and the activating secretions from the thyroid, the adrenals, the hypophysis [pituitary gland] are consumed In the activation without action, fiese products must be.. ed as and so a hea sta 1s putupon the or-.. * -. Chronic emotional stimulation. therefore, may fatigue or exhaust the brain and may cause cardiovascular disease, m, Grave's disease, diabetes, and insanity even. (emphases added, Crile, 1970, ) 1 tried to contain my fear by fisting my anus and holding everything in as long as 1 could. Trying to exercise some bodily control. Trying to stave off total humiliation. Trying to hold ont0 my life like Franld. 1 still carry my Voice of Death around in my guts. 1 am not afraid of it now. 1 honour this voice by creating and keeping a sacred place for it in rny Me. I keep old dried flowers around;
58 they dont look dead to me. When the pain is too severe to ka. publicly, I retreat to my little cabin beside the lake, unplug the telephone, close the blinds, and allow myself to hear my Voice of Death without an audience. As a child, 1 had no choie, but now 1 choose to meet Death regularly. We are friends. When 1 moved from the loghouse in the bush to this cabin near Peterborough in May, 1994 (within commuting distance of The Ontario Institute for Studies in Mucation, University of Toronto-OISUUT), 1 slept on the floor beside the large windows overlooking the lake. 1 was still afraid of the dark. 1 left the blinds open all night. 1 only twk naps, day and night; 1 needed to be able to see my way out, to be able to get out. Escape. Lie the fictional Nick Adams, If 1 could have a light 1 was not afraid to go to sleep, because I knew rny sou1 would only go out of me if it were dark... And 1 am sure many times, too, that 1 slept without knowing it-but 1 never slept knowing it, and on this night 1 listened to the silkworms. (Hemingway, 1973, 130) Whenever 1 awoke, 1 recorded my drearns in my dream journal on the floor beside me. Months later, I moved my mattress into my bedroom. 1 fastened a large white slice of bristol board to the wall beside the head of my bed, and kept a sharp pencil in the window sill. 1 would roll on my right side and draw and scnbble on the wall whenever 1 felt like it. 1 wrote my narne. 1 drew bears and trees and birds and flowers and rocks and lakes and rivers and fish. My creatures face to the left. (My OISEnrr class notes are full of doodles of birds. 1 still draw them beak first. Facing left.) 1 wrote funnylwking words. 1 filled in the paper fiom nght to left, bottom to top. In the upper left corner, Wilton drew the initials of his name in 3-D, and signed his name. Over the 1995 Christmas holidays, 1 cleared out so Kristina-Mae and her fiance Jeff could stay here. In the lower left corner, Knstina-Mat wrote "Meny Christmas!" on my wall. She drew a decorated
59 Christmas tree with presents beside it, and signed it Over the last three years, I've slowly been learning to feel safer in the dark, closing the bedroom dwr a littie more as the months go by. Daytime or nighttime, now I can close my bedroom dwr ail the way. No light comes through the curtain over my bedmom window. 1 lie down, naked, close my eyes, place my han& over my colon, and Say my mantra softiy aloud over and over. "1 allow myself to die... 1 allow myself to die..." During this healiog ritual, 1 often see and feel jagged chunks of pain break off ffom my body and dissolve in the air. 1 Say my mantra aloud until it becornes work, then I think only those words until 1 feel my spirit lift out of my body, away fiom the pain. "Frequently an OBE [out-of- body expenence] occurs as a d t of stress, sickness, or physical trauma" (Kalweit, 1988,52). Closing the door is my way of inviting my Spirit to stay closer to my body, of dowing my Spirit to minister to me in the darkness. "We only know that an OBE can occur in an awakened state, during sleep, in a dream, in the hypnogogic phase preceding sleep, and in other transpersonal states (Kalweit, I988,S5). Again, 1 feel like Nick Adams in the good places. 1 myself did not want to sleep because I had been living for a long time with the knowledge that if 1 ever shut my eyes in the dark and let myself go, my sou1 would go out of my body. 1 had been that way for a long time, ever since I had ken blown up at night and felt it go out of me and go off and then come back. (Hemingway, 1973, 127) 1 have the only key to this cabin. This is my sacred heaüng space. No one is aiiowed to come here without secunng my permission fint; 1 do not want to bc jamd when 1 am this vulnerable, this open.
60 1 live my breaîh. Behold it, 1 camot, nor hold it in. Tis no more mine than in is in mine, part of before and akr, sound changes. Tis more mine how in is in wind, beheld and held up and in. Life inhales me. Thank you Me, for this gift of Life, this breath to breathe my death. (Stewart, June 1, 1995) Living takes guts. I tell the story of each of my survival strategies in Iater chapten as this inquiry shifts from the past into the hiture. My Untnisong Voice Again When Tm afraid, in order to physically keep myself together, 1 stili, automaticdly, clench my anus. The pitch and volume of my Unhusting Voice go up. My Untrusting Voice quivers and my han& shake (but not in hannony). 1 forget to breathe and 1 Say the wrong thing and embarrass myself in class, like Valerie WaIkerdine (I985), I felt, in the old place, as in the new, that if 1 opened my mouth it would be to say the wrong thing. Yet 1 desired so much, so very much, to produce utterances which, if said in one context, would not lead to rejection in the other. (cited in Franzosa, 1992,398) 1 rely, therefore, on my own bravery, rather than a sense of safety to tell my stories.
61 Unfortunately, my stories are more intense than most teachers and other students want to hear or couid imagine. My stories ca~ot, under any cimmstances, be considered "normal." I break out in a cold sweat and if I maintain this stress Ievel for more than a minute or two, I start to c ~y and must excuse myself. This has happened more than a few times during courses for my Master's and Doctoral Degrees at OISUUT. Going to class takes guts. Writing this thesis account takes al1 the guts I've got. Being defiant helped Save rny Me. and 1 have trouble discerning when I need to be defiant and when 1 don't 1 take myself too seriously. I felt guilty for king defiant for most of my life, until 1 lwked up that word in the dictionary and found that it dso meant brave. My guilt instantly vanished. Being brave is synonymous with "having guts" to me. Yes, rm afraid. It takes guts to admit how afraid 1 redy am and keep going, rather than let fear paralyse me. I'rn just more brave than 1 am afraid. That's how I live. I'm counting on my bravery to get me to the end of this thesis and to the end of this stage in my recovery. Hitch my guilt is bolted under my bumper of insecurity outstuck And tongues and hooks and chains of past lies and fears and pains tow me back And my desire to be free is my hacksaw hacksaw hack (Stewart, December 10, 1990)
62 Brave and Bibliical Voices From the the 1 was a young schoolboy, I liked it that North American Indian warriors were called Braves. 1 never tired of reading the stories of my brave Bible heroes, the warriors David and Samson. Brave men, the good guys, like me, had guts. They stood up to builies, the bad guys, Like my father, who wanted ali the power, and scared everybody. The good guys had a secret weapon-bravery. The bad guys had no hearts. The good guys fought with their whole hearts, and were ready to die to stop the bad guys. The story of David, the shepherd boy who became King of IsraeI, inspired me in my constant baîtie against my father: And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and IsmI stood on a mountain on the other side; and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an heimet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had paves of bras upon his legs, and a target of bras between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and one bearing his shield went before him... And the Philistine said, 1 deq the amies of IsraeI this &y; give me a man, that we may fight together -...And [David] took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth Stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.-.And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth. and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am 1 a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Corne to me, and 1 will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of field. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but 1 corne to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts. the God of the amies of Israel, whom thou hast defied This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand... when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon the earth... and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and
63 drew it out of the sheaîh thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philisthes saw their champion was dead, they fled. (I Samuel 17:s-5 1) My father told almost everybody that he was six-foot-four-and-a-half inches dl. He had a big mouth too. 1 hated the words "size -en." the size of his boots, for the pain they stomped into my body. Last fd, 1 happfiy leamed a new meaning for those words when 1 bought my sixteen- year-old son Wilton a new pair of size thirteen Nike sneakers for school. 1 took hirn to a party, and he bopped around to loud music in his new sneakers. 1 wrote a poem for him, and framed it. He pinned it to his wd. The last he: "lace up your angelbwts son i'm taking you dancing" (Stewart, November 23, 1995)- Samson was a different Bible hero from David. David sounded confident when he went against Goliath-confident he would not be killed. Goliath was big and curnbersome, like a bulldozer. David was agile and fast, like a dirt bike. Dfierent kinds of power. David faced Goliath alone. Samson's trusting someone led to his humiliation. That was the lesson. Don't trust anyone, especially those closest to you. Love will betray you. She mustabin. Delilah, 1 mean. S he mustabin abeaut. 1 mean, S he mustabin day anahalf or Whydhe lether chophis hairoff? (Stewart, September ) Mum said she loved me yet dways caiied Dad to kat me whenever she didn't like what 1 was saying or doing. Love is war. Samson knew he would die. Even in chahs, Samson made peace with God and himself, and fought back. He alone determined the price of his freedom and
64 willingiy paid that price to set himself fke. And it came to pas, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his sou1 was vexed unto death; That he toid her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not corne a razor upon mine head; for 1 have been a Nazarite unto God fiom my mother's womb: if 1 be shaven, then my strength wdi go from me, and 1 shail become weak, and be iike other men. And when Delilah saw that he had toid her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philisthes, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me ail his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she calied for a man, and she cawd him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went fiom him And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and sai& 1 will go out and as at other times before, and shake myseif. And he wist not that the Lord was departed fiom him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought hi. dom to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god... And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made hem sport: and they set him between the pillars..now the house was full of men and women... and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women together. And Samson cailed unto the Lord, and said O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, 1 pray thee, only this once, O God, that 1 may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle piilars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon al1 the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. (Judges 16: 16-30) As a boy, 1 figured thaf for a moment, as the house was crashing down (see illustration, page 48 ), al1 the bad guys who were laughing at Samson suddenly stopped laughing. Bad guys, like my father, hurt people for fun, and laughed. Samson's hair grew back. Slowly. If 1 could stay dive, 1 would grow to be big, and one day, rd get revenge too. Like David and Samson, I'd bring my father and his memory dom. 1 never wanted to be bigger than him, or even as big as him. He measured himself, everybody, and everything on the outside.
66 (Whiie you and i have lips and voices which are for kissing and to sing with who cares if some oneeyed son of a bitch invents an instrument to measure Spnng with? (curnmings, 1953/198 1,4) No Quantitative Voice for me 1 hated those Little straight black lines on his shiny stainless steel superlong tape measure he used for surveying. I hated the tape measure in his tool box. 1 hated the yardstick at school, and the foot-long d er in my desk. My der had a hole in the centre, and I used to twirl it on the sharpened tip of my pencil, especially in grammar class. Who cares about irrelevant verbs and conjunctions and predicates? I'm going to get killed when 1 get home. I'm flying this machine way part you teacher. rm flying this machine where nobody can find me. 1 went home. The lesson at home: mesures. Different lesson. Different teacher. "Pl1 teach you. I'11 tan you within an inch of your life." 1 thought of the yardstick-thirty-six inches of life-one inch was only two fingers wide. How could 1 hold ont0 it with only two fingers? "Close. The. Door-" "Please dad..." "Get your. Clothes off." "Please dad," I begged. "Please no..." 1 folded al1 my clothes and piled them in the corner of his bedroom, near the door. Even my undenvear. With one hand, he lifted me off the floor by the throat and stuffed his snotty handkerchief into my mouth. "Bite!" 1 bit. 1 choked for air. He tossed me ont0 his bed. 1 landed face dom. Down came the strap on the back of my head and ears. Down on my neck. Down and dom, he measured the length of my back by the width of that strap even to the soles of my feet. "Roll over!" And dom from my chin to my hands on my privates. "Hands at your sides!" And my pnvates. And my privates. And... "For good measure! " Down to the tips of my toes 1 watched myself tum from white to red to
67 purpie. And 1 learned. That was the fmt time he tanneci me that way. (Stewart, 1995, ) My father was not a good teacher.... the best that the educator can do is to ensure that (i) the methmis he uses are morally defensible-torture, savage punishment, and persistent conditioning are ruled out; (ii) the 'content' is in line with the best thinking available; in morality, for example, the moral principles taught should be univenalizable and related to feelings of other people rather than narrow, specific. and egocentric; and (iii) the 'content' should be presented in such a way as to encourage the child to develop a critical spirit towards it... Since a way of M e is caught as much as taught, it would be futile as well as presumptuous to suggest that a parent train a chiid to a way of iife he himself does not follow. For the essence of training Lies in consistency, and the parent's own outlook has to be part of this consistency. (Snook, 1975,9495) I hated hearing "lines of scrimmage" at whatever yard-line, as his television blared his football game through his house day and night. 1 hated those Little black lines between the numbers on the face of the clock. Tick tick Tm running out of time tick tick tirne's up here cornes Dad I'm in trouble.
68 i watch *Y rpm i rev when you call my name i go fear fearful fearsome i grind my fspeed gearsome i h d neutral when you go home (Stewart, August 23, 1990) Dad was never late. 1 hated every cwed line he inscribed on my skin with his knuckles and fis& and elbows and feet. 1 hated every straight line he inscribed on my skin with his weapons Did he use me to try to banish his own self-loathing and rage against himself? Was he using my blood, shed in sacrifice, to cleanse hirnself, to redeem himself, more or less than intentionally indulging in the pleasure he derived fiom king sadistic? The only thing 1 could do with my Iife was try to survive. The only way 1 could try to do that was to be brave. 1s it possible that my king brave taught my father something inarticulable?... sooner or Iater king less human leads the oppressed to stniggle against those who have made them so. In order for this süuggle to have meaning, the oppressed mcome] restorers of the hurnanity of both. This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as
69 we Il. And thk fi& kause of the purpose given it by the oppressed, will actudy constitute an act of love opposing the Iovelessness which lies at the heart of the oppnssor's violence.... (Freire, lwo,28-29) In some strange way. did my father think that, by shedding my blood and leaving stripes on me, he was purging something sinful from within himself in some way like God using Jesus, His son, to redeem the world with His blood? But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bmised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stnpes we are healed. (Isaiah 535) Who his own self bare our sins on the tree, that we, king dead to sins, should Iive unto righteousness: by whose stripes we are healed- (1 Peter 2:24) 1 hate striped clothes. Prisoner clothes. 1 hate straight block walls and brick wdls like my faîher built My favourite walls are those of the loghouse in the bush where 1 finished writing to lose. These walls are more than a foot thick. About 140 years ago, the grandfather of my 83-year-old neighbour, the now deceased Hugh Winter, built this loghouse. We generally think of logs as dead. When we Say "tree" we mean "living, growing me." Hugh Winter's grandfather built me a tree-house. A refuge. Those big hewn logs smell honest. Their honest knots and cracks tickle the eye. Their lines flow to and from dovetail corners to fom a giant, fkiendiy ribcage. The corners are breastbones. The walls breathe. They have honest voices too- they creak and groan in the wind These walls are full of nothing but tree. These wdls are meeting places-places where inside warmth radiates ouovard to meet and mingle with winter. Dunng the winters, 1 carried wood indoors to warm up before loading it into the stove-to prevent dramatic temperature change within the fmbox.
70 My Tmckbody My left foot is Bat on the ground 1 park rny right buttock on my right heel. My right foreann waits on my right thigh. I'm a truck. A worktruck I'm a selfloading dumptnrck, loading mydumptruckself up with 1 &inch lengths of split oak for rny airtight woodstove. 1 grip each heavy piece with my left hand, and load up my right ann. Seven pieces. A good load I tum my head sideways and stack them tight to my neck Nine. A full load. 1 can do it. 1 can do it. Twelve. Overloaded One more for good measure. Right leg buckiing. Rish up, legs. Puuushhhh. "7Jph-&-&*" Strain of load transferring to right am and right shoulder. Balance load over chassis. Don't bounce, dont break my axle, my ankle. Walk, legs. Bull low. "Rrrohwrrr-rrrohwm-rrrohwm." Maàe it. Down, legs. "Ps--thmp." I'm a selfunloading dumptnick. Unload, one at a time. Get the next load. High gear. ''Zzzz~oooornrmnm~ " I'm a selfloading dumpûuck, loading mydumptruc.kself up. Overloaded One more for good measure. Thirteen pieces. Right leg buckling. Wait. Don't push up, legs. Right leg buckling. Lighten the load. Unioad one. Still buckling. Unload another one. Overloaded. Unload two. Full load. Push this load up, legs. "a-&-&&." Not such a straïn on my leafsprings; this load is not as heavy as the last one. No danger of
71 broken axle, broken ankle. BuU low- "Rrrohwrrr-moh~t~~-~hwrc~." Not such a strain on my gearbox, my gut Squat down to unload. "Pshhhhhhhhhhh-thmpPgt I'rn a selfunloading dmptnick. Unload one. Feel the space open up inside. Unload one. Feel myself iighten. Lighten up. Unload one. Not such a strain to unload myself of this load. Unload one, create more space inside me. The more 1 unload-write my trauma stoïies and poems, the more 1 lighten up, the more space 1 create inside me for tighter stones and poerns. Next load. Low gear. "Rrrohwrrr-rrrohwrrr-rrrohwm" I'rn a selfloading dumptruck, loading mydumptruckself up. Seven pieces. A good load. Wait. Unload two. Unload two more. Revise this story. Unioad them dl. The healingstory always starts right here, right now. I'm a truck. A playtruck. I'rn a little selfloading dumpttmck, loading my Little dumptmckself up. Just a littie load. I'm loading with my nght hand. Loading my left hand. One piece. Gearing up. Bull low, Neutral, little rev, First. Dom the driveway, Second. Over the lawn, Third. Through the trees, Fourth. Around the house. Fifth. I'rn laughing, bouncing, dancing through the doorway. I'm a little selfunloading dumptnick. I'rn dnving around empty. Four, Three, gearing down as 1 climb to the top of the woodpile. Parking right here. Turning off my engine. Resting. Breathing. These loghouse walls you cm respect. This loghouse has no walls inside if no hollow two-by-four snid walls, stuffed with superitchy insulation and covered with drywd and paùit, like
72 the kind of walls my dad built As if his wdls could forever impnson his children. As if he could teach his children to fear him and Goci more. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..." (Psalms 111 : 10). Telling my story is the beginning of ledg to Iive instead of merely surviving. How much fear can a child hold in hidher body? As if my father's walls could gag forever the voices of his children. As if the God he feared would not and could not see and hear through his walls. As if God pretended to be as deaf and blind as rny mother. BELSHAZZAR the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand..,.they drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wali of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote... Then Daniel answered and said before the king... I will read the writing unto the king... the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are ail thy ways, thou hast not glorified: Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was wntten, MENE, MENE. TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided and aven to the Medes and Persians... In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. (Daniel 5: 1-30) As a boy, 1 wrote on my dad's walls. Sending hirn the sarne message. He escaped the Canadian justice system, but he did not escape my judgement. "If you scribble on the walls again, tonight," wum] said, "your name will be mud in the morning." "Yes Mum, I mean no Mum." Every chance 1 got, I pretended to correct myself with both answers, for inside 1 had only one response to any demand. No. 1 still do. 1 was in Grade 5, and my pen was mine. 1 took it from my satchel. 1 knelt in the bed and printed my name in capital letten on the wall. 1 pressed hard, and 1 thought about mud. Mud pies and lemon meringue pies and Dad's pies. I printed my name again, verticaily, so the w's matched, like in a crossword puzzle, and 1 pressed harder. My narne made a perfect cross. 1 capped my pen and played at writing my name in the air. I liked to put a little curl at the beginning of my
73 capital S. In the moming, Thomas and Michael held me kneeling over a chair by the ankles and wrists while Dad strapped me from head to foot and back again. A week later, when 1 could sit dom, 1 went back to school, and every time a big truck drove toward me on 12th Avenue, 1 looked at its front burnper to see if my name was written there, ready to step into its path. (Stewart, 1995,4647) At the loghouse I leamed how to accept king suicidal on a moment-to-moment basis. I tied my sturdy rope to rafters at the top of the stairs and pulled the hangman's noose tight to my neck. I cannot wnte my book; 1 am in too much pain. 1 carmot even write a page or a paragraph. I am going to commit suicide right now. But fust 1 am going to change this one word. Add a comma here, move this line over here. Wow, a poem! Thank you Poem for coming by! Now Fm hungry again. 1 am going to commit suicide right now. But first I'm going to have one more slice of toast and Laura Secord strawberry jarn. What's going to happen to the rest of this good jam when Pm dead? 1 am going to commit suicide but fvst 1 am going to bmsh rny teeth. Maybe 1 should leave a little will. To whom shall 1 bequeath the rest of my strawbeny jam? 1 am going to commit suicide but first 1 am going to c d Dr. Wehrspann for an appointment. 1 am going to commit suicide right after my appointment with Dr. Wehrspann. Right after I cal1 my children. 1 just want to hear their voices one more time. Wow, a red cardinal landing on the barbwire fence! Thank you Birdy for coming by! 1 am going to commit suicide right after I rip that ugly barbwire fence out of the Earth. A cardinal is the embodiment of The Christmas Spirit. The sight and sound of cardinals bring me joy. Since I was a young lad, I've felt that a barbwire fence is no place for a cardinal to land. "1 was Iooking out the window, watching a cardinal on the barbwire fence across the road" (Stewart, 1995, 12). 1 am deeply moved by the cornfort brought to Frankl, in the midst of his despair, by a bird.
74 This scene is but one example of the power of Frankl's (1962) own qualitative inqujr: For houa 1 stood hacking at the icy ground The guard passeci, insulting me more, and once again 1 communed with my beloveci. More and more 1 felt that she was present, that she was with me; 1 had the feeling that 1 was able to touch her, &de to stretch out my hand and grasp hers. The feeling was very smng: she was *ex. Then, at that very moment, a bird flew down silentiy and perched just in front of me, on the heap of soi1 which 1 had dug up hm the ditch, and looked steadily at me. (Frankl, 1962,40) 1 am viscerally moved by Frankl's language, by the way it conveys the tangible quality of his love for his wife. 1 vicariously moum his loss and rejoice with him for the affirmation of her life and her love, embodied in the presence of that bird of life. 1 came to know a deathbird, a rescuer, that delivered me to the whde. Dad held my feet together in his left han& and he stabbed and stabbed stabbed over and over and over with the point of the twist spike until the soles of my feet were red mush. He chased us out the back door ont0 the gravel. "You're not fit to sleep in my house!" We ran for the van between the poplars. Stones in the feet It was a big bread van. We opened the rear doors. "Get your clothes off! You devils get any blood on the floor of my truck, and we do this again in the moming!" It was a frosty October night We stripped. We kneeled just inside the doors, so Our feet wouldn't even drip onto the bumper. We didn't touch each other, or Say a word- We just cried. 1 lay down. AI1 my skin on the front of me stuck to the cold metal. I thought about a big mother pterodactyl, coming to rescue me, swooping down, folding her big wings as she came through the back of the truck. digging her big long shq talons into the rniddle of my back and lifting me up and flapping her big wings and crashing out through the windshield and flying over the ocean and dropping me plop into the waves and me sinking down down dom. Then al1 1 knew was blackness. (Stewart, 1995,31) Frankl survived four Nazi concentration camps. His story, like mine, is about life behind and beyond barbwire.
75 LSe Beyond BarbwVe In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below... (McCrae, cited in Gustafson, 1984, 1 10) Barbwire fences aren't built to keep canle, sheep, or people between the Iines. Al1 sorts of fences do that Barbwire has one function only: to intlict pain. Pain is the bad guy. The fear of Pain keeps you fenced in. You dont even approach thai barbwire fence. You build your own fence within the perimeter, shrinklng the size of your trap. 1 like friendly fences that people cm climb and sit on, fences that animds can approach and chew or kick or rest their chin on while people pet them 1 hate how barbwire fencelines leave gashes in the wind As 1 pulled the barbwire up out of the Earth, I was pulling it out of the veins in my wrists. 1 left black lines in the earth, cutting the sod, as 1 tore out the painwin. Bonus! 1 filled a yoghurt container with woms for fishing. Wilton and 1 bumed fenceposts for months in our outdoor fuepit. During his visit with me in June told him a story by the fue every night. In one story, themes emerged about violence at home and school. an indoor-outdoor classroom, the power of a pencil, a teacher with different selves, Life in death, resurrection, and healing. Wilton loved the story. In September 1993, the beginning of the school year, I wrote it. 1 share it now, Gentle Reader. with you. Interlude: A Short Story Entitled "Drawing" Nobody knew Railway was not an ordinary kid. Just after the school bel1 rang, he charged into Biology, out of breath. He sharpened his
76 new yellow pend "Have a pickle," said Rob. From a very large jar. he flopped a frog upsidedown on Railway's desk. ''Ugh." "You're welcome." H you were dive and I tickled you, hg, would you laugh? "I'm sony Mrs. Brannigan, I can't do this." said Guy. "No way. 1 just had breakfast." "Guy, you little wimp," said Lîlly. "Hop up on my desk and I'U cut your littie froggy beliy open then we'll dl know how much ketchup you had with your scrarnbled eggs!" "Lilly!" yelled Monica, "You're gross!" As instmcted, Railway fastened the frog's splayed fom with long pins. He made a ciean vertical incision from the lower jaw to anus and two laterd incisions between the forelegs and hindlegs. He opened the frog-like a child opens a srnail box of cered dong the perforated linesand pinned the rubbery skin back. "Ugh." He took the pencil fiom behind his left ear. On a clear page in his notebook, he carefully drew the frog as he saw it before him. Head, shoulden. arms, leave a space. legs. What did you look like before, frog? He removed the pins: the doors closed. He drew the sides, belly, the lines of incision. That's not what you looked like before, frog. He slowly erased the vertical line from the lower jaw, and the two lateral Lines. He tumed the page on his notepad, and set it dom on his desk. But as he reached for pins he saw no
77 incisions in the hg. "You feeling a iietle squeamish tm, Railway?" asked Mrs. Brannigan. "No, not too much," he stammered. He showed her what he had just drawn. "Thar's rather good. " "1 just wanted to show what he looked like, before-" "-He?" "k I mean, I'm not sure yet." "Weil," she said "This isn't exactly art class, I suggest you get on with it." "Yes Matam" Railway drifted over to Jimmy's desk. Jimmy ate popcom from his shirt pocket. "Hi bud, Want some?" "No thanks." he whispered. "Hey Jimmy, let me draw your frog." "Okay bu& sure." Railway drew. Head, shouldea, arms, Ieave a space, legs. "Take out the pins, just for a minute. so 1 can see how he looked before." Railway drew the sides, bdy. and Iines of incision. Then, as he slowly erased the lines in his notepad, the cuts in Jimmy's frog knitted. "Mn. Brannigan!" yelled Jimmy. "Mrs. Btannigan! Something very scientifically scary is happening over here!" Iimmy explained as she approached his desk. "Really?" she said. "How interesting. Perhaps Mister Rawlins could give a demonstration
78 to the class." Everyone gathered around LilIy's frog. "Just take out the pins," said Railway. As he erased the lines in his notebook, Lilly's frog mended- Gord hobbled through the crowd on crutches. "1 couldn't see, man" he lied. In a flash Gord severed the right hind leg of the frog. " Jeez. " Railway turned the page in his notebook, drew Gord. Head, shoulders, arms. sides, left leg, right leg in a cast, leaning on crutches. With Lilly's red pend. he slashed the drawing. Instantly, blood poured fiom Gord's left leg. He roared in agony and fell backward to the floor. Everyone screamed. Railway erased the red fine on his drawing. He erased the cast. Gord stopped crying. He laughed. Everyone laughed. Even Mrs. Brannigan. Rob helped Gord to his feet, and he waiked hesitantly, but without crutches, away from the broken pieces of his plaster cast on the flwr. "I'm sorry, man," he said. "Thanks a lot, man." "You're welcome." As Railway drew Lilly's frog a new leg in his notebook, so it grew on her kog. He drew seventeen frogs whole. He drew them hopping through the air, and he drew them al1 together in wann water in the blue enamel basin on Mrs. Brannigan's desk. Railway drew Ted's front teeth that had been punched dom his throat by his father. Jane closed her eyes and described her ber. Railway listened and drew and erased the cancer. And
79 when she showed her baldness he drew her a thick golden mane. "I've only got bunions, so what," said Mrs. Brannigan. AU I want, alli ever tmiy wanted, was to stand at my easel with paints and brushes in the world of living things as an old lady. To leave a Iegacy of paintings that wodd inspire others to seek and record the beauty in the motion of iife." "So why did you get yourself stuck in teaching?" asked Rob. She started to cry. "1 don't know how to be courageous." "Mrs. Bfannigan," said Railway, "what you just said is courageous." He drew her in the classroom. "Look out the window, Mrs. Brannigan," he said. "Tell me about where you want to be." As she talked, Railway drew her standing beyond the football field, painting at the edge of the ravine. As he drew this picture of her, he erased the other. "Look! Over there!" the students yelled. "There she is! There she is!" Railway watched from the window. They al1 walked with Gord as he carried the basin full of croaking frogs toward the old lady in a purple hat, her paintbmsh boogying on canvas. (Stewart, September 1993) 1 gave a copy of this story, as a gifi, to Robin. my partner's eldest daughter. She made a film based on "Drawing" while she was attending Ryenon. She gave me a small dmm, my first drum for Christmas, in When 1 focus on playing the cim. my joy-in-music-making becomes pater than the pain in rny hands, wrists, arms and shoulders. Playing the d m is a healing exercise for me.
80 Before the snow flew at the loghouse, 1 coiled up a heaping pickupmicldull of barbwire and took it to the recycling depot. We iive in an automotive society. If we don't respect and stay within the lines painted on the road, we're not going to survive. panic's a flat tire at eighty miles an hour you left your rubber on the road and your rim furrows the tar you can't go over you're going over O no you're over the iine airning for the oncoming car and you got no air in your Iungs but fear in your eyes to spare (Stewart, November 7, 1990) Like block walls, 1 hate lined paper. 1 need room to play on the page, and those straight lines look just like bars on my window. 1 cannot erase them. A poem needs space. this paim this womb this pen this cord this ink this blood this poem this king this page this world (Stewart, Apnl6, 199 1) As a boy, 1 needed some space to grow. I wanted to feel myself growing. Inside. I wanted to
81 grow so 1 could feel that I had a human shape and a human size. 1 wanted to belong somewhere on the Earth. I wanted to grow big enough to fight my dad in my kind of fight. The problem: God helped David and Samson but God was not helping me. God was not always on the side of the good guy. Of course 1 was the good guy. How could 1 trust their God when He told Abraham to kiil his son? And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here 1 am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of... And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fre in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am 1, rny son. And he said, Behold the fue and the wood: but where is the lamb for a bumt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God wilt provide himself a larnb for a burnt offenng: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son. and laid hirn on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto hirn out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said Here am 1. And he said Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do any thing unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou has not withheld thy son from me. And Abraham Lified up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind hirn a rarn caught in a thicket by his homs; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered hirn up for a bumt offenng in the stead of his son. (Genesis 22: 1-13) Abraham was a hero to my parents and everybody in their church because he was willing to sacrifice his son. To me, Abraham, like my dad, was the bad guy. Isaac was the good guy. God did not help Isaac. He ignored hirn. Isaac was a pawn in God's game with Abraham. At the last second, God's angel hollered at Abraham. Just because Isaac was spared doesn't mean Isaac should forgive his dad for almost killing hirn or God for telling his dad to do kili hirn in the fmt place.
82 Abraham, Why dont you untie me, And lie down here Instead. And if 1 hear your god Tell me Not to spread your cowardly innards Over this cold rock Like mannalade, You can pretend To be my daddy Again. (Stewart, December 2, 1985) 1 was like Isaac, king sacrificed on my father's bed To whom was I king sacrificed? To my Godlike father? Why didn't God ever help me? Why didn't He tell my father not to kill me, not to hurt me? 1 touched on this story of Abraham and Isaac in my autobiography. Even at school, its parallels transfxed me:... 1 withdrew the folded page from my sock. I had tom it out of a dirty old Catholic Bible in the barn. In the picture, Abraham's hair and beard were blown to one side by a fierce wind. He was looking up and shouting something at the black, swirling clouds. In his right hand, he held the glearning dagger, with a thick, curved blade, just above his young son Isaac, who was tied up on the altar. 1 held the paper to a knot-hole for more light. I did not see any fear at ail in Isaac's eyes and 1 thought the guy who painted the picture was a dummy because he didn't know how scary it really was. (Stewart, ) 1 have ken unable to find that picture for you, Gentle Reader. However, 1 have found one similar (see page 66). The context: Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a rnighty man of valour... And so it was that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead...said unto Jephthah, Come and be our captain... And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deiiver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me. when 1 retum in peace... shail surely be the Lord's, and 1 will offer it up for a burnt offering. So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his han&... And Jephthah came to
84 Mizpeh unto his house. and, behold, his daughter came out to meet hirn with timbrels and with dances; and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter...and it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed... (Judges 1 1 : 1-39) 1 knew why God didn't help me. Like my dad, the New Testament God s&ced his own son. 1 was the burnt offering. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son..." (John 3: 16). God sent his son Jesus, "the Lamb of God" (John 1 :29) into the world to be kiled, to die on the cross. Alone. Sometimes God was the bad guy. Sometimes, God was the good guy in a different way than with David and Samson. Sometimes He didn't just help the good guys win, He rescued hem: Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury...and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times [sic] more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Mesach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery fumace... Then Nebuchadnevar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste. and spake. and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo 1 see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of fourth is like the Son of God. (Daniel 3: 19-25) But why didn't God rescue me from my father's bed-altar-fumace-lion's den? Sometimes God was the good guy then becarne the bad guy. He rescued the good guys, but then didn't just make the bad guys pay. He made their innocent wives and chikiren get killed like they were bad guys too. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions... Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said unto Daniel, O Daniel. servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continualiy, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me... Then was the king exceeding glad for hirn... And the king cornrnanded, and they brought those
85 men which had accuseci Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the Lions had the rnastery of them. and brake ail their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. (Daniel 6: 16-24) Sometimes God was the bad guy and the gwd guy at the same thne. Al1 the people of Nineveh are bad guys? God's the good guy. God's the bad guy because He says he's going to destroy Nineveh. Jonah says He won't, and disobeys God's orders. This makes Jonah the bad guy? Jonah offen his life to Save the crew; Jonah's the good guy. God prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah. God's the bad guy until He tells the great fish to release Jonah. Then He's the good guy. But He's going to stiil destroy Nineveh, so He's still the bad guy. Jonah obeys God, the people of the city repent, and God decides not to destroy the city, just like Jonah predicted. God's the good guy. Jonah is angry with God for making him take this long trip for nothing. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Anse, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. And Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish... and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare thereof...but the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cned every man to his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep... And they said every one to his fellow, Corne, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah... And he said unto them, Take me up, as cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you; for 1 know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you... So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging... Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swailow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nigh ts..then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land... So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh... And God saw their works, that they turned away from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed to the Lord, and said, 1 pray thee, O Lord. was not this my saying, when 1 was yet in my own country? Therefore 1 fled to Tarshish: for 1 knew that thou are
86 a gracious Go& and mercifui, slow to anger, and of grrat kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Now, thenfore, O Lard, take, 1 beseech thee. my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live... Then said the Lord... should 1 not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cade? (Jonah 1: 1-4: 1 1) My Defiant Voice How could I trust this God who was so like my dad? 1 was alone, and had to trust myself. 1 defied my parents at every opportunity. Like Jonah, I could not escape. Jonah was one of my Bible heroes for being defiant He tried to get as far away as possible from God. Jonah... is described as living at some time when Nineveh was still the capital of the Assyrian empire... He went down (presumably from his home in the rnountains of Judah, or Jerusalem) to Joppa, with the intention of sailing across the sea to Tarshish (Spain, Sardinia, or Etniria?). In Biblical times Joppa was one of the principal ports of Palestine. At the end of the second millennium B.C. it came under Philistine control and remained so throughout the period of the OId Testament After Sennacherib's campaign against Judah in 701 B.C. it passed under Assyrian control; the Phoenician elements amongst its populations now became so numerous that, in the Persian period, it was considered a Tyrian city. The presence of these Phoenician sea-farers at Joppa explains why Jonah could expect to find a ship there to take him to one of the distant shores of the Mediterranem. The vesse1 on which Jonah embarked was no doubt one of the large type which. in Biblical times, ventured out into the open seas. Ships of this kind, usually manned by Phoenician crews, were propelled by sails, with as rnany as sixty rowers in reserve in case of need. In their voyages across the length and breadth of the Mediterranean the Phoenicians hugged the shores wherever possible... the ships had nothing to steer by on cloudy nights. In a sudden storm the crew would hurriedly furl their sails and row with dl their might for the nearest point of land. ( Avi-Yonah & Kraeling, 1962, ) A synchronicity: Avi-Yonah researching the story of Jonah. Jonah bravely offered hirnself to Save the crew. (See also Wright & Filson, 1945,22.) I admired that. 1 practiced that at home. 1 cared for my brothers and sisters:
87 "...Whoever did it, step fornard, like a man, and take what's corning to you! Otherwise, everybody gets it!" I didn't break it On both sides of me everybody started crying and pissing and shitting themselves but I just told my dont muscles to not let go. 1 didn't want Dad to beat up everybody, so 1 took one two three steps fornard. (Stewart, 1995,27) Jonah was more brave than al1 my other Bible heroes-he stayed dive inside the great fish. He prayed to God fiom the great fish's belly (Jonah 2: 1-9), but God didn't help him while he was in there. He ignored him. God didn't even tak to hhn, much Iess keep him Company or send an angel like He did for Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in the fiery h ace, or Daniel in the Lion's den. They cded Jonah fishproof Daniel lionproof Peter waterproof Jesus nailproof once. (Stewart, December 13, 1985) God didn't help Jonah get out of the great fish. God spoke only to the great fish. But even BibIical stories cm be restoried. The story of Jonah in the Geneva Bible (1560/1969) is almpst identical to the King James
88 Version. Jonah is swaliowed, and stays inside the great fsh the same amount of time: Now the Lord had prepared a great fini to fwalowe vp Ionah: and Ionah was in the beiîy of the fifh thre dais, [sic] and thre nights. (Geneva Bible, 156& Ionah 1 : 17) Jesus (in the King James Version) compares himself, prior to his crucifu<ion, to Jonah: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shail the Son of man be three days and t he nights in the beiiy of the earth. (Matthew 1 2:N) For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. (Luke 1 1 :30) The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Corinthians, reiterates that Jesus was dead for three days before his resurrection: For 1 delivered unto you fust of al1 that which 1 also received, how that Christ died for Our sins, according to the scnptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. (1 Corinthians 154) Jesus, through his own death, sets the exarnple of spirinid death, burial, and re-birth. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily 1 Say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily. verily, 1 Say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is bom of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that 1 said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:3-7) To be "bom of water" is to be baptized. Jesus was himself baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan (Mark 1 :9). The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, charges Christians to be Christ-like. The physicd ritual of baptism is laden with the significance of death, bunal and re-birth.
89 Kaow ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his de&? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so dso should we waik in the newness of We. For if we be planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans, 6:4-6) Iust as Jonah's baptism in the sea, inside the great fish, is an enactment of his mm aansformation, so too are Christians transformed by their belief in Jesus. Now that they are re- bom, they must share the story of their salvation with non-believers, converting them into Christians. "And Jesus said unto hem, Corne ye after me, and 1 will make you to become fishen of men" (Mark 1 : 17). My parents prided themselves on belonging to a group of Christian fundarnentaiists for whom the King James Version was taken to be God's Literal Tmth. Ishmael would have ken wary of my parents, for they were stupefied by their own inhuman zeal. "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian" (Meiville, 1851/1976, 1 18). Anyone not adhenng to the salvation doctrine of the King James Version was bound for hell. Only through the shedding of blood could humans cleanse themselves and approach God. In the Old Testament, animais were sacrificeci to this end. In the New Testament, Jesus' blood, the blood of the son, not of the father, was required. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean. sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the etemal Spirit offered himself without spot to God. purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9: 12-14) The Christmas story of Jesus' birth, celebrated around the world, includes that of innocent
90 chiidren, slaughtered by commaod of the king.... behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a drearn, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until 1 bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him... Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew aii the children that were in BethIehem, and in a11 the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had inquired of the wise men. (Matthew 2: 13-16) Like Jesus, Moses was part of a group of infants sentenced to death by Pharaoh. Moses and Jesus, as saviours, did not come cheaply. The pnce was paid in other chiidren's blood. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is bom ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall Save alive... And the woman conceiveci, and bare a son... she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime, and with pitch, and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the riverts bri &...And the daughter of Pharaoh cam down to wash herself at the river... And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because 1 drew him out of the water. (Exodus 1 :22-2: 10) The little boat which cradled baby Moses is a miniature of Noah's huge ark. Only Noah and his immediate family escaped when God drowned al1 the other inhabitants of the world. Pharaoh, Herod, and God--al1 kings of death. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; roorns shah thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch... And, behold, 1, even 1, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy al1 flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shdl die. But with thee 1 will establish my covenant; and thou shait come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. (Genesis 6: ) Moses, surrounded with darkness in his little "ark of bulrushes" led the Israelites to the prornised land (see Opie's illustration entitled "The Egyptians Drowned In The Red Sea" page 74). Like Noah, from the big ark, who led his farnily to repopulate the world. Like Jonah, who from the
92 belly of the whale, led the people of Nineveh to repentance. saving them fiom destniction. Like Jesus, who fiom the sepulchre after his cnicifwon. led believers to Heaven. The significant Merence between the King James Version and the Geneva rendering of the story of Jonah is Jonah leaves the great fish-through which exit. The King James Version clearly states Jonah was "vomited out" (Jonah 2: IO), but the Geneva Bible does not:... And the Lord fpake vnto the fim, and it caft out Ionah vpon the drye land. (emphasis addeci, Ionah 2: 10) Three hundred years afier the publication of Geneva Bible, Gustave Dore ( ) illustrated the Bible. In his black-and-white illustration entitled "Jonah Cast Forth By The Whale (n-d np), Jonah watches the whale over his right shoulder from the land (see page 76 ). Jonah's back faces the sea. His robes blow in the wind Dark clouds fil1 the sky. White foarn of the waves rolling against the shore almost splashes Jonah's nght foot. Jonah sees the length of the huge black whale in the shallow water. Maybe the whale has already twned. The tip of the whale's tail, not its mouth, is close to Jonah's foot; 1 see the whaie as having defecated Jonah ont0 the beach. This is a powerful picture, as powefil now at 42 years old as the illustrations I saw as a boy living in rural Canada4 felt like David facing Goliath, like Samson in chains pushing the pillars apart, like Isaac being sacrifked on the altar. 1 now feel like Jonah. Jonah has his back to the whale, his mobile undenvater grave, yet he must see the whole whale from his new perspective, from this distance, now that he is outside of it, now that he is alive again. The great fish that contained him is itself contained in the vast sea that meets the sky on the horizon. What would Jonah say to the great fish, now, before it departs? What would the great fish Say to
94 Jonah? Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and Sorrow Whale: You are safe here, on this peninsula 1 how these waters. This is high tide. Rest. 1 must go. Jonah: 1 thought you were taking my life, but you were giving it back to me. Whale: Your life always was, is, and always will be your own. You gave your Me to me, to hold in safekeeping for you. 1 must go. Jonah: Don't- Whale: 1 must or 1 will drown. You drown water, 1 drown out of water. Jonah: Wait. 1 recognize your voice. Tell me your name. Whale: My name is Sorrow. Jonah: 1 carry you in my heart. Sorrow: 1 live to carry you out of danger. You must not try to carry me. Jonah: My mother, who carried me in her betly, does not care how 1 live or die. She, who named me, has forgotten my name. I cmy this pain in my heart. My narne is Matthew. 1 want you to know my name, to cd1 me by my name. Sorrow: Oh Matthew, my son. I have never forgotten. 1 will never forget your narne. My body knows you as your body knows me. Still, you must learn how to live again. You mut Iearn how to breathe. I have carried you as far as 1 cm. Now you can carry you. Matthew: Who carries you, Sorrow? Sorrow: The breath of sea Waves nse up to inhale, and dive back down, exhaling into the sea 1 hear them. Every plant that dances underwater breathes into the sea 1 hear them.
95 Every swimming child breathes into the sea 1 hear them. 1 have ears for a thousand miles. Every d?y tear you shed fin& its way home to the sea Breathe. Matthew: My father always says, "If you cry a cupful, PU buy you a goldfsh." Sorrow: His heart is smaller than that of a goldfish. You do not cry aione, Matthew. 1 hear your voice in your tears. 1 follow the scent directly to you. 1 shall always catch you in my mouth whenever you need me, and you shall know that you are home safe with me. Then, when you are strong again. 1 shall carry you safely back to this shore of life, like dways. The tide is moving out 1 must go now. 1 am govemed by Mother Moon. With her great breath she moves the tide. Matthew: Who will help me learn to walk? Sorrow: My brother, Grizzly. He walks like thunder among trees; he fears no man. Let him take you fishing. Matthew: Who will help me leam to dance? Sorrow: My brother. Eagle, who glides on the breath of the Sun. Grizzly and Eagle shall carry you further than 1. 1 can only carry you through the darkness of your suffering, lp the light. Grizzly and Eagle shall carry you aiways the light. We shall never fail you. Trust. My Mother's You-Deseme-To-Be-Punished Voice My mother ofien cailed me Jonah, as if that were my narne. Every Ume she called me Jonah she used her You-Deserve-To-Be-Punished Voice-she meant 1 was the bad guy. 1 left their home as a teenager: "You're quite determined to run away 1 see, Jonah. Here. This is your
96 share of this month's baby-bonus cheque." She laughed. "Have a good the, Jonah, and rll pray that you corne to your senses before you kiu yourself." (Stewart, 1995,84) 1 retumed to their home as a young father: "You both think you exist between God over here, and the Devil, over here. 1 don't." They laughed. "Of course you don't, Jonah, what else is new?" "Too b-b-bad. G-g-god doesn't care w-w-what you think." (Stewart, 1995, 105) 1 strained rny father through my own violent self:... the best sacrifice doesn't get any blood on your hands da. because you didn't quite kill me you just made sure I want to kill yourself and Save you the bother dl in the name of love to protect your Godlike image just ask Jonah. (Stewart, 1995, 1 1 1) FinaUy 1 confronted my mother about my name: "1 never ran away like you. Every time dad knocked me down 1 got back up. Don't you ever. Ever, cal1 me Jonah again. You hear me?" "1 hear you." (Stewart, 1995, 146) My Mother's Dying Voice My mother is dying. She has had six or seven strokes, and is very fra il and terrified of dying alone. About two o'clock in the morning on March 29, 1997,I felt and heard a voice deep in my gut-a voice that I had never heard before. "Matthew," it called. It was my mother's Dying Voice, low and quiet. "Matthew. Corne home."
97 It woke me. A Prayer for my Mother 1 had not seen her for about eight years. Instead of calling her house, 1 played my own songs for her on the piano. I haven't learned how to read musical notation yet; I'm lea~ng by ear. But 1 couldn't Say what 1 needed to Say on the piano, so 1 played my big cedar drum from Ghana-a gift from Christine on my 40th birthday, David's hung his synthetic supertuned buffalo drum on the wail of his music room. He plays me boxfid of wires, perfect digital dm dum durn. 1 play him tree, s kin, buffalo hoof buffalo horn buffalo bum. (Stewart, January 26, 1995) The more 1 played for Mum, the slower 1 played, until 1 could only beat the dmm slowly, softiy, with my left hanci. 1 played her my heartbeat drumbeat. The artist's voice deepens when it lets go of its egotistical craving for invention and recognition and surrenders to rhythm. As with dnimrning and trame, variations emerge spontaneously and effortlessly once the artist loses self-consciousness through immersion in rhythmic process. Artists cannot operate in this way without a mastery of technique which ailows their souk to becorne instruments of recurrence. (McNiff, 198 1, 35) Playing songs for my father is much harder; 1 cannot find a rhythm yet. In August 1997, two weeks before Kristina-Mae's wedding, she and 1 visited Mum near Vancouver, to Say goodbye. Knstina-Mae and I arrïved on her doorstep, almost to the day, 30 years after 1 fmt saw that house. My parents fled Ontario with 5 brothers and me during July of 1967-Canada's looth
98 bkthday-when 1 was I 1 years old. 1 retumed as a 41 year old father, and I returned with my 21 year old daughter. fistina-mae had asked to accompany me. 1 made a big picnic lunch for our airplane ride. She brought two bonles of drinking water. My sister Darleoe takes care of Mum full-the now, in the house where my father died in The house looked and felt smaller. 1 had actualiy grown up. Darlene told me in her Fm- The-Boss Voice that she would not ailow me to see Mum if 1 didn't promise to "keep the conversation Light." She sat in on our visits to make sure. 1 had no intention of telling Mum that I'd changed my name, or that my book to lose had been published or what 1 was studying in school. The struggle between us is finaily over. she no longer has any power to gag me, and now that 1 am not gagged, 1 do not hurting her by speaking. 1 greeted her and spoke consistently in my Visiting-A-Very-Ill-Person-In The-Hospital Voice. She worked to speak through her medication in her wobbly I'm-Too-Tired-To-Talk Voice. Once in a while when 1 was a boy she used to whistle, warbling loud and clear Like a goldfinch, and 1 wondered where Uiside her she kept such beautiful music. Mum is too weak to whistle now; her spirit is growing wings. We taiked about the weather, my siblings who had corne to visit her, my son and daughter. Gently, 1 held her han& in mine. "1 came to see you, Murn." She nodded. Gently, 1 held her eyes in mine. "Thd you," she said. Gently, 1 held her heart in mine. "Rest now Mum." For the first time in my life, 1 left my parents' house without fear in my step, without needing to
99 look behind me to make sure rny father wasn't after me. Healing. 1 used to like the smell of Mum's hands. During the summer when 1 when was thirteen years old, she cailed me into her bedroom. The bed was already naked- "Yes Mum?" Your kingsizeblue mattress Iooks like a stormy lake. "Now, you big strongarm Jackson-.." When you make me work hard you aiways cal1 me that. 1 have my own narne. Whose blood is that and that and that? I know. heavy. You pat the mattress. "Stand this edge up against the wall to air. Listen how." No. It's underbelly must be bloody too. 1 dont want the blood on me. It's too big too "Yes Mum." "Lift that corner of the mattress and crawl underneath it about half way, then push it up with your big strong shoulders." OUT. No. "Yes Mum." 1 crawl under. I canft breathe. It's too dark too big too heavy. Let me out. LET ME Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and Daddywhaie Manhew: Whale, help! I cannot bear this load! Whale: Be me,
100 Matthew: How? Whaie: Be shoulders. Matthew: How? Whde: Push in, son, push through. Push. Manhew, Puushh. Matthew: I'm pushing, Daddywhale. Daddywhale: Grip the sea in your hands. Now push your shoulden up by pushing the sea down while you bring your feet in close. Breathe. Matthew: I'm on my knees. Daddywhde: Rise, Matthew. Grip the sea with your feet. Now push up by pushing dom with your feet. Breathe. Puuushhh! Matthew: Zh-zh-zh-zh! 1 was born in January. Aquarius. Daddywhde: Breathe, son. Puuushhh. Matthew: Zh-zh-zh-zh! Water carrier. Take me up. legs. Daddywhale: Breathe and puuushhh. Matthew: Zh-zh-zh-zh! Yes, yes, yes! Thank you Daddywhde. Daddywhale: You're weicome, son. Anytime. My Mother-in-a-boffle "Good," Mum says. Good what good work good thing 1 did it right without sauce or you'd have cdled dad that's what. She points to the closet. "Get the fan."
101 No. "Yes Mm." Fan's wind. Your fanny's windy under your flowery dress. It's urnbilical unbiblical electncal cord'll tickle your bunioney toes. 1 turn around and stand with it in my hands. You set the Jergen's bonle back on your dresser. Slowly. gently, you massage the lotion into your palms, staring at them like you've just found them. You smell good. You stroke your own fingers like they're made of spun glas You smeil like a goodkind humanperson. You rub one. two, three rows of your knuckles. You smell like a sofünsidefeeling wanntouchgiving mother. You roll your fngen into a fist to defy the breaking. You srneil Like a fnendlysweet stranger. You try to press the lotion into the backs of your hands like they're Stone. You smell like 1 like you. You cradle your wrist in your palm. You smell like you like me. You twist on the black bottiecap. "Don't just stand there, put it dom. and get about your business." No Mum please. Matthew don't cry. Murn no don't push me away so fast, not again. Please love me just one little minute. Matthew think legs. Get out. Now 1 don't like you Murn even more you keep yourmotherself in that bottle like a genie. Matthew get out or she'll cal1 dad. "Yes Murn." When I retumed home from my Vancouver trip, for the fmt time in my life, 1 bought Jergen's bath soap. When Mum dies, 1 shall bathe with Jergen's soap; I shall mom. On May 8, 1994, after 1 had signed a publishing contract for my autobiography with Oberon Press, 1 buried one copy of the manuscript-without any narnes king changed-in the bottom of my filing cabinet 1 intended, upon king notified of my mother's death, to set that copy under her laiees in
102 her casket On January L 9, Marc Silnicki and 1 shredded that copy. Releasing it has released me. Great Spirit, 1 release my rnother from the curse I set upon her in my rage. May she be comforted. Amen and blessed be. Mum sacrificed young Darlene to Dad, offering Darlene like bai< to a shark, and now Darlene is nursing Mum. Darlene volunteered for the job no one else would take. "There's still one thing 1 cannot do," she told me. "1 cannot take the bolt off my bedroom door. " She spoke in her Abused Daughter Voice. "Do you want my help? 1 asked. "No. 1 need to do it rnyself. When 1 cm, I'lI be able to Say 'Screw you, Dad, you're dead."' She cried. She needed me to hear her. That's all. "You're keeping him out," 1 said, in my Understanding Brother Voice, "keeping your boundaries, keeping yourself safe." Kristina-Mae and 1 drove to Tofino, for a brief whale- watching excursion. As soon as 1 spotted the first whale, 1 lay down on the deck of the boat. and held my hands in the ocean. 1 wanted to dive in, to be with them. 1 was not afraid. Inside, with my Meditative Voice, I thanked the great fish for coming to visit me, for being. Now when 1 meditate, 1 do not thank my parent's Biblicd God, I thank The Great Spirit for Life itself. for whales and rocks and trees and children. Rather than asking for help, I ask "How cm 1 help?" I'm not looking for an answer-i'm not asking a question. I'm offering myself. Offering, not sacrificing. Pm centring myself, keeping my focus. Jonah survived king swallowed, staying in the guts of the great fish three days and three
103 nights, and king expelled Alone. How did he do that? How did 1 survive? As 1 buiid this thesis, 1 work at keeping my focus. rerninding myself throughout the day that this -or in my guts is called "excitement," not "fear." When 1 lose my focus, hope drops mns out of me like diarrhoea Working at this intensity involves risk "We may be transformed; we may dso be consumed" (Krall, ). Every consumer is consumed in the circle of Me (see the picture of the whale's jaws of death in the Toronto Star article "Bonding with the undenea behemoths", October 10, page 87). 1 do not want to be consumed again, 1 do not want to traumatize myself. A contradiction: 1 do not seek transformation but 1 want to leam how to be a researcher. 1 want to grow, but 1 do not want it to hurt. 1 have corne this far already, Gentle Reader. 1 bear you in muid 1 hear your voice encouraging me to go on. One's life or world takes on meaning and value not by an active involvement in a transformation of the worid but by a transformation of oneself in which one sees the world "sub s~ecie aete-" from outside. (Cell, 1978, 129) 1 can only learn how to conduci this inquiry if 1 reach beyond my own insecurities and pain that threaten to paralyse and silence me. 1 am dive today; 1 must try. But I need help. Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and MummyOISE/UTwhaie Matthew: Whale, help! 1 cannot bear this pain! Whale: You cm bear it. Without experiencing this pain, Matthew, you cannot live, you cannot be free. Matthew: I am unworthy to be free. What must I do to be worthy? Whale: Oh my son, you are worthy. Not by what you do, but who you are. Right now, you are king bom, and being bom is painfil. You are worthy to be bom into the world.
104 Aianuwy *an(] 11 'W Wail sum ywfi 'Un a n opwiuo ie uo1i)qw VW opwo w ayw u WJUM :aioui s,aiaq, s! fiorje pw awld.saau IW I JOJ aw11 s JO apq~ i - uaais - s! apoui o u 'VJU husla JPM 8 uay rrl WIIW 04 JYll %uilcool 'Jttag wwtq mq% -uowps w puir (AWWJ e m etn JO iquiaw 1slpwB mgpp *da uiuetu tus% Bu npy 'anlpp JaqP ~uuosj~ 1afWb 'xbm a4j %Ow WlWM Aqaq uo PJ 01 awl Aau.supnrn puqaupww auml Jqayl usql snwasurip aioui rej aw qqy~ 'sîmm Jalm at umouy Jauaq 'm -JO JO 100q3S 8 8aS OSIU OM 'qu6a q) paureai JûM lwq1 JnüSOUlp huw My].ta -&il 'aprt~ enlq iwad ay) JO oqe ~ioôi BU -19 Wl P ~ ey1 M IF JOJ qoq II 'pooj JO munoue abnq MOW 01 'adu8e yinout %qxp dwnr uaqi salwqm aru, qq~ jo 106~3~ w faum 01 sinoqs wasiap -un puo sapy molq qa 1 %upn,,slau ~ ~ n g PIW.. nlap a&sl uuq ~ aqi 'BystrN Ul aawe saleqm ey] a3uo 'uep %ut qm~-aleqm ~Ild 40 JaqUlaUl SSallSûJ ISOU aql uaha wnb I I 'usais ~ uo isaâdw Xag~ auo 'oym '0433 pue Xiq~ patueu *jp PUI) iaqlow e apnpul aiailaaarl ayt 'WwN ut awoq Sulpw~ Jatuwns ul pund Sulpasiq llaql WOJJ aaow slwaq aqi su 'sajlaui -011~ JO spuesnoqi JO dp~ e uo saluqm Jelu hw - qsy p 8 puo uoryua~d - am tmr Xqi aqj JOJ &rlirjliras q\ua Uri asat;, uqo mm tu 'sallps -ui.aql pj 01 qma uo am1m3 raqro Autl uwyl JaqLitaJ leaw mu samm 'Srr SUUOm VOWJS WWUd l0lruwu Y 'mm8 pue un) ~lt, ~w a,,! 1n8 'sîsututwu jo qjitruoui aqi dn mp:, i! inq etuoq-~wqya-ha-buop myi JO euo s,~l 'Xlddns qw Jaq 40 aqoqa 01 ulwt.1ilsl~ HY slil %fun 'aloq Mo14 s,jaqiaut qq Lpam Xpmwpqu~ uaarr q Xqwq y OJaqIo rpwa uo ao( ~tnp~d Auid 01 eyn osp w m 2?uop wnq m[~apuiq eql sdeyiad LBw Mo mouy noa pla wnoq JOJ e%uos epq~ pua 'q!trs sa sepl qaql Wsn '#no aw u! r syjsqdmtl wu aas am se aw>p dn F~M)W waure;, O ~ J 'auaas auo ul *a$wluw~a iua(pxa O) syw ml lansn art1 sasn wl aiu.
105 Matthew: How am 1 worthy, MummyOISUUTwhale? MummyOISENTwhale: With your being, you offer a gft to the world, and the world needs your gift. Matthew: But my being, my king bom causes you pain! MummyOISUUTwhde: No. Pain is one of life's most pious g&s; through pain we dl begin Iife. Through pain, we dl fmd joy. Givuig birth to you brings me great pain and great joy. They are inseparable. 1 rnust bear dom on you, for you have grown too much for me to con& any longer. I have cmied you this far, joyfully. Joyhily, 1 shall soon see your face, and hear your voice rcsounding. I am joyfd that you have chosen OISUUTme to help push you out into the world 1 am joyfd that you have chosen OISUUTme to be your gestating place. It is your responsibility to set yourself Free. You must End, outside of OISENTme, the source of your own joy, your own Iaughter. These birthing pains are temporary. Soon you shall be dancing. I must bear down on you, now, to push you through my OISULTTbirthcanal. Push against me. Matthew. Push hard now. Puuushhhh. Matthew: Pm pushing! Zh-zh-zh-A! MurnrnyOISUUTwhale: Puuushhhh, Manhew. Puuushhhh. Oh! Now 1 understand, Gentle Reader. 1 rn consumed. The only way to the other side of this inquiry is through it, like the only way to be born is through the pain. This revelation gives me hope: 1 have just remembered how to be brave again. "To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand" (Gasset, cited in Miller, 1993,20). I'm afraid, and that's alright; I'm aware of the danger.
106 7 will have no man in my boat,' said Starbuck [the chief mate], 'who is not afraid of a'whale.' By this, he seerned to mean, not only that the rnost reiiable and usehl courage was that which arises fiom the fair estimation of the encountered peril. but that an utterly fearless mm is far more dangerous than a coward. (Melville, 185 l/l976,2 10) 1 am more curious than 1 am afraid. Give me some elbow room; here 1 corne. 1 have leamed more than just the story of trauma. Trauma Illness, and Pain, being great teachers, have introduced me to their colleagues Hope, Patience, Truthfuiness. Thanldulness, Humour, and Love. My trauma and survival story is out in the world, mkhg with other such stories toid by other researchers.
107 OTaER RESEARCHERS' STORIES OF TRAUMA AND SURWAL As I coofront all the readings 1 have locaîed, I ask myseif, How am 1 dif5erent h m a child? AU this iitemîure about children and adolescents. Even at 42, rm just a chiid, with more responsibility and more choices. This stuff that applies to children applies to me too. Graduate students are similar to kuidergartnea. We cry, we hope. 1 need to write chunks, not chapters. Chapters are too big. Parts of a book, like parts of books of the Bible, just chapter and verse. Let me mite chunks. Digestible chunks for the mind, not gut. Here 1 am trying out rny more Scholarly, Detached Voice. When 1 started searching the databases for this literature. 1 asked for help from OISUUT librarians. 1 find reading the abstracts and studies of so many child abuse snidies just ovenvhelming. The librarians twk tums sitting beside me in front of the cornputer, day after day, explonng the databases together. 1 told them straight out that 1 was afiaid 1 could not do it aione, and they smiled and cheerfuily helped me. Search One Library staff assisting me: Carol Calder and Marian Ress Databases on CD-ROM used in search: Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC) Dissertation Abstracts International Medline PsychLit Sociofile
108 Keyw ords and phrases cross-referenced in searc h: Acute pain. *. Aantbilatton Battered child syndrome Body knowiedge Boundaries Children Coping Despente Extreme Fear HeaUHealing HOP Individual power Justice Life-threaîening open Pain Panic Perseverance Physical abuseephysica1 pain Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sadistic Self-concept Self defense Severe Suicide/suicidal Survivor Terror/terrorism Trauma Victimization Weil-king Adolescents Anxiety Body Bodily pain ChiId abuse aassroom CmeUmelty Education Feelings Harsh Home Hypersensitivity InvulnerabIe Learning Narrative(s) Overwheh Pain relief Parents Personal safety Play Resilience Safety Self care Sensitivity Schwf Survive/survivai S ynthesis Torture Victim/victimize Vulnerable Search Two Library staff assisting me: Christine Borowski Databases on CD-ROM used in search: Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC) Dissertation Abstracts International PsychLit Sociofrle
109 Subjezt Headings cross-referenced in search: Autobiography Biography Child abuse Classroom Classroom environment/methods/techniques Diary Educational methods Family violence Le-g Learning disorders Leamhg readiness/processes Personal narratives Survivor Teacher education Teacher education cuniculdprograms Teacher educator education Teaching Victim After working with the material for a month, 1 became so fatigued 1 had to stop working on the project Literally, 1 lost my appetite for school; I seriously considered quitting. 1 had earned A+'s in ten consecutive graduate courses-yet I felt like a failure because 1 was buckling under the strain. 1 lost more than 20 pounds. Although I was grateful for dl the other research done in this field, 1 simply could not stornach the hundreds of documents conceming thousands of abused children (see Errante, 1997). My pain was king magnified by the similar suffering of so many. The new, apparently innocent and non-traumatic place may be a safer place if it enables the child to think about his trauma in manageable digestible portions or what Strachey called 'minimal doses' (1934)...[ Abused children] wish to push into someone else the shock and outrage they were not allowed to express, nor even to feel... Now there is pater understanding that the child may need that experience contained by someone else who cm stand it better than he can. This may have to go on for some time, months or even years perhaps, until the experience is less ovenvhelming and less indigestible. (Alvarez, 1992, )
110 Gentle Reader, 1 present the following annotateci bibiiography in srnail chunks, which is all 1 can do at this tirne. I aiphabetize the names of the researchers as on a cenotaph-a iitany of grieving. The researchers, proxies of the victims, speak on their behalf. If 1 seem angry, it is because 1 wonder who has the right Annotated Bibliography Theme: SwvivaYSuwivors in child abuse literature E. J. & Yount, D. E yute Vailev W d f a y consortium: iect. end &ear- Olympia, WA.: Washington State Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction. 1 find that I have to engage the unseen researchen in dialogue. The spirit in which the Valley project was carried out is undeniably benevolent, and appreciated. However, more case was needed in recording what actually happened, so the project team and readers cm learn how to do it better next tirne. The problem is that the priority of the project team was to "stay on task," rather than leam how to do what they were doing. Not one false lead or mistake (oppominity for learning) is mentioned in the report. The project had no operating definition of "readiness to lem" or "domestic violence services" rendered. Furthemore, their numbers of "children affected by domestic violence," which increased during the project, are unclear: are they cumulative? This saidy relies too heavily on the use of bar graphs to illustrate increases in numbers, rather than detailing the efktiveness of the people serving the people needing service. Sadly, the report does not mention any future plans for follow-up to the project. Not one reference cited.
111 Benishek, L. A. & Morrow, S. L Positive coping strategies developed by sumvors of childhood sexual abuse. Directions CO-. 5, Special Report, June, 1-5. Two salient personality traits, namdy and m nce. are defined and discussed in association with "problem-focused" and/or "emotion-focused' coping strategies. The discussion and conclusions are concemed with two different approaches to therapy with adult clients: focus on the client's childhood trauma or the client's present-&y resilience and coping stmtegies that help them function. Written for counseliors. A dry, overview of literaîure, starting with Sigmund Freud. Benishek and Morrow are clearly more concemed with how the characteristics of the sumivon (listed in point form), may "change over time", and how they might best be "measured" (3) than with how the study of survivor characteristics achially might help clients. Coping is not defined. Healing is never mentioned. Extensive references are cited. Cerezo, M. A., & Frias, D Emotional and cognitive adjustment in abused children. QiU &use & n- 18 (1 1): Abused children have a damaged sense of self. They are depressed, and they act depressed; they have no control over their lives, especially their lives at home. 1 agree. Church, J Family violence: Its effect on children and schools. m e s & &go]. best of a. V. Podmore & L. Richards, eds. Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research * This surnrnarizes a New Zealand study of violent marriages, and compares the findings to those from similar studies in USA. He concludes, from these shidies of marriages, that "it is not the abuse of the child m which has the most detrimental effects on the development of the child... [but] the abuse of one parent by the other" (60). His conclusion is lirnited 1s this the price of lack of personal experience? He does not have the "bigger pichire." He also States that
112 "Firstiy, teachers have a respomibitity to teach al1 children that violent behaviour is unacceptable in the society outside the home" (61). Who is going to teach the chilcirem that violence inside the home, and in society in general, is unacceptable? (See also Russell, 1995; Storrie & Poon, 1991.) Another disturbing element of this article is the black and white sketch that uses almost two-thirds (from the top) of the page. On the left, a man in suit and tie has his fsts clenched and raised against a smail girl. He is cornhg at her, swinging. Her hands are raised, open, as she lems back away nom her attacker, defenceless. Her head is not much higher than the window sill, and through the window we see a young boy watching the violence. We see the tree on the front lawn, and the house across the street. This is a depiction of the family home. What 1 dont understand is why this picture is here. It fills space on the page so the article finishes squarely at the bottom right column four pages later. Even as convenient "fiiler," the father-against-daughter violence depicted is not congruent with the text conceming spousal abuse. 1 keep tuming this article upside-down and burying it in my pile of research articles to avoid seeing this ugly picture. Cicchetti, D., Toth, S., & Hennessy, K Research on the consequences of child.. maltreatment and its application to educational settings. Topics in -childhod ducati ion 9 (2): special These researchen use the term "maltreatment" in recognition of the complexity and the overlap of types of abuse. They propose a dynarnic "organizationd mode1 " of conceptualizing maltreatment that views parentchiid-environment characteristics in transition (36-37). The problem is how they propose to translate this concept into concrete action: ble. edumors ad other serv ce mrso~el -Id s rvention ad treatm rocessa (emphasis in original, 48). This action plan poses a direct threat to the child survivor of chronic extreme intrafarniiial
113 violence. We need to break that hyphenateci word parent-child apart and put lots of space between them to consider the nature of this threat; that is, ChiId. Parent. While 1 appreciaîe this approach to understanding the complexities of the problems, 1 point out that, in cases of chronic extreme intrafamilial violence, the child(nn) must be separated from the parent(s). Any attempt to bmg extremely violent parents and their children together, for any reason whatsoever, is highly dangerous. Extremely violent people, who by their behaviour show that they will not be controlled by intemal forces, also wiil not be controlled by extemal forces iike researchers. The only person on earth my father respectai was a policeman with a gun on his hip. Therefore, on behalf of the children who have died at the han& of their parents, and on behalf of those of us who survived the onslaught of violence at home, let me Say directly to these researchers, "We know who Our parents are, and we will not allow you to put our lives in danger again. Keep them away from us." Long after the violent parents die, survivors spend their lives working through the effects of the violence, trying to heal. Cochrane, R Child abuse in aboriginal families and its effécts on the children's leaming. Id develo- 8 1 : Cochrane's article consists of a linear cause-and-effect argument, based on the premise that "if children are abused, they in turn are likely to abuse their own chilchen" (133). He does not substantiate this premise by citing support from the research literature. He assumes that his statement is public knowledge, that it is fact In the same cause-and-effect manner, he contends that Native children in Austraiia are no different h m European children. While 1 appreciate the "universality" of child abuse. 1 am on guard against such sweeping generalizations that disregard
114 the different cultures in which chikiren are raised: Cleariy. the effm of rnaltreatment on Aboriginal chilchen are identical to the effccts of maltreatment on Euopean chiken, but because of the widespreaci aicoholism in Abonginal society, the risks to Aboriginal children are substantial (133). This type of reasoning undennines his argument. Nevertheless, he highlights the panicular plight of Australian Abonginai children. They suffer the injustice of king denied "the right to education [which serves] to reinforce [theid sense of hopelessness and helplessness" ( 1 36). Craig, S Dealing with the abuse of children: The teacher's role. PRISE rwom 17 (October): 1-2. Craig's suggestioas to help raise the level of an abused child's self esteem and provide the child with skills are important and practical. (1 marked 10 paragraphs in this short article.) The teacher is the guarantor of classroom safety, as well as voter with "considerable clout." Craig provides a challenging, direct answer to the question, "but what can we do?" Craig, S The educational needs of children living with violence. Phi d e l t w 74 (1): 67-68, In less than three-and-a-half pages of type. Craig fills this article with research Iiteranire that supports her own strongly voiced argument. Her practical understandings of trauma lead to her conclusion that teachers can hancile these children's needs effectively. Helping these children leam does not involve moral judgment, but rather requires the specification of thinking about the world. It is a response to a cognitive need, not to a behavioural or a psychiatrie one (71). 1 quote from Craig to respond to Cara Sullivan's teacherquestions after 1 taught her Creative Writing class a number of times in an Oshawa secondary school: How can we teachers lem to not be afraid of the abused child and hisher story? It feels like we're king abused by the abuse story and the storyteller. Welre not
115 guidance counseilors. Is our society expecting us to be? Where do these kick tell their stories? In my Creative Writing class? In my English class? We can't teach the curriculum when these kids are tryhg to deal with abuse in our classrooms. Once their abuse stones surface, we refer them to the guidance department, but they have to go on a waiting iist for a coumeilor. It's homble for the kid and the teacher. We need a resident social worker at schwl. Why weren't we trained for this at teacher's college? (Sullivan, June 30, 1997) Gentle Reader, hear the difference between "learning to not be afiaid" and "not learning to be &ai&" Ms. Sullivan has already learned to be afiaid, and wants to unleam this fear. Fear is the focus. In the second case, one lems something else instead of king aftaid. and this learned something else is the focus (see Garanzini, 1995, below). Interlude-Writing and Teaehers Autobiographical writing is one way to lem what we know we know, a way to discover the paradoxical "truths" about of ouaelves. It is the self-conscious act of giving ourselves permission to openly engage the mystery of our reasons for being. Writing is an opportunity to ask penetrating questions of the self, questions that may be unanswerable, that Iead only to further questions. Inasmuch as it is fundamentally about learning which question to ask, therefore, writing is the art of inquiry and Iistening. The need to listen to oneself as well as others is as physical as hunger, thirst, warmth, or food. As soon as what is written in private is spoken or read to another it becomes public. The power of the word is paradoxical. The word holds its power by not being spoken-1 gag myself by not speaking-and its power is also manifesteci by king spoken. As long as God held His words "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3) inside, He created darkness. With these words, He brought the sun into being. Life. The speaker, God, hem himself speak. He speaks to that which is other than light, and it hem Him. Light is
116 mate& bom. Light transfonns the darkness and the speaker, for the speaker now sees himseif in the light he has created. He knows himseif differently. Where was the sun hiding? Like the appleseed in the bowel of the deer, iike Jonah in the belly of the great fish. like the seed of educative experience in the mis-educative experience of trauma, the sun was hiding in the darkness, waiting for its self to be narned. Light Without the Sun, life on Earih is not sustainable. Darkness is death: And when the sixth hour was corne, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at that ninth hour, Jesus cried with a Ioud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is, king interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark ) The light of day could not reach Jonah for three days and three nights while he was in the belly of the whale-a paralle1 story to the three hours of darkness when Jesus died. But day and night, life and death, pain and hope are not as separate as they appear. Day moves into night, by degrees, in a neverending circle. Light and shadow define and refme each other. We cannot possibly tell dl, therefore we select what we include, what we exclude with Our words. With Our words, written and spoken, we demonstrate our belief in the power of the word, both to reveal, and to hide Our meanings. To speak, to write. is to bnng the subject into the light, and bring light into and out of the subject. Creation. Although this imaginative, deeply personal experience of self-revelation cannot be taught pr se, a wise teacher will provide the soil, rich with understanding, and a supportive climate for students to cultivate their own bulbs with their own phototropic sensitivities. The subject disciplined-based teacher nurtures student ability with patience; students learn respect for the frecdom and responsibility of self-exploration on the page. In this interlude, 1 alphabetize four different teaching styles.
117 Bishop, W Writing idand therapy?: Raising Questions about writing classrooms and writing program administration. Journal 13: With fifteen years experience teaching writing in College classrooms, Bishop voices her concem about the lack of psychologicd, moral and legal support regatding the cornplexities of teacher-snident dynamics inherent in writing classes. According to Bishop, teachers share the personal responsibility for dealing with the diffcuit issues that students write about, despite most writing teachers' lack of professional psychotherapeutic training:... considering the teaching relationship in a therapeutic light raises questions about transference (students endowing teachers with inaccurate expectations or characteristics...) or counter-transference (teachers colorhg relationships with their own past)... both may have to be dealt with for a therapy or a pedagogy to succeed... How do we respond to joumai or essay discussions of suicide, incest, anorexia, and depression...( SO8)? Bishop presents an urgent case for ready access to professional counselling services to help writing students and their teachers shoulder these stressful rnatten. Bishop's direct and immediate involvement with students contrasts with the aloofhess of instmctors faced with large classes (see Powell, 1985, below):... it is not surprising that students open up in writing classes since workshops usually enrol twenty to thirty students and aim to develop community feelings. This is a welcome contrast to the many impersonal, large-enrolment classes a student may experience in the university...( 508). Bishop's argument does not include a discussion of her experience of teaching large university classes. She recognizes that teachers, ethically, share some degree of responsibility for their students, but teachers cm not act as therapists or parents. Clear boundaries must be set and respected by both teacher and student. Teachers, parents, and therapists, in their separate roles, can help students to assume full responsibility for their own empowennent, in their process of
118 bezoming mature, heaithy, individuated adults. Lewis, M The writing workshop approach with learning disabled students to build self- *. esteem: One teacher's experience. &&g & -auarterlv: Overcoa le* 8: Lewis teaches writing to 152 grade 7 and 8 snidents, including 24 diagnosed with leaming disabilities. She makes no mention of any mculties her students might have writing or sharing disturbing rd-life content. Her silence on this topic raises the question: why does she not discuss what her students write about? They have human problerns. Anyone who wants to comment about a shared piece may do so. The comments, however. must only be about the content of the writing... Because I mode1 only positive response to students and their works. the commcnts are dso cornplimen tary...( ). The credibility of Lewis' position is undemiined because she focuses solely on the positive aspects of how her teaching method enhances the self-esteem of students with leaming disabilities: "...while boosting the wnter's concept of the 'writing self,' we are developing the atrnosphere writen need to be fluent" (279). Selfesteem, however, is more complex than feeling good about oneself and one's capabilities; it includes acknowledging one's shortcornings. B involves "a realistic evaluation of the self's characteristics and cornpetencies, coupled with an attitude of self- acceptance and self-respect" (Berk, 1994,441) as lived in the public, academic, social, and physical arenas. The reported positive ciifference between the answen on the surveys that Lewisf students cornplete in September and May do not necessarily reflect their enhanced overall self- esteem. This is also heavily infiuenced by cultural forces and chiid-rearing practices. Powell, E Participatory sociology and the "Document of life": Autobiographies from 30 Soc. 101 students. 16: Powell demands full participation from his 250 university students by requiring each of
119 them to write a "book", 20 to 50 pages in Iength, integrating sociologicd theory with their own autobiographical stories, over the Cmonth duration of the course. He includes a compelling sample of 30 (the best, no doubt) of these "books", condensed with details disguised to ensure the anonymity of the writer, on a variety of topics including attempted suicide, family violence, fatherhood, bulunia, and hgs, to validate the approach of his course. Powell emphasizes that his most important teaching function is to engage in written dialogue with students via their submissions. He may never acnially have a conversation with any of them. 1 carefully. - Students do not need nor want Tender Love and Care from the instnictor; what they desire and deserve is consistent written response to their written work (48). Students are not required to attend classes. For Powell, writing autobiography & sociology, but he does not m a writing class, he lectures in sociology. Because he is in the position of authority as teacher, he detennines that students alone must bear the consequences of his decision to these disciplines, despite his knowledge of the danger: Writing of self if [sic] full of hazard. Autobiography is the hardest and therefore the highest of the arts. To recite the abstractions of sociology is easy; to apply them to your own life is diecult While analyzing her childhood dyslexia, one student becarne so emotionally distraught that the disorder temporarily returned. 449). These 30 stories generaily reflect their writers' need for serious editing in order to meet so caiied publishing quality standards. Powell considers himself an artist and he tries to "coach" his students to achieve Iiterary artistry in only one semester. But art will not be rushed. The "books" represent the work of students under pressure, in a highly transitional stage of their lives, and for a grade. Powell's teaching method serves to shield him from the problerns his students face doing their work for his class. Understandably, given the large number of students, he needs to maintain
120 a professional distance h m his students, but it is siirprising that he mentions only this one distressed student He makes no reference to any psychologicd support the student may have needed. As critical reader, Powell the teacher is more than audience, less than friend:...j ust as a therapist activates healing powers within the patient by listening so the instmctor can draw out good writing by imaginative reading. Both forms of coaching, teaching and psychotherapy aim at eliciting the best possible performance hm the player... the quality of *thg is determined by the expectation of the reader...( 126). He does not mention having been in therapy himself. Powell compares only the behaviourist mode1 of psychotherapy to his teaching style, excluding ail others whose rnethods are not focused on the "performance" of the client. Psychotherapy is conducted in one-on-one encounters between therapist and client, and group therapy involves larger, yet still personal dynamics. Yet Powell still compares himself to a therapist for a group of 250 students to whom he is lecturing. Through his written comments on individual student submissions, he equates therapy with men students said they could write to me because I did know hem-often the best papers corne from the anonyrnous large lecture rather than the intimate small dass...( 127). Powell does not discuss any of his experiences conducting small classes, to legitimate this claim. He fails to appreciate the complexities involved in blurrhg the boundaries between writing sociological essays and autobiographical stories, and of his role of teacher as audience whom students write. However,... in writing an essay for a teacher your task is usually to explain what you are still engaged in trying to understand to someone who understands it better. You seldom feel you are writing because want to tell someone something.if it is a story or poem rather than an essay... it's hard to feel that you are doing what is most natural for someone writing a story or poem, that is, trying to give pieasure
121 or enlightenment It feels as though your task is to or s t.. * hm a tacher who must read lit]... YOU don't *te & teachers, you write for them. (Elbow, 1981, ) And in this instance for a grade, PoweU1s product-oriented approach may be necessitated by large numbers, and the brevity of his course. The "books" subrnitted by students are their products, proof of their short-tem WIiting/thinking process in his course ody. Unfortunately, Powell does not indicate any interest in detemining how many of his students continue their "book" der the course is completed, nor does he discuss how their autobiographical writing style may affect their writing in other courses. Literary criticism and psychology, for exarnple, may require very different afademic writing styles. We may question the validity and the long-term value of Powell's approach, given the sheer volume of work involved in criticdy reading between 5,000 and 12,500 pages in only 4 months dong with his other professorid obligations. Neither he nor his students have the time to be patient with their "book" materiai. Wnting and psychotherapy both are serious commitments. Their success is not measurable in the short-term, by number of pages, or by grade. The measure is personal growth promoted by the integration of the meaning of the questions asked. Listening requires patience. Press, S Teaching creative writing in a psychiatric setting. 9p. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Modem Language Association (2 1st. Indianapolis, November 8-10, 1979). Press conducts creative wnting workshops in Michigan psychiatric hospitais, where conventional classroom dynamics, considered "normal" in universi ties, colleges, or public schw ls, are greatly modified to accommodate the severe problems of her hospitalized "students," who are not her patients. Press is a poet. She uses her artistic writing talent to help patients express thernselves on paper to complement their ongoing therapy: "1 envision the poetry sessions 1 run as
122 going hand in hand with treatment, but 1 am by no rneans a therapist. 1 offer no cum..."( 4). The dynamics in her workshops fosrer a caring relationship between herself and the patients. Through their writing, they share their secrets, expose their vulnerabilities, and in the process, Press vicariously becomes their most tnisted coafidant: People of al1 ages are able to express womes and feelings that they would be unable to discuss face to face with their therapist or anyone else...( 4). Ress does not explain why or how this happens. She does not take any credit for inspiring the patients to trust themselves enough to tmst her with their written secrets. She does not cd1 herseif a healer, yet she alludes to writing as a healing exercise: "It is possible that the reading of literature can help soothe troubled min&, and the writing of it cm help heal hem" (3). Press does not demand written submissions, nor does she grade them. Unlike the teacher or therapist, the blank page has no power; it cannot lie, it cannot provoke fear. One gives oneself authority through wnting upon it. Unlike the teacher or therapist, the Ml page passes no judgement; it can be tom up, it can be totally trusted. It has been my experience that creative artistic expression... has led to such therapeutic gains as increased self-awareness and insight, improved self-esteern and a better ability to comrnunicate... if is significant the gains that can take place when the discipline is art and not therapy...( 5). Inasmuch as the primary responsibility of the teacher is to ask questions that encourage students to ask, to define and to refne their own questions, teaching then becomes listening. (See also Ackerman, 1993; Elbow, 1973; Gallaher, 1987; Holly, 1989.) cenotaph. So ends this interlude. I continue with the remaining bibliomantric entries on the
123 Crittenden, P Teaching maltreaîed children in the preschool (2): Crittenden discusses the social, cognitive, and language development problems of pre- schwl aged children who have been abuseci, neglected, or abused and neglected She does not offer definitions of abuse or neglect. She uses the word "maltreated" as an umbrella term for al1 types of abuse &or neglect, without saying sot or why. Despite the List of references. in which the author Lists seven of her own published snidies, her failure to cl- which type(s) of abuse she is addressing leave the reader doubting the validity of her approach. Tm much literature exists for her to not know of the different types of abuse. The borders between the different types of abuse become fuzzy, as do the borders between abuse, neglcct, and abuse and neglect. These States exist on a continuum. Crittenden offers four valuable hierarchical concepts "for managing maltreated children in the classroom." Distad, L A personal legacy. Phi delta k- 68 ( 10): Distad refers to research by LeDuc (1984) regarding links between child abuse and speech deficits and distorted perceptions. Words helped Save me so I'm curious, so I'11 have a look. Distad poses a serious challenge to researchers/educators: Children who have been abused need... mearchers [who] will study the elusive relationships of cognitive processes, emotional trauma, and the learning environment; and who will then develop useful educational remedies... The search for solutions must include... those educators still comfortably settled into their socially acceptable silence (745). Silence, when it cornes to child abuse, is lethal. So here I am, doing my research, making some noise, using my voices.
124 Galambos, N. L- & Dixon, R A Adolescent abuse and the development of personai sense of control. Child abuse t 8 (3): Adolescents who have been abused short-term (beginning in adotescence) have a greater degree of intemal locus of control than those abused long-term (from chiidhood through adolescence). 1 am still sûuggling with ways to regain control and a voice... I ' Garanzini, M. J d. UV-semve scho~ls: An educator s wxde to f e Washington, D.C.:National Catholic Educational Association. m. AUowing an abused person, especidy a child, to talk may be critical to saving hisher life, and is essentid for hidher healing. "The educator, like the counselor, cm help a great deal by simply allowing the child to tallc..." (248). The difficulties that educators face in hearing and king totaiiy compassionately present with the child during this tdk are touched on in this book. Sometimes, listening to the swivor's story is hard work, and can "make us [educators] feel powerless-or even M" (emphasû added, 249). This feeling of king abused by abused students is what teachers fear. No one cm leam to not be afraid. We can, however, lem to trust, no matter how harsh our experience, or how threatened we feel. Good teachers help us learn to trust ourselves. Listening to an abused student's story is not as hard as telling it. Not as hard as living it. Harper, J Children's play: The differentiai effects of intrafamilial physical and sexual abuse. abuse 4 nedect 15 (1-2): This article, discusses the magicai, revealing qualities of play therapy: For the child the technique requires no skill, is familiar, nonthreaîening, and provides a symbolic language, which is easily understood (89). Harper's subjects "were divided into ihree groups: sexually abused (SA), physically abused, (PA), and physically and sexually abused (PSA)" (98). It is one thing to discuss cars and
125 trucks using Letîers, such as BMW and GMC. But it is quite another to =fer to groups of pcople this way. The mearchers show their insensitivity by diminishing the humanity of their charges to the inhumanity of "subjects" in this fashion. These are abused children they are writing about. An abused chiid is not "PA and "PSA" (95). Acronyms dehumanize the very research "subjects" that have already been dehumanized by their parents/guardians. These abused children deserve to be treated and written about with more compassion and humanity. How will these "subjects" feel when they read this and similar articles as aduits (see Zimrin, 1986, below)? Harrison, R How you can help the abused child. 14 (1 ): This fernale teacher acknowledges being abused herself as a child in the third paragraph. "If you teach students about abuse, students who've been abused wiii approach you" (78). She teaches special education at high school and a graduate class in child abuse at Portland State University. She suggests a bodily openness to children that 1 find heartening: If you decide to talk to a child you think is being abused, remember that he may feel hurt or afraid. Select a quiet, private place to taik, and help him feel as cornfortable as possible. Sit the child, not behind a desk or table (78). Being & sorneone means holding their space, honouring them and their struggle. Showing your own compassionate humanity and vulnerability. A compassionate teacher does not need to this way just when the subject is abuse. but operates fiom this place as a way of being, inspiring trust in others.
126 Km, P., Gaudin. J. Jr., Wodarski, J.. & Howing. P Maitreatment and the school-aged chiid: Major academic, socioemotionai, and adaptive outcornes. &&d Wo& 35 (6): Kurtz, P., Gaudin, J. Jr., Wodarski, J., & Howing, P Maltreamient and the schooi-aged child: Schooi performance consequencu. Çhild Abuse & N em 17 (5): The second study (time II) is a follow-up to the fmt (time I). In Time 1 and II months apart, the researchers used 8 measures for 139 school chiidren between the ages of 8 and 16 to determine their "performance, emotional development, and adaptive behaviour." Maltreated children were divided into two categories: physicaiiy abused and neglected. Other types of abuse are not mentioned in either paper. These researchers do not acknowledge that dif5erent "types" of abuse overlap and interweave through each other. This undennines their credibility. They ignore the complexity of this probiem. Acknowledging the "bigger picture," is an important step-it provides context. 1 find their conclusion that "it is extremely dificult for these [physicdly abused] children to learn, regardless of how good the education program" (587) disheartening because it is pessimistic. 1 agree that "it is extremely dificult." However, 1 have experienced here at OISERTT an "education program" that significantly eases the degree of diffiiculty in learning. Therefore. if the children are having extreme difficulty, the education program must change to meet their needs. These researchen need to lem that it is their responsibility, not just to interpret their findings, but to present their interpretations to readers in such a way as to offer us hope, especiaily when what they are reporting is bieak. Researchers are responsible for demonstrating their conviction, that through their research, they contribute to improving the human condition. Pessimism improves nothing.
127 Leiter, J., & Johnsen, M Child rnaltreatment and school pedormance. U- 102 (2): These researchers draw on a depth of references to rnount the solid argument that, although "one might presume that abuse and aeglect adversely impact school performance...p ast research, however, does not lead decisively to this conclusion" (156). They explore different types of maltreatment with the singular focus of determining their effects on school outcornes. These researchers seem not to recognize thaf although outcomes themselves may be "measured by test scores and academic achievement, the processes involved in overcoming the obstacles that abuse presents in order to achieve those outcomes, and which are critical to survival, cannot be so simply m easd It takes a sumvor many years after the abuse has stopped just to learn how to articulate these processes. The critical reader appreziates the exactitude of this study, while simultaneously questioning its validity. The researchers themselves acknowledge that they ignore crucial elements of the larger picture that affect their results and interpretations: Undoubtedly, leaming, participation, and integration are related in reciprocal, cumulative, and self-reinforcing patterns... and [we] do not analyze these important relationships ( ). The researchers catch themselves in a three-way bind of which they are unaware. Let's look at the 3 parts:... the less likely a maltreatment event is to be reported. the more serious it must be reported hence, the more kely it is to have an effect on school outcomes (159). At the extreme..a must reach a relatively high threshold to corne to the attention of physicians, educators... and be reported (162).
128 The bis in our andysis may tend to overstate the consequences of mdtreatment if we assume that reported cases are generally more serious than unreported ones...( ). The missing component, which resolves this dilemma, and makes ~search regarding child abuse so imperative, is that most cases of maltreatment-in my experience, the most serious cases-are never reported. 1 am one of a very large family; 1 was not even a reporîed statistic (Stewart, 1995). As Mouzakitis (1984, 149) points out, The focus of mention in child abuse has ken largely on abused young childrrn and their families. Abused adolescents have not received a great deal of special consideration...ml figure, however, is only a fraction of the actual occurrence of adolescent abuse since many of these cases are rarely identifieci as abuse if they go through the juvenile services system Fisher and Berdie 1978: ; Lourie 1977: 268; Ziefert The Canadian govemrnent strongly links child murder with family rnembership: Over threequarters of the 542 children under the age of 12 murdered between 1980 and 1989 were killed by a family member. two-thkds were killed by a parent... (A Portrait of Fadies in Canada, Section 6: Farnily Violence. Catalogue No E, 54, Statistics Canada 1993) The Canadian governrnent links child abuse with murder: Perpetrators of homicides involving children were parents in two-thirds of cases, and many incidents seemed to be an extension of child abuse. (Juristat, Centre for Justice Statistics, Catalogue No , Vol. 15, No. 15, 15, December 1995, Statistics Canada) The Canadian govemment also acknowledges and gives reasons for the discrepancy between reported child abuse statistics and the reality:
129 ... a substantial oumber of al crimes are never reporteci to the police... Recise estimates of the prevalence of child abuse in Canada are unavailable largely because of the nature of these events-the secrecy and pnvacy in which bey occur, the dependency of the vich on the perpetrators who are often family members or guardians, a lack of knowledge about the help that is available or even about the wrongfulness of the act, and a fear of repercussions for reporting the incident In addition* cases of abuse are often not readily detected because the injuries may be concealed, (Juristat, Centre for Justice Statistics, Catalogue No , Vol. 15, No , December 1995, S tatistics Canada) Ironically, these statistical measuns attest to the desperate need for inquiries like mine. (See also Statistics Canada, 1992) McKee, J (Ed.) Play: W o r m e r Childhood Education International. of DOW. Wheaton, MD.: Association for The two chapters regarding convdescing and abused children are easily linked: convalescence (recovering one's health) from the injuries sustained during chronic, extreme intrafarnilid violence is a life-time task. I am still learning "to Iearn to feel safe in [my] own skin" (74), stii1 working through my "anxiety... linked to the fear of pain as well as the fear of separation" (76). Physical survival is hard work. Learning how to play is critical for healing (see chapter 6). Minnesota Department of Education A r-cm e n t ce-. St. Paul. The statïstics in this study regarding incidence of family violence. for three non-regular school populations, when cornparcd to regular schools, are staggering. Students report that "they have been hit by an adult in their household so hard or so often that 'you had marks on you or were afraid of that person"' (34). The following are percentages of students reporting physical
130 abuse (defined above) as victim or witness, at home: - 18% to of regular schwl students (depending on "rnatched sampie" with the foliowing populations..) of students in Alternative Schools or Area Learning Centres -4 1 % in CorrectionslDetention Centres -54% in Residential Treatment Centres Figures for suicides, aiternpted suicides, sexual abuse are dl danningiy high. 1 fmd this material very difficult to deal with-these aren't just numbers to me; they're real people. 1 focus on the cenotaph. The students have names. Money, J Child abuse: Growth fadure, IQ deficit, and learning disability. a of..*. Iûaminp 115 (10): This research (1976, 1977) links abuse dwarfism to academic underachievement. Once the abused child is taken from the abusive home and nurtured, "secretion of the growth hormone (somatotropin) from the pituitary gland resumes, as does somatic, mental, and behavioural growth" (581). Money also makes a forceful argument what he c ds the professional "bastard science" of victimology. Because the crimindimion of child abuse results in the offendes king taken away from "impartial" scientific research (through the justice system), Money concludes that we are prevented from fuuy understanding and, therefore, from preventing child abuse. He does not, however, propose to decriminalize child abuse, nor does he suggest an alternative to the present "criminal" status of the offence or the offender. We are left wondering if these violent offenders are not somehow restrained somewhere, and held accountable for their behaviour, how
131 wül the swivor ever learn fie is actually safe, and how will the offenders ever have the oppomuiity to lem to accept responsibiiity for their own violence? How can we ensure that the fundamental human rights of children are protected without a system whereby we actively enforce justice? Whether or not we "criminalize" child abuse is hardly the issue. Violence against children is wrong, and therefore, unacceptable. Wrong-doers must face the consequences of their choice to hurt another human being. - 1 Morris-Bilotti, S me -ca s &d&en: - -a for ea-. Springfield Ill: State of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. A "piea" must be written artfidly. This papa is actually propaganda. In the finai three pages, Morris-Biiotti uses 28 ellipses, 10 phrases or sentences in italics, four sentences completely in uppercase, and one sentence in uppercase bold type. The message she is trying to convey-the desperate urgency of the need to act now to Save Amencan children-is lost in the loudness of itself. As readers, we must be wary of this type of writerts need to try to instil panic. She needs to leam that writers are responsible for engaging their readen' empathy and only then inspiring their positive action. Mouziiskitis, C Characteristics of abused adolescents and guidelines for intervention. Id welfm 63 (2): Moutakitis refers to relevant studies that link chronic physical abuse with chronic depression, poor selfconcept, and troubled interpersonal relationships. He concludes that chronically physically abused adolescents should be removed from the family home. They do not get dong in foster-families, and should, therefore, be nurtured in a "treatment-onented group setting." 1 agree. (Read: 1 wish 1 had the chance.) Non-chronically abused adolescents and the abusive families need immediate, intense, "crisis-orienteà" treatment to help prevent the
132 adolescent fiom king alienated from the famiiy. I cannot agree. (Read: When a parent beats up their adolescent, they forfeit their parenthood. Should the victim give the perpetrator another chance to do it again?) A slap across the face constitutes physical abuse, and that act is on the same continuum as extreme violence that ends in murder. For the sake of clarity, Mouzakitis needs to include a working definition of physical abuse in his paper, so the reader can see the range of the violence that he is addressing. Mrazek, P. J.. & Mrazek D. A Resilience in child maltreatrnent victim: A conceptual exploration. abw & 1 1 (3): The single most important factor in their list of "personal characteristics and skills that may foster resilience in maltreated children" (359) is stated last It is " 12. Optunism and Hope" (362). As a youngster, 1 iemed not to trust hope or the other two parts of the Biblical trinity in the New Testament. And now abideth faith, hop, and charity, these diree; but the greatest of these is charity. (I Corinthians 13: 13) How could 1 trust in a loving God or loving parents when that love meant only punishment and crueity? But 1 cannot Say 1 did not hope. My hope as a child and adolescent was inseparable from my willingness to stand up and fight my tyrannical father to the death. Like Isaac, like Samson, like Jonah, 1 knèw 1 could not win my fight against my father, hence the title of my autobiography, to &, but 1 had to fight him. Mrazek and Mrazek would undoubtedly link my hope with item number 7 on their List: "Decisive Risk Taking" (360), because my attitude and behaviour consistently demonstrated "the opposite of Iearned helplessness" (360). As 1 matured, 1 transfomed my battle from fighting my father to fighting fpr my children. 1
133 had to fight myself, and 1 was willing to die to protect them. They've made it I'm still fighting, hoping I can help other children and their teachers through my inquiry. An Interlude for Voices Resilient Bali Voice The word "resilient" always brings to mind for me the image of a red soccer bail. One wiihout saipes. In slow motion, 1 see the ball, after king kicked, king compressed against the concrete block wall. Part of it is king damageci, flattened. But it will not surrender to the wdl and fall down dead Like Humpty-Dumpty. It has something inside its interior black emptiness that nobody can see, that makes it spring back-a Resilient BalI Voice: "1 wil1 be squished only this much and no more." This voice is stronger, more determined than the kicker who keeps hammering the bal1 against the wall. My Heaiing Body Voice The word "resilient" helps me focus, in slow motion, on the small moment in time immediately after my fathefs strap or two-by-four bounces off my chest; 1 can hear my Healing Body Voice: "Righi now, my body is healing. Focus. Fluid is coming to the rescue. Sweliing protects me. Focus. 1 am still dive. 1 am safe. Focus. 1 am safe. No harm will corne to me. Focus." Gagged Orange Voice The word "impact," however, brings to rnind the image of an orange-as-baseball. 1 see Roger Clemens, the pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, hurling an orange instead of a baseball, at 90 miles per hour toward home plate. The orange has been gagged, but still it would cry out, if it
134 could, in its Gagged Orange Voice: "No! No! No! 1 want to live!" The orange sees itself entering in the stdce zone. It has no interior power other than to be itselc it cannot çboose to change its course. Disintegrating Orange Voie The batter, Jose Conseco, swings. At the moment, in slow motion, that his bat connects with the orange, its Gagged Orange Voice changes to its Disintegrating Orange Voice: "This is how 1 must die." The orange feels itself becoming juice. It has no interior power other than to be itself. "How 1 die." Its Disintegrating Orange Voice breaks into pieces. '7...,.. I,I,.,.,.,.,.die.,.I,I,.,.,.,.,.die.,.I,I,.,.,.,.,.die.,.I,I,.,.,.,.,.die.,.I,I,.,.,.,.,.die.,.I,I,.,.,.,.,.die.,.die ee.e.ee '' Both the orange and its voice, separated by the unkarable force of the blow, scatter in the wind. "Impact" to me means the slow motion fiattening of my chest by the strap or two-by-four in my father's han& When 1 focus on that impact, 1 am without hope, for 1 am focusing on king destroyed. 1 needed to focus on that disintegrating moment while 1 was writing &gug to & in order to lem how to choose to focus on the healing moment. The healing moment, which is this present inquiry, transcends both "resilience" and "impact." By choice, I look back to view my progress, no longer a victim of instantaneous flashback and panic. This healing moment is Iike playing catch. Like playing catch, Gentle Reader, you and 1 are communicating. I hold you in mind right now as 1 type these words, as you hold me in mind as you read them. The objective is not so rnuch to throw the bal1 one another, to stop the bal1 each time. The objective of
135 catching the bail is to change its direction, to keep the ball and ounelves in joyous motion. The baiî links us; we stand and nm and jump at either ends of its arc, its invisible rdbow. Now that 1 have my Lectunng Voice, 1 begin my presentations in schools and universities with my Popbottie People (see chapter 7) in the healing moment-baseball Bud and Hector playing catch-more I explain the need for Bud's healing. National Education Association Report n-. (23rd annual conference on human and civil rights in education, February 22-24, 1985). A bnef list of the topics covered at the conference, the names of the panellists, with photogmphs of people at tables (apparently hstening to a speaker), and resources for teachers. Not even a short summary of each speakers' paper. Oates, R., Gray, J., Shweitzer, L.,Kempe, R., & Hannon, R A therapeutic preschool for abused children: The keepsafe project. Bllld ab-& ne- 19 (1 1 ): Twenty-four abused young children were enrolled in a therapeutic classroom-a physically and psychologically safe and numiring place-for 3 years, with successful results. Every classroom should be like this one. The therapeutic classrwm is human. It is just. It is also restorative medicine. The cost, in tenns of dollars, for this type of education should be compared to hedth care costs for the children who suffer, are not helped, and become abusers themselves. Pearl, P Working with child abuse victim in the home economics classroom. b ois e economiçs 34 (2): This refreshing paper is grounded equally in theory and practice. Pearl lists seven "characteristics of students with a "History of Maltreatment" and then immediately illustrates nine concrete "teaching techniques" that work. She has a keen sense of helping to anchor her students with pleasure-filled smeiis of nurturing food, freshness, and cleanliness. She takes pride in king
136 the role mode1 to those who "have an urgent need to see the adult who can laugh..." (73). In her conclusion, she acknowledges she is a "guide" rather than a "therapist" The abused student perpeaidy wredes with the formation and maintenance of boundaries. Pearl sets her boundaries, and keeps them clearly defined, enabling the students to leam this critical lesson by her example. Reyome, N Teacher ratings of the achievement-related classroom behaviors of maltreated and non-maltreaied children. the schooh 3 1 (4): Cïïnical evaluations of children's "behaviour dishirbances" do not necessariiy point out their "educational" learning problems (260). The bottom he: maltreated children generally have less "creativity, enthusiasm, and readiness to leam" (259) than non-maltreated children. Cm 1 modestly refute this clah in part? Rosenthal, K The inanimate self in adult victirns of child abuse and neglect. S d Çryewok 69 (8): O. Some survivors' only defence was being as passive as possible, even to the point of motionlessness and invisibility. They hied not to be noticeà for so long as children that they have great difficulty as adults rnobilizing energy. Rosenthal writes, "many abused individuais convince thernselves that they are 'swivors"'(508). Aren't they? Not to Rosenthal, even though a live person is sitting on the chair in his office. (See Zimrin, below.) Sanders. B. Br Becker-Lausen, E The measurement of psychological maltreatment: Early data on the child abuse and trauma scale. m d abuse & n m 19 (3): The - " [emphasis added] of the individuai's present diective perception of the degree of stress or trauma present in hisher childhood" (3 17) does not impress me, or help me value this study. Some things cannot be measured. What does impress me is the researchers' underlying premise that is based on the work of Newberger and DeVos (1988) and Newberger
137 (1991): cmdren make meaning of the abuse they endure and, although they may be physically healed, this meaning is the d (psychological) womd, and if left?o fester, is responsible for the devastation of spirits and bodies and lives. We can heal the wound by helping the wounded write and taik about the wounding. Schneider, N Healing the wounds of abuse with hurnor. Perce- 23: 7. Schneider teaches "emotionally disturbed" children, who are often abused and neglected. "Emotionally disturbed" is not defined in this article, nor does it need to be, for the focus is on heahg. He shares how he uses humour to create a safe classroom. His caring, his convictions ring me: If there were a diagnosis and prescription for every emotionally disturbed child that walked through a classroom door, dong with love, security, waxmth and safety, the use of hwnor would be etched in Stone (7). In the penultimate paragraph of the article, he "envision[s] the classroom as a team or, in the more holistic educational sense, a family" (7). 1 have so much resistance to the word "family." It is important, in my own healing, to read/see/hear that teachers invite abused students to be part of a healthier, happier community than the one they had. In violent families, children are captives. 1 am happy that the children in Schneider's class have someone who huly cares about and for them. Children who are survivors of family violence may or may not be identified as "emotionally disturbed." 1 think it impossible that any child survivor of family violence would not be disturbed emotionally-bodily synthesizing terror qualifies as emotiond disturbance, although "disturbance" is hardly a stmng enough word.
138 Stevens, L. & =ce, M Meeting the challenge of educating children at risk. 74 (1): l8-2o, In less than five pages of type, Stevens and Price clah to help educators "meet the challenge of educating" on the "at-nk" populations of: (a) newborns who were exposed prenatally to dnigs; (b) homeless children; (c) children exposed to lead poisoning; (d) paediatric cases of HIV; (e) abused children; and (f) children who were premature babies. How can the critical reader take this article seriously? No room for risky voices. I Sword, J (Ed.) J'he childs w 'ew of the worid: Stories a. Roceedings of the annual conference on early childhood education (5th, Duluth, Minnesota, September 27-28). This collection of seven papers contains "What Cm I do for the Abused Child?" by Kay Stevens. Stevens is identified as a "Professional Foster Parent" but doesn't tell us what that is. 1s foster-parenting a profession now, like doctoring or lawyering? Her suggestions on how to help are very generai, and include no references (read: the article is not wntten for a professional audience), but they are supported in the literature. Even though this paper is brief, we must be thanldul for the spirit of her work, and the contribution her voice makes to the cause of child protection. Tite, R çhild abuse: The role of the school. Doctoral Thesis. University of Toronto. A more specific title would be "Reporting Child Abuse: The Role of the School" because the dilemma of reporting is exactly what this thesis is al1 about, as stated unequivocally in its 1st The findings fiom this study draw attention to the central contradiction of requiring teachers to report abuse while they are still expected to use punitive strategies, including physical punishrnent, if necessary, for maintainhg classrmm control. What needs to be explored in more detail is how these contradictory demands affect teachers' perspectives of abuse and their willingness to report
139 cases. Related to this is the need to examine school discipline policies...( 295). Tite's research is important; it cas& the complexities of this particular dilemma into bright sunlight. Zimrin, H A profüe of survival. & gi- 10 (3): This article has ment. Zimrin isolates 10 variables that distinguish between those persons that have ken, and those persons that have not been psychologically overwhelmed by abuse. Zirnrin's "subjects," 28 children who "had required medicd treatment and hospitalization as a result of injury c ~ ebv d a parent" (emphasis added, 341), were under 5 years of age when this 14-year longitudinal study began. From this study, 9 of the 28 were identified as "survivos" and 19 as "non-survivors" (p.342). Until I read those words, 1 had understood that a survivor was someone that (had) lived, and a non-survivor was someone that (had) died. The Concise Oxford D-.. (1990, 1229) confimed my understanding. Can a researcher refer to a living person as a "non-survivor," especially one that has lived through the tonnent of king so violently treated by their parent(s) as to require hospitalization? Can research diminish the life- and-death struggle of children under 5 years of age? How can a living human be a "non- survivor?" How would the "subjects" feel if they read this article and found out that they are labelled "non-survivors?" Why doesn't Zimrin presume that some of these overwhelmed persons might corne to a himing point in their lives that would help them alter their view of thernselves and their world and begin to transcend their pain? How can we withhold treatment fiom abused children who desperately need it, just so research can go on? During the research period, the two groups received the usual services provided univenally to the entire population, or, when needed, protective measures were
140 taken by the state's child protection service workers. No special ment programs were given either to the children or the parents. Because of the ethical aspects involveci, the decision to refraui from offering treatment needs exphnation. The research was origùially designed and sample was chosen with the intention that ment would &O be offered Unfominately, this plan was publicized in a local newspaper and the fades subsequently refuseci to cooperate. There was no choice but to limit use of this sample to research which did not require active and direct cooperation, a decision which made the foiiow-up snidy possible. Thus the children were protected fiom Mer abuse, but treatment which required the families' consent was not given (341). Zimrin's use of the passive voice throughout this study is teliing as an attempt to justiq inhumane treatment of research "subjects." When does a researcher have "no choice?" How will the "subjects" feel when they read this article, other than abused, again, knowing Zidn chose to withhold treatment from them? Zimrin accepts no responsibility for the misfskr: of having the study published in a newspaper. (It didn't just happen; somebody did it.) Can Zimrin expect critical readers to be surprised that abusive parents wouldn't cooperate? An abused child is not an "S" or an "NS" (344)! It is heartening that other researchen protest this dehumanizing practice prevalent in research literature. 1 am not alone in my protest; 1 am not simply over-reacting.... in the Myers-Briggs approach (Lawrence. 1982) persons became four letters, such as ISTJ (which stands for Introverted-Sensing-Thinking-Judgement) and ENFP (for Extroverted-Intuitive-Feeling-Perceptual)....Prac ti tioners are attracted to such schemes... What bothers me most about these schemes is that a person becomes a type, and only a type-whether 1 am a converger, an ENFP, or a CR (Concrete Random), 1 am diminished to a dot, a point on a graph. This is demeaning to the complexity of the human condition. (Hunt, 1987,49) Assigning dehumanizing numben and letters to research subjects prevents them from participating as whole persons. Their voices are effectively gagged as they become quantified data. "But 1 was Number 1 19,104..." (Frankl, 1962,s). This practice desensitizes and dehumanizts the researcher
141 too-dhe loses touch with hifier compassionatc self. Abused children, prisoners of war, and mearchers cannot be fiez without their names.
142 My Wriîer Voice 1 began this research with myself in order to establish myself in my own eyes as a credible witness of my own lived life, and to forge a human connection with you, Gentle Reader. I need to have a sense that both you and 1 respect the struggie which is this qualitative inquiry. It is my sincere hope that you will allow the voices expressing themselves herein to mvc with your own voices, creating the experience of a rainbow of voice within yourself. This is my Writer Voice, carefully crafting my material before offering it as my gift to you-sometimes painfûl and shocking, always authentic. Let me assure you, Gentle Reader, that neither my therapist-teacher nor any other teachers have ever made suggestions about the source of my trauma False rnemories are constnicted by combining actual rnemories with the content of suggestions received from others. During the process, individuals may forget the source of the information. This is a classic example of source confusion, in which the content and the source become dissociated... although experimental work on the creation of false memories may raise doubt about the validity of long-buried mernories, such as repeated trauma, n o r o v e s hem- (emphasis added, Loftus, 1997,75) 1 weave the Voices of Other Scholars, who bring their brilliant shades and subtle nuances of colour, depth, clarity, and wonder, into this inqujr. But sometimes, their distant abstraction (see Chapter 2) alienates me. Detachment is a luxury I hope to lem to entertain as 1 inquire further into my developing selves. 1 am my own participant If applied research is to be authentic and relevant, researchers must first accept their own personhood, their CO-participation in the human venture they seek to undentand... A good mle for researchers is "Becorne the first participant in your study." (Hunt, 1992, 1 16)
143 1 am more than Wnter, hem I am also the Written, for this thesis, with each re-written lhe, assumes a life of its own, and it tells me how and what to write. As Writer, therefore, 1 prirnarily listen to and transcribe voices-those within me, and those that corne to and through me-to create this rainbow that is inseparable from the thunderstom and the sunshine that compose my life. Thus 1 reflet on my Me "...by recaiiing [my] experience not so much as a researcher, but as someone king researched..." (Hunt, 1992, 122). 1 am the researching researched- This inquiry is of value CO me and others only as long as 1 can honestiy nurture myself with questions that lead me to deeper questions. When 1 arrive at these deeper questions, I feel surprised by them. 1 like watching how 1 grow, and how my growth, one word at a time, propels this exploration forward to a conclusion 1 cannot possibly predetexmine.... we live our lives, tell and write our lives, retell and rewrite Our lives, and attempt to live those retold stories... it is through the rewriting and retelling, that we begin to transfom ourselves and see new possibilities. (ConneII y & Clandinin, 1994, 1 52) I am very curious about what is happening here. Curiosity is better than revenge. Revenge never satisfies; it disconnects me from myself and others, and brings me great unhappiness. Curiosity enables me to utilize my just anger to create something meaningful and enduring, a legacy for my children that they and 1 value. Connection. Happiness. Research should lead to some action or stand that addresses the good, and in the field of education 1 think this would ultimately have something to do with the good of children... Written well, the biographical descriptions constantly cal1 the wrîters to their own and place them within their action. They cannot hedge and mut own the values and prejudices that influence their perspectives. (Krall, 1988,475) Unjust anger merely destroys. Since my teens, when 1 started writing poetry, I have embraced writing essentidly as an exercise of my personal freedom 1 will not be bulldozed. No one tells
144 me how to write, what to &te, where or when to write, although 1 do consider editorial suggestions senously. This is work and play. This is nly art. This is a iife...self-understanding, when pmed refleztively, rather than leading to a consûicted and egocentric view, is the primary iink with the world...w e move toward mature adulthood by accepting responsibility for our part in our circumstances, but more so for accepting the social consequences of our autonomous acts. Acceptance of this responsibility as it influences our actions seems to me to be the ethical question underlying education and its research. (Wl, 1988,468) In the writing and reliving of the stories in Plaving to lose, I had to focus on my rearview mirror-who 1 had ken-in order to find out who 1 was. Through my wtitinghealing process, 1 keep rediscovering that my windshield-who I am becoming-is much bigger than my rearview mirror. 1 W<e it that my rearview mirror is attached to my windshield. 1 like that 1 can adjust it to any angle I wish, that I can see squarely behind me during the daytime and have that same view reflected off the ceiling at night Dangling from my rearview rnirror, on a strip of blue leather, is the small Eagle feather given to me on December 19, 1994, by an Ojibwa eider. I keep it there to remind me that "the truest power is gentleness" (cummings, 1953/1981, 30). Feathers, not muscies. lift Eagle. He also gave me a large Eagle feather. The tapered body of the blue and gold fountain pen 1 painted by hand fits snugly into the hollow shaft of this feather. 1 value this pen more than the gold-filled Cross executive pen I use professionally. Unlike the act of typing or wnting with pencil or a ballpoiiit pen, which 1 have not yet leamed to do without fear, when I write with my Eaglefeather pen in either han& the fear loosens inside, and 1 move into a zone of play. I feel like Santiago. The old man had seen many great fish. He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life, but never alone. Now done, and out of sight of land, he was fast to the biggest fish that he had ever
145 seen and bigger than he had ever heard of, and his left hand was stiii [crampd] as tight as the pripped claws of an eagie. (Hemingway, 1995,63) 1 give myself permission to go slow. Words look funny when I Wnte-print-lefthanded. men I use my right hm& they are merely illegible.) During my three years in the bush. when 1 was writuig to Los, I kept a daily journal of rernembered dreams, which 1 wrote only with my left hanci, in order to teach myself how to write lefthanded. 1 began to use my left hand instead of my nght in as many ways as 1 could Daily tasks such as washing dishes, stacking wood, carrying drinbg water from the well, bathing, brushing my teeth, cooking, ail felt Like new experiences to me. "1 just want to wash a goddam plate without fear" (Stewart, 1995, 158). Each task required me to leam slowly; 1 could feei my bodily fear loosen as 1 let myself be happy with my small, significant gains. Sharing this research story with you, Gentle Reader, helps anchor me in the knowledge that 1 am living and revising my traumatic stories into heaiing stories. Because life is not a substance, because it is made up of actions that bring into achidity what was once potential, the story about life is open to editing and revision. It can be changed... The consistency of one's life story is created by one's promises to be constant in one's future actions. The cornmitments to others to act toward them in a certain way and the contracts one makes with partnen and groups presupposes the maintenance of some continuity of actions and the narrative description formed by them... (Polkinghome, 1988, 154) 1 even leaned how to eat with chopsticks with my left hanci. When 1 wash a plate with my right hand, I do so by scnibbing it counter-clockwise. Now, with my left hand, 1 go clockwise-it feels more cornfortable. To me, leaming lefthandedness is like leaming a new language, an interior body language, a new way of king. A new world. A world without my father in it. My world. I am opening a part of myself that 1 could not access as a boy.
146 One Saturday, rnum set the big green bedspread freshy ironed, on my amis and told me to put it on dad's bed. His bedroom door was already ajar. How could 1 knock with my arms full? 1 pushed the door open. Dad was pissing into a bucket. (Stewart, 1995, 10) His bedroom door was hinged on my left 1 pushed the dwr open with my left hand. From the doorway, my father sat on the right side of his bed (from his position, the left side). He tossed me onto his bed. 1 landed face dom. Down came the strap on the back of my head and ears. Down on my neck. Down and dom, he measured the length of my back by the width of that strap even to the soles of my feet. (Stewart, 1995, 11) 1 curled my shoulden as much as 1 could, tucked my elbows together under my ribs and clasped "Roll over!" And down from my chin to my han& on my privates. "Hands at your sides!" And my privates. And my pnvates. And... "For good rneasure!" Down to the tips of my toes 1 watched myself tum from white to red to purple. And I learned. That was the fmt time he tanned me that way. (Stewart, 1995, 10) My father was right-handed. When 1 was wide open like this, or standing in front of him, the left side of my body bore the brunt of his attack. He aiways blackened and closed my left eye before my right. My left eye is the stronger of the two. He always broke bones in my left side of my body before my nght. 1 have not yet learned how to feel safe enough to sit on a couch so someone can sit on my lefi. 1 like to sit on the left side of the classroorn. I am 42 years old and 1 have not yet learned how to feel safe enough to allow my partner to sleep on my left. I am wide open. I have not yet learned how to feel safe enough to sit in an OISENT classroom with a classrnate within three feet of rny left side. Al1 but one of my professors have allowed me to sit
147 where 1 feel least threatened For every class, I arrived about 20 minutes eariy to pick a seat with the door or the window to rny left. In one classroom, students were so close to one another that we often bumped elbows. "Move in with the rest of us, Matthew. Don't try to gain stanis by sitting outside the circle," 1 was told (class notes, Jaouary 13, 1996). 1 was supposed to ignore the insult, and do as I was told? 1 sandwiched myself between two others, and 1 chose, rather than confront the teacher in anger, to record the event on my unlined notepad. 1 have more than one way of saying no. #en we tum to personal le-ng, we tum to the heart of educational purpose. Skills and knowledge are but the veneer. At bottom what counts is what a person is: his character, his values, the way his mind works, his personal style... It is ironic that schools, dedicated in principle to personal leamhg as their highest goal, have no evidence to show for their effo m... They are simply not geared to the job... 1s it possible that personal learnîng could be induced in any deliberate fashion? Can the forces of the home environment be overridden? (Eisner, 1 974,32-33) 1 need space and time to continue healing. Writing helps me create this space and time within my Healing self. It helps me to slow down. I have not yet learned how to "relax." I don't understand what the word means bodily, but 1 am learning to slow down inside. Gentle Reader, while we are revisiting this horrifie scene again, 1 am gaining a new understanding of the word "impact" paradoxically, fiom the perspective of king "resilient." By physicaliy breaking this scene apart, 1 slow it down. I bring myself to it today by choice, as a survivor, not as a victim. Much more qualitative research is needed to capture the processes by which persons make sense of the traumas in their Iives and re-establish a sense of personal integrity, meaning, and worth... fume research should attend to constmctions of survivors themselves, rather than exclusively measuring them on extemally imposed dimensions. (Harter & Neimeyer, 1995,257)
148 1 am workuig here. 1 need to be carefd, to keep my sumvor perspective. By ciroice, moment-to- moment as I type these words. 1 keep my heaithier Survivor Voice more dominant than my Victim Voice. We must respect each other's research stories. Survïvors are one with their story, cannot be separated from it. Often the story overwheims the survivor from the inside, without wming. Writing enables the transformation of knowledge stnictures, because it involves exactly that active effort to find connections that is ceneal to leaming. By writing we can discover what we know and adopt it into our frame of reference. Sometimes it requires that the perspective itself be adapted. (Diarnond, 199 1,45) With my Survivor Voice 1 writelsay that Writing to lose was a traumatic experience; writing this research inquiry is stressful. The difference between "traumatic" and "stressn" is significant. 1 am careful to use the approptiate word; "stressful" gives me more breathing rmm. 1 can do things to ease the "stress." 1 work with language to free myself, not to trap myself, and 1 encourage othen to take the same nsk. Language is how social organization and power are defined and contested and the place where our sense of selves, Our mectivity, is constructed. (Richardson, 1994,s 18) 1 am not willing to traumatize myself as 1 writdsay these words by speaking with my Victim Voice. When I'm traumatized-self-induced or otherwise-1 physicaily go into shock, and my recovery takes days. 1 must be careful when 1 get a massage to ease rny stress; when too much of my stored bodily pain surfaces too quickly for me to process, 1 go into shock. 1 cry, coldsweat and shake uncontrollably, like a giant tap is open inside me and my energy drains away. I become too weak to walk or sit or eat Breathing is hard work. My voice almost disappears. Often, in the process of writing this inquiry, 1 hang my head at my wordprocessor, and cry. 1 must. Crying is a way of creating space-tears flow out to make room inside for joy to flow in-so 1 dont hold
149 ail the tears back now. Sometimes, I'm so fiirious I can't even roar, al1 1 can do is cry. Writing, like crying, mates space-this research story flows out to make room inside for the next story. SU, 1 cannot talk about how 1 surviveci, how 1 am now u, without telling what I swived 1 did not intentionally set out hours ago to revisit this homfc childhood scene. It came to me. The organic nature of writing thrius me; 1 never know what to expect, except that I'm going to learn something new, exciting. and rejuvenating. That's why 1 do it. 1 sometimes def~ne research as placing oneself in a position to be surprised. In fact, if you are not in a position to contradict your expectations, you are probably not engaging in research. In research. cumulative understanding cornes from accommodating contradictions...a may be possible to grasp the importance of contradiction by noting that it is how we deal with contradictions that coun B...it does not mean that life is completely connadictory, with no pattern, no unity, and no continuity. Rather it means that continuity and contradiction exist side by side, and each needs to be respected. (Hunt. 1992,97) 1 fmd myself through this medium. Through writing, my Heaiing Self learns how to integrate dl my other selves. Swner or later 1 write myself to healing laughter. The shape of some words make me laugh out loud 1 like to see, to hear what happens when words dance close. 1 enjoy learning how to Say someihing serious-like king devoured-in a playfd way. lonely's the word when you feel your self fly fast like a littleblack bugintothebigyellow beakofthebird (Stewart. May 12, 199 1) Words are Creatures. They are dive. They're so bold just after Tve dipped the nib of my pen into
150 the inkwell, then they get thinner and mer until they're invisible, so 1 dip again. 1 play with hem, they play with me. Writing is exciting; it brhgs my guts to Me. There were times when you had to write. Not conscience. Just peristaitic action. Then you felt sometimes like you could never write but after a while you hew sooner or later you would write another good story. It was rpally more fun than anything..at had more bite to it than anything else. (Hemingway, L 973,2 1 8) The empty page is more than a mirror, it's space. The. The opportunity to create my own king. Freedom. Michelangelo, in 1504, sculpted David "completely naked, just as unprotected as when he faced [Goliath] misting only on God and in his own strength" (Keutner, 1969,19). (See also Pelletti. 1989, ) Like Michelangelo's David, who holds his shg in his left han& 1 have brought my father down with my pen. The pen, expressing the soul's passion is mightier than the sword because the imagination can change the life of a people at their very roots. (Moore, 1994, 135) When I'm hauling a full load in my truck, the rearview mirror is vimially useless as a mirror; 1 use my side rnirrors. 1 have large side rnirrors bolted to my doors for seeing around my trailer, as well as convex rnirrors to elirninate my "blind spots." This collection of mirrors, like qualitative research, offers me many different, simultaneous perspectives and ways of accessing and presenting material that 1 cannot do othewise....q ualitative research is often the most "adequate" and "efficient" way to obtain the type of information required... to provide [researchers] with a set of categories for writing their theones within a rhetoric of generation, to balance out that of venfication. (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, 1 8) Through narrative inquiry, these voices, these mirrors allow others to see me as they approach me from their different perspectives. When others can see themselves in my mirrors, they know 1 cm
151 see them. The moral of the story is that one shouid deliberately cultivate such reflections on personal experiences. Generally we suppress th m... rather than looking at them as springboards to systematic theorking. (Glaser & Strauss, 1967,253) 1 signal my intention and watch for their acknowledgment of my intention. Without my mirrors, 1 cannot move forward without endangering myself and others. Narrative allows teachers and reseachers to declare that they themselves are the subject of their own inquiry. By partaking more fully of their experience, they can transfonn it. (Diamond, 1992,69) The hardest part of learning to drive a big truck, for me, was learning to trust my mimors. The hardest part of king a graduate student and mearcher is that I'm still afraid that my teachers or my readers will tum away from my stories. WHY IS ïï SO DIFFICULT to descnbe the real, the factual, the true situation of a srnail child? Whenever 1 try to do this 1 am confionted with arguments that al1 serve the same purpose: that of not having to acknowledge the situation, of rendering it invisible, or, at best, describing it as purely "subjective." The victim is always subjective, 1 am told: He knows only the wrong done to him, not why it was done to him, especially when that victim is a child, for how much can a child really understand? How should he be able to assess the overall situation-for instance, understand the plight of his parents and redize how greatly he has provoked their violence? Again and again the child's share of the blame is looked for and found, with the result that only in extremely brutal cases is the term "child abuse" mentioned, and even then with reservations, while the broad spectrum of psychic mistreatment is disputed or totalty denied. In this way the victim's voices are silenced almost before they are raised, and the tnith, the whole ~biective truth, of the facts remains in obscunty. (Miller, l990,96-97) Everyone who works with me works hard. Gentle Reader, 1 know that reading this inquiry is hard work. You are brave; these autobiographical stories are hard stories to hear. On November 9, 1994, Professor E, retumed my manuscript of Plavk~ to Iose to me just before the class
152 started. "It's not relevant to Personality Psychology," he said. "It cannot be empincaiiy validated."... researchers whose work is guided by the pnnciple of what we rnight be, open themseives to the possibility of learning about human potential. IronicaUy, when their prophecies are fulfilleâ, thcy unveil a past of human potential. In short they learn about human potential and development, while traditional researchers can never lem about it. (Hunt, 1992, 1 19) He dropped the package on the tabletop. 1 had been dismissed Not just me, my story too. Rofessor E, iike my supervisor's "Rofessor C. was an expert at..."p ersonless" psychology " (Diamond & Mulien, in preparation). Gagged again. 1 was shocked. How could 1 fight back? Professor E liked factor analysis. 1 answered not one mathematical question on his tests, not even the final exam, in protest. When he was being considered for tenure, his department sent me a form requesting my cornments about his teaching. Whoever typed the enveiope spelled my name wrong; 1 responded with silence. My stories are hard stones to tell. They are hard stories to live. Autobiography's reply to the traditional empincal paradigrn is a retum to the experience of individuals by respecting al1 the qualities that disqualiq us for consideration in the behavioral sciences: Our idiosyncratic histories, our preconceptual foundations, our contextual dependencies, our innate freedom expressed in choice and self-direction. (Grumet, 1992,41) When I'rn driving my truck, and I'm in a tight spot, 1 ask someone to guide me. Somebody who can see my vehicle as part of the big picture including the landscape, al1 things that move within range of my vehicle, and my intended destination. 1 need to trust my guide's eyes and ears. 1 need to trust my guide's voice. Narrative scholars are guides who provide important viewpoints that help me steer my
153 way carefdiy through this inquiry. The story in to 10%-my story-has changed dramatidy since the tefling of it hving the telling, 1 had to focus on the temg, hoping 1 could survive the telling. 1 told that story aione in a loghouse in the bush and told only a few souk that 1 was doing it or that I had done it Now that it is told and 1 have survived, that story has become part of a bigger story, nameiy this research story. The central task is evident when it is grasped that people are both living their stories in an ongoing experiential text and telling their stories in words as they reflect upon life and explain themselves to others. For the researcher, this is a pohon of the complexity of narrative, because a iïfe is also a matter of growth toward an imagined future and therefore, involves retelling stories and attempts at reliving stories. A person is at once engaged in living, telling, retelling, and reliving stories. (ConneUy and Clandinin, 1990,4) 1 build this inquiry with the support of my grown children. my partner, my friends, colleagues, teachers and fellow researchers. Based on my experience with Elgyinp. to lose, 1 expect to survive telling this research story, in the hope that this story will become part of the bigger story of education, and help children al1 over the worlà Narrative provides autobiographical oppominities for us each to gain a distinctively thoughtfbl presence or series of registers within which we can explore the bipolarity of Our fint and third person voices. that is, of our private and public, fictitious and factual selves. Presence is established when thoughts and feelings are cailed for by and in cornmunity-not in isolation. (Diamond, 1993,5 12) 1 could not write Plava to lose today as I wrote it; 1 am not the sarne man. Telling that story changed my life and the lives of my children. It has affected everyone who knows me. It is rny story, or, more correctly, it is one of my stories, told from a particular narrative perspective and, although it is corroborated by my daughter and brother-in-law, neither 1 nor anyone else can
154 prove it to be "the mith." 1 cannot claim to know, much less speak "the tnith," and 1 steer clear of anyone who makes such a claim. Through this inquiry, 1 build on ElaJrine to lm-both are testaments to my right to tell my tniths. Stories about the past are told from the present, from a situation which may have changed over the years and defines a new relationship to the past It is this relationshir, which underlies the whole story, defmes the meaning which it is supposed to convey: for one never tells a story in itself, but in order to convey some meaning. Tehg a story about the past is a way of expressing indirectly a rneaning about the present; in most cases this-often unconscious-goal of meaning-construction pnvails over the faithful reconstruction of the past. (Bertaux, 198 1, cited in Barman, 1994,56) In order to tell tniths, we need fieedom to explore our iives from different perspectives. Respecting Our own truths enables us to respect the truths of others. Through the telling of our research stories, we clairn the right to ask authentic questions. You are so young, you have not even begun, and 1 would like to beg you, dear Sir, as well as 1 can, to have patience with everything that is unsoived in your heart and to try to cherish the questions themselves, like closed rooms and like books in a very strange tongue. Do not search now for the answers which cannot be given you because you could not live them now. It is a matter of living everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradudly, without noticing it, one distant day live right into the answer... (Rilke, 1945,Sl) In the act of choosing the words, and their arrangement on the page, we give voice to the struggles of Our lives. Through autobiographical research. we connect aspects of our selves in an intricate, paradoxicd process of king at once participant and witness, observer and observed, storyteller and audience. A wide range of life-history approaches to self-narrative are available... Narrative helps us to consider the different versions of reaiity, including which is more 'red,' what we think we are, what we want to be, what we are afraid of, what we pretend to be or what we think others think we are. (Diarnond, 199 1, 100)
155 The value of autobiography lies in its inherent capability to d ow readers to vicariously the situation the writer describes The qualitative description allows the reader to envision and experience what he or she has not experienced directly. Poeûy and literahin are linguistic paradigms of such description... (Eisner, 1994,235) Through Frankl's act of autobiography, he has helped me to cornpassionately connect with and appreciate the tragedy of inarticuiable human surering and the miracle of his sumival. His writing arouses empathy in me. "Empathy is the abiiity to don the shoes of another human king... Good writers put you there... "(Eisner, ). 1 am gratefbl for Frankl's swival and for how his autobiography e ~ches my life; through my deep respect for his valiant stmggle, 1 make a valuable human connection-we both stmggled to survive and transcend ourselves and Our different but similar war situations. Through a act of autobiography, 1 came to understand that rny fathefs life was not in the least explicable by asking why, and neither was mine. Asking helped me learn to accept a painhl tmth about my father: sadistic cruelty brought him sexual pleasure was smaller than my son the first time 1 waç gagged and beaten from head to foot on my Dad's bed much smaller how could my Dad do it why 1 know how 1 know why for the pleasure. (Stewart, 1995, 170) 1 theorized that life is leaming which questions to ask. This theory was grounded, grew out of my researc h. Generating a theory from data means that most hypotheses and concepts not only come from the data, but are systematicaliy worked out in relation to the data dunng the course of the research. involves a process of research. (Glaser & Strauss, 1967,6)
156 Its value to me lay in my own persona1 growth and undexstanding. 1 understood ''Why?" and "Wh-?" as victim's questions. It would have been easy and dishonest to answer "because" to my why questions, avoiding personal responsibility with hear cause-and-effect scenarios. In the act of surviving extreme inirafanailid violence, like sunriving war, one lems important lessons about life. For the most part, personai knowledge is not developed through formal instruction. It is a consequence of the basic fact of human association, beginning with the family... The quality of personal meanings therefore depends upon the nature of the comrnon tife, particularly upon the earliest and most intimate associations in the family, between parents and children. (Phenix, 1964, 196) One of those lessons is to ask meaningful questions: "...I want to learn to Iive instead of just trying to survive how do 1 unleam fear and panic and rage how do 1 handle my rage..." (Stewart, 1995, 134). "How to live" questions are addressed in later thesis chapters. My question why has always been linked to my "God-fearing" father. Why he chose to seek sexual pleasure in sadism could not, and never will, be answered. Through writing my autobiography, 1 came to accept that.... Fd ask him if he ever thought what I would be like as a man. I'd ask him why he tried to destroy me, so 1 could hear it in his own words. But 1 know if he told me the reason....no reason's good enough. (Stewart, 1995, 151) My identity as a son and a brother was deeply and powerfully connected with my father's brutality. Through wnting my autobiography, 1 gained the space and time to articulate that connection clearly. Perpetrators of domestic violence isolate and silence their prey, test they be hetd accountable. "Now 1 understand 1 was sacrificed to maintain the silence..." (Stewart, 1995, 165). Paradoxically, and thankfully, making ihis connection was crucial to allowing me break it. Although Frank1 seeks mm, 1 concur with his underlying premise that it is Our
157 individual responsibility to activeir seek what Life is teaching us. t r e m e r w W. Life ultimateiy means taking the responsibility to fmd the right answer to its problems and to fu5l.l the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual..." Life" [means] something very teal and concrete, just as life's tasks are also very real and concrete. (Fd, 1962,77) Choosing to maintain a victim stance in the world was not an acceptable alternative to me. 1 needed and wanted to give voice to my part in the creation of my own life, rather than blame someone else. The question why would have kept me locked into looking for an answer to an unanswerable question. Like Frankl, 1 stubbomly refused to relinquish my freedom to chwse.... everything cm be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms-to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. (Frankl, 1962,65) When I became a father, 1 needed to ask?yhy to leam that it was an incornpiete question. Ied me to the question that works for me, and that question is bk~. "Why dad why do you rape your little girl how could you how could I..." (Stewart, 1995, 1 14). The relevance of rny self- narrative or single case study of self for others lies in its explicit depiction of how diffxcult it is for survivors of domestic war to prevent thernselves from re-creating another sirnilar war situation with their own children, and how the situation of extreme domestic violence is sirnilar to that of international war (see also Di Nardo, 1983; Eichler, 1988; Fox Br Luxton, 1993: Freyd, 1996; Garbarino, 1992; Hutchison. 1996; Olson. 1994; Skolnick & Skolnick, 1994). 1 hope that you, Gentle Reader, will lem from my experience, for "...such insights need not corne from one's own experience, but can be taken from others" (Glaser & Strauss. 1967,253). Every how question contains a myriad of possibilities, and no Wwer- Every how question leads me deeper into the
158 exploration of myself, my situation, and my world-with-others. That is research. The adherence to the methodology, the obligation to stay within that realm, forecloses openness to what is, and focuses our attention on beings rather Being, on answers rather than on questioning. (Worsham, 1987,205) In the actual writing of my autobiography, 1 learned how to give voice to my grappling with honest questions: Y.. how can 1 choose to pretend to lie to myself how can 1 choose to be honest..." (Stewart, 1995, 1 18). 1 continue to be my questioning self, exdloring rather than mswem this thesis question. This is research, for indeed, Writing from our Selves should strengthen the cornrnunity of qualitative researchers and individual voices within if because we will be more fvily present in our work, more honest, more engaged. (Richardson, 1994,5 16) Only dunng my exploration of this question have 1 come to see that my perspective on the question whv has always been death-oriented. Frankl's iife-oriented way of looking at the question helps me see it anew. A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human king who affectionately waits for hm, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how." (Frankl, 1962,80) The devance of Frankl's research beyond his situation is that it is still working, thirty-five years later, enabling me and others to leam things significant to Our lives. Through the fmt sixteen years of my life, 1 had no why of my &tena, nobody and nothing to live fqi: after-war. Life behind barbwire. Now that I see my why question from Frankl's perspective, 1 see that 1 had, in fact, developed my own active and concrete whv of existence that 1 have never articulated before. Only as an adult, and Pnly through my act of autobiography did 1 come to a why for my existence:
159 1 could not bear to make my children sufkr my abandoning them altogether. Throughout the writing of my autobiography, and the reliving of my intense trauma, 1 kept my son's framed note on my desk to remind me to persevere: you'r always going to be There for me, like you'r not going to skip out on me -som-one who Iove's me! (Wilton, 1993) My book is not dedicated ~2 rny children. It is "For my chiidren" (Stewart. 1995, np). It graphically shows how 1 stmggled to leam how to be their loving daci, and how they, "...rny kids my teachers" (Stewart, 1995, 157), vdiantly stnrggied to teach me. My daughter highly values the record of my struggle to protect her from my waning self, how I failed and how 1 succeeded- Dear Dad Thank you for your effort and hones ty... Thank you for fighting for Wilton and 1 and Not giving in even when it was hard Thank you for winning. You (Kristina-Mae, November, 1995) OPpP m was glad [uncle] Julius was able to tel1 me his point of view about what my father had experienced as a child... it made me feel more grounded having the stories confirmed by an adult living outside the situation... I read PI-i3g to losc... I am particularly glad that the incidents 1 remember are portrayed accurately. (Examples; Page 132 when my father threatened my mother and she asked me to cal1 the police. Page 160 when my father sent my brother outside to give them both time to cool off.) (Kristina-Mae, October 26, 1997) They both attended my seminar with over 100 Concurrent Education students at a University in Febmary of this year. to lose is one of the many tools 1 use in conducting seminars about the violence-learning connection with university students in Education and Psychology, as well as mental health professionals. As individuais, we contain al1 our selves within us. Each of us is like a big old tree full of
160 concentric rings-it contains dl its younger years, its history, in each moment of its life. The accomplishment of the integration of Our plural selves helps us to connect with others in the community; sharing brings healing and joy. The saiient concepts of the self that the person can access comprise what has ken called the working self<oncept (Markus& Nurius, 1986). which... inciudes everchanging combinations of pst selves and seives as well as the imagined poss~ble selva that we hope to become or are afraid of becoming... (Mischel, 1993,422) Sirnultaneous selves require existence in simultaneous times. Breathing room. I exist as numerous stories, in layers of and in time, in my own iives. I perpetudy create and recreate my selves, and my understanding of (their) expenence. Each articulation of each of my selves shifts through time as I mature. We are followed through life by ghosts... ghost selves, the lives we have chosen not to Iead coming back to haunt us... We have unlived lives in the realm of Our persona1 and intimate existence. but dso in our professional lives... We dso live in memory and expectation, and both of these things are, in some ways, imagination. I can imagine those 1 love as they were or as they may corne to be. Absent, they are present... nie singer 1 did not become, the athlete or dancer or actor you did not become, have an existence of some sort. Lost possibilities taunt us. amuse us, challenge us. The single life we are given is both too rnuch and not enough. Even the most singular of us is plural. haunted by the ghost beings we own and are. (Helwig, October 19, 1992) My various selves are reflected back to me in relationships with others, especially those close to me. But however distant one of my selves may be from another of my selves, they are closer to me than to anyone else; nobody knows me better than me. Nobody knows better than me that my survival experiences cannot be measured. Perhaps the largest problem we have encountered in this entire book was that of gaining access to the life-world of individuals. It was this project that we claimed at the outset was somewhat better realized by qualitative than by quantitative methods... can one human king inhabit the life-world of another to any reasonable
161 degree?... a fmt-person method..wouid seem to offer enormous practical benefits. After ali, you are the constant cornpanion of yourself....in short, each person has unprecedented and literally awesome access to his own Me-world, both its "inner" and "outer" events, in a way that could never be approached by another. (Shwartz & Jacobs, 1979, ) When one of my selves is moved, my other selves take heed In order to make sense or meaning of this research story, Gentle Reader, you need to compare it to the story of at least one of your own selves' lives, and choose if and how you will dlow this story to move or affect you. In the conscious act of nurturing our own movement toward integrity, we preserve the individuai voices of our composite selves intact Paradoxicdy, our selves dialogue with one another, and help each other grow. Each person is a community of one, a choir of voices. I am interested in following previously hidden paths that take the thesis in the direction of narrative or the novel, reflexive genres in which self can be interrogated as the composing author. We ask of each thesis chapter: "Who is (are) doing the talking?" and "How did this happen?" (Diarnond, 1994,59) As a choir is composed of many people with names, so too we narne our internai selves. We recognize hem by their distinct voices. As you read this, Gentle Reader, you are hearing my Third-person Researcher Voice as part of a choir of Other Scholarly Researcher Voices. Each of these individual Researcher Voices are composed of an interna1 choir of voices.... we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive Company or not Otherwise they run up unannounced and surprise us, corne hammenng on the mind's door at 4 am. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed hem, who is going to make arnends. We forget al1 too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike. forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were. 1 have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be; one of them, a seventeen-year-old, presents little threat... The other one, a twenty-three-year-oki, bothers me more. She was
162 dways a good deal of trouble, and 1 suspect she wili reappear when 1 least want to see her... an apparition ail the more insistent for king so long banished. (Didion, 1990, 10) Baseball: Game of Selves and Names Baseball is a game where the plwality of selves muc wondemiily. The catcher throws the bal1 to the pitcher. That's the name of the bal1 in play: "The Ball." The pitcher winds up. The moment it leaves the pitcher's hand, "The BA" gets a new name "Sinker." "Slider." "Change- up." "Forkbail." "Rising fastball. " "Cwebail." "Knuckleball." "Fastbail. " "Split-finger fastball." "Screwball." We recognize the distinct baseball selves by how the baseball dances through the air toward home plate at 90 miles per hour. Recognized selves, recognized voices. The concept of sub-personalities implies that we have many parts of ourselves, like my Little Professor and Little Optimist. Some are strongly in evidence and othen are dormant and undeveloped... What stirred my inner king was that 1 was immediaîely able to recognize part of my personal cast of sub-personalities and, equaily important, saw that some seemed to be rnissing, causing me to try to coax them out on stage. (Hunt, 1987,34) If "Sinker" dances outside the strike zone, it's name instantly changes to "Ball 1," "Ball 2," "Ball 3," or "Ball 4." The pitcher may intentionally throw a "Ball" instead of a pitch that challenges the batter. Each of us has a part which judges, evaluates, sets standards, and criticizes. Spend a linle time becoming aware of your "Critic," perhaps giving your sub-personality a name so that it will remain under control... Send your Critic off on a trip...try to develop your "Fair Witness" to help keep you honest- (Hunt, 1987,82) If the bat in the arms of the batter connects with "Sinker," however, "Sinker's" narne instantiy changes again. "Fairball." "Foulball." "FIybaIl." "Groundball." That's the game. It is a game of perpenial transformation. Like a baseball in play, each of us contain a host of selves and voices.
163 Some named. 1 becarne aware of five subpersonalities who were present at the research sites and rnight have influenced this study in spite of my awareness of bracketing my biases. I have named and briefly demibed these subpersonalities... Spuinial Susan runs the risk of distorting this study by concentrating on the spinnial aspect and not seeing what is really there... Successful Susan... J had to accept that I did have a success orientation that I was communicating to my participants. Pro-Reflective Susan..J really prefer reflective people... Salesperson Susan: 1 have spent yean selling visualization as a technique... Mss Thorough sighs with relief, but she is still not certain she didn't lead him into it. And so it goes..h the final analysis if 1 could become aware of these subpersonalities 1 would be a better researcher. This was very important for Successful Susan and Miss Thorough. (Drake, ) This choir of researchers is one of my communities; we respect each other. My Third-person Researcher Voice enables me to gain distance from my own other stones told in other voices- now you are hearing my First-person Researcher Voice-so I can view my story of trauma and recovery from different perspectives. We are, in narrative inquiry, constmcting narratives at severai Ievels. At one level it is the personal narratives and the jointly shared and constmcted narratives that are told in the research writing, but narrative researchers are compelled to move beyond the telling of the Iived story JO tell the research story. This telling of the research story requires another voice of researcher, another "1-" One of the multiple "1's" is that of narrative critic... the empirical narrativist helps his or her reader by self-consciously discussing the selections made, the possible alternative stories, and other limitations see fiom the vantage point of "1 the critic." (Connelly and Clandinin, 1990, 10) Narrative research is a way of creating space for ow interna1 selves, of honouring them. Self- acceptance. Antidote for fear. So if telling a story requires giving oneself away, then we are obligated to devise a rnethod that mediates the space between the s elft tells, the self told, and the self th&l,&m; a method that retums a story to the teller that is both hers and not hem, that contains her self in good Company. (Grurnet, 199 I,70)
164 Only by knowing where 1 am in relation to others in the world can 1 rnove. ûniy by joining the choir of researchers can 1 hear their Researcher Voices. Only by ailowing othen to hear my Researcher Voices can 1 hear how my voices harmonhe with theirs and theirs with mine. We value each other; we need each other. Acceptance. The more 1 try to change who I am, the less 1 am able to accept who I am. 1 cannot change; my resistance to change is equal to my need to change. Changing a habit is hard work and takes time. Changing my warrior personality is harder work and takes more time. Only through acceptance of who 1 am can 1 change. Self-acceptance is change. So it is at this point that 1 mut begin to peel away the layen of hidden knowledge that I have acquired in my journey of life. This process of uncovering and bringing to the surface one's own personal theones relating to a phenornenon entails a great deai of nsk that at the onset seerns to outweigh any possible benefits. Those of us who decide to involve ourselves in this process and forge ahead to confront the hurdles of our own inner selves will take the Iargest leaps fonvard. (Brathwaite, 1988,26) In the enchanting children's book The Nu- (Keens-Douglas, 1992), horses have three heads, trees have eyes, and Spirits rise. The joy of numiring Earth is sharing the bounty of her gifts. Every creature, plant and thing is illustrated with colour and lines that flow-showing us their plural selves. Palimpsest of Voices Gentle Reader, you have heard many of my voices already, each one distinct while connected to each other. 1 have no singuiar, dominant, linear voice, no boss voice which al1 the othea obey.
165 Multiple accounts splinter the dogmatism of a single tale. If they undennine the authority of the teller, they also free her h m king captured by the reflection provided in single narrative. (Grumet, 199 1,72) Each voice spnngs ont0 the page unpredictably. This unpredictableness ensures that each voice is authentic. This sentence, Gentle Reader, this word is a surprise to me, revealing itseif in the wri tingmoment. 1 constantly saylwrite, backup, erase, saylwrite it again differentl y until I'm sure that I have listened and recorded the voice accurately. Yet,like a favourite Song that brings us a new meaning each time we hear it, this sentence will change for me each time 1 listen to it more deeply. We present a textured re-accounting in the form of a palimpsest (m, again; m, rubbed soft) both to clean the slate and to "corne clean," as we tell and comment on research stories. (Diarnond Br Mullen, in preparation) 1 say/write the same way I play the piano or the drum. By ear. Addressing you directly, Gentle Reader, brings you into this multi-layered conversation. Similady, Diarnond & Mullen (in preparation) "invite [their] readers to join [their] collective "we," filling out the spaces in the margins..." (np). I like that my recordedlpnnted voices are stacked atop one another in the pages you are reading like songs in a stack of longplay records lying Bat on a shelf. This palimpsest inquiry is grounded in the "concepnialization of knowledge as consûucted, contested, incessantly perspectival and po1yphonic.--1 do not much subscribe to theories of the invisible writer..." (Lather, 199 1, xx). Lather ( 199 1) demonstrates her plural voices by offering 4 different endings to Getting: "Postscript" ( ); "Epilogue" ( ); "Aftemord" ( ) and; "Coda: Seductions and Resistances" ( ). Diamond & Mullen's (in preparation) "different voices slide over each other" and c m be heardseen simultaneously on the page. My voices, and
166 the voices of other researchers in this inquky into the &y-to-day realities of innafamilial trauma grow intq and out of each other, tweaking the automatic, organic, rhizomatic impulse to send this inquiry growing in another new, unpredictable direction (see also Lather 1993, ).... not only mut theory iiluminate the lived experience of progressive social groups; it must also be illuminated by their struggles. Theory adequate to the task of changing the world mut be open-ended, nondogrnatic. speakmg to and grounded in the circumstances of everyday life [and death]. It must, moreover, be premised on a deep respect for the intellecnial and political capacities of the dispossessed. (Lather, 199 1,55) In the brilliant children's book from nothine (Gilman, 1992), a continuous second story runs through the book in illustrations only-the mice under the floor-unseen and heard by those over them. Like siienced survivors. My interest in inenarrability, the impossibility of telling some stories, lies in an acceptance of those moments in life when we must Say something but a full story is not possible. We may have to speak in incomplete sentences, teliing a story that trails off unfinished or moves in many directions at once... Besides, there are modes of expression that speak well for the ftagments of expenence: journal entries, songs, poems, notes, lettea, ciream logs, diaries. A good sto ry... can be honest in conveying the provisional and fragmentary nature of experience. (Moore, 1996, ) Clifford (1988) calls his book "...a spiiced ethnographic objec~ an incomplete collection" (13). One of his chapters contains 9 poignant written "postcards," dated, and addressed to penons whose names are single capitalized ietten of the alphabet ( ). Like Lather's (199 1) 4 difierent endings, Clifford offers 3 different and compelling versions of "History" (294- Further studies, Gentle Reader, that explore qualitative research, narrative, autobiography, plural selves, plural voices, and palimpsest: Bannister, 1985; Barone, 1992; Beattie, 1995~ 1995b; Belenky, Clinchy, Goidberger, & Tanile, 1986; Bogdan & Biklen, 1982; Booth, 1994;
167 Bruner, 1963, 1987, 1991; Clandinin & Connelly, 1992,1994; Clinord, 1988; Coles, 1989; Crites, 1979: Denzin, 1978; Denzin & Lincoln, 1994; Eldridge 1996; Ferrucci, 1982; Glancy. 1997: Glaser, 1978; Glesne & Peshkin, 1992; Greene, 1977; Grumet, 1980; Hami-Augustein & Thomas, 1991 ; Keen & Valley-Fox 1989; Lejeune, 1989; Mullen, 1994; Nabakov, 1970; Olson, 1995; Polanyi, 1962; Pope & Denicolo. 1993; Ricoeur, 1983; Rosen, 1986, 1987; Sanders, 1997; Smith & Geoffrey, 1968; Tappan, 1989; Welch, 1993; Withereil, 1991, and; Zipes, Arts-based narrative inquky creates space for juxtaposing selves, perspectives, voices, and mths that corne to iight only when researchers explore the darkness and can relay the story of their exploration to us in practical, digestible chunks.
168 THE HEALLNG OF STORES A heaiing stoiy is a digestible ch& Our bodies are collectors and containers of stories. We are living three-dimensional books that we perpehlaily revise. The stories of our lives are like those acetate pages in an encyclopaedia illustrating the human body. that overlay each other. We see how dl our bodily systerns are connected and dependent on each other. 1 iive the story of my life in my body. Others live their version of my story of my Me in bodies as 1 live my version of the stories of their lives in -4 live wiwidwithin othen. as they Live inlwiwwithin me. Even when they're dead. Now when others who inhabit my body (with me) and my life are not heaithy, life-hlrming people. do 1 revise my story of the other, or the story of myseif? 1 am not willing to lie. to restory my father as an honourable man. Wait. 1s there not m good thing he did on Earth for me? No, not in my memory. Search beyond memory, Matthew. Just thing. Yes, 1 know of thing. Through my father's sexual union with my mother, 1 came out of the blackness of death. where I was waiting, into the light. My parents called my name. Without them. 1 could not be here, conducting this inquiry into trauma to help other survivors and teachers. In my desperate, suicida1 hours, 1 often found comfort in reading and re-reading what leamed scholars had to Say about how my suffenng was part of the cosmic picture. People often bring up the idea of "karma": that as far as Iifetime experiences and circumstances go, what we sow in one Iifetime is what we reap in the next. This is not always strictly me. 1 believe that experiences like [abuse] are not necessarily punishments fiom pst lives. By choosing to corne into a particular family or constellation of circurnstances you have not agreed to submit to abuse. However, you have agreed to participate in a certain lesson or type of drarna You still have free will about how a particular lesson or teaching is carried out and so do the
169 other individuals who have chosen to share the lifetime with you. Just because you agreed to play a role in this family, abuse is not the invariable result. Part of the leaming process is learning nnt to choose the more harmfd or destructive paths. Growth can occur easily and joyfully as well as through struggle, and there are many gradations between the two... When we understand rasons, patterns, and causes, we experience what many call grace... We absolve ourselves of the need to repeat hem, the need to experience pain... Fially, victims of abuse need to remember that even in these challenging circurnstances. the soul is never harmed. The spirit is indestructible and imrnortai. (Weiss, 1993, ) 1 hope that in the act of sharing this benediction with you, Gentle Reader, I learn how to synthesize this healingrnessage with my body. 1s this process of re-storying my own life as an honourable man a simultaneous de-storying of my father within me? As long as 1 focus on de- storying him within me, my focus is destructive. (See how close the words destory and destroy?) Perhaps un-story is healthier. How to do it? I cannot forget him, erase him or his-and-mine (ou) thousands of trauma stories from my body. This chronic pain is a perpetual rerninder. At least 1... no longer compelled to follow the former pattern of disappointment, suppression of pain, and depression, since m now [have] another possibility of dealing with disappointment, narnely, that of experiencing pain. In this way, m at least [gain] access to [my] earlier experiences-the parts of [myselfl and [my] fate that were previously hidden from [me]. (Miller, 198 1, 54-55) Pain is one of my teachen. 1 am listening. 1 am recording the voices and the teachings of Pain through this inquiry that I have been otherwise unable to hear. This inquiry is an opportunity, a space to grow. When rny focus is on re-storying myself, rny focus is creative. 1 focus on the healing story of my life as 1 live it idwithfwithin my son, and he in/with/within me. Together, we create life-stories that my father cannot share, cannot revise or destroy. These healthy, life- affinning stones with my son re-storelre-story both of us and what we value. The word "our"
170 changes meaning frorn the context of me-a-rny-father to me-d-my-son. More truthfuiiy, "our" in the survival context of my childhood, meant me-m-my-father, and in my rebellion (which 1 am not sure 1 will ever outgrow) meant me-versw-my-father. Today, me-wih-my-son also means hm-with-me. We now share the sarne living quarters, we are physically together. While we lived apart, we were still together via Our valuable connection that we chose to maintain. We gave each other tokens of that connection-a new baseball to him from me, a bras letter-opener from him to me. We called each other on the telephone to arrange a visit in Toronto and to plan sharing living quarters again in the future. This was the opposite of my trying to purge my father from my life. 1 see now (again) how futile that struggle. For precisely in this momentary present which embraces my whole experience, the past rernembered is fixed, a chronicle that 1 can radically reinterpret but cannot reverse or displace: what is done cannot be undone! And within this sarne present the future, is, on the contrary, still fluid, awaiting determination... (Crites, 197 1, ) Can 1 unleam the powerful lessons that Trauma has taught me? No. When we try to unleam something, we focus on that very thing learned that we are trying to undo. When Hoffman ( 1988) says "whatever is learned can be unlearned" (40), he offen hope, but does not take into account the complexity of bodily learning in extremely violent situations. He means that we do not have to condernn and jail ourselves with what we have learned as children (see also Foucault, 1980, and Mullen, 1994). It is precisely because a child's feelings are so strong that they cannot be repressed without serious consequences. The stronger a prisoner is, the thicker the prison walls have to be, which impede or completely prevent later emotional growth. (MiIler, 198 1,54) 1 cannot unleam the trauma in my body. The body heals; it does not forget. Something new,
171 something other than trauma is learned. Healing is the integration of trauma story of king swdowed by the great fish of death into the other stories that compose my life. My whale story is not my whole story, not my only story. I am honoured to be father to my son, and thankful that he chooses to share his Me-story with me. As long as 1 am focussed on king thanldul for our comection, 1 am not afraid of losing it, nor do 1 focus on grieving my losses. My thankfuhess helps me understand that our problerns in life are opportunities for leaming, and need not ovenvhelm us. We must slow dom, and practice patience, rather than try to solve problerns instantly. Patience aliows me time to see and mate alternative ways of dealing with problems. In this sense, thankfulness for the problem itself aids creativity. 1 struggle to learn how to balance patience with intense work. Uniike my father, 1 welcome my son's being, and his re-visions of my life-story. (My son, reading the above sentence as I wrote it, suggested a replacement word for "allow," which 1 revised to "we1come"-he says 1 did not "allow" my father to be brutal, nor can my son not "allow" me to change the course of the life-story that we sharellive.) Sometirnes 1 neither want to tell any story nor hear any story. 1 feel so angry, hurt, and hateful that 1 must go off and be alone, where 1 can honour how 1 feel. Without a physical audience. 1 am not seeking to isolate myself hm Life. On the contrary, 1 am giving myself time and space to heal. Sometimes 1 must withhold writing altogether-even in my diary, or doodling; 1 am not willing to accommodate an imaginary audience. Healing will not be rushed. I cannot (nor am I willing to leam how to) force my body to nnt be in pain, for the body cannot do a m. 1 need to listen to the guidance from my bodily voices to help me take care of myself. Seeing as 1 have no conscious, interna1 benchmark of painiessness. I must respect my need to listen in silence. 1 am learning that, when I welcome my loneliness instead of fightïng it, it is not so intense. As
172 long as 1 am king (with) rnyself, 1 am not running away from the world. People who care about me are as close as the telephone, so 1 need not feel utterly disconnected. 1 believe, at long last, that depth of understanding is not equal to intensity. Intensity dernands great arnounts of energy to sustain itself. Pain and illness require that bodily energy be used more efficiently. Quietiy. Slowly. We can read the whole book of Job in less than an hour, but a person stricken with illness takes much longer to Say as much as he does: And now my sou1 is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. By the great force of is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. (Job 30: 16-19) 1 value lob as another of my biblical heroes. 1 have learned from experience how difficult it is to endure suffenng and still tell a story well. 1s it possible that the author(s) of the book of Job had never experienced serious illness? Possible, yes. Robable? No. More about this later. A surfeit of telling and hearing stories is like driving too fast. The faster I go, the more input 1 have to deal with, the less chance 1 have to witness, to give thanks for, to be part of, and create more beauty around me. I have no time to where 1 am. My attention, which must be focussed for my suwival, switches back and forth from out the windshield into the future 1 am about to run over, to the rearview mirror of the past that others chase me through. Slowing down is dangerous. I experience the Pace as physical pressure in my chest I need space and time to breathe now. 1 must get off this highway. Stories move through our bodies like food. "Stories that mean something to us, that touch us in some way," my son says, "stay with us whether we want them to or not."
173 rve been force-fed trauma stories, and iike poison, they take time to work their way through (out of) my system They cannot be simply flushed out, or erased, anymore than the joy that smwbemes bring me through their exquisite beauty, aroma and taste cm be extracted from my soul. 1 am strawberried. Wait. The leaves on these strawbeny plants look familia.. Like leaves on rosebushes. When Wilton was three years 016 just to be silly, 1 ate some roses that were starting to wilt in the vase on the kitchen table. They were a gift to his mother on her birthday; Wilton got quite upset with me. According to Angier (1974,2 l4), Strawberiy is part of the Rose farnily. So are many other edible plants. In my old farnily photographs, Gentle Reader, my siblings and I all stood in rows, oldest to youngest Let the other members of this Rose family sit where they feel most cornfortable in the sentence. This is a banquet. You are invited to dig in with Angier ( 1974): Raspberry and Blackberry ( 182); Rum Cherry ( 190); Wild Apple (230); Pin Cherry ( 164); Chokecherry (52); Mountain Ash (144); Hawthom (96); Wild Plum (244); Serviceberry (201) and; Silverweed (204). AI1 edible. When I am strawbemed, 1 am related to the rest of Strawberry's Family. My appreciation for roses and strawbemes extends outward to include more connections in the world. Sûawbemes are the only red thing 1 love, the only nd thing 1 cm stomach. Red is too loud for me. 1 cannot abide red lipstick. I do not keep anything red in my field of vision when 1 am writing. As Our kidneys and liver act as filters within Our bodies, our bodies are filten of stories. We must respect the function and capacity of our filtering mechanisms. Do we select, filter, collect, and contain healing stories in the sarne manner as we do wounding stones? Or is the difference between these types of stories the perspective from which we them? Suntivors bear the responsibility to find the appropriate teachers who cm hear them, and
174 through hearing, help hem fmd thek own voices. Finding the right person to work with can be compared to fmding the right midwife. In both cases, the job can ody be done by someone who "wants the chiid." If such a person cannot be found, it is essential that we create a therapist.. -elva...a is ahost unbearablt to have to face how [the unloved child] was constantly unloved; how, instead, it was abused, exploitai, and threatened; beaten, fiightened, and rejected when it wanted one thing ody: to be loved... The unloveci child cmot fathom that, instead of king loved by those on whom its Iife dependeci, it was hated Its system will be programmed to, above dl, avoid danger. In so doing, it avoids life itself. The joy of king dive is drowned in a bitter sea of silence. 1s ail that remains a zombielike existence in the ranks of the living dead? The answer is no. With the help of [education] we cm free ourselves from the dead hand of the past But we have to take that step ourselves. (Stettbacher, ) To a large extent, as adults, we are equaliy responsible for the stories we choose (allow ourselves) to heu, and tell. Does my body move through a story? DO stories somehow "process" me? It seerns to me, now that I've asked. that the Mystery of Life is the Great Story that lives me. Life lives me as much as 1 live Life. The Great Story is circular-it spins like a top, dancing across the tabletop- from the time of my conception to the tirne of my death, the story of my Life includes the birth and death of othen, who cannot control their place and time in the Great Story. or unravel its Mystery. How each peaon who connects with me during my life-time is moved by. my Iifestory is unique to each individual. Healing stories, like a hancihl of fresh wild strawbemes, numire the body. Fint, they flow t~ us. The strawberries, alas, must change, they must flow us, and in the process become compost within us, and then flow fim us so that we become hungry again for more nutrition. The fust &y I met Christine, over five years ago, she came to my place to say she couldn't stay for dinner (1 did not have a telephone), so 1 fed her dessert-strawberries soaked in
175 Creme De Grand Mamier. Hooked. We need to keep heding stories flowing through us. This despite the tmth that we attract wounding stories in the form of what we are afraid of-that fear knocking on the front door of Our consciousness because we need to leam what it would teach us: For the thing which 1 greatly feared is corne upon me, and that which I was afraid of is corne unto me. 1 was not in safety, neither had 1 rest, neither was 1 quiet; yet trouble came. (Job 3:25-26) Job moums his helplessness and isolation: He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are venly estranged from me. My kinsfolk have faiied, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dweii in mine house, and my maids. count me for a stranger: 1 am alien in their sight...my breath is strange to my wife...y oung children despised me...au my inward fnends abhorred me: and they whom 1 loved are tunied against me. (Job 19: 13-19) According to the Oxford English Dictionary, heal means "to make whole... sound in body, rnind and spirit... to cure, repair, amend." (Simpson & Wiener, 1989,52). Whole(some) is, therefore, balanced. Healing stories offer me a glimpse of how others balance receiving with giving numiring. Nurturing can take many forms, including telling another a healing story. 1s the story of Job a story of wounding or a story of healing? Both. No human king escapes the vicissitudes of life and body. The wheel of fortune turns again in Job's favour, when his focus shifts from counting and mourning his own losses, to when he considers othen and helps them, by way of praying for them, to appease the wrath of the Lord against them: And the Lord tumed the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. (Job 42: 1 O) A narrow viewpoint would be that God rewards Job for his steadfastness. After-and only after-
176 Job made the offering and prayed for his three fiends, not for himself, did Job prosper: Then came there unto him ail his bretbren, and ail his sisters, an ail they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over ail the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. (emphasis added, Job 42: 1 1) Job fuiaily recognizes that, despite his losses, he stfi has something of value to offer. His fiends need his help. Job needs to want to a, rather than be aven to. Finaily, a person who has consciously worked through the whole tragedy of his fate will recognize another's suffering more cleariy and quickly, though the other may still have to try to hide it. He will not be scomful of other's feelings, whatever their nature, because he can take his own feelings seriously. He surely will not help to keep the vicious circle of contempt tuming. (Miller, 198 1, t ) Empathy. This shift of focus helps Job accept that what he has been mourning will never, can never be restored to him, yet this shift only takes place after his pehd of mouming. "Mat do 1 really need to moum the loss of my Dad or the loss of myself how long and how do 1 mourn" (Stewart, 1995, 130)? Like Job, the archetypal moumer, 1 could only moum for so long-while 1 was imrnersed in the writing of my autobiography. Then, also like Job, 1 had to choose whether to live--and risk loss al1 over again-or roll over and die. 1 had to choose to channel my energy expansively, into the generation of a new life for myself, rather than continue to shrink toward my own self-destruction. Suffering in the past or present does not condemn us to etemal suffenng. It is as if the "badness" in the parents that caused a person suffering in his childhood and that he had always wanted to shun, has to be discovered in himself, so that reconciliation is possible. Perhaps this also is part of the never-ending work of mouming that this persona1 starnp must be accepted as part of one's own fate before one can becorne at lest pdally free. (IWIer, 1981, il 1) Mouming, wherein we allow ourselves time and space to deeply acknowledge that part of us has
177 died, is part of the healllig process, as surely as Winter is elbowed aside by the zephyn of Spnng. Mourning is a painful exercise-not one we submit to Iightiy. During my mouming 1 felt Like Samson, that my whole interior house was collapsing on me. Like Santiago on the third day alone in the vast sea, hooked to the mariin. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me dive..." Ay" he said aloud There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his han& into the wood. (Hemingway, 1 9S2/199ST ) Mer my mouming, 1 learned that mouming itself was helping me, paradoxically, to build a new house, a new self within. A teacherself that 1 could take into classroorns to help children find their own boatselves. Their letters remind me to persevere. They bring me hop. Job's act of giving retums him to the land of the living. 1 chose to corne out of isolation in the bush, back to the world, and 1 brought my best and only gift-the manuscript of Jose-with me. 1 haven't yet learned who wrote the book of Job, but 1 cari say with a degree of certainty that it was not Job. It may be autobiographicd, but an autobiographer cannot write about his own death and die at the sarne time. The author, who chose his narrative voice and perspective (in participation with the spirit of the work), knows that we, his audience, can only endure so much mouming before we become bored and indifferent to Job's story. 1 am a firm believer in letting the story speak for itself, so instead of specuiating about the author, let's get down to the nanative itself. Job, God, Satan, Job's friends, everyone in the story are characters. Gentle Reader, 1 am working here, trying to keep my focus on God as a character in the story, but while I'm typing these words, I'm cringing, as if I'm expecting God to reach down through my roof and
178 punish me by knocking me senseless for writing this, for reducing Him to a "character." Yet these words are a prayer. 1 am humanking God, bringing Him into the light by cailing (writing) his name. Literally. There is darkness on the screen of rny wordprocessor before 1 type. 1 have an old IBM black and white monitor. Fm not praying for forgiveness; 1 do not believe 1 am doing wrong. I still wrestle, like Jacob, with the God my father beat into me. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the &y. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy narne? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shaii be calleci no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. (Genesis 32:24-28) I'm offering these words as a gifi to God, offering Him the opportunity to inspire me to Say things correctly, and with grace, like the biblical prophets. Sadly, 1 have not yet learned how to be gracious. 1 read the definition in the dictionary and 1 cannot synthesize its meaning. My lack of understanding humbles me, Now, after reading the story of Jacob again, I feel inspired. Brave. 1 shall henceforth in this inquiry substitute the narne "God" with the name "Great Spirit." Great Spirit, if you have a problem with that, write me a letter. 1 am not afraid of you. You Live within al1 things as you live within me. You cannot punish me; you ên: me and 1 rn you. Oh! Now, at 8:45 pm. on Wednesday November 25, 1997,I understand what "1 and my father are one" (John 10:30) could mean! 1 feel it in rny body. In focusing you will often fmd that some words, which corne with a strong sense of nghtness at a given moment and give you a body shift, are later superseded by what comes at a later step... When 1 use the word "body," 1 mean much more than the physical machine. Not only do you physically live the circumstances around
179 you, but also those you only && of in your mind. Your physical felt body is in fact part of a gigantic system of here and other places, now and other times. you and other people-in fact, the whole universe. This sense of king bodily alive in a vast system is the body as it is felt fiom inside. When sornething goes mng, the body hows it and imediately sets about the task of repainng itself. (Gendlin, ) Heavenly "father" is Great Spirit, not "Dad of Jesus baby-boy-man." Gentle Reader, this is very exciting. John 10:30 is on the author's page of Plaving. In the writirig of my autobiography, 1 had to explore the meaning of that single bible verse in my life: how my father and 1 were the sarne. That verse was the only piece of writing my father had given me: Dad wanted it done, so Mr. Georges, an elder of the church, ladled me into the baptism tank in a set of black robes in the name of the big triple play, and 1 chewed the flesb and swigged the blood of Jesus like a good christian cannibal and aimost vomited every time. 1 was given a new black King James Version to celebrate the event. Written on the fmt blank page, signed by dad: 1 and my Father are one. John 10:30 The choir sang: Arnazing grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me..- (Stewart, 1995,50) "Your handwriting Iooks like your father's," said my mother to me when she visited my house about eight yean ago. Her visit is recorded (Stewart, 1995, ). 1 was furious with her for saying that 1 was like my father even in this way. It hurt deeply; 1 was a writer. She looked at the face of our handwriting styles and saw similarities. 1 said nothing. 1 was already writing to los; 1 was looking at the meanings of the words, and their context in my heart and my Life. Listening to their voices. Listening for differences. After her visif
180 In my outdoor fmpit, I bumed every letter fiom mum, every photograph of her and ciad, one at a tirne. 1 bumed my Johnoy Bulloch suit, silk tie, handkerchief, even the wooden hanger. 1 tore my bible in pieces from back to front and burned it too. Now my house is clean. (Stewart, 1995, 153) It was vev hard for me to burn that bible, with al1 my markings by my biblehero stories. 1 loved that book. 1 loved the crinkling sound the voice of the page itself as 1 tumed it 1 loved how the wrinkly black cover had softened and faded with the sweat h m my hands. 1 loved the bluesilk bookmark that slithered out from the binding. Buming that book was a way of offering rnyself hope, deqing the curse of that one verse. 1 tore that book in pieces from right to left 1 wanted to believe that I could somehow leam to be different than my father, and 1 was deterrnined to try. 1 rnissed the loss of that book until Today 1 showed Margaret Olson my new huge 1833 King James Version, without page numbers, with big, bold print "1 never memorized the books of the Bible, so Itm lost without an index," she says. "But Job's just before Psalms, so now rll remember where to find it." This Bible itself has a history. It is not contaminateci by my father. (Diary, Stewart, May 23, 1995) Because 1 loved my King James Version (KTV), 1 gave it to my fiiends as a wedding gifi. Part of their ceremony included a reading from the Song of Solomon. For this inquiry, 1 bought a used Large Print Children's Edition (1985) KIV; 1 can read it without my reading glasses. 1 like the illustration of the two sailboats at anchor on the Sea of Galilee on the back cover. AI1 the characten in Job's story can only endure so much mouming. Even Job will eventually become bored with his own incessantly sad story. What are the narratorts working parameters? The omniscient narrator is more knowing than Great Spirit! For the narrator to Say what Great Spirit said, the narrator had to know in advance what Great Spirit would Say. The
181 narrator, therefore, bas the power of editing (correcting) Great Spirit to ensure Great Spirit says the right word at the right tirne in the story. The narrator has more power than omnipotent Great Spirit! Great Spirit cannot just blast into the story; He dws not have the nmator's permission. 1s Great Spirit being restrained, or is He happy with his role? Only the narrator knows. Great Spirit cannot wreak havoc in the story any time He feels like if like He does in Job's life. For the narrator to know that Job lived so long after his ordeal, the narrator must be much older than Job. Let's Say two hundred years old. (Narrators need time to get to know their characters.) Remember that the narrator knows when Great Spirit is coxning in which whirlwind to t& to Job. The narrator does more than announce Great Spirit's presence at the nght time, he btings Great Spirit. How does a narrator control Great Spirit? By subjecting Great Spitit to narrative time. What choice does Great Spirit, Satan, Job, or any other character have, if they want to be in the story? The narrator knows ail, therefore, the omnipresent narrator must be older than Great Spirit. The narrator concludes his story sharply: Afier this Job lived an hundred and forty years. and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, king old and full of days. (JO b 42: ) Why does the narrator not dlow us to lem if Job was ever cured of his disease? How can we ever learn whether or not Great Spirit sticks out his tongue at Satan? Job prospered. Does that mean that Satan withdrew from the cornpetition 140 years too swn? Why? Why does the narrator not use Great Spirit or Job to get rid of Satan, in keeping with the plot, instead of just ieaving him out of the end of the story? Alas. these questions become irrelevant inasmuch as we cm only deal with what is included in the story. Nevertheless, these questions serve to reveal how important, how central the presence of the narrator is, as a character, in the story of Job.
182 Job's story, Frankl's (1962) war story, and my own story of trauma and recovery in this inquiry, illustrate the human capacity for hope and endurance amid terrible suffering, loss, and sorrow. Job and Frankl, "who against hope believed in hop" (Romans 4: 18), survived. At the edge of deaîh, they leamed valuable lessons about faith in life. Like Santiago, who "from his pain... knew he was not dead (Hemingway, 1952/1995, 1 17). Like his great fish: Then the fish came alive, with his death in him, and rose high out of the water showing dl his great length and width and ail his power and his beauty. (Hemingway, 195î/1995,93-94) Job's story and Frankl's story offer us hope; we are not alone in our suffering. Their suffenngstory is not their only story, it is not just a victimstory. Their sufferingstories reveal to themselves and to us their own deep inner courage. Transformed by their suffering, they reach out to others with compassion. Through their stories, they show us the seed of hope P1 despair, the spark of life ili death, the seed of educative experience in the miseducative experience.... they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spirituai freedom-which cannot be taken away-that makes life meaningful and purposeful... If there is a meaning in life at dl, then the= must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete. (Frankl, 1962,66-67) The primary function of the narrator is to narrate a credible, trustworthy story, one in which we the audience believe in the consistency of the narrator and the other characters in the story. Note that credible does not mean that the story is subject to empincai validation. Job hears the voice of Great Spirit in the whirlwind, and we accept the mysteriousness of that whirlwind But should Job also hear the voice of Great Spirit through a mbbery carrot that he sharpens to a point and sticks in his right ear after he bites the head off a live fiog and sits thirteen minutes on a nest of
183 wasps, for example, we, in this culture, would likely question the credibility of the narrator and Job. We must believe that what the characters Say and do is what they actually mean to Say and do, and there is no discrepancy between their thinking, their behaviour, and their utterances. We must be able to see part of ourselves in each character (and part of each character in ouaelves) for the story to addlbring meaning to Our experience. Otherwise, the characters become merely caricatures, and we laugh them and dismiss them as we do a baiioon with a fork. No story, no inquiry, no life can include dl. Our focus, as audience, is on what is included not excluded. That means we appreciate that we are included as audience, as part of the story dynamic. No audience, no story. The storyteller honours us by telling us a story, and we honour the storyteller by listening. The storyteller lems through storytelling experience to honour the story itself, that cornes to and through himlher. Storyteller is not in control of story; story is Mystery in process of revelation. Storyteller and audience, through honouring the spirit of the story (and, therefore, honouring each other), participate as CO-parniers in the creation of the story. This constitutes genuine sharing, which surpasses mere telling or giving, for the crucial element in sharing is openheartedness. The greatest strength of life and story is their paradoxical vulnerability. We al1 have had to leam how to deal with receiving a "gift" from someone who withheld their self from the giving. We al1 have heard stories spoken only with the mouth. We live in a supersonic age where the most cornrnon way to "give" is also that which is easiest-to buy sornething for another, rather than create it. Who can buy the healing property, the intangible essence, the sou1 of a story that resonates with the listener? Where can it be purchased? How much money is it worth? What's the price? I can only buy the paper, not the story. Until I leam to nurture myself and others, and allow others to numire me with healing stones of hope,
184 inspiration, encouragement, and empowement, stories that celebrate human fkedom and respansibility, stories that foster connection with each other, the cost of my existence to humanity is my perpeniation, indeed my revised version of the story of suffering, oppression and war. The biggest fish 1 ever caught was a 10-inch trout" That's my (short) story. As the author, 1 chose a fmt-penon narrator to teii al1 the detaüs of that story. When you tell my story, have you not made it your own in order to teii it? Are you then not the authodchoosing narrator of that story? What happens when you locate that story within different contexts? For example, what prompts you to tell that story on a fishing trip when you have just landed a 53-inch salmon, and what prompts you to tell that story in church to a group of youngsters who want to know how big the two fish were that Jesus fed to the five thousand (John 65-13)? Which fish is bigger? Whose fish story was that once 1 told it? Whose fish story was that before I told it? Did it ever belong to me? What will happen to that story if it is never told again? Will it die? Or will it become part of our unseen collective heritage (like the fish retumed to the lake) and transform itself into another story (to be caught again) in the lives of others in the future? Most of my Me 1 have ken looking for heding connections, seeking to replace my parents, hoping 1 would be adopted and cared for. Who will adopt me? Maat? Maatm..(- myth.) the goddess of truth. justice, and cosmic order, daughter of Ra. She was the feather (this as a hieroglyphic sign rneans "bue" or "just") against which the hem of the deceased was weighed in the balance at the judgement of the dead. She is depicted as a young and beautiful woman, standing or seated, with a feather on her head. (Hawkins, 1989,496) Who will adopt me? Calliope, "...the Muse of epic poeiry. [Gk,= beautifid voiced]" (Hawkins, 1989, 122)? Who will adopt me? Terpsichore, "...the Muse of lync poetry and dance. [Gk, =
185 delighting in dance] (Hawkins, 1989,848)? To some degree, my ancestors, my partner, my children, her children, my teachers, therapist-teachers. doctors, auto mechanic, fiiends, creatures, rocks. and trees have adopted me. Mostly, 1 am adopted by my own healthier attitude. 1 am tbankful for the oppominity to keep stniggling to learn how to listen, so 1 may learn how to create love through the sharing of healing stories. Life is story is prayer. Like Job and Frankl. Gentle Reader, 1 reach out to you with compassion through the story of this inquiry, in the hope that my story helps you endure and transcend your suffering. 1 hope that, like Santiago, you allow this story to move you, so that you may feel the centre of your own bodily aliveness: He started to puil the fish in to have him alongside so that he could pass a line through his giils and out his mouth and make his head fast alongside the bow. 1 want to see him, he thought, and to touch him. He is my fortune, he thought. But that is not why 1 wish to feel him. 1 think 1 felt his heart, he thought. When 1 pushed on the harpon shaf? the second time. (Hemingway, 1 952/l995,95) 1 hope, Gentle Reader, that as compassion grows within you, you may enable yourself to extend that compassion to others who are suffering. Amen and blessed be.
186 c-5 FROM DEFENCE TO LAUGEITER: EIEALllVG LAUGHTER 1 hate tests. Moment-to-moment survival is a neverending test. 1 stiil often forget that I've "passeci," that the test is "pasf" that 1 have moved from "a time to weep, [to] a time to laugh, [from] a time to mourn [to] a time to dance" (EccIesiastes 3:3). But 1 remernber more and more, and those who care about me help me remember my laughing voice. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a bmken spirit dneth the bones. Proverbs 17:22 Wholesome, spontaneous laughter provides powemil healing for the bodymind. The physiology of laughter, including its generation, properties, routes, and ùifluences within the bodymind, connect us joyhilly, etemally, to the humanity of our selves, and to others. The human body is constantly creating itself. Maintainhg physical health, by way of preventing illness, is the cardinal task of the immune system. Immunoglobulins (water-soluble proteins acting as antibodies) basically attack foreign, especially toxic, substances (antigens) in the body. Secretory immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) is one particularly important and staunch intemal defender:... S-IgA, one of severai gamma globulins that are central to the humoral part of the immune system, is the predominant antibody in saliva, tean, and intestinal secretions, and is the primary defense against viral and bacterid infections in the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. (Tomasi 1976, cited in Martin and Dobbin 1988,94) Numerous studies have demonstrated the iink between increases in adrenal hormone activity, and decreases in secretion of S-IgA (McClelland et al. 1980, 1982, 1985, Rogers et al. 1979, Stone et al in Martin and Dobbin 1988). That link is immunosuppressive stress. The popular
187 a v of an (Cousins, 1979). in which the author tells hû story of the vital d e of humour in his recovery h m a serious ("incurable") collagen disease (ankylosing spondylitis), piqued scientific inquiry into the connections between humour and immune system fùnctioning (Martinand Lefcourt 1983,1984, Dillon et al. 1985, Kubitz et al. 1986, in Martin and Dobbin 1988; Jemmott et al. 1983, Linn et al. 1984, Kiecolt-Glaser et d. 1984, in Lefcourt et al. 1990; Berk et al , in FIY 1994). Martin and Dobbin (1988) measured the sense of humour of 40 undergraduates with the h s e Ouestioh (SEIRQ-Martin and Lefcourt 1984), wiîh... subscale, 7 (CHS-Martin and Lefcourt 1983), 9 (SHQ-Svebak 1974), with of H um subscale and stresson with the (DHS-Kanner et al ). Each subject submitted a sample of saliva Concentdon levels of S-IgA, calculated as milligrarns per decilitre, were analysed using the radiai u no diffusion (RD) method, (explained in Jemmott and Magliore 1988, Stone et al. 1987, McClelland et al. 1982), and compared the results of subjects' second score on the DHS one and one-half months later. They conclude that... subjects with less of a sense of humor, as compared to those with a stronger sense of humor, appear to experience a greater depression in their immune functioning following stress. (Martin and Dobbin 1988, 103) One of the ways that I recover from trauma is to write intelligent nonsense poetry:
188 mousey you nibblehurry ticklefurry shitnscurry in the attic of my holesomemory & more than any other lover i want your holesornebody between my crackerswithparsley (Stewart, May 16, 1991) Bringing playnness into the centre of this inquiry helps me balance its "acadernic" seriousness. 1 am, at this moment, Gentle Reader, enjoying tbis work-hoping that you are enjoying this healing laughingmoment that 1 am sharing with you. Lefcourt, Davidson-Katz, & Kueneman (1990) conducted three expenments to verify this relationship. In each case, subjects' humour was measured with the SJBQ (Martin and Lefcourt 1984) and CHS (Martin and Lefcourt 1983). In the first study, 45 university students submitted saliva samples in the lab during the f it session. During the second session, the subjects listened to a 30-minute recorded segment of the humorous skit The 7000-Year - Old - Ma, rated the funniness of the tape, and subrnitîed another saliva sample. In response to the skit, their concentrations of S-IgA rose significantly. In the second study, incorporating 30 minutes of a film as a more "universal" humour stimulus in the second session, the S-IgA concentrations of 34 undergraduates increased more so than in the first study.
189 1 am walking over the bridge two ducks are swunming under. I am looking dom between the boards the ducks are looking up. 1 am breathing in the air the ducks are breathing out. 1 am thinking quack quack the ducks are Iaughing. (S tewar-t, December 27, 1987) In the third study, 41 undergraduates in the second session füed out the hofile of Mood States (POMS-McNair et al. 1971) directly before and after being exposed to the humourous materiai. POMS specifcaily measures tension, depression, fatigue, anger, confusion, and vigour. Their "mood disturbance" dropped noticeably after aii the subjects listened to ne 2000-Year - Old - together, instead of the smaiier groups of 2 or 3 as in the previous two studies. Their salivary concentrations of S-IgA, this tirne analysed with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIS A-Stone et al. 1987) increased, most significantiy in this stuciy, for those with a better sense of humour than others. In the control study, saliva collected from 12 subjects before and after a 60-minute lecture on social psychology showed no difference. The researchen concluded... humor plays a significant role in moderating the effects of stress and helps to determine certain immune-system activity... (Lefcourt et al. 1990,3 19) No significant differences were found between male and femaie S-IgA levels or their sense of humour (see also Chapman & Fwt, 1976; Crile, 1970; Frank & Ekman, 1993; Holland, 1982; Lefcourt & Martin, 1986; McGhee & Goldstein, 1983; MoIT~~, 1983; Pfeifer, 1994; Podilchak, 1992; White & Winzelberg, 1992). All attempts to measure one's sense of humour or mood are
190 arbitrary at best, inasmuch as they are subject to rapid change. A measured decrease in depression. for exampie, does not necessady mean an increase in humour. Humour cannot be isolated nom any other facet of one's life experience. One cannot "have" more of it than another. One's sense of humour resides within one's total constitution, and generally speaking, may be considered "better" than another's if, by laughing more easiiy, one copes better, or integrates humour with Me stress eficaciously. Yet to accurately measure S-IgA, it must be isolated-from the body, the humorous event, and the physical Iaboratory environment in which the experience happend What becomes of all the good S-IgA-Iaden spit once it has ken analysed? It wouid be a shame to waste it! The generation of laughingspit in my body brings me and holcis me in the present moment, with others; the memorymoments of king gagged and tornired recede. Like Santiago, I have tasted enough of my own blood. The old man could hardly breathe now and he feit a strange taste in his mouth. It was coppery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a moment. But there was not much of it. He spat into the ocean and said, "Eat that, m. And make a dream you've killed a man." (Hemingway, 1952/1995, 1 19) Unfortunately, the researchers in the above studies do not capitalize on the opportunity afforded them by their s ues to educate their subjects, especially the higher-stressed individuals whose health could directly benefit from more humour in their lives-those with lower S-IgA levels. lovesthebug swimminin my wine wait m t O get hnken (Stewart, June 3, 1991)
191 In this situation, information (humour measurement scores, saliva) was not cokted anonymously; the researchers bear some ethical responsibility for the health and well-king of the participants. Providing educative material(s) at the close of these studies serves as neither reward nor compensation to the subjects, rather it is a gesture that recognizes and appreciates their value as human beings fmt (instead of "subjects") without whom the research (which furthers the careers of the researchers) would have been impossible. How come When 1 meet A ~WP=Y grizzly Or a lady With a bare bum 1 look dead In their eyes? (Stewart, September 1 1, 1985) Humour also boosts the manufacture and distribution of the important immune material catecholamine, a chexnical that aids in the creation of endorphins-the body's own pain-reducing enzyme (Berk, Tan, Fry, Napier, Lee, Hubbard, Lewis, & Eby, 1989, in Nevo, Keinan, & Teshimovs ky-arditi, 1 993), while simultaneousl y reducing the production of the neuroendocrine hormones-dopac, epinephrine, growth hormone, and serurn levels of cortisol, al1 of which are employed in response to stress (Fry 197 1, 1977 in Nevo et al. 1993). 1 went to my Medicine Man today 1 said "1 got this pain In my body, it looks like ifs here to stay." He said, "Uh-huh, it's gonna rain." "The problem is the look of the pain," He said, looking into my eyes. "Uh-huh, it's gonna min, Then there'll be sumy skies."
192 1 said "Please gimme the cure," He said "Here it is: You got no reason 1 can see, no reason wbatever To believe in the cause of the pain." "Laughter," he said, "is stronger Tnan any cause of any pain, To see yourself in a beautifid pichue, You gotta leam to see again." " Just gimme a prescription to stop the pain," I said. "1 have a garden," said he, Frorn his pocket he took an onion. "Perhaps you could weed it for me." He peeled that onion slowly, And we cried together, laughing. "Take your medicine" said he, "Every noon, every night, every morning." "This is powemil good Medicine" 1 said, lwking into his eyes, "Uh-huh, it's gonna min, Then there'll be sunny skies." It's powerfui good medicine To laugh high and low. 1 see the rain, uh-huh, 1 see the Sun, uh-huh, 1 see the rainbow uh-huh, 1 see the rainbow. (Stewart, March 1, 1996) The result is "increased vitality of the white blood cells" (Berk et al in Fry 1994). Indeed, lymphocytes (a form of white blood cell) and antibodies are more than body messengers-they are integral parts of the body's message-sorting centre: The immune system, with its 1012 lymphocytes and 1 p antibody molecules can be compared only to the brain in its degree of subtlety... at the ce11 level, lymphocytes employ similar mechanisms to those of nerve cells and may even contain receptor sites for brain tramnitter moimies.
193 The immune system therefore acts as a pattern recognition system which co~~~muiulcates information mss the body and stores it as a memory. (Peat 1988,61-62) The brain and the immune system mon than coexist similarly, they weave, inseparably, througb each other. Immunoenhancemment, therefore, through humour, likewise enhances the brain, for... the brain and the immune system are not each other-they each other, because they operate within the same chemical network. (Chopra 1990,93) Neither the primitive nor the advanced neural structures of our tripartite brain are as vital to our health as the second structure that binds al1 three together. The limbic system, which connects us to our evolutionary history as well as our funire, translates our emotions, noble or ignoble, from mere demands for self-preservation into paradoxical choices. O flam(ing)ingo if you bingo your necks O if you bongo your legs O if you bango your wings O you'll be a fi(ing)mango. (Stewart, July 9, 1992) It enables us to select alternative ways of initiating-with and responding-to the world without our skin frorn the intelligence of the world within. Such choices are fundamental to learning, growing, and healing:...nestled above [our reptilian brain] is our..." old-marnrndian" brain. This structure, with help from the temporal lobes and possibly other parts of the newest cortex, is called our emotional brain or limbic system...an intuitive intelligence to move for the weil-king of the self, offspring, and species...( it] maintains dl relationships such as Our immune system and our body's capacity for healing itself. (Pearce 1992,44) The most important source of humour in my life, critical in promoting my own sense of well-king and heaiing, is my creative artwork. The more 1 create, the more 1 enjoy sharing the built-in
194 laughter of my art with others, whose laughter encourages me to create more art. With piayful, humorous art, I direaly enhance the physiology of my own immune system, brain, and Limbic sy stem: Our emotional brain acts with our neocortex in dl internai imagery and creative vision... The drearnlike emotional-limbic system also gives body and substance to creative thinking. (Pearce, ) Through my art (sculpture, drawings, prose, poetry, song) 1 have found a wholesome. holistic way of being, leaming, and teaching. Sharing my art with others, laughmg JE& them. a h enhances their immune systerns- One singular, magical laughngrnoment represents the healthiest benchmark of my professional teacher-snident relationship with Professors Margaret Olson and Deborah Bemll-indeed of my whole student career-and inspired this chapter section. On February ,I presented four of my Popbottle People (Bud, Janet, Bud-wiser, and Sprout) to Professors Olson and BemlL-a trial run in preparation for my lecnire February 26, They had met only Bud previously (December ), and dunng that meeting Professsor Berrill had invited me as guest lecturer to her first-year teacher education class. 1 kept al1 four (the rest were waiting to be created) hidden from view, and reveaied them one at a time. Mer discussing Janet, the very moment 1 introduced Bud-wiser, Professon Olson and Berrill laughed together loudly. This Iaughingmoment is integrai to my experience of my Popbottle People. The instant their laughter erupted from them, 1 felt joy, and laughed with them. Physiologically, my joy spread throughout my entire body, creating S-IgA. for
195 At the very instant that you think, '1 am happy," a chernical messenger translates yotir emotion, which has no solid existence whafever in the material world, uito a bit of matter so perfectly a~ined to your desire that literally every celi in your body learns of your happiness and joins in...y ou can instantiy talk to 50 triilion cens in their own language.... (Chopra 1990, 127) 1 immediately recognized that 1 had achieved a spontaneous, inarticulate, yet "voiced" something. The stress of rny "work" suddenly evaporated, as 1 felt my bodily nervousness and tightness loosen. This laughingmoment, this kernel of the story, is the whole story. As Casey points out, erotic body mernories... are often M y satisqing precisely in a fragmentary format. In fact, the content of much such rememberïng consists in fragments... Each of these sufices in itself, indeed & the memory in question. (Casey 1987, 162) When I'm in a stressful situation, 1 tend to narrowly focus my energy on coping with that stress, inhibiting myself from enjoying the panorama of Iife. The greater 1 perceive the stress to be, the more energy 1 mobilize to defend myself. That 1 consider defence at al1 illustrates my lack of frust in self and others. Yet that irresistible happy sound drew us together. They could not have planned that laughter-response. They were not acting; I trust thern. My stress response is only pên of the scene that 1 am creating. "The immune system knows ail Our secrets, al1 our sorrows.a NmS those moments into the body's physical reality" (Chopra, 1990,267). I experience stress as mounting pressure inside my body, requiring more and more energy to keep it restrained. 1 try to hold myself together by my breath PI my body, as I learned when I was gagged in my father's bedroom trying to survive like Isaac on the altar, like David before Goliath, like Samson surrounded by Philistines, like Shadrach, Meschach and Abed-nego in the fiery fumace, like Daniel in the lion's den, Iike Jonah in the belly of the great fish. 1 feel afraid and
196 alone, that I'rn king watched. 1 forget that rrn sharing with others who are sharing with me. 1 forget that I am fm. Despite my attempts to hide my stress, my han& shake visibly, and 1 weep. The laughing person is open to the worl&..it is not a maer of chance that the outbreak of laughter begins immediately. more or les "apoplecticdly," and, as if to express the openness of laughter, rings out into the world, as he exhales. Crying, on the other hana begins gradually, because it is mediated, and, as the expression of estrangement from the world and of isolation, develops in the movement of inhalation. (Plessner 1970, 1 15) in that laughingmoment, Professors Olson and Berrill refiected me and my "workff back to me in a new, healthy, way-by breathing joyously and fkely they reminded me, bodily, that I am free to breathe and 1 must breathe to be free. During laughter we connect our "old mammalian brain" with "the first world," the mythical underworld of Our bodies, literally bouncing our guts, and our means of locomotion and reproduction.... The first world; the source of visceral proprioception or "feeling," also of proprioceptions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systerns; the body below the nostrils... (Sansonese 1994,69) The closest we can corne to laughter, while breathing through Our nostrils, is a chuckle. 1 like to exchange chuckles through the mail with my fnends. My friend Lesley, a grade- school teacher, bet that 1 couid not write a boring letter. Dear Lesley, It was a interesting day. It got cloudy and it got rainy. It was interesting how it got everything wet. It got to be laundry time. It was interesting how it got wet on the Line. It got rained on. It was interesting how it got there. It got there from the wind. It was interesting how it fiapped It flapped back and forth. It was interesting how it got done. It got washed
197 M. 1. Boring. (Stewart, May 13, 1995) Her reply: Dear ML Stewart, This is to infonn you that your latest epistle, although written in the boring style, was indeed so boring as to make it ridiculous. This in nini was but a short jaunt to amusing, and, verily, 1 do Say, funny (1 myself found myself-i wish it was so easy) indeed chuckiing as 1 pemed the contents. Therefore your letter canot be classified as boring and thus in my humble regard, I win the bet... Boringly yours..,. (Malloy, May 27, 1995) Gentle Reader, as 1 typed these two letters, 1 needed to take breaks away from my wordprocessor to laugh. Mailing a srnile to a friend helps me hope in the future. Each letter 1 &te, like each poem, like each essay, has a different narrator's voice. 1 send humorous letters as gifts; I feel as generous inside as Santa Claus. The act of waiting for a response, the voice of my friend, brings me hope. Every letter 1 receive is a gik Sorne of these gifts are designed to help heat the house radier than be read a second time. The above Ietter exchange helped me cope with the stress of having Play& to Lose published. A Prayer for my Brothers and Sisters 1 told none of my siblings, save Darlene, that rny autobiography existed until July t 5, Now they ail know. O Great Spirit, let the story be a hedingstory for each one of them. Let each of them rejoice for the rare laughingmoments we created while in captivity. Let their rejoicing bnng them hope. Let them find their own voices, and let their stories be heard. Amen and blessed be. A loudspeaker hung from the ceiling in the rniddle of the huge room [in the basement]. Dad shouted through it every moming to wake us up. He also lis tened, The previous night, when al1 was still, Thomas was posted as sentry at the top of the stairs. We stuffed Our heaviest black and blue blankets into the window
198 fiames. Then we replaced the sixty-watt bulb with one of dad's watten Wayne had stolen from dad's barn. Slowly, noiselessly, we folded our own clothes in the banana boxes with our names on them, and set the boxes back on the industrial shelving that lined the whole south wall. We stripped the three youngest brothers' beds and made them perfectly. We shined ali our shoes. If we had to talk, we went into the other room, and whîspered. Wayne stood under the intercom, and faked a big snore. He pulled down his pants, and pointed to his bairy bum. He mouthed the words: KISS. MY. ASS. We al1 piugged Our noses and swallowed our laughter. RIGHT NOW. Burt and Don and Gary danced around and stuck out their tongues and cocked snooks. Wayne picked his nose and offered the greeny to the intercom. 1 brought my bible over, and pretended to rip out a page and wipe my bum with it Michael sat dom and bit his toenails. We buried our faces in our pillows and laughed. One fumy face when we came up for air and it started al1 over again. (Stewart, 1995,24) In laughter-we are more in it than it is in us-we must open our mouths to allow the volume of breath-sound-energy to burst forth. Not that we have much choice, for control over our breath and Our bodies in the laughingmornent is greatly reduced. Aithough it originates within, genuine spontaneous laughter simply cannot be contained-it moves through us, rather than cornes from US. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus generally represents the mechanics of breath in the lower world, and specifically that of laughingbreath from the gut. Having been thrown from Olympus by his mother Hera for king ugly, and again by his father Zeus for siding with Hera during an altercation, he becomes a blacksrnith. When he fin& his wife Aphrodite in bed with Ares, he "captures them in a net and calls the other go& tu at them" (Horner in Sansonese. 1994, 82). Hephaestus uses laughter maliciously, for revenge and control. No one appreciates being laughed 1 (scorned) by another. We must, however, laugh at ourselves, a sign that we accept Our rnistakes and are willing to move on, lest we become sombre and curmudgeonly. For the purposes of this inquiry, wholesome laughter means laughing m, not at another, and involves
199 allowing it to -2 to engender heaith and peace with our selves and others. Take a deep breath. Say (to Say, you must exhale ùirough your mouth) "Hephaestus" really fast three times. You sound like you're laughing: Hephaes ais... describes the breath of the first world: respiration from the abdomen. up through the chest, and into the throai, reaching no higher than the sinuses before descending to the diaphra gm...~g exhalation air leaves the lungs (the bellows), passes through the throat... breath[ing] only through the mouth, the sound produced by the air in the throat is approximated by Hephaestus' name... (Sansonese, 1994,74) Uniike yoga and meditation, wherein the aim is intemal control of our breath. the breath of a laughing person is not out of control, rather it is not king controlled. Whereas in yoga and meditation one seeks to immerse oneseif in inner quiet despite the loudness and busyness of the extenor world in laughter we experience intemal release precisely by engaging and celebrating life in the external world with others. Yesterday, the letter arrived hm Oberon Press in Ottawa about Lose. "Dear Matthew... What we've decided is that we'd like to publish the manuscript.." fengineer, February 2, Yes! Today 1 take the whole gang out to Pizza Hut to celebrate. Sara reminds me to put rny napkin on my head (like 1 do at home) to keep the cmmbs out of my hair. I ask for balloons. We ail inhale helium from the balloons and squawk with little voices. We laugh, and the sound of our squawky little laughter makes us Iaugh even more! I sound like Donald Duck. (Diary, Stewart, February 8, 1994) Because we exhale more than we inhale during laughter, we compensate by "gulping" air between the hee's and the hawls. This sweeps out the residud air that lingers about in the lungs during normal breathing, taking excess carbon dioxide and water vapour with it. Thus, the red blood cells cm pick up more oxygen (Fry 197% in Fry 1994). This is called pulmonary
200 ventilation. Furthemore, although laughing signifkantly increases both systolic (moment of heart contraction) and diastolic (moment between heart contractions) blood pressure, afier laughter has subsided, blood pressure drops below the prelaughter level before renuning gradually to baseline (Fry & Savin, 1988). During laughter, increased hem rate (Berlyne 1969 in Fry 1994) and blood pressure enhance circulation, boosting transport of b hd nutrients throughout the body "in response to both metabolic and immune protection requirementstl (Fry & Savin, 1988,60). Laughingmoments With My Family Another of the ways 1 recover from trauma is to practice playing with my food to take the stress out of king at the table, especiaily at my partner1s house. I cut my toast into thin strips, and add a different kind of mamalade or jam to each piece. T'en I put hem end-<o-end like a train winding through others' table territory. I sit on the table and eat off my chair. 1 butter-and- jam my fingen. 1 fasten food to my earlobes with spring clothespegs. 1 build towers of Babylon with cereal boxes or whatever is handy. Being siily at the breakfast table is one of my ways of sending Wilton and my partner's teenage children Sara and Ram Das off to school with a srnile. The opposite of my highschool experience. Let there be peace in the morning. The first time 1 dnbbled a spoonfbl of soup ont0 Christine's hardwood floor Like a child in a highchair, she didn't find it hinny at dl. 1 remember king in a highchair in the back porch of the fmt house 1 üved in. The back door is on my left, the back of my highchair is against the wall, and my head almost touches the ceiiing. Let me out. 1 am put here to be kept out of the way, not to lx fed. 1 smell stacked wood. Ice-cream cornes off your spoon so much easier if you turn the spoon upsidedown on the way to your mouth, and sweet potatoes and peas are more fun if you squish them through your fingen fmt Instead of putting lettuce in your sandwich, put your sandwich in the leaf of
201 lemice. Serve soup on the underside of the bowl. Hat, circular, soup. Make a bowl out of your mashed potatoes, tben add beets. Pink potatoes. Throw spaghetti ont0 the window to sec if ifs cooked. Keep throwing, keep coobg. 1 do not c d my partner's children my "step-children." 1 hate the stepword. They are fortunate to have Ravi Inder for a wise and loving father, and Jovanna for their nurniring, playful step-mum. "Jovanna, do you like king caiied their "stepmum?" 1 asked. "Yes, definitely," she said. "They are only one walking-step away from being my children. That's really how 1 feel" (Jovanna, December 4, 1997). They cd1 me their " paternal pal," and 1 treat them as 1 do Kristina-Mae and Wilton. 1 love to hear them laugh. Literally, wholehearted gus& of heaithy laughter sweep through body chambers, dramaticdly changing body chernistry, behaviour, and sense of well-king, mobilizing the body's imate healing energies. Modem medical science, determining the physiology of humour, underscores the wisdom of the ancient Vedic Upanisad texts, dating from the sixth century B.C.: Here in this body, made up of five elements, what is hard is earth, what is liquid is water, what is hot is fire, yglljg moves is wind what is hollow is space...th e wind utes substances and the space provides roorn. (emphasis addecl, Kapani, ) Sometimes, however, spontaneous laughter leads one to tears, or one cries instead of laughing. Anatomicall y, the Tenth Cranial or Pnuemogas tric Nerve (nerws vagus) is partially responsible. Briefly, it originates in the fourth ventricle of the brain, runs vertically down the neck between the carotid artery and the jugular vein to the thyroid cartilage, where it divides down both sides of the body. It has ten branches, some of which reach around the larynx, heart, Iungs, and stomach (see Gray, 1994). The neural pathway of laughter with or without tears, or tears
202 instead of laughter, is the sarne:... lacrimation, physiologically. is an efferent parasympathetic event which onginaies in the same motor vagd nucleus h m which the laryngeal nerves are denved... the laughùig refiex or the laughing respnse coincide[s] with the lanimation refiex... in infrequent instances, the lacrirnation reflex prevails. (S teams, 1972, 19-20) During times of high stress, we are easily confused, not knowing what or how or why the body is teaching us. Do we laugh or cry or both at the same tirne? The body itself cannot lie; we often simply misinterpret its signals, its truths. Stiil, the more we respect the body's inherent capacity for healing, the more iikely we are to let our selves laugh. hiring times of hi& stress. if we shonen Our breath, we shorten our life. Retreating thusly from Our selves and the world, we cannot generate the laughter whose essence is the healing sound of joy. Crying drains. Inasmuch as laughter füls the body, the neighbours' bodies, the room, and the house, it is one of those sounds "that have the power to evoke higher States of consciousness... Whatever the sound may be. it is called ~mancra..expansive like love..."(satprem, 1982, ). Laughter, like a wild Song, shifts our bodily reality from heavyheartedness to üghtheartedness. The unforgettable laughingmoment is. in itself, a whole story, a wholesome story of the body, a story of bodily wholeness. We create laughingmoments within self. self-with-other, and within other. Opening our selves to those in distress, embracing them with our laughter, is a numiring act of love. Authentic spiritual growth is possible only through the persistent exercise of universal love that flows through the hem chakra..the opening of the compassionate heart that is receptive to the suffenng of the world, is feminine. (Nelson, 1994,22-23) Laughingmoments enrich Our lives with pleasure each time they are rernembered inspiring us to create more such moments. 1 need to cherish the medicinal properties of laughter, as well as
203 the freedom, joy, and peace it brings. 1 need to cultivate a hearty sense of humour in my selves, and share it generously. 1 Iike to cultivate a circle of fun-of giving and nceiving-in our family in the knowledge that laughter numires the bodymindsouls of us ail. The teenagers love to hear me laugh. 1 take good care of their humorous written gifts-snippets of their healthy voices. When 1 forget that my war is over, when 1 forget that I've "passed" my trauma-survivd test, eventually 1 go looking for cornfort amongst my papea. 1 clear my desk cornpletely, and 1 spread these gifts out before me like prayefflags. 1 read each one alouci, over and over. I cany their voices inside my heart 1 give thanks for them; 1 remember- With joy, therefore, Gentle Reader, 1 share; my nonsense letters to "Seewa," my loving pet narne for Sara, and to Gobinde, Caleb and Eli, signed by "Murfu," Sara's loving pet name for me; her response; a birthday card/poem from Ram Das, and; Wilton's "Xmas Wishing List" (see pages 187 to 190). Other creative things I do to help myself recover from trauma through laughter include: wnting children's storybooks and short stones; drawing healing stories with coloured markers; drawing pictond Iearning logs; writing poems as gifts for my fiiends' birthdays, housewarmings, weddings and; writing nonsense stories which I send as letters via the post or electronic mail.
204 janyuware sevin nintenninefiv Hu10 Der Gobinde & Caleb & Eli hi giz 1 her yr metin awikinza nuûem in Viktorya so im sendinya mi sekret pi resipe nrst getyrselfk a gud ovin gaswunz kukbetr kuz th temprachurz nawt goin wild first getyrselfs a koldber an thro a sede inth sedanashm mabe th dorz an dans arowndth hows nrst lcutdontpik redjuse rubarb n pikdontkut abigbolfula jusered strawbreez wawshemgud first maka bigsin sayin wellcwnfrenz anpudit inyer windoso noberdez krashinta yer kicbwindoz first prehet th ovin first bildyrselfs a bighows bi th oshin uz ok fer thflorz pinz tusawft pinzgud fath walz tho yudont want sumdumas dntngkparte gi putiinhis handthni yerwai jiprok semzta invit that lidltest anfalzevretim kors yuwant bigwindoz withnobanhem let th pi kd abowt 45 minits bfor servin amen luv Murfii awgist thrd nintenninefiv heto Der Srnilin Seewa th gy hoo onz this plas iz buzin arownd mi hows on his lawncutinmowr my hows iz vibratin zhiga-zhiga-zhiga-zhiga yer luke yu gotno stoopid lawncutinmowrs on yer ilind mabe only a bugrtoo il sendyu sumor wen i kan anewa i gotta waspsting on mi lefiangkl th uthr &y wen i wuz lawncutinmowring th gras atyer mumzofis cors i dint se th bughoobitme tilitwuztolat he tukabit bigaza toylitbolouta mi leg Seewa then he toldalhizfi-enz ha this gy tasts rel gud cum ovr her an givim a chomp fer disterbin us in r hows with that stoopid lawncutinmowr wuzzamatr with thatgy so tha al cam ovr an tukabit to i ranawa fium that plas fer a wil noli an wen i went bak i pusht that lawncutinmowr pndefast lemmetelya anewa her i am fresh hom fium th docterz ofis he wuz to bize t se me so hizwif selz me thez lidl wit pilz sed mixeminwatr an sipitdown yul felbetr an i did but stil mi go jus legzalred an so itche i wanashachit anskmchit if thozbugz kudsemenow thad be lafhthargutsowt an i wudnt blarn them thatl tech me yesitwil im nevr guna dothatagin nowa idontlik my gojuslegz al splawche il jus mindmi on bizniz tobad i kant go sa im sorebugz lemmehelpya fixup yerhows an wudyaplez unbit me lif shenzafûne tech izzut it Seewa kepyer iz opin swethart se how evin th fishinthlak r jumpinferjoy amen luv Murfi
207 Novernber 15,1997 Wishing List Dear Da& 1 would like to butter you up, but the words escape me. Hears My X-mas -my five roles of film diveloped -tudes (to add to collection) a gold bmh, silver watch, dimond ring, tato of Elvis on my back collection of songs on tape -a red bike light -3 turtle-neck shirts (two black, one white) -some fiease shirts Wilton
208 Letter to Elizabeth Elizabeth is an artist. I met her at a writing workshop in She Ioaned me her loghouse in the bush for 3 years. 1 am Portrait. Step back. Further. Move left. Move nght. Stop. While my paint is still warm and wet me you) 1 need a hint, no, a splash of blue. Step up. 1 am Portrait. 1 breathe you in a thousand rnidnight mercies, yes, this exact biue. Now splash into my left eyebrow. (Stewart, August, 29, 1996) In one of Elizabeth's best paintings, the colour blue quietly blazes in the eyebrow of her Irish mother. It works. Elizabeth writes: Dear Soogie, I like colour spelt with a "u." Like my drawing of the nude with strokes of blue I prornised [you] on the completion of your thesis. This carrot is to overcome dl doubts, excuses, and the bread of pain you've been forced to feed upon too long. Your large drinking glass we'll fd with celebratory nectar to dnnk not to a candidate but to an accomplished PhD. Keep that glass polished and at the ready. (Elizabeth, November 23, 1997)
209 1 hope. 1 hear her hoping me through this inquiry. "Soogie" is Elizabeth's pet name for me. She smiles whenever she calls me "Soogie." My heart remembers joy. Elizabeth refers to the goblet she gave me 5 years ago. Mer I trimmed some tnxs in her backyard, 1 said 1 was thirsty; she brought me a glass salad bowl on a stem. Big enough to float a pair of ducks. She has two sons over 50 yeazs old. She is not my mother. Better. She is my fiend. She cooks a couple chickens and invites me for a picnic. We read poetry to each other at the table. 1 gave her a cassette audiotape of me reading my children's books; she phoned me laughing. She is the oldest happiest child 1 know. Bless her- Heaüng CUcle of Humour: Electronic Letters For your enjoyment, Gentle Reader, 1 include the Cpart miniature Ionah story 1 sent to a number of rny friends-teachers, fellow students, and researchers. In this stoy, the Ionah is "spidr." In part 1, the narrator talks about a "berdy" to his fnends. In part 2, the narrator and "spidr" have a conversation. In part 3, "spidr" is transforrned as he travels through the guts of the narrator's cornputer (a whale), msforming it and himelf. The narrator threatens to have him devoured by a vacuum cleaner (a different whaie). But "spidr" cannot go home to his mother-he does not know what to Say. Then "spidr" reveais his name. In part 4, the namator threatens to have "spidr" devoured by "berdy" (a different whale). See pages 194 to 197. The employment of humour is a healing way of bnnging my selves and other people's selves together. When we laugh, we are defenceless, and our bodies are healing. For the traumatized student, king defenceless in laughter is highly educational in a bodily sense. S/he does not know how, and cannot learn how to of fea that helped saved hisher life. Through healthy laughter with others, fears let go of the one who is afhid. Laughter is concrete
210 proof of acceptance of our humanity. To the student who has been denid hisher humanity by king gagged by trauma, the sound of hidher own chenful voice enrpting and mixing with others is a gift of breath wrapped in gold ribbons of happïness.
211 Date: Tue, 13 May :11-23 EDT Fm: To: Dave Nedm Mary Couseas ~rnco~online.wm>, Mary Catherine Downey Margaret E ke Edwards Sandy Greer Bernice Lever Farrar Q ~ e a m senecac-. on. Ca> Suhjm: huio a yelo bady landid in mi tre it sed huio. in yeio berdy lang-gwij i sen it an i herd it thenitflewddowninta th bulnishiz an now im Iode heeeeeeeeeere berdy h c e berdy i hop ya kumbak berdy yer byuaful cherpcherp twettwet fiapflap i thot ya shud no JdEdmonds ~ c s. y ~ ~ ~ ~
212 Date: Wed, 14 May : IS:39 EDT Fr- To: J e Edmonds Dave Nedm Mary Couseas Mary Catherine Downey Margaret Eirene Edwards Sandy Greer Bernice Lever Fam ~b~eaf~~,senecac~onû~ Subject: berdy wel i wuz missin mi yeio berdy wenhthruf!!!!!!!!! * laimt a lidl spidr hulo wutsamatr he w mi yelo berdy tukd off i krid anit wontkumbak didyaaskthydoberdyzaamhesez no i wuz tu overfeehgd by bis byute ta thingk stmt wel ya gotta kom down ya gotta ophp an let yerself b withberdy not jus luk at him wi not praktis with me ok i su lidl spi& hulo wutz yeniam im not telin ya he sez yr a stranjr yr in mi hows an i kud skwishyafh i sez yr in mi hows an i laid wok amwnd insid yr kornputr an googcmjibb Ït then ya wunt b ab1 ta tok ta yr fienz so ferstthiag ya gotta lem wen ya met sumbude nu iz ta b kut now im tird!hm tawkin so much bibi an he wokt - - inta mi komputr ho0 noz wutz guna hapin i thot ya shud no
213 Date Tbu, 15 May :M EDT F m mwgst~trentu-ca To: Mary Cousens Mary Catherine Downey Marc SiInicki ~EireneEdwds Saady Grra ~oiseiseutoronto.ca~, Bernice Lever Famv Dave Neelin ~ov~echcwn.net~, JefFEdmonds Subject: spidr hez stil m my kowputr stop that spi&! yu leme spi1 no spel tiiingrz rit! git owta mi kawmpemter rit now! yr nawt bein vae kul wi shud i? lair mi fimr woat itmmmmmm- wut im triin ta sa (stopppppp that!).. noiiîkwikhnthuiggggaai p it maks wwi nevr hadso un~chfùn ha didyano tharz agrenwir stikinowtuva dooey wundr wutl hapin ifi *****!!!???*9898**- on0 nowyadidit M"9hubiwyb O00 hdo owt thar can ya ha me? can i her ya spidr kors i kau wut didya du? band off 3legz thatswut now i gotta s'ver limp im getin mi vakum klener owt spidr. justaminit man im kurnin her tak mi pikcher wi spidr mi fkm wont rekoniz ya ya doutevin luk lika spi& now wel iyam jus dibt takmi pikcher wilya thatz wut i luk lik now?? im skwar spidrz amt skwar oshit i toldy tagit owtathar oshudup im triin tathingk wutamiguna tel mi muthr yr muthr? eze ya jus sa himum a wuz bein a todl jrk an now im skwar duya stii luvme mm? i jus kant gohom Iik this man kan i uz yr telifon? yu mind if^ jus sit her an luk owt th windo til my legz grobak? lik how long? O mabe did i evr teiya mi nam itz Ribkaj wut yon? yu pika gud tim ta git fienle spidr im not sher im althat âenie yet
214 Date: Tinx, 22 May 1997 û9:08: 19 EDT F m -TRENTU.CA To: Mary Catherine Downey Marc Sanicki <7MARS~ciarke2.ncboarddcdu.oa.ca>, Maqaret Eke Edwards Sandy Greer e~okutoromo.ca>, Jef% Edmonds <je Dave Neelin Mary COUS= <m~-online~~oay Subject: yu wont bdev it but hamaa hdc exklimashinmark y& Ribkaj thar tha r the skiz al witnflufe lik th bigist upsidown pi ya evrsen wen ploop tu kownt witfuneher wmtu yeloberdyz ydoazlemk ploop owta th merang an now thar singin an dansn inyme exkhasb'. k wudya supoz thar guoa et an i star Riikaj in th i an sa üdl d ede spidrs an grabim bi thek an mowt thdor sain
215 EEALING READING AND VVRITiNG hving the summer of 1996,I took two courses at OISUUT-Professor Miller's "Holistic Curriculum" and Rofessor L's "Canadian Chiidrea's Litemture and Child Development" For my summer project, for fun, I wanted to share a children's storybook that I had written with children. 1 was curious what they might draw in response to hearing me read the story to them. 1 wanted to practice king part of an outdoor classroom. In many ways, I brought my drawing "Outdoor Classrmm II" (se page 322 ), to Iife. 1 kept a Learning Log of Professor L's course and my workplay with the children. July 8, 1996 This OISUUT class is so large; 1 need more elbow room than 1 had today. Disease. This summer, 1 really want to focus on picnire-books. How does the story bp's a d v m (Stewart, in preparation) which I wrote for Kristina-Mae and Wilton in 1986 compare to other Canadian c hildren's stories? ustv's adven- is another form of the Jonah story. Water and creatures have names and voices. One of the themes is loss of voice and loss of name. Moonbwm, the butterfïy, is the miniature Jonah. She is injured alone, and is transported into the darkness of a hollow log (a type of whale) where she is healed by the jaws of death. Interlude: My Children's Storybook--&.pty's adve- One sunny morning, Rusty the chipmunk left his old log home in the forest to go explonng. He came to a creek. The water made musical sounds as it flowed over the rocks. Diddiy-dee-doo, diddly-dee-doo. Rusty jumped the rocks into the middle of the creek. Two water striders were
216 having a loudest contest. "1 bet 1 can yeil louder than you." "Bet you cantt." "What do you want to kt?" "1 k t my name. If you yell louder than me, PI1 cal1 you Bip, and you cail me Bop." "Okay," said Bop, "get ready." Bop took a big breath. He pulled his shoulders up, and closed his eyes and let out his biggest yen. "He11000!" "Maybe you cheated," said Bip. "No I didn't," said Bop. "Because if you yell your loudest more than five times, your whole voice goes up into the trees, and then you have to wait until the rain washes it off the leaves and down onto you again." "That's dumb," said Bip. "It is not." "1s so. I'm going to yell as loud as I cm. Seven times. If my voice is still inside me, you have to call me Big Bip. If my voice goes up into the trees, then I'U call you Big Bip." "But," said Bop. "you won't even have a voice, so how will you cal1 me anything and how will 1 hear you?" "If you're nght, I'U make a smart salute each time I see you until the rain washes my voice out of the trees ont0 me. Bip took his biggest breath.
217 "Hellooo hellow heilooo heiiooo hellooo heilooo!" "That's six times," said Bop. Bip took another big breath. He opened his mouth wide but no yell. Not even a squeak. "1 tried to tell you," said Bop. Now you're Bop, and rm Big Bip." Bop gave Big Bip a smart salute. "Dont worry Bop, it will probably min by next week." Bop nodded and shick out his bottom lip. A fiat piece of wood about the size of a telephone book floated downstrearn. Rusty hopped on. He looked over the edge. into the water. He could see the bottom. A crayfish waked backward in the sand A school of minnows darted away as soon as the shadow of his raft touched their tails. The little creek joined a bigger one. It sounded in a hurry. Chuppa-chuppa-choop. chuppa-chuppa-choop. Rusty bumped through the rapids. He saw a bend in the river, just ahead. A big pointy rock with sharp edges stuck up out of the water. Rusty couldn't swim. He paddled hard but the side of his raft hit the rock. Crash! Haif of it broke into bits. Rusty almost feli off. His head went under, into a thousand white bubbles, and the river pulled hm backwards. The water sounded angry. Gargoosha, gargoosha. The river yanked him into the whirlpool. "Helllp!" he yelled. Rusty's shouting woke Moonbeam, a white butterfiy in a blue spruce me nearby. She flew to the big rock in the river and landed on the very tip of it. Rusty spun round and round. "Heliip!" he nied. "Helllp me somebody!" Moonbeam flew in a circle over him.
218 "Hold on!" she yelled. "Tm going to get help!" As fast as she couid go, Moonbeam fiew downriver. Sliver the beaver was busy cutting dom a tree when she spotted him. She landed on the swaying blackeyed Suzy. "There's no time to lose, Sliver. Somebody's caught in the whirlpool by Nasty Rock, and he's much sder than you. 1 dont know how much longer he can hold on." "1 can't Ieave my tree like this; it could fall and hurt somebody." Sliver had chewed almost al1 the way through his me. "W stay by your tree until you get back," said Moonbeam. "Tl1 wam anybody who cornes close of the danger." "1 won? be long," said Sliver. He dove off the bank into a deep part of the river, and swarn right to Rusty. He gripped the edged of the raft between his strong front teeth, and pushed it up ont0 the sandy bank. "Are you alright?" he asked. Rusty shivered all over, and his teeth chattered. He nodded. "Th-th-thd~~ou..." Steamer and LoIIy, two crows, flew side by side over the treetops. Moonbeam heard them talking as they got closer. "We aiways go this way," said Steamer. "It's the short cut," said LoIly. "1 know, but it's boring. 1 could fly to Uncb Blitz's house with my eyes shut." "Alright Steamer, let me see if you cm."
219 "No problem. " Steamer closed his eyes. He thought that he'd just Listen to Loiiy. and follow the sound of her voice to Uncle Blitz's house. But Lolly wasn't talking. Instead, she was flying higher and higher above Steamer. He felt lost. Moonbeam watched Steamer fly lower and lower. "Look out for the tree!" she shouted. Steamer kept his eyes shut He smiled. "Cute trick, LoUy," he said. Steamer crashed right into Sliver's me. It swayed. His wings and head hurt, and he left some bellyfeathers behind Sliver's me creaked and groaned and started to fall. Lolly Bew in a circle, watching. Steamer took a big hop up into the air. Moonbeam flew dong the ground in front of the falling tree to make sure nobody was in its path. "Tim-ber!" she shouted. Sliver's tree came thundering down. The very tip of it caught Moonbeam, tearing her right wing, and hocking her into the moss. She crawled ont0 a rock. A buaeffly who cannot fly is not a butterfiy anymore. She cried. Rusty stopped shivering. "Did a buttemy ask you to rescue me?" he asked. "That was Moonbeam," said Sliver. "Where is she? 1 would Iike to thank her." "Dow~ver," said Sliver. "Now that you're safe, 1 must huny back. Ill corne get you after 1 finish cutting down rny tree."
220 Sliver saw his tree lyiag on the ground. "Moonbeam?" he die& "Moonbeam?" He heard her crying. She told him what had happeaed. When he saw her tom wing, tears carne to his eyes. "Oh Moonbeam," he said. "I'm so sorry." "It's not your fault. Did you Save him?" "Yes. He is waithg for me. He wants to thank you himself. 1s there any way 1 can help you?" "No, Sliver. This is a beautifid day to die." Sliver could not think of the right thing to Say, so he slowly tumed and walked away. He told Rusty about Moonbeam. "1 came to Say thankyou, Moonbeam." said Rusty. "ï'm very sorry you're hm." "It is Sliver who saved you, not me. He is very brave." "Not just me," said Sliver. "We were a team, Moonbeam." "That's me. We had so many good times-" "-We will again-" "-No. No more. 1 can't survive the cold night Sliver, in the moming, please bury me by the blackeyed Suy." "No Moonbeam!" cned Rusty. "You can't die!" "Sliver?" she asked. "You will do this one last thuig for me?" "Yes." "Thankyou," said Moonbeam. "Goodbye my fiiends."
221 Rusty and Sliver could not bear to Say goodbye. They tunied and walked slowly downriver and sat on a smail hi11 by a patch of wild strawbemes. 'There must be something we cm do for her," said Rusty. "1 can't take her to my house; she would drown. If you can make the night wam, she'll live. But you can't." "You're right, 1 can't do that, but 1 can do something. The night isn't too cold for me. When I sleep, 1 curl my tail up to my belly. Moonbeam wiil be warm there!" "Mat if you squish her?" asked Sliver. "1 won't! I'11 stay awake al1 night, to make sure! They ran to Moonbeam. "How will 1 get into the sun?" she asked. "1 can't walk that far, my wing drags on the ground. " "You clirnb ont0 my shoulders," said Rusty. "1'11 take you wherever you want. Stay with me until you're al1 better." "Thank you," said Moonbeam. "1 will try." Rusty stretched out on the ground beside Moonbeam. Slowly, she crawled ont0 his shoulders. He carried her to a warm rock in the Sun where she lay both her wings flat. Sliver went back to work, cutting his tree into pieces. Rusty needed to find a new home. Inside a hollow log, he met a shiny black spider. "Hello," he said. "I'm Rusty. 1 need to share this log with my fiend-" "Too bad. As sure as my name is Sheena, 1 need this log for me and my babies." "Can we al1 share it?"
222 "How long would you be staying?" "Just und my fnend gets betier." ' W s your friend?' asked Sheexm "Moonbearn." 'Which half do you want?" "Do you like buttefies?" asked Rusty. "Delicious-" "1 thought so. You build your web in your haif. But you can't go after Moonbeam while she's hurt." "And why not?" "Because that wouldn't be fair. Like it wouldn't be fair for me to step on your head. Do we have a deal?" "Some deal. 1 suppose so," said Sheena. Rusty told Moonbeam the news. She thought the deai was fair, even though spiders gave her the creeps. Rusty took her home. They were just getting settied when Sheena came knocking. "1 came to introduce myself to Moonbeam," she said "and to offer my help." "How can you help?" asked Rusty. "My web is very strong, and very light too. 1 can sew Moonbeam's wing together with my web." Rusty watched closely. Mwnbearn quivered with fear, but she didn't make a peep. Sheena kept licking her Lips. Her beîiy nunbled. Swn the job was done. Moonbeam thanked
223 her. and Sheena went back to her haif of the log. Mwnbearn slept between Rusty's tail and his belly, toasty warm aii night, while he stayed wi& awake watching Sheena build ber web. In the morning, Moonbeam crawled onto Rusty's shoulders. As he walked Moonbearn Iifted her sore wing up and down and up and dom. She smiled She crawled onto a stump in bright sunlight Then Rusty ran up a nearby ûee, ctuled up on a wide branch. and feu fast asleep. He dreamed that Sheena was as big as a horse, and she had caught him in her web, and she had long pointy teeth and she was biting him in the neck. He whimpered, and woke up. "Mmmm. You're so wamimm," said Miller the caterpillar as he crawled over Rusty's neck. "Mrnmy feet were cold Mmmm." "You gave me the willies! Get off of me!" Rusty walked over to Moonbeam. "I feel much better." she said. "1 want to try to fiy." She held her wings ciosed on Rusty's shoulders as he waiked. She tickled his ribs. "Faster," she said- Rusty went faster. Moonbeam moved along his back and opened her wings. She tickled hirn again. "Faster, Rusty. Run!" Moonbeam moved along his back al1 the way to the tip of his tail. "Faster, Rusty! Faster, faster!" "1 can redy fly again!" she shouted. "1 cm fly!" "Let's go visit Sliver!" "Try to catch me!"
224 Rusty chased Moonbeam over the rocks and besiàe the river and through the trees. "Look Sliver! I can fly!" Sliver chased her tw. She flew in circles. Up and down and round and round. She landed on the swaying blackeyed Suzy and began to sing. SLiver and Rusty did a cray dance together, holding their bellies, and laughuig. July 9, am reading m ' s advenm to a group of youngsters aged 3 to I 1, at "RoI1int Acres," the summer "camp" in Millbrwk, Ontario. The number of children varies each day, and I'm keeping an attendance record. The outdwr setting. a huge pond where a mil1 used to be, many acres of bush, hoaes and ponies, gardens, playgound, and indoor play spaces in the bunkhouse is perfect for this story. The children go fishing, swimming in the creek catch frogs and rninnows, and have outdoor fies- Jan Rowland has run the "camp" with her rnother Rhea since Back then, 108 children came every day. Now the limit is 8. On Tuesday and Thursday aftemoons in July. 1 read a portion of my animal fantasy story, and they provide the illustrations. Even Jan draws. Playing with children at Rollin' Acres at lunchtime. I arrive at 1 :30 as arranged with Jan. She told me at the start to be flexible; her program is childcentred. My chatting with the children while they eat their lunch delays story-time further. Aithough my schedule is rather hectic, spending their lunchtime with them is not a mistake. They have many stones to tell me, important stories about their families or whatever. We sang the Song "there was an old lady who swallowed a spider..." after most of us drank a bug in our juice (1 admit that I started it). or ate one on a spoon of blue Jello. Yum. Our motto for the day: "Bugs are best!"
225 Story-tùne immediateiy follows lunch in the bunkhouse. The children take off their shoes once inside, and sit at the picnic tables for me. Because 1 am the guest storyteller, 1 sit in Jan's big chair, and she sits on a bed to my nght Mer 1 read 1 ask them what they want to do. Accepting whatever they draw. They are so excited to draw. 1 feel like we are exchanging gifts. 1 am too busy having fun to be nervous. Jan Rowland loaned me 50 children's books, and her sister-in-law Joanne loaned me am touched by their active support. 1 hope, through stories, 1 can nutue the child in me. July 16, 1996 Picnic tables are bad places for chiidren to hear stories-the hard benches are too far away from the tabletop to iean on comfortably, and offer no back support. Furthemore, the wide cracks between the two-by-four table surface make drawing awkward; crayons and markers easily push through the paper. Mistake. 1 could have asked them to sit on the floor or the beds. 1 did not think of asking hem to spread out on the concrete floor for a smoother work surface and more space. The younger children tend to kneel on the bench of the table and draw their frst picture very fast. July 18, meet the children again outdoon by the pond. As soon as 1 arrive, they al1 eagerly show me a path through the weeds made by a beaver, and a blackeyed Suzy. They say they have seen a white butteffly too. Chipmunks are al1 around. One girl dropped her harmonica down a chipmunk hole 1st week so it's gone forever-for them w s advew is possible. Before beginning story-tirne, 1 ask ail the children to gather in a circle. One of the girls plays with a dned piece of wwd about the size of a telephone receiver.
226 "May 1 have that?" 1 ask her. "Sure*" She gives it tu me. "Thank you. Would you mind if 1 broke it?" "No," she says. "It's just a stick. There's lots here." "Thank you." I explain how my son partner's eldest son, Gobinde. had broken one bone in his neck in four pieces, diving into shallow water, and I break the stick into four pieces. 1 lead the group singing and acting a swimming Song: We're going swimming! (clap hands 3 times). Yeah! yeah! yeah! (reach up 3 times). We've got to stop. (paims out, fingers spread, in front of chest). And check the water. (looking down and around slowly through han& as if hands are binoculars.) And make sure it's safe for every body. (open amis wide). We sing this Song about 5 times together, then two children sing it alone. When they get stuck, the rest of us help. After 1 collect their drawings, we form a circle again. Two children sing and act the Song dl the way through correctly without help. "Your son is like Moonbearn," says Corey. "They both got hurt." "You're right," 1 Say. That's how 1 learned how Corey synthesized the story, other than his drawing. Many of the children 1 see only once or twice. They say they wish they could corne back to hem and draw more of. - 1 tell them theyll have their own copy of the story, later, and they can draw as many pictues at home as they like. rm sure. though, that the
227 enviromnent of the camp, king with other children who respond similarly with sounds and gestures to the Herent action and characters in the stoq, my reading style, as well as Jan's responses to the story di contribute to their individual drawings. It wouldn't be fair to say one child is more enthusiastic than another; they're all such dinerent people. Everybody "knows" Calvin is the "best" (most skilled) at drawing. 1 encourage everyone to give themselves lots of elbow room, to do their own picaire and let Calvin do his. 1 feel more fiez, more spontaneous, less newous than when I did this storytelling-cirawing exercise with Doreen's class. The infomaiity helps. Jan used to teach in the public school system, and is respectai in the community for her work with children; I'm not more relaxed because there are no des, or "authority" at hand. My focus is that 1 am sharing my story with the children, and they are sharing their drawings with me-an exchange. We are each contributing to the other's learning, and having fun in the process. Conversation with Professor Olson Matthew: Do you know Tolstoy's story about teaching peasant children? Margare t : No. Matthew: This is Tolstoy speaking of one of his students I read aloud]:... His soui, now softened and imtated by the sentiment of pity, that is, of love, clothed every image in an artistic fonn, and denied everything that did not correspond to the idea of eternal beauty and harmony... The chief quality in every art, the feeling of limit, was developed in him to an extraordinary degree... It is impossible and absurd to teach and educate a child, for the simple reason that the child stands nearer than 1 do, than any grown man does, to that ideal of harmony, truth, beauty, and goodness, to which 1, in my pride, wish to raise him. The consciousness of this ideal is more powerfd in him than in me. Al1 he needs is the maierial, in order to develop hannoniously. The moment 1 gave him full liberty, and stopped teaching him, he wrote a poetical production, the like of which cannot be found in Russian lite rature... (cited in Berthoff, 198 1, )
228 Untii 1 read this story 1 never imagined king nspected like that as a chiid, by a teacher. Now that 1 believe such teachers exist, 1 feel happy about that, so this a healing story for me. Margaret: Thatrs a good story. rd me a copy. Maîîhew: I11 bring it for you next the. (Learning Log, Stewart, March 22, 1995) Jan often comrnents how pleased she is with how the project is proceeding. From reading children's books. 1 learn that my m ' s ache- needs serious editing. 1 hadn't paid attention to this matter before; the stoiy was old and 1 liked it just the way it was. 1 wrote it for Kristina-Mae and Wilton and they liked it rve given it away to children for years. and everybody likes it During this last week I've cut 5 pages. I'm swprised that Koshinen (1994, 177) lists "prior experience with books" as the most signif~cant motivating reason to read given by students in grades three and five. My exposure to books as a youngster was severely limited. Experience with a kind adult who reads and encourages reading, including reading in the classroom, and making time and space for children to read on their own in class is critically important When I was a child, king forced to read the Bible aloud, and king punished for making a mistake, made reading a dreaded activity. I'm just a big child; 1 want frienciiy teachen to read to me, tell me a story. Mrs. Radcliffe was one of my [grade 71 teachea. She read a few pages of A -. [L'Engle. 1962lto the class every day. She read it so carefully, so quietly, like she was inside the book and the book was inside her and 1 thought it was love. (Stewart, 1995,62) Being called on in class at OISE, or volunteering in class to read, still, sends a shot of fear through me that 1 counter with adrenaline.
229 Dear Pat.[in your class] 1 shift focus from internai to extenial. 1 look and listen to the teacher, the matenals. You are reading the basebau story "You're out! " (von Loewenstein, ), to the class. Of all the ways to teach me, this one 1 cannot resist. You read slowly; time slows down for me. 1 don't foilow dong with my text, with my eyes. 1 iisten with my body... (November 27,1995) 1 want friendly teachers to encourage me to tell, draw, or sculpt a story of my own. From the time 1 was in grade school, when 1 wasn't in class, 1 worked. To read for pleasure, 1 had to steal tirne from somewhere else, and could not share my discoveries with anyone. "1 borrowed Hardy Boys books from whoever had them and hid them in my scribbler and read them during class" (Stewart, 1995,62). Children in this kind of environment find it impossible to gain the "pnor experience." I'm tha.nkfuli was stubborn. 1 dont blame anyone who collapses under the saain. Hilliard (1995,728) says it ail very clearly in one sentence: "...we must develop a curriculum that focuses on the inclusion of dl cultures rather than the selection and promotion of a few." 1 am touched by Wallace's (1994) degree of involvement with her young students, and thanldul for the gift that the author Bouchard gave to her students-reading back to them their own verses (1 7). This is a healing story about generosity. July 23, 1996 My 1st day of my reading to the children. 1 pull in the driveway in my truck. "The story-man's here!" shouts Calvin from the swing. "The story-man's here!" A wondemil greeting. The rest of the children shout and wave, eager for story-time. While 1 read, Tyler can't sit still. He keeps bumping another child at the table. He has to go pee,
230 and out he goes. After a few more times of asking him to sit still, I ask him to corne and sit on the floor beside me. He does, without protest, and has to go pee again. Mistake. 1 could have asked him what he needed, and helped him. 1 mut give each chdd fieedom. I dont stop reading while he is away, but when he cornes bzk, I summarize whaî he missed He draws the big spider quickiy with a black marker, then the blue thing, and slowly, very deliberately, he selects a crayon without a paper jacket, and finishes his spider with the broad side of the crayon. He wants to draw only one picture, then literally bounces into bed. By the end of the &y, I have collected, altogether, 85 drawings fiom these children. Research data. 1 select 30. I reduce the large drawings, on a colour photocopier, then taped 3 vertically on 8.5 by 14 inch paper. The children are carefd to cap their markers each time, without being reminded, so they can use them again. 1 am surprised that they wait paîiently for each other to finish with whatever marker they want. Ody once during my five sessions do 1 separate two children. Rather than tell thern to share the workspace, 1 move one, with her permission, to a smail table, where she draws happily. When the older ones Say what they will draw, before they actually start, the younger ones generally say they want to draw that too. "1 don't know how to draw a chipmunk!" says one child. "Me neither! " says another. "Me neither!" I Say. "Watch." 1 draw for 3 seconds. My chipmunk looks like a miniature hippo with a sticktail. I show them.
231 "See? This is chipmunk. 1 think he's cute." They "Now you draw chipmunk, however you Wre," 1 Say. "Have fun!" 1 do not want anyone to copy another, so 1 put my drawing up on the shelf behind me. At the end of the day, 1 already miss these children; I've been so excited to go there and play with hem, so curious what they might do and Say and draw. Together, we created something magical. They helped me bring Rusty's a dvem to Me, and it's growing. 1 am keeping their original drawings in a safe place. Do they belong to me? July 30, deliver 21 copies of m ' s advem to Rollin' Acres. The children have just finished swimming lessons when 1 arrive, and 1 present a book to each one, with their name in it. They dl hug me and smile and turn the pages to see their drawing in their own copy. Jan will keep a record of the parental response to the book. As 1 mentioned earlier, 1 have given the story away for years, but this is the first time it realiy looks like a book. A new type of children's book. My type. 1 am going to do it again. Better. 1 like practising what 1 lem in the indoor classroom at OISUUT out in the world to lem how it works, as rnuch as 1 like bringing the outdoor classroom into OISUUT to change how it works. The more 1 try, the more I succeed. I make more mistakes than anyone 1 know, but 1 only give myself a failing grade if 1 stop trying to leam. I am never sure when or how to ask for help in the outdoor or the indoor classroom. Letter to Professor L Dear L... Taking risks in the classroom helps me to gain confidence. The more 1 practice, the more 1 leam how to present my matenal without such a high intemal stress
232 level. Pm actually starting to iike working in groups. now that 1 don't see myself as such a foreigner in the classrwm. 1 dont feel as threatened or threatening as I was last September. A nurnber of classrnates tell me they see a positive ciifference in me. Pm growing. 1 dont need to fight for control as much as 1 used to. Asking for help in class really helps me become part of a community. "1 want to show the class my work from my spot," 1 said to Myra during the break, "rather than fiom the front of the room, and 1 dont know how to negotiate more table space. 1 need more elbow room, but I don't want my neighbour to feel scrunched either." "Just unpack your work, shuffle it, and mention that you need a little more room-she'll move over no problem." So 1 tried that, and it worked... (Stewart, July 3 1, 1996) Canadian Children's Literature: A Parade Reading Literature for children helps me regain my balance after suffering through the research îiterature on child abuse. 1 do this to nurture my childself. I alphabetize the entries, in this annotated bibliography not as on a cenotaph, but as in a healing parade.
233 Aiderson, S Sure as straw-. Red Deer: Red Deer College Ress. Our talents are gifts bestowed-they may not last. Sharing our gifts with others eases their suffering and b ~gs us happiness. The illustrations of worried Uncle George, and of Mattie's face when she scoops up the precious watery mud are so poignant, they capture opposite emotions exactly. Aska, W hides in the Montreal: Tundra Books. Four paragraphs of iext on the left page, illustrations on the nght. Each paragraph a di fferent laquage-top to bottom, English, French, Japanese, Chinese. Brilliant coloured illustrations-magical use of yellow and creatures in the air. In the back of the book, a full-page map of Stanley Park, and 4 pages-one in each language-of the park's histonc sites. Alderson, S A ri& for Toronto: Douglas & Mchtyre. Carhg for a younger sibling is a responsibility not to k taken lightiy. Story set in early 1900-a historical perspective on an issue that's always current. The illustrations of the children show their different racial ancestry. Andrews, J me auctio~. Toronto: Douglas & Mchtyre. Hard times can be faced with dignity. A touching look at Iife's transitions. Bianchi, J Snowed in at Pokeweed blic s cu. Newburgh: Bungalo Books. The fust-person narrator is a sheep, and all the schoolpeople are animals. Bianchi needed an editor to toss the cliches- the book's only weakness. The picme of the principal is hilarious. Blades, A of M. Montreal: Tundra Books. Even animais must eam their keep.
234 Bogart, J w-. Richmond Hill: North Wh& Press. A trip through the rainforest The pages are full of colour and animdairds. Beautiful, yes. but they need more breathing roorn. This book almost works-it needs bigger pages. Bogart, J Marna'sbed Richmond Hill: North Winds Press. A safe place. The faces of the mother and the children quietly convey peace, fun, and security-things the mother leamed from her mother, on the last page. Touching. So be it. Bogart, J Richmond Bogart, J Gifts. Richmond Hill: Hill: Scholastic. Scholastic Canada. Sharing solves the problem. B igger pages than Bogart (1993) above, but everything in the pages, except the clever, engaging text, is big too. Over-crowded. The characters and animals in wild situations, A perfect marriage of Bogart's easyflowing, hyming text with Reid's fantastic plasticine illustrations, including the exhaust behind the Jeep, the dragon on the teapot, and especidly Grandma painting the the loud coloun, and lack of space ~yramid- ovemthelm the reader. Bourgeois, P In the da&. Bourgeois, P Bie Sarah ' s liale - boa. Toronto: Kids Can Press. Toronto: Kids Can Press. Everyone's afraid of sornething... Outgrowing one thing, we grow into another. 1 admire Brenda Clark's ability to illustrate stubbomness, anger, determination, mistration, hop, annoyance and dejection in wee Sarah's face. Even the big and powemil animals. And it's okay. A magical "acceptance" story. Bourgeois, P Too mv chm. Toronto: Kids Can Press. The ciifference between a zoo and a classroom is attitude.
235 Brooks, B Bourgeois, P Toronto: Kids Can Press* Toronto: Kids Can Press. Parents can be supportive of children's ventures, even if they're exhausting. In this book, Dad is defultely the good guy. Burk, M. ny. mes frqm the beechv wo& -. Burlington: Hayes Ribhhing. Ail the talking forest animais and birds work together funushing a rabbit's home with birthday gifts while he is away. Text in lyrics, abcb. Too cute, too sweet. Good trees, though. Chase, E. & Reid, B me new babv &. Richmond Hill: Scholastic- TAB. The words are needlessly printed extra large. They blare at you from the page. They distract, rather than compliment the beauty of Reid's plasticine iilustrations. Cho, L Chester's bm* Montreal: Tundra Books. Farrning is a business. Every painting of the barn animais shows them in a Bambi- A pet is a member of the family, and getting one requires careh1 consideration. Skilled illustration by Clarke of the turtle parents as friendly and unhunied. I like them but 1 can't tell who's the mom and who's the dad-no distinguishing features. They both do dishes. Carrier, R The h-ey sweater. Montreal: Tundra Books. Frustration marks the transition from king one of the crowd to king the only one in the crowd that's different. Chase, E. & Broda, R Waters. Richmond Hill: Scholastic. The text is a small part of the big, beautifid intricate, paper sculpture and watercolour illustrations. The waves are almost tangible4 feel that Pm are part of each scene, rather than a spectator. Glorious birds. A brilliant depiction and celebration of Me,
236 like state-even the buii. Hard work in harsh winter weather is beautiful. Five "chapters." ToWy descriptive. The book would be enhanced with iuusbrations of some me-to- He-and-kath realities in the text, which is smau and in present tense... Davis, V Simply nd-. Kick Can Press. Toronto: Story as a joke. Light-hearted... Camming, P Out on the ice in. Toronto: Annick Press. Humans cm live with (other) threatening animals. The tension in the story eases the same way it builds-slowly. Soft pastel illustrations of characters harmonize with landscapes, seascapes, and skyscapes, emphasizing that both humans and bars "belong" here. Fernandes, E le boy w h ~ to s a. Toronto: Kids Can Press. The reluctant napper. Sketches are Climo, L m. Montreal: Tundra Books. Wishing you were someone else isntt as rewarding as really king who you are. Comgan, K mumil Toronto: Annick Press. rive-year-old Emily says "um" often when she speaks. Her classrnates tease her, so she refuses to talk. On sumnier vacation, her mother takes Ernily to a meditation class, where Emily chants long "ummmmmmm." When she returns to school, she shows what she has learned. She accepts her "um's"; she laughs at herself, with the others. Duchesw, C m t s travelp. Hull: Media-Sphere. People live differently, together. The illustrations are more han bold, colour-wise, they're loud. The last line of the book: "...Benjamin was fast asleep." The text and the illustrations, however, do not make this a bedtime s tory. so simple-looking, as if a young child drew
237 them. 1 iike the cat-it aiways looks Like it just carne out of the dryer. Fox, M Why the beaver *. Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside. Trickery between animal friends. A spacious, simple telling of an Ojibwe legend. Gilmao, P. l Richmond Hill: Scholastic-TAB. Fernandes, E A difnçult &. Toronto: Kids C m Press. Melinda is gnimpy. Her mother nurtures her anyway. Gilrnan, P me balloon tree. Richmond Hiil: Scholastic. As in Fox (1985), above, the illustrations are rich in colour and texture. 1 Sometimes, we aii have to clean up can atmost the cotour. our own mess. Tetra-meter quatrain verse (aabb) lyrical, not poetical. G h, P m d the pirates. Richmond Hill: Scholastic-TAI3. Other people's greed can cause you trouble, even trap you. Patience helps restore you, and bring about justice. Lots of pictures of the blue sea Al1 the pictures are framed; easy to appreciate. Granfield, L Canada votes: How we. - Toronto: Kids Can Press. A valuable book; this one makes Gilmao, P The wondemil p h of man J'i. Richmond Hill: North Winds Press. The story of Jillian Jiggs continues, with same verse style in Gitman (1987), above. Jiilian is transfonned from Mess- maker to Creatrix. The last 2 pages of the book contain 19 mini illustrations-how to sew pigs. How thoughâul of the author. Godkin, C Wolf isld. Markharn: Fitzhenry & Whiteside. Predators are needed to help maintain the balance of nature. history fun. Easy-read text in columns, with 19 chapters, and black and white pend
238 sketches. Harpur, T T h e e that couldnlt m. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Shunned for king different, a mouse shows his braveiy and eams the respect of others. Text in the illustrations. A serious book- and the Harris, D m u s e b. New York: Fredenck and Warne. Takùig tums king caged and king Grgski, C Çat's d e. owl's eyes: A of. - s Toronto: Kids Can Press. Over 40 different string-things each one explicitiy iliustrated in black and white sketches of han& doing it right, with tips. Lots of white space around text and drawings makes the instructions fnendly. The photos of the girl on the outside front cover, and of Gryski and children on the outside back cover. srniling, doing their string-thing demonstrate that string garnes Hem, E Good t F m. Toronto: Women's Educational Press. Friends corne and go-signs of fkiendship endure. The fus t children's book I've read with a protagonist in a wheelchair, which is introduced at page 5. Heidbreder, R Qon't eat spidea. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Fortyeight pages of bad verse-does not assume that kids are intelligent, and can grasp an idea faster than it takes to endure are for the individual and the group. lets with Toronto: Kids Can Press. Twenty chapters of easy sep-by-step instructions with coiour illustrations of the lace king twisted by hand. Hutchins, H Ben's snow soa. Toronto: Annick Press. Mom and Dad and 3 kids go for a winter picnic. They ski and pull a sled. This liale book is a list-of things in and out
239 hearing the whole repetitious verse. This book is redeemed by Karen Patkau's coloumil, zany illustrations. Hutehins. H Toronto: Annick Press. A book is a world you can get into or out of, literally. Cleverly done. Jennings, S Jeremiahd m. m. Toronto: Armick Press. Parental patience when the youngster has trouble sleeping. Khdsa, D J want a dog. Montreal: Tundra Books. inventiveness. Out of May's tantm cornes Khalsa, D Mv fêmily vacation. Montreal: Tundra Books. It's exciting to go places-it's good to of backpacks, things to Wear, packhg the truck, the neighbourhod, warm and cold body parts. Not a story at dl. The narrator, the youngest boy, (perhaps 2 or 3 years old) d e s even when he's cold and hungry. Such a youngster does not exist; every youngster knows that Sadly, nobody has names. How cm characters Iive without names? This book is dead; let it receive a decent cremation. Let it heat the house. Kbaisa, D Tales of a gambling w- Montreal: Tundra Books. Grandma loves to win; she teaches her grand-daughter that love is the only real prize. A good book for a sore heart. corne home. Simple, elegant illustrations -sa, D )Iow p- c- to our Iown. Montreal: Tundra Books. especiaily of failhg snow and buildings. Sometimes, the way to help strangers They reminci me of those toys full of water feel at home here is to give them something that you shake and the snow settles on the that reminds them of the home they left. scene.
240 ghalsa, D v. Montreal: Tundra Books. My favourite picture in the book spreads across two pages- from inside the basement of the narrator's house "into the land of cowboys...ln The clothesline becomes a lasso. The floor streaks into sand. And under the aquarium beside the stairs, waits the rollerskate from Khalsa.. KureIek, W A boy 's winta. Montreai: Tundra Books. Twenty single-page rninichapten, with paintings about work and play during the harsh winter. The written details give the book its authoritative, gentle, non-fiction tone. We do not question, therefore, the experiences of the protagonist, who has the same fmt name as the author. Lee, D M y Ra. Toronto: Macmillan. The only Jelly Belly rhyme-not to be confused with poetry- is on page 6, and for Khalsa, D m. Montreal: Tundra Books. A dog senles dom and becomes a carhg rnember of the family. King, B Sinineon. Toronto: Ki& Can Press. Even "naturai" enemies can sometimes get dong. The text is an eight- he lyric repeated 7 times. each time modifed to fit the bigger predator. The musical notation for the lyric is on the last page of the book. Despite the repetition, this book is fun; the story builds and al1 the farm animals are having so much fun. Telephone in a tree, on a fence, hanging from the neck of a cow, under a chicken, growing out of a corn stdk! Lee, D G a r b w g. Toronto: MacMillan. Sixty-four of the dumbest rhymes ever. They dont corne close to delivering the fun the illustration on the cover offers. A waste of good paper.
241 ten pages the iliustrati011~ show that we're in JeUy Beily's neighbourhod He shows up again. surprisingly, on pages 60 and 64, îhe last page. Continuiv wodd be maintallied if he were spread more consistently throughout the book. Little, J. & DeVries, M &ce iapo-. Men m. Markham: Viking. Kids at a picnic make sure their dad tells the fahytale the nght way. No plot Not even a story. Ail illustrations by Phoebe Gilman framed and surrounded with greenery. Very lively characten. McLaren, A U o s t dimcg. Toronto: S toddart. A Native cal1 to dance, to chensh Earth, and share it wisely. Rich, almost tactile kolour bleeds of paintings or photographs of sacred objects on every page. Beautifully done. Morgan, A Sadie. -O- Toronto: Kids Can Press. We let go of, and preserve, Lmi, J W s h-. Montreal: Tundra Books. Wrinen in the third person, about Johmiie's family and traditions. Tone is senous, to preserve the memories. Simple, spacious illustrations. Sady, completely narrative-not one word of dialogue in entire book, Lim needed an editor to delete his passive verbs. Lunn, J Amos's sweater. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. If it's yours, you rnight get it back. but not in the same condition as when it was taken from you. McFarlane, S cire-. Vancouver: Orca Book Publishers. A boy helps a Bald Eagle with a broken wing recover and retum to the wild. The illustrations, especially the faces are so clear, so vivid, they approach photography. Morgan, A Mdv-caz. Toronto: Annick Press. Role reversal-the school boy acts responsible, the dad 9çts like a child.
242 something of what we mate. Mniiseh, R Jonathan cleqrmi up- then h e o r subw- Toronto: Annick Press. Bureaucracy gets its comeuppance. Munsch, R Love vou forever Toronto: Annick Press. Steadfast human love fonns a circle. The scene of the old mother king rocked by her grown son makes my fiend cry. It doesn't work for me; I dont wonder why. Munsch, R David. 1 s f e. Toronto: Annick Press. A new boy, David, moves into Julie's neighbourhood. David's father is a giant who scares everybody with his size and his loud voice. But he is gentle with Julie. David does not think his dad is scary- compared to his grandmother. Munsch, R have to PO! Toronto: Annick Press. To pee is hurnan. Good story. Conventional, didactic. Ho hum, yawn. Morgan. N buis. - Toronto: Oxford University Ress. A fnendly home, h m far away, looks more appealing than when you were there last. Munsch, R m p e r b-. Toronto: Annick Press. HumbIed AlIlcess Elizabeth rescues Prince Ronald, her betrothed, by outsmarting the dragon that camed him off. But Ronald is ungratefui; he is more interested in appearances. Elizabeth decides he's not worth manying. Munsch, R Mpira's b w. Toronto: Annick Press. Too much bedlarn; not fun. M~ch, R Toronto: Annick Press. Five-year-old Robin finds a baby in her back yard. She tries to find a grown-up to care for it, but nobody needs (the operative word of the story) the baby. After she stops looking, a man cornes dong who
243 Munsch, R W d p-. Toronto: Annick Press, Sn* mud puddles hi& in appletrees, on the roof, and behind sandboxes, then throw themselves on Jule Ann. Her mother always scmbs her clean. Jule Ann becornes afraid to go outside. The mud puddes hate soap; she chases them away with it. Munsch, R. & Kusugak, M Toronto: Annick Press. "Good works" cm have negative consequences. Great Spirit isn't to be or blarned-we must try to get dong despite our Oppenheim, J. & Reid, B Have you seen bir&? Richmond Hill: Scholastic-TAB. The use of plasticine for depth, detail, colour is amazing. The birds seem to be dive. It helps that the verse throughout is in the present tense-giving the reader a sense of imrnediacy. We see birds from so many Listem to the baby. The baby says one word. The man needs the baby, and takes it away. He gives a present to Robin. Munsch, R. & Kusugak, M A promise is a pro-. Toronto: Annick Press. Breaking promises leads to trouble. An Eskirno legend brought to life to teach children to heed parental warnings of danger. The story and the illustrations work together in a powerfd yet gentle performance. Munsch, R m. Toronto: Annick Press, Animals are not so dumb. Another book as a gift to the child who requested it. Munsil, J Dinner at &e Toronto: Annick Press. Rose's. "1 hate" are the fint two words of the book, and indeed the theme. Six-year-old Lucy lists al1 the reasons she hates going her aunt Rose's house for dinner-she is expected to obey Mum's rules and be polite to and with adults. Her last sentence, about loving her family, does not redeem the negative
244 perspectives. This award-winning book is highly imaginative, fun, inspiring. Even the story. How did this book get published- what good wili it serve? bird-pop on the statue is lifelike, 1 mean Pare, R Toronto: Annick Press. pooplike. Po&, Animals doing totally un-natural, silly.. S & thepillow W. Toronto: Annick Press. things. What fun! Mum sits in the bathrwm sink Roy, G A. Brown, trans. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. playing tuba, Dad sits on the toilet playing A mother cat struggles to protect, harp, while Benjamin, a full-grown man, is in transport, and feed her own. and her adopted the bath! They au have faces of chembs! litter. Humans finally show mercy. The magic is quiet and sure. Delighthl Simmie, L Aunhes knittine baby. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books. Schein, J For~et - me - no1. Toronto: Annick Press. Becky's grandmother, who has Seventy pages of inferior pencil sketches and bad verses. Boring. Helps me appreciate better ones even more. The book wouldn't be a write-off had Sirnmie had a demanding editor-some of the ideas are original and could, with a little work, sparkle. SIavin, B T h e e Toronto: Kids Can Press. bhack. Some cats are just impossible to get Alzheimer's, cornes to iive with the family of five for a few weeks, on her way to a nursing home. She is a hard person to like because of her illness. Neither the language in the book, nor the behaviour of the narrator (agewise), are congruent with the drawings of the narrator. Such a young person does not Say "another figure entered the scene" or "pleadingly" or "annoyed or "perplexeci" or
245 rid of. This illustrated version of the popula. Oak Street Music song clearly and cleverly shows that Cat owns the place, while the human is the tolerated guest. Spray, C The. Camden East: Camden House Publishing. A classic gulüble immigrant-pionter story, where we laugh with the cheater, rather than the sympathize with the cheated. Most of the illustrations. especidly of horses, are fun just to behold! Sthson, K E& or m? Toronto: Annick Press. The nameless linle boy narrator feels big or small by how independent he is. He compares hirnself to adults; big means he is Iike them. little means he is not. Suniki, D Nature in & hom. Toronto: Stoddart. Home is a packaged jungle-zoo-fam- aquarium. The illustrations make the message exciting, every page a treat. "nunmaged," This language contrasts sharply with how such a young person actually does taik: "This is going to be an awful visit..". SIavin, B The s tom. Red Deer: Red Deer College Press. Love is magic. transfonning death into a spinaial union. The iilustraîions are NI, rich, intoxicating pastels. The text needs simpwng, chronologically, to allow it to breathe as freely as the visual art. Staunton, T Pud-. Annick Press. A mud-brown book-not fun. Michael must play. Toronto: Stinson, K Red is best. Toronto: Annick Press. Toddlers dont need reasons to like their favounite colour. Stinson, K Mom ad Dad dont Iive a b a. Toronto: Annick Press. A little girl lives in an apartment in the city with her Mum and brother. Rad
246 Suzuki, D If we cod see m. Toronto: S toddart. Air is alive, and has history. Not as much fun as Suzuki (1994), above, despite the opportunity. On page 23, the littie girl exhales a "cloud" in a frozen lake scene-but flowers bloom in the foreground and she is wearing a summer, sleeveless top. The "beachy" setting of the book needs to be rnodified appropriately for this page. Thompson, R Fos. Toronto: Annick Press. and the parent. Love comforts and cheers the child Toye, W m e fire ste&. Toronto: Oxford University Press. quietly told. An enduring Native legend-simply, WaIker, P In thetof A.. -ey whm it al1 hem. Waterloo: Waterloo Music Company LÙnited. The magicai fairytale of music. lives in the country. She misses them ail king together-she wishes they could be. Dad has a girlfiiend named Paula who is the only person with a name in the book other than Santa Claus. The girl knows she canft bring her Mum and Dad together again. She loves them, and knows they love her, "just not together." Taylor, C How Two-Fer was saved hm. Montreal: Tundra Books. This Native Iegend unites three beginnings: the fmt fm, the first corn, and the fmt community. The painting of Two- Feather dragging the Spirit-woman by the hair, as she commanded, her body becoming corn stalks, is enchanting. von Konigslow, A m. Toronto: HarperColIins. Some things are best ieft how you find them-or home is where the lily-pad is. Notes are people too. Gentle prose, with alliteration, in lines like verse.
247 Waterton, B A for Simon. Vancouvec Douglas & Mclntyre. Seeing beauty in something trapped can help us to set it free. White, J Qyote wim. Toronto: Lester Publishing Ltd. Nature cannot be tamed. It must be respecteci, not feared Three illustrations captivate: the close-up of the trapped wolf; the view of the protagonist as seen close-up by the wolf-the picture is round, like the eye, set on the upper left page and; the lwker. the wolf, looks from the bottom right page-also a round picttue Wynne- Jones, T Zoom away. Vancouver: Douglas & Mchtyre. Wace, the m. Vancouver: Dougias & Mchtyre. When you help somebody, you help yourself. The illustraîion of young Chin Chiang and old Pu Yee dancing on the rooftop is worth the price of the book ($12.95). WestelI, K A- Toronto: Annick Press. book. Sharing the world is beîter than owning it-less chaos. Wynne-Jones, T ao- Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. Zoom the cat loves sailing on the sea in Maria's house! A sequel to Wynne-Jones (1983), above. Zoom fin& his Uncle's shipwreck. So ends this parade. I'm thankful for al1 the work that these authors-illustrators-publishers have undertaken to make these wondefil books available to me. I'm touched by their deceptive simplicity, each one 1 enjoy is like a treasure Pve just found. I think it must be happinessaccessing the innocent chiid in me. I'm giad that so many adults believe in the magic of storytelling, and that countless chiidren, even old ones like me, are king nourished this way. 1
248 retum now, Gentle Reader, to my Learning Log. August 7,1996 I've been waking up eariy, before my alarm, to revise my own children's books. 1 am so excited to be creating these works, and being created by them. 1 am having so much fun 1 don? beiieve 1 can contain it-it's so good 1 must sbare it. I'm so happy to record weird and wonderful creatures doing whaî they do. I feel like rve opened another door inside myself, dowing more healing energy to flow through me, to others. ï'm becorning more confident, taking more risks, instead of allowing my fears to censor my writing. 1 have given myself permission to play in a wholesome way. As a direct result of this surnmer's workplay, I have gained more cntical distance from my trauma story in w g &., as weii as embraced another healing vehicle- children's books. My voice is part of the choir, the community of authors of children's stones too. Three of these children said they did not know how to draw a chipmunk, and were "stuck" until I showed them by exarnple that they could not do it "wrong." Many of my OISUUT classrnates in Professor Miller's "Holistic Curriculum" course said to the group that they liked the adventure of making music with my humble "waterdrums" because they "couid not fail." My zany storybooks for children synthesize my understanding of how cntical it is for children and adults to be able to engage in play-ful imaginative exercises where they can only succeed; it is their own story. With these nonsense storybooks, a word is worth a thousand picnires.... a word is precious when it makes no sense, when its power flows rom its sound, its letters. and its physical presence. This potent magic may appear strange to us, who mat words as encoded meanings and use hem freely for our own purposes. We grab a word as though it were a tool rather than an object having its own persondity and life, but the magician shows that a word doesn't have to make
249 sense and doesn't have to be used for expression but, as a precious thing in itself, can serve as a vehicle of enchantment (Moore, 1996,258) These books are vehicles for creating laughingmoments for my chiidself and others. Through hem, 1 am forging heaithy connections with my fiiends and students. My trauma recedes. Each line below is a separate page, the words printed extralarge in different fonts and colours. The reader has the whole page to play, without confining lines. My Nonsense Jonah Storybook for Children: mttie More B ynerkrix is a litde gwitter. He smunjiz amund in Wunkum's breakfast bowl... But Wunkum won't eat fiim... She fimjimbles with hirn... Until his rnroogs and hokes are au rakkilfroy... Then she shmams Bynerkrix out the window. He lands on his ener in the omilspoz... Right where Rofklimmer is frnirbing. Rofklimmer awgreez B ynerkrix seven times... And swallows him dom whole, easy as spomch. Wunkum fludles Rotklimmer at the right time... And he upglusplups B ynerkrix. Every time Bynerkrix is eaten, he's more gwitterful. Wunkum and Rofklimmer oobeedoo hirn ya in their bones. (Stewart, January 1997)
250 ARTFUL EEALING PLAY: FROM BOATS TO POPBOTIZE PEOPLE--ANOTwt(;K LEARMNG LOG Like Jonh being carried by the whale and through the whale, 1 am king canied by and through tks inquisr. It shows me what to include, where, when, and how, in a neverendhg process of change. I smble as 1 move through this dark temtory, my moods ranging through every colour of the rainbow. I know 1 am moving; 1 feel myself growing as this inquiry is growing. 1 keep a thesis journal to record my progress. Like Jonah, 1 have felt every peristaitic movement as 1 have travelled the long way through the whale's small intestine. Now 1 hear and feei ail three sets of muscles-the longitudinal. the transverse, and the oblique-working, creating the mass rnovements of the whale's large intestine, propeiling me dong- I hope 1 am strong enough to reach the iight. 1 hope there will be light. 1 hope 1 cm keep hoping. Sd rather buildkreate magie than ta! about it, especiaiiy when I have to do it for a grade, which is more work than fun. 1 want to share my joy, part of the richness and fdlness of my life and what I've lemeci, what 1 am learning, rather than demonstrate that I've earned an "A" for a graduate course. How do 1 stop imaginingiimaging the memory of this pain inside my body? 1 must do something positive, constructive. hstead of trying to stop the pain, or push it out of my body, 1 must shift focus, imagine and create something new, thereby creating new memones. 1 will create space within myself. 1 have room inside for more than pain. I will fil1 myself so full of joy that 1 will have no rwm inside for pain at dl. Boats mark my joumey from the intensity of twelve yean of hard work, processing trauma and king suicidai during the writing of to J.osg to heaiing through play. I am creating
251 laughter in my Me. Let there be whimsy, with... art so revealing of parts of [myself that I] had lost or had never been in touch with in the fmt place... Many... adults have never played in their childhood... (Kellogg & McEliece, 1993,205) No pain in my boats. They celebrate themselves. Each is a story of freedom, in and of motion. Many of my Boatpeople have ken injure& and cannot hide their injuries, yet ihey still enjoy the trip. Writing. 1 see and create pichires of rny workls in black and white-ink on paper. Aside from the opportunity to leam how to create with plastic bottles, styrofoarn trays, glue and toothpicks, boats allow me to work with and give shape to colours that 1 have not appreciated until now, especially pink and green. Sometimes, when 1 had finished, 1 had the happy feeling of having succeeded, not in ternis of accomplishment but in terms of delight; 1 was able to satisfy my need to be playful, to express rnyself, to take sensual delight in colors-and I had survived. (Miller, 1986, 16) It is astonishingly easy to forget that 1 have survived. I ofien feel like 1 am as transparent as a plastic popbottle. My voice, like a label. warns: Contents under pressure, do not shake. 1 expenence many sounds, such as a slamrning door, high-pitched speech, breaking dishes, low- flying jets, sirens, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, ringing teiephones, lawnmowers, dot-matrix printers, and rattling china and silvenvare to be physically jarring. 1 experience these sounds physically going through me, hitting my consciousness. which is always in motion trying to find a place in my body to rest, a place without pain. My skin is no barrier to these sounds. 1 have not yet leamed how to filter them; 1 am constantly trying to protect myself from overload. I collect boxes of building materials in my kitchen, washing and sorting them. This is an act of hope, a
252 physical manifestation of my will to remain dive despite the pâin. "1 am here," 1 Say to these matenais. "1 am open to experience. 1 am Iistening. What would you have me do?" 1 like one of the Concise Oxford Dictionary's (Men, 1990) definitions of "listen:" "... to seek to hear or be aware of by waiting dertly" (691). 1 Iiterally want things to be clear. These bats represent my various transparent selves, my various bodies, moving through time, on journeys. One story that 1 had heard over and over fiom my older brothea and sisters since 1 was a boy is that my Grand-dad Algemon and his wife Emily intended to emigrate hm England or Scotland to Austrdia But by the time they arrived at the dock with their children, that boat had sailed. The next boat was bound for Canada, so they came here. On June ,I called rny eldest brother for the mysterious letter bearing the elegant signature of Algemon, my father's father, hoping it would authenticate this story. 1 felt excited about this letter that 1 had heard about as a boy. 1 had neither seen it, nor asked about it before. When my father died this letter was passed on to his eldest son. 1 did not know it contained a story about my shipbuilding ancestors....a physicists must think of quantum waves "as if' they were out there in space and moving in time Iike any common waves you might witness... one multiplies two counterstreaming waves together, one coming from the present and one coming fiom the future... events, even those that haven't yet occurred, can generate these waves. (WoIf, 1994, 162) I had no conscious way of knowing that building boats was one of my ways of reaching toward
253 one of my future selves that would embrace my Grand-dad Algernon by reaching far into my ancestral past. Canoe 1 built my Canoe, September 17, 1995, out of two window envelopes, so I could have windows fore and aft. 1 brought it to my OISUUT class on September 18, found it difficult to ask for help, nevertheless, class was an opportunity to leam how to ask for help. A chance to allow othea to give me the gift of their help. 1 asked my classrnates to help me waterproof my Came by writing lettea on it; it was not ready for water. Pens are shaped as paddles. The only bats my father and 1 were ever in together were the huge femes that sail between the mainfand and Vancouver Island. 1 have found paddling a came to be a meditative exercise; 1 push the boat ahead by pulling against the water. 1 like seeing how quietly 1 cm paddle. 1 resist building the Sailboat for 2 weeks; 1 am afraid of tearing (breaking) the paper. 1 am slowly leaming that 1 will not be punished for my rnistakes. I cannot answer two questions: "Why build it?" and "Why not build it?" It calls to me, and 1 wait. Then, 1 no longer need to be brave, for my fear has been disiodged by my curiosity. On October 5, 1995, the Sailboat boat shows me how to build itself. Its hull has windows on both sides, the bow, and the stem. Now 1 want to build a boat that really will float. 1 spend hours alone, just holding empty popbottles, wondering, and I consider this time well spent. My sense of wonder enables me to see them as toys already, as they are. They embody space, unlike the belly of the great fish. They are windows that 1 cm look through, and when 1 do, 1 see things differently, depending on the
254 thickness and the curve of the plastic. When 1 look through them at myself in the &or, 1 look -y. Which self is this? 1 feel Iike Nick Adams. "He smiled at the face in the rnirror and back at him. He winked at it and went on. 1t was not his face but it didn't make any ciifference" (Hemingway, 1973, 192). Distortions reveal how 1 hide. 1 distort words to draw new meanings out of them. i see not me in mirror therefore merror (Stewart, Septernber 13, 1986) What kind of wordself boatself do 1 see in me here, right now? Mat is so enchanting about setting out on [sic] a came, a small rowboat, a sailing vessel, or a great ship? We sail not just for the physical sensations but dso because the sou1 has its own fantasies on water and on [sic] a boat. In some deep way, we are living out a ritual that has strong ties to Jesus in the boat with his apostles. the Buddhist on the raft of religion, and Odysseus on his voyage home. Enchantment arises sometimes when myth and ordinary experience corne together, as when we engage in some apparently innocent pastirne, like a came ride. and are surprised to find that we're sailing on mythical water. (Moore, 1996, ) Wilton visits me for the weekend, and we sit at my kitchen table together. talking about the design of boat hulls using different sized popbottles and juice bottles, from dinnertime until midnight. 1 don't own a television-this is more fun. Paddlew heeler 1 built my Paddlewheeler on October This is my first boat with an anchor, and it is down. This is my first boat with people in it. Fred and Ethel are celebrating by dancing wildly in the moodight.
255 1 move from building boats with windows, to building windowboats. Windows in the shape of boats. Sometimes 1 need to look out the window, sometimes 1 need to look at the window. 1 need to be the window, and 1 need to open the window, be the window-as-it-isopening. Birdboat 1 built my Birdboat on October 26, The solo sailor, Dillon, rides on the neck of Birdboat rather than in it. This Birdboat is in motion, on and above the water, and is the only boat 1 build with rearview mirron. Dilion stem it iike an airplane. For six hours, 1 try to build a helicopter. The pieces will not corne together. 1s this resistance? This is when I learn, with my tactile sense, that "No" may not be resistance, it may be a Guide, saying, "Not there, Matthew, over hem. Wait, you're not ready for a helicopter yet. Today, you're ready for a submarine-" Boat of Under-standing 1 built my Boat of Under-standing on November 1, This is my fint and oniy coloured boat. Things are unclear; it is scratched and weathered. Its anchor is down. The submarine in this boat is used for exploring the depths, a window for seeing things clearly where light usually does not penetrate. Two people, Brad the student, and Garvin, the therapist-teacher stand under the sea, working together. The big yellow hands are an extension of Brad's hands. They are open, not empty. Brad uses them for bringing sorne painful things up to surface to get a good look at them, and for burying others. The moment 1 joined Brad's hands to his arms, 1 felt empowered, joyhil. The arms reach lower than the body of submarine and are operated by voice cornmand when Brad and Garvin inside agree what to work on together.
256 1 am gaining confidence workuig with my rnaterids. 1 focus on the building; time slows dom. These boas bring me laughter. Each boat is a separate joumey-where rve ken, and where I'm going-yet each comects to the other together in the now of where 1 am. Skiboat 1 built my Skiboat on November 4, This Little boat has oversize sails; it zooms dong, skimming gver the water. Maximum fun. Hemy's water skis are the srnailest barrier or window between him and the water. Sometimes he fds the water. becomes part of the water, hence his life-jacket This is the fmt time 1 crea Boatpeople piece by piece, rather than as cut-outs. Their energy is given colourhil shape and fom in spacetime. 1 created Henry, the fmt Boatperson, very carefuily. The other two Boatpeople, Marion cheering Henry, and SixT, the driver, are not so perfect-who is perfect? 1 enjoy the infinite possibilities of creating; it helps me feel more connected to my own body. Like being in a rwm with other people who are laughing, I feel happy inside to see Henry king wild, strong, and healthy. He is accomplishing his own freedom, his own independence. yet he is connected to the Skiboat and other Boatpeople. 1 had stopped reading &t is a way of bowing (Allen, 1995) on page 67, because 1 did not like the titles of the chapters in the Contents pages. (Al1 25 are entitled "Knowing" something.) 1 know very little, yet I have leamed much. NIen (1995) overuses the term "knowing," to the degree that it loses its rneaning for me in the Iist. Taking a three-week break from reading this book is my form of protest. When 1 do continue reading if 1 find boat images on pages 68-69! 1 wonder whether the page number 67 has any relevance-1 moved to British Columbia as a youngster in The very next day dad built a four-by-eight plywood box three feet deep
257 and bolted it to the roof of his new truck Mom and the girls packed stuff inside galvanized garbage pails, and we boys carried hem up to dad. He lashed them into the box. ln the basement, rnom dumped al1 our boxes of folded clothes, and our tucked-in sheets willy-nilly into green garbage bags and we carried them out to him. He stuffed them up to the roof in the front of a big empty boxy silver nailer. We were told to go to bed, on bare mattresses. In our clothes. 1 couldn't sleep. When it was very dark, dad came downstairs. 1 sat up. "You," he said quietly, "get everybody into my truck." "Yes ciad." He tumed away. 1 woke up al1 the boys and hustied them outside. 1 went to wake up the girls, but they were gone. Mom tumed out the lights, and locked the back door, and climbed in beside dad. Thomas sat beside her on the folding front seat. 1 sat behind dad. He turneci on his highbeams. Not a word was spoken. 1 knew we'd never be back but 1 didn't know where we were going. 1 was really angry that I never had the chance to Say gwdbye to Darlene, Emma, and Brenda and 1 wondered where they had gone and if 1 would ever see them again. I leanied later that my sisters went to live with my brother Norman because Darlene had told Betty what she had told me in the outhouse and Betty was going to cal1 the police and we were running away so dad didn't have to go to jd. Dad &ove slowly, the tires sounded like a long war siren, way off in the distance. 1 put a finger on one eyelid, then on the other, and as the hours tumed into days, 1 learned to wink. (Stewart, 1995,44) It was a long ride. The big overioaded trailer that Dad pulled behind his new tmck had only a single ale; it fishtailed violently over 30 miles per hour. He kept pulling ont0 the shoulder of the road to let long parades of summer traffk go by, and often took breaks at truckstops. We spend one night in Saskatchewan in a big parkinglotfuil of provincial Ministry of Transportation trucks. For supper, Mum cooks scrarnbled eggs in dad's butter on the portable Coleman stove on the tailgate of his new truck. They taste like she likes me. None of my schoolfkiends know that 1 have left the province. 1 did not have the chance to wnte down their addresses; how can 1 write them Ietters and tell them I'm still dive?
258 F ï g Other Travelling Family Members-mer Memories On November 8, 1995, I pick up the package of farnily history material that I requested fiom my brother. Included is a copy of an undated letter, bearing my Granddad Algemon's famous signature: Respecthg our Amoural Bearings or more plaidy speaking Our Coat of Arms, 1 understand it &tes fiom before the Inquisition during the pend of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 1498, I believe and our people the Smiths were rich merchants and large ship owners but during the Inquisition on account of not being catholics and rtfusing to be converted, al1 the property was confiscated and a portion of the family had to fly and find asylum of refuge. Oae portion spread to Holland, another portion were converted and remained There is in London now a Vice Consul of a Spanish town and he is a Catholic. I went to see him and he told me what religion he was. There was some years ago an Admiral Smith who was in this country and was received in audience by the late Queen Victoria No doubt years ago it was a great and noble family but time works wonders. Well the part that went to Hoiland evennially divideci, some staying there and others to London so apparently we belong to the London part, although originally it was one family - 1 believe there are still some of our name in HoIIand - The Coat-of-Arms 1 can use by paying [pound sterling] here but 1 have never used it on my paper and dont want to, it leads nowhere after di, only useless vanity, 1 think. This dearest is ail 1 can tell you - 1 think our Motto is a fine one - MOTTO - LET AMBITION BE GOVERNED BY REASON - Our Coat-of-Arms since [signedl A S Smith Here 1 am building boats! "Our whole body remembers. Our whole self dreams" (Steinman, 1985,73). Included in this package 1 find copies of my fatherls father's Birth Certificate recording his birth in the County of Surrey, England. His Death Certificate of Only today (October 13, 1997) do 1 connect that my father died almost the same &y of the year as his father. Only today do 1 leam that my father's father's first narne was Solomon, not Algernon. His mother's narne was Louisa Rose Martin. A human Rose in my family; 1 am strawbemed again! The name of his father, my Great-grandfather, is recorded on the Birth Certifîcate as Benjamin Smith, whose
259 occupation is Listed as "commercial havemer." Four of Benjamin's poems, typed, are included Poems; I am strawberxied again! Three of his poems are dated, respectively, "25/12/27", "20/6/27", and "31/1 O/26", and "signed," using the typewriter, "B. Smith." But wait. The first poem in the package, entitled "A little bit of Heaven," is signed, as is the year, " 1925", in ink, in. * his wwntmg:... For the Mother is the garden, And sweet children are the flowers. then you watch your little offsprings, As you see them grow and thrive, For each one brings a blessing... (B. Smith, 1925) Benjamin signs his name dramatically different than Algernon. Benjamin's capital "S" at the beginning of his last name is large, written. and rounded, the way my father signed his narne. Algernon signs his name with a taii printed "S" with a deliberate serif at begiming and end. Clearly, the sarne typewriter was used to type Benjamin's poems as our Coat of Arms letter; this letter was wrinen by my Great-grandfather Benjamin while in England, dong with his poems, and sent to his son, Grand-dad Algemon here in Canada Gentle Reader, this is very exciting! Algernon signed the bottom of the letter in ownership, not authorship. Also included is the Birth Certificate of Algemon's wife, Ernily Kate, in the County of Kent, England. Also included is a copy of my faiher's "Extract Entry of Birth." He was bom in the county of Bewick. Scotland. Algemon's profession at the time of my father's birth is listed as "Postman." According to Anny form B issued by the Secretary of War Office, London, S.W., dated June 1916, Algemon was discharged from the Royal Field Artillery "after se~ng 14 years 91 days with the Colours. and Two years 221 days in the Amy Resewe" at 35 years of age, "being no longer physically fit
260 for War Service." He too knew pain. Also in the package, a letter fiom my mother to me: May 23,1994 Dear Matthew:- I had copies of Dad's Birth Certifxcate done by my Notary Public for the famfiy. It is a legal document and could be used if you or your children might need it sornetime when travelling abroad. This one is yom. Much love. Mother. This is the only letter fmm my mother to me that 1 have not destroyed. 1 respect the boathistory within my body, and the beckoning future coming toward me, that my body cails. Through boats, I Ucover my past, and bcover my fwe. They help me locate my body in spacetime, in "relation" to my ancestors. 1 am no longer embarrassed by the simplicity of my boats. by their lack of apparent artistry. "The simpler, the deeper... focus and direct engagement are essentiai to depth" (McNiff, 198 1,32). Indeed, 1 am as proud of them as 1 am of Great Grand-dad Benjamin's poetry. Mess him. Teachingboat 1 built my Teachingboat on Novernber 29,1995. Bamaby Peg-Leg drives. The teacher, Gretchen, and the student, Noah, sit at the table in the boat. They build Angelboat together. Angelboats are the same colour as sunlight, that's why you never actually see angels sailing. When this Angelboat is fmished, Gretchen and Noah will set it free. Angels, even though they are invisible, like to go sailing. Angels sometimes work hard to help keep us alive, so they appreciate king invited to have some fun too. 1 feel a quiet happiness, a growing cairnfidence inside; 1 value this exercise in leaming gentleness.
261 By gently listening to our bodily cues and responding to hem with srnail adjustments, we cm create trust in ourseives... (Men, 1995,29) I'rn not clumsy d er all. I can work with small things competently. 1 rebuii t the broken styrofoam fishing line on my Teachingboat with wcxxi, drilleci holes, built the holder for portability, new transparent hook, and even the working reel, with a much lower level of anxiety than when 1 built my Canoe. The key is ailowing myself to build slowly, patiently-even as 1 assemble this thesis. 1 am pleased to lem that 1 have good dexterity for a burly woodsplitter. I'm healing-my han& shake Iess, so 1 can do the fine motor skill work. 1 pack my bats carefûlly, in boxes, and transport hem on floor of my truck, so if I need to stop suddenly they won't fa11 and break. 1 expect others to handle them carefully too. During my presentations to Trent University students, using my Lechiring Voice, I ask for volunteers to assemble boats. Students are eager to touch the lesson, to build it themselves. 1 use my boats as instruments to begin from point of view of healing fun (where 1 am now) rather than anger (where I've been) with the Abraham poem. Student participation and laughter help me relax a little more, trust, and enjoy presenting. 1 hope to inspire others, as 1 dlow the vulnerable part of myself to become visible. My boats serve as links between myself and the student-who-will-be- helped in the future, through these sensitized teachen-to-be that 1 inform with my teachings. 1 don't shake as much, or feel myself draining like 1 did during my other presentations, so I dont need to use adrenaline or anger as sources of energy just to keep going. My survival is not at stake. This is not an endurance test. 1 cm slow down, 1 c m stop any time. Professor Margaret Olson is helping me steer through this rough water, not judging me. This presentation is pêd of my art, not separate from it. Rather than learning to not feel threatened. 1 am leaming to enjoy
262 my work. Whenever we are threatened we need to bring the image of ourselves back into our awareness, so we can find out if the threat is senous, and how we should meet it.but in flow there is no room for self-mtiny. Because enjoyable activities have clear goals, stable des, and challenges well matched to skills, there is little opportunity for the self to be threatened... (Csikszentmihaly, 199 1,63) 1 see, 1 hear, and 1 read the students' generous responses-how do I take them in? 1 am honoured by their honesty, and their praise. The OISEIUT tuition fee is well spent just to find out 1 have boats in me. 1 am glad to share these creations, to connect with my classmates who share their creations. in a way 1 never imagined 1 too, feel joy in a "...loveliness that we have never known we possessed, and certainly, that we have never cornmunicated before others" (Darroch-Lozowski, 1 995,2-3). Each class is a vehicle (boat) for bringing my selves together. 1 asked my classmates to help me when 1 brought in my Came, and on the Iast day 1 thanked them for their help. I am leaming to expect acceptance and respect from my peers. Dadboat 1 built my Dadboat from December 1 - IO, This boat represents me being a Dad for my children, literally taking them into my boatbody. Wilton moved in with me at the end of his school year in June 1996, and my daughter invited me to her place December 5. For the fint time in 5 years, she came to visit me, and stayed over at my place December 18 and 19, The children in the childboat, a girl narned Lilac and a boy named Spmce, are on the high seas. Their feathersails are frayed and they cannot make progress. They cal1 Dad in his Dadboat to help them. Dadboat is rusted with experience. Dad sails out to meet them.
263 'Take down your sails." he says. "Sit dom and rest" Liiac and Spruce sit on their sa&. Dad adjusts the ballast of his Dadboat, then lowers the rescue pod into the water. Lilac and Spruce secure their Chiidboat to the rescue pod. Slowly, Dad raises the rescue pod, and lowers it back into his boatbody. Lilac and Spruce c hb up the ladder to the bridge, where they al1 have hot chocolate and toasted crumpets with sweet butter and ginger rnarmalade. Dad sails to a safe harbour and helps the children fit their boat with the new feathersails which he has brought. When they are rested Lüac and Spmce head out to sea again. Liberty. This boat marks a sigrufcant change in me. Instead of looking for a safe place for myself- -such as a classroom-i recognize that 1 embody the truth that 1 am a safe place for my children. 1 have carried the ballast for this Dadboat in my toolbox 15 years. The act of naming my boatpeople bnngs me joy. 1 ask them their names, and they tell me. Building boats involves my tactile body more. and differently than writing. I feel excitement in my whole body. 1 enjoy rescuing feathen from chicken-coop-pop, mud, the pond, horse dung, from under piles of Ieaves and snow. My search for feathers connects me with people in the cornrnunity, and birds who squawk and waddle. 1 squawk back. and thank hem aloud for their feathers, and assure them I won't hurt them. The hen corrals her chicks into the corner, or hustles them outside away from me. I hope the peacocks overhead don't poop in rny hair for a laugh.... The art process is at work healing me and taking over from any conscious thinking and judging. This absorption in the process is what heals... (Allen, 1995, 135) 1 move about in my house, searching through my kitchen, my toolbox. my closet, for the
264 right part Instead of looking for a word in my dictionaries or thesaunis, 1 kick up the snow in search of twigs to whittle as axles. In this way, 1 ailow my interior impube to srnile and laugh to wume physicality. Rather than thinkllig joy. 1 do it 1 give it space, and tirne, and it grows. A primary tool... is that of ampiifxation, which refers to that process which strengthens and vivifies signals, thus assistuig them to cross that person's threshold of awareness. (Steinman, 1985, 110) Boatbuilding, uniike writing, offers me the opportunity to leam how to be cornfortable amid the chaos of cutting-boards, baskets. plastic dishes, twigs, popbottles, feathers, pieces of cut bottles and styrofoam, wwd, glue, scissors, wire, string, and tools on my desk. My Red Oak desk is my sacred workspace. It is the oniy piece of funiiture that 1 designed and had built to my standards. It is rugged, simple, and elegant, and 1 do not allow others to mar it with earrings, car keys, food, drink, clothing, etcetera. Working at my desk is a form of prayer, one of my ways of giving thanks for the trees that became my desk, my books, and this papa on which 1 wnte. 1 used to tear open my mail, and toss the envelopes into the trashcan. Now 1 use them as containers for receipts that 1 collect month by month for tax purposes, and for scratchpads when I'm on the telephone. That's how 1 came to Save the ones that became my Came and Sailboat. Boatbuilding transforms my desk into a playspace. Boat construction presents engineering challenges new to me: how do 1 make these puzzle-pieces, and how do they fit together? As my boats become more complex in design and function, the fun in leamhg is problem-solving: how do these pieces work together? 1 merge with, and become my workplay. Tirne slows down for "...the sense of duration of time is altered; hours pass by in minutes, and minutes can stretch out to seem like hours..." (Csikszentmihaly, 199 1,49).
265 1 keep oeeding to learn that it's safe to make a mistake, that no one is going to bust in on me and punish me. This is hard work for me, and Fm thankhil that 1 have the opportunity to learn it through practice. 1 don't always break things because Pm careless. A thin siiver of w& for example, can only endure so much stress. so when drilliag holes in it, 1 must ease, rather than push the drill, or the wood will split. When 1 break something, 1 can lem how to fix it, or I cm build a new one. 1 learn to listen with my hands. 1 thought what was more important, 1 would write. Now 1 cm draw it. form it, play it on piano. 1 thought my purpose in life was to learn how to tell the tnith, now 1 undentand it is to be me. 'Though resolution is never complete, it is often sufficient for the sumvor to tum her attention from the tasks of recovery to the tasks of ordinary life..."(herman, 1992,212)- My "ordinary life" is full of blessings. 1 am thankful thai my han& work, that 1 can walk. 1 am thankfûl to be dive to Iearn how to build boats. During the process of boatbuilding, 1 transform envelopes and popbottles from containers to vehicles. 1 recognize them as valuable, rescue and wash hem, cut them open surgically, though not at their prescribed opening-points (orifices), cleanse their insides, and infuse them with new colour, and purpose. 1 Save them when they are on their way to destruction in the garbage or recycling boxes. With immense respect for birds, 1 resurrect their beauty and gentlestrength. Their feathers reach up and down (Sailboat), Iike boat is birdbody, and feathers are wings (Birdboat). These boats serve as appropriate metaphor for my intense journey toward my own resurrection, unseen and unheard by the world inside the great fish, now brought into the light.
266 ... a most radicd notion for psychiatry may be that the acute state, however distresshg or dangerous, is, paradoxicdy, a change which is needed, trying to happen. (Steinman, 1985, 109) As 1 mate my new life, 1 am leaming how to N1 it with quiet joy, rather than busyness. Boatbuilding signifies my need, and the exercising of my right to rest h m gathering and presenting a quantity of academic "knowledge" for grades. The central therne... is the existence of a dialogue between outward activity and inner stillness. This dialogue appears to be associated both with huma. interaction and creativity. The paradox iies in that it is in the moments of rest from outward striving and interaction, that the greatest insights, and the greatest feelings of oneness with the universe seem to occur. (Fuikerson, 1987, cited in Steinman, 1985, 13 1) Now is the time to let my boats be bats (I have shared hem-they are no longer just mine), without taking them apart with interpretations. They come to me, from me, and through me. Joy is mine to share. 1 see the recycling blueboxes at the roadside laden with popbottles as treasure chests containing innumerable boats-in-embryo. 1 have run "boatbuilding workshops" for eiementary school children. What will the fial outcome be?... the process itself is the outcome; every day is a whole-not a step toward some dreamed-of recovery, but an end itself, to be lived in its Wlness as if no disease existe ci... (Chopra, 1990,242) 1 remember seeing a wooden canoe in the ditch near my father's cottage when 1 was about seven years old. It bore a jagged hole in its rniddle, as if a big man with hobnail boots had jumped through it with his feet together. 1 wanted so to rescue it, to patch it, to paddle it to fieedom. Every time 1 saw it 1 felt sad. 1 wanted so to bring that canoe back to life, 1 was sure I could if 1 had the chance.
267 I need to create space for new workplay. On December wrote in my journal: "1 am collecting matenais because 1 must build a complex boat in the shape of a human body. with Liquid moving inside it I must build hands." Art "enables us to confront our resistance to opening the heart" (McNiff, 1981, 17). As artist, 1 am witness to myself as creator of worlds and events-in-motion, rather than judge of my work's "artworthiness." Art needs time to work The more 1 cultivate my sensitivity, the more I leam how to synthesize different perspectives-ways of experiencing the work. and its meanings. Engaging in art, 1 agree to listen and honour the signals that prompt artistic creation. 1 agree, in essence, to allow creative energy to be channelled, indeed focussed. through myself so it can assume a recognizable form or shape. 1 live within creative energy, as it lives within me. Art is the means of tapping into it. It cannot be hamesseci; it is everywhere, flowing through the bodymind of al1 things which have ken, which are. and which will be. This is the energy of life itself, the creation of death king a part. the energy wherein my selves are simultaneously composing, decomposing, and recomposing. Art is thus allowed to be bom inrn my awareness so it can be borne hy my expanding awareness. Fostering the flow of art creates consciousness-creating-art in the bodymind. Art is, in this moment, an opportunity to give thanks for the creative Spirit of one's king, and to celebrate that Spirit with feelings of joy for the gift of life itself through the utterance of the heretofore unutterable. This is my sacred space of listening to the cal1 of my ageless, indestructible Spirit. Here and now I honour, and give resonance to the voices deep within, for "...our king tends to make itself, in the moment of artistic perception, isomorphic with the work of art..." (Foreman, 1976, 146). This life-aff1rning creative act allows that which 1 did
268 not consciously know that 1 knew, to commune with me and nurture me. Where the interplay of these positive energies serve to enrich the Lives of my selves, the whole of huma- is enriched- the way the dropping of a pebble in a pond sends npples tùrough the whole pond, not just across its surface. SIowly, 1 come to lem that art is a safe way of giying to my selves and the wodd, thereby changing my selves and world. "We enter a world created by others, but we can also create and re-create our world through art-making" (Allen, 1995, 1 1). I move frorn king self-in- this-world created in memory, to selves-creating-selves. 1 leam that art is a way of accepting the gift of my childself, a safer openspace where I can begin to leam how to trust the process of transformation as fundamental to life itself. Art enables me to become more whole, more dive. The more I embrace my own liberty, the more I leam to rely on my particular inner path, the less 1 need my therapist-teacher. "My overall intention is to come to know the source of wisdom and guidance within me" (Allen, 1995, 16). Art serves to help me make meaningful connections, while challenging me to gain critical distance fiom rny some of my selves and my art. As 1 move closer to and îùrther from my creation, like the tide. I develop creative momentum and rhythm This distance ailows "a self to see, and a self to see my seeing-self seeing" (Foreman, ). From both these perspectives, 1 experience the thing created as coming from within myself, now extemdized, separate from me. It is a thing embodied, a place to move fonvard from, a thing to share, not wholly known or knowable. Images... open a window ont0 the future... the meaning of an image reveais itself gradually... some of its significance remains shrouded in mystery, unveiling itself only in a future... (Shuman. 1989, 122) The significance of distance is that it is essential to movement, and it creates space within the
269 selves fiom which other art pieces may emerge. My Grampa William's artfonn was carpentry. He Mens to wood with his hands, like it is touching him. He moves his plane dong the edge of the door in looooong, smoooooth strokes. I tuck some of the Fresh woodcurls in my pockets to smell later so 1 can hold onto the memory of being with Grampa As I type this inquky, amid a fluny of paper, I keep a pencil on my ear, like Grampa did in his workshop. 1 can always find it. Visitïng Graves: Diary Entries On April29, 1992,I drive to Stoker to learn Grampa's middle name. One of my rniddle names was his first name. The headstone reads: William Baker/ l968hs beloved wifemimifred A. Joned feel saci; no middle narne. I'm looking for a new name for myself. 1 still want some connection. Gramma Win died first, in hospital in Barrie, one year after we moved out West My mother reatrned to Ontario for her fimeral. Grampa William rnissed Gramma Win tembly; he died the same year of a broken heart. My sister Betty attended his funeral, my mother did not. My mother was the only one not named in Grampa and Gramma's joint will. On December 28, 1994, I take Wilton and Christine to a Toronto cemetery to visit the graves of Grand-dad Algemon and his wife Emily. This is our first time. Raymond, in the office, gives me a rnap of the cemetery and opens large ledgers before me to read. Algemon died in Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto at 70 years of age. Cause of death: pulmonary infarction. Pulmonary infarction is a bloodclot that lodges in the lung tissue and causes it to die within minutes-this frequently leads to a cardiac arrest. (Johnston, November 23, 1997) He was buried in August Emily died in our family home in Morganville at 76 years of age.
270 Cause of death: hypertensive heart disease. She was buried in Apd was bom January 20, The only memory of Grand-rnum Emiiy that 1 can access so far, is of her lying in a big bed, to my left, under pale green blankets, with a big pillow under her head. My perspective on this scene is from slightly above the bed; one of rny older sisters is holding me on her left hip. Grand- mum Emüy died last night in her sleep. My sister is not sad; taking care of her was hard, thankless work for her. I clear away the dead leaves frorn the flat marker-the word "Redeemed" inscnbed in large ietters leaps at me. Many of my siblings told me that, as my father had commanded, a wooden sign with the word "Redeemed" hung over his casket in the funeral home. My father and his father were united in death with one word. In life, they had remained apart. Algemon and Emily were both 33 years old when my father was bom. My father was 37 when Algemon died, and 43 when Ernily died My father died 1 year younger than his father. My father was 42 years old when 1 was born. I am hope to successfdly defend this thesis and be awarded my Ph.D. Born again. Letter from Professor G Dear Matthew, 1 won't write a lot to you as we had that speciai long oral exchange around your work earlier in December. On the pages and in Our conversation, you elucidated, and illuminated for me the meanings of the course work for yourself. More importantly, your work and your understanding of your own "Boats, Notes, and Quotes" demonstrat(ed) a deep knowledge, theoretical and applied, of what working with the arts educatively can accomplish. 1 congratulate you on your movement-of-self during the serninar. It is rare to witness such a phenornenon in such a condensed time span. As well, your contributions to the seminar were to the point and excellent. (Professor G, January 8, 1996) Popboffle People 1 made many trips to the recycling plant in Peterborough. After a recycling tmck dumped
271 its load indoors, 1 waded through the huge pile, filling large, ciear plastic bags with popboales of assorted sizes, colours, shapes, with different sized mouths and different coloured caps. This refuse is the material, "the dust of the ground" (Genesis 23) from which 1 created my Popbottie People. 1 usually cokcted about two hundrcd dirty popboales each visit, fdling the back of my truck. At home, 1 peeled off their labels, washed them with Varsol to dissolve the glue, washed them again in soapy water, and rinsed them before surgically transfomllng them. As 1 worked, I breathed on them 1 breathed into them "the breath of life" (Genesis 7:2). My Popbottle People have narnes. Becoming artists and theologians of our own lives, we cm approach the depth that is the dornain of soul. Fine art, üke formal religion, is at times quite lofty, while soul in any context is lower case, ordinary, daily, familial and communal, felt, intimate, attache& engaged, involved, affected, ruminating, stirreci, poetic. The soul of a piece of art is known intimately, not remotely. It is felt, not just understood. (Moore, 1 994, ) In the act of creating my Popbonie People, they have created me; they taught me how to create them. When Wilton and 1 created Janet, the teacher, for example, 1 did not know how to make hands. Baseball Bud taught me how. Hector taught me how to make feet. These discoveries brought me joy. The stories of al1 I learned during the creation of my Popbottle People. and the toys, are waiting to be told some other tirne. Allow me, Gentle Reader, to introduce them to you. Bud 1 created Bud on December 17, Bud represents the student subjected to extreme intrafamilial violence. Bud has no safe place inside his incomplete body for sense of a whole self. Bud feels hollow, empty, and so transparent that everybody can see clearly exactly what is going
272 ... for a long time chiidren may feel that somehow mother or father cm see right through them. And even when children have corne to the realization that one can keep certain things inside, the feeling has not yet faded that parents somehow have privileged access to their inner life...p arents really tend to know their children weli. (van Manen & Levering, 1996,78) Extemally, his eyes and ears are bigger than normal, indicating that Bud's senses are on the den. Bud is hypervigilant. Intemally, however. Bud's eyes, ears, and mouth are plugged. Gagged. In his family home, Bud is told repeatedly to "shut up," to "be seen and not heard," and to "speak when yourre spoken to, and not before." Bud is punished for questioning, for tdking. Although he sees and hears the horror of violence dl around him, he is punished for seeing and hearing. The connection between Bud's head and his torso represents the paradox of how extreme violence is synthesized in the body. Bud is plugged. He cannot learn the imlevant lessons in the school classroom; he is already overloaded and overwhelmed with the trauma of his moment-to-moment survival at home. Knowledge is represented by orange coloured liquid. The school lessons add to his burden. Bud is unplugged. He cannot Ieam the irrelevant lessons in the school classroom; they run through him like diarrhoea. But the genesis of trauma is not limited to the effects of war since the abuse of bodies destroys identity and leaves results parailel to w u and its consequences. (Stiles, 1993,96) Bud cannot absorb the geography lesson any more than he can understand the meaning of the word "relax." Bud does not see his Victirnself as having a complete body. He is not like other people in the world.
273 Janet Wilton and I created Janet on December 28,1995. Janet represents the teacher. Extemally, she looks normal; she has a body, with arms and legs. Looking inside her, you see that Janet has body-knowledge, represented by the yellow liquid, throughout her entire body. Janet has intemal "fdters" for her eyes, ears, mouth, minci, limbs and organs, through which she "Nters" her life experience. Bud, the traumatized student, cornes to Janet one &y. '7 don't know how to leam how to leam," he says. "1 find king in a classroom a traumatic experience. 1 don't feel safe in class. Or anywhere." Survivors feel unsafe in their bodies. Their emotions and their thinking feel out of control. They also feel unsafe in relation to other people. (Heman, 1992, 161) "I'm looking for help," says Bud. "Would you like to sit down?" asks Janet. Asking for help, especiaiiy fiom a teacher, is an act of bravery. "Traumatized people are often reluctant to ask for help of any kind..." (Hennan, 1992, 134). Janet invites Bud to tell her his story. Janet understands why Bud speaks so fast, his voice quivering in fez She listens to Bud. While telling his story, Bud can see and feel that Janet is not mshing him. "Filters allow you to slow experience down," she says. "They allow you to choose what you want to leam, how much you want to lem, and when." Janet tells Bud about different types of learning, and how she appreciates his struggle with classroom book-learning. Janet tells stories about her own struggles with different types of leamhg too. Different types of knowledge, represented by blue, green and red coloured liquid,
274 move through Janet, mixing as they go. She is a teacher, yes, with a Teachenelf. She aiso has a Motherseif, a Daughterself-many selves. Bud hears her many voices mingling in her Teacherself. and hem how she embodies "...slowing dom the h e to where there ris] a resonance: an integration of the personal and existentid selv es." (B loom, p.86). Knowledge flows to, through, and from Janet's body. In the exchange of stones, Bud lems that it's safe to talk about the body with the teacher; the teacher has a body. "What would you like to do?" asks Janet. "1 want to learn about "fiken," says Bud. "Good. Corne back and tell me what you fmd out." The teacher actuaily cares; Bud goes home encouraged. Hopeful. Curious. Bud-wiser I created Bud-wiser on January 3, Bud-wiser represents the traurnatized student leaming how to bodily synthesize the lessons that Janet, the teacher. is teaching. Bud-wiser is growing a body. His eyes and ears, his senses, are not so pronounced; he is less vigilant. Bud-wiser has been leaming about "filters." Instead of white ones, like Janet, Bud-wiser has created his own "filters," in different colours. He recognizes that he already has body hwledge, represented by orange liquid in his limbs and torso. In the centre of his body, his heart is full of black liquid representing fear. He still feels afraid. He does not know how to feel confident inside his body. "Feelings are chemical and can kill or cure... There are approxirnately sixty known peptide molecules in the body... They make feelings chernical..." (Siegel, ). '7 still feel like 1 dont know anything," Bud-wiser says to Janet. "It feels like fear."
275 "Yeu do how something," she says. "You kaow trauma rm sorry. None of us should have to Ieam tbat." As Bud-wiser leam more of the wod& represented by taking in yellow and orange Liquid, his fear slowiy is diiuted, and cm pass out of his body. Sprout I created Sprout on March 3, Sprout represents Janet's baby-in-her-womb. 1 don't We the word "fetus." I remember king in my mother's womb, and she distinctly remembers me "Yeu were the one who wouldn't lay still," she says "You always m ed crooked, up under my ribs, like this." She demonstrates. "Daddy would take me to tom, and the doctor wouid lean on you and force you down. but half-way home, you'd push younelf up again. It hurt." A child contains more than his present and his pst. A child, more than any adult, is filled with a sense of his future-provided of course, he is not severely depressed. Clearly, rnothen and fathen may assist this process or obstruct it. Mothers and fathers cany for the child not only a sense of the baby that he once was and in part still is, but also a sense of the man or woman that he will becorne, and is b c m. (Alvarez, 1992, 177) 1 remember in my bones. "It is possible to restore memories to consciousness reaching nght back to the womb" (Stettbacher, 1991,20). 1 was hying to protect my left side. Trying to escape my father.
276 Our attraction to the creative proceu is instinctive, spontaneous, and innate; we make images and respond to them because we have m...we are a t we feel a d (Shuman, 1989,81) Sprout has elbow room inside Janet's womb. Sprout has no "Nters;" Janet Sprout's "filter." Janet's Mother-self likes to listen to Erik Satie's - mies wwhi she is pregnant, Sprout is developing an ear for it too. By 28 weeks, fenises blink their eyes in reaction to nearby sounds (Birnholz & Benacerraf, 1983). And in the last weeks of pregnancy, they lem to prefer the tone and rhythm of their mother's voice. In one clever study, mothers were asked to read aloud Dr. Seuss's lively book 3nc Cat io the &g to their unborn babies for the last 6 weeks of pregnancy. After birth, their infants were given a chance to suck on nipples that turned on recordings of the mother reading this book or different hyming stones. The infants sucked hardest to hear me C a m, sounds they had corne to know whüe SU in the womb (DeCasper& Spence, 1986). (Berk, 1994,96) Sprout's learning in the womb is represented by a blue pen that floats freely inside Sprout. Brenda 1 created Brenda, a racecar, a monstertmck, a 4-wheel-drive Jeep, and a stationwagon on March 8, Brenda represents how Bud sees his traumatized mate. Brenda and Bud have grown into adults. Brenda, in many ways, is plugged ext y. me that." "Dontt you tell me that," she says to Bud. "Dontt you touch me like that Don't you show She tries to control Bud like she tries to control her world. Trauma robs the victim of a sense of power and control; the guiding principle of recovery is to restore power and control to the survivor. The first task of recovery is to establish the survivor's safety. This task takes precedence over all others... This initial stage may last..yean with survivors of chronic abuse. The
277 work of the first stage of recovery becornes increasingly complicated in proportion to the severity, duration, and early onset of abuse. (Hem, 1992, ) Brendds experience of abuse dominates her sense of self. Like Bud and Buddy (below) she does not see her Victimself as having a complete body. In order to feel safe, she must maintain control of how close othen corne into her physical and psychic space. Paradoxically, while she tries to keep others at a safe, non-threatening distance with her rage, represented by the jagged ends of the cyhders, these same cylinders are open, and Brenda has no "filtea" inside to help her handle the experience. Her left ear is super sensitive and open to "filter" music. She can "filter" some things she sees with her right eye. She has a difficult time "fdtering" what goes into, and what comes out of her mouth, The 4 toys 1 build for my Playself, just for the fun of figuring out how to make believable tires and a working steering mechanism from popbottles. On March 15, 16, and 2M, Wilton and 1 built a snowmobile, a motorcycle, a tractor for comfïelds, and a helicopter. I had been playing with necks of popbotties that fit inside each other with or without the cap on, since October 26, 1995, wondering how to build a working rotor. The solution woke me from sleep, early. Wilton and 1 worked on building these machines together from before breakfast und well after rnidnight each day. 1 allowed him to use my propane torch only after he agreed to safety precautions that 1 stipulated. He created the back hdf of the helicopter on his fmt attempt, exactly as we needed it. 1 had tried 12 times. When Wilton comes to visit here at my cabin, he sleeps on a piece of foarn rubber on the floor beside my desk. Each night, when we stopped work, we lay on his bed together and &ove our cars and tnicks over each other. We landed Our helicopter on each other's chest.
278 Buddy On March 22, 1996,I created Buddy. Buddy represents how Brenda sees Bud. Impenetrable. He is covered, fiom the mwn of his head, in shields. He can only "filter" experience through his eyes. His cars and his mouth are plugged; he can hear no one and no one cm hear him. He's always on guard. ready to do battie. Everyone threatens him. In his lefi hand. he holds another shield. In his right, a sword. Buddyfs main stmggle in life is to lem to put his shield and his sword down. This is hard work Each step he takes back from them he feels more VUlnerabIe. Brenda and Buddy are evenly matched. Dangerous. Not easily hugged. Bud-at-home On Apd 15, 1996,I created Bud-at-home, who represents the how the traumatized student feels inside himer body while king raped andor tomired in hidher farnily home. He has no feet; no flight. He has no hands; no fight. Bud-at-home's eyes and ears and mouth have ken tom open by his assailant and they are swollen almost shut. Bud-at-home does not feel connected to any part of his body, including his limbs or his senses. Beaten senseless. He hears the bones in his neck crunch. He hem his skull crunch. He hears his nose, his nbs, his arms and legs. Cninch cmch crunch crunch. He is king mangled, broken and tom open. He bleeds from the inside. outside, top and bottom. front, back and sides. He is king excoriated. He becomes a sieve; neither the thin net that was his skin nor his bones hold him together. He is more than transparent now, you cm put your fingers the gashes in one side of his body, g~ through, and out the other side. "The message... is in the material and m the technique-in the cuts, the tears, the ruptures..."(pma, cited in Christ, 198 1,s). Bud-at-home is dying. His name makes him the
279 hardest for me to present; 1 have not yet leamed to make myself "at home." Each time 1 present these Popbottle People, 1 heal a little. The stmggie between the multiplicity of interna1 voices and the monolithic voice of externat authonty breeds trauma...yet while trauma may be so severe that victims might require someone other than themselves to speak recovery depends upon victims speakuig for themselves. (Stiles, 1993, f 16) Basebail Sud On April22-23, 1996, I created Baseball Bud who represents the traumatized student as healthy as he can be. He is in motion, ninning to catch a baseball. Baianced. Focused. His whole body is complete. He is celebrating He, celebrathg having a body that still works, by piaying catch. Hector I created Hector May 10-12, Hector is Basebdi Bud's untraumatized fiend. He too plays with his whole body. They play catch together in the field. The basebail is represented by the pingpong ball in Basebdl Buds left hand. He has just made a running catch. Hector raises his arm and ben& his right Ieg, in a Little celebratory jig. "Great catch!" he shouts. Between Baseball Bud and Hector, is the Bud-Hector, the space where their fkiendship meets, and overlaps. The space where their individual Playing Selves mesh into each other. You rnight call this the Spirit of the game. Cornmunity. Baseball Bud holds al1 these other Popbottle People within him. They are only some of his different selves that he has integrated. These clear Popbottle People, while king physically both easy to see and hard to see, help me bring the lessons of trauma that 1 have lemeci, out into the
280 open. Where such continuou perd exists, trauma is constant. The task is to undermine its invisibility. For its concealed conditions, its silences, are the spaces in which the destructions of trauma multiply. (Stiles, 1993,98) My Popbottle People represent, in a concrete and tangible way, how I see my educating, healing selves-in-transition. 1 stand before you, Gentle Reader, naked as a window. Not squeaky clean, but no longer shattered. Alive. Hurnan. Transparent Man, who is seen through. foolish, who has nothing left to hide, who has become transparent through self-acceptance; his sou1 is loved, wholly reveded, wholly existentid; he is just what he is, freed from paranoid concealment, from the knowledge of his secrets and his secret knowledge; his transparency serves as a pnsm for the world and the not-world. For it is impossible reflectively to know thyself; only the last reflection of an obituary may tell the truth, and only [Great Spirit] knows our real names. (HiIlman, cited in Moore, 1992,261) My heaüng process consists of my moving through a series of events. These events precipitate the possibility of further life-enhancing developrnents (Dewey. 1938,35). Healing is proac tive and reac tive. ParadoXical ly, both modes operate simultaneousl y. The proac tive mode involves employing strategies that prohibit or inhibit the threat of disease, thus eliminating the need for corrective rneasures. Conversely, the reactive mode surrenders itself to life's inevitable consequences that require fixing. We leam from experience, consciousiy or otherwise, how to intemally translate fear into sensate pain. Memory, the wiring of the bodymind, limits the perception of the whoieness and, therefore, the wholesomeness of new experience. Within the circuitry of memory, the list or container of stored images and sensations may not be recorded accurately or chronologically, yet their echoes and their meanings are reflected, indeed lived, in the moment. Through healing,
281 rewiring the bodyminci, we lem to look at our selves consciously, and ask our selves: "How is it easier to remember and hold onto the negative, rather than the positive? How do we choose thus, in this moment, to injure our selves and how wiil this injury manifest itseif?" We must leam to respect our fuses-limits of capacity and endurance-that we share with the rest of humanity. Pain and illness, while separating us fiom the busyness of our former selves and our fnends, also connects us to different aspects of our selves-in-transition, while offering us the opportmity to dow others to help us. My own quest for healing has led me directly to this inquiry. 1 simultaneously bring my Popboale People home, Gentle Reader, while setting them free. Transforming visual representations into textual analysis rnay increase insight into, and compassion for, suffering, empathy which is the fmt and necessary stage for refonn. (Stiles, 1993,99) Pain and illness are great teachers, asking us to lem humility and compassion for our selves and others who suffer. They ask us to lem patience, courage, and thankfulness for the gifi of Our lives, however meagre, for only through acceptance of our selves is inner change possible.... Senous illness can be redemptive if it opens the sluices of vital memory, sharpens the focus, transforms the improbable into the possible, and imparts a qudity of high art to the gift of time. (Cousins, 1983, 192) Pain, illness, fear, and death, therefore, are to be honoured, rather than feared. How do we sort through the messages of the culture of fear and suffering we live in, and lem to accept individual nsponsibility for Our freedom? Memory is like a cage for the circus bear. healing is like the door on that cage opening. Where memory traps us, heding is freedom to help others.... look for ways to bring yourself into a more centred whole, and concomitantly, bnng yourself into harmony with al1 those who make up Human Being... We
282 can stop thinking of how everythmg affects only ourseives hstead, we can shift the perspective to sexving othen. (Dyer, 1989,227) We exist as the bear and the cage with the door. When we realize that memory consists of what & rather than what was, we empower Our selves. We gain the freedom to choose the safety of our cage, or risk a challenging He. We cannot escape o u need to be k.... meditation... the process of transcending, or "going beyonci," detaches the mind from its fixed level and dows it to exist, if only for a moment, without any level at all... it has afquired a Little kdom to move. (Chopra, ) The imaginative healing of our present memorymoment then, leads us forward to Our next and healthier memorymoment. The path of healing rnay be to cleariy picture our funire before we get there, like the brave F d as a prisoner of war,...p lay out in your mind fmt exactly how you want things to go for you. Pay great and exacting attention to those images. They will be the source of what is to be played out in your physical body, and will determine either the suffering or the blissful condition of your body. (Dyer, 1993, 167) The path may lead us to reconstnict where we have been-our past. In authoring one's own Life, autobiographea challenge the irrevocability of the pst. In effect, they reach back across time and Say those things that remained unsaid, transform faiiure into success, and make achievements of humiliations. (Franzosa, 1992,408) We may choose both paths. One thing is certain; we ignore the wisdom of the ages at Our peril when we try to separate our bodymind into body or rnind. For we think with more than our mincis, and we feel with more than our bodies, and we die when they are separated. "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Proverbs 23:7). When we learn to yield to the healing process rather than try to control it, "we do not
283 choose images so much as we are chosen by them" (Allen, 1995,73). My Popbottle People need a place to live. They plan to take me with them when they travel. Peopie-Mover Motorhome In December 1996, I commissioned Marie, a local Ast, to paint my Peoplemover motorhome. 1 picked it up on January 14, The licence plaie: ON TOUR. f wrson whom vou would love to k were alreadv he~. Even if you have convinced yourself that you have been afraid of crowds ail of your Iife, or that you are a sickiy person... Yes, 1 said it!...act that part that you want to play. The acting is the physicai world. The is the inner voice. (Dyer, 1993,253) Mer I complete this inqujr, 1 hope to travel with my Popbottle People, using my Lecturing Voice. I am afiaid, yes I am, but here I corne.
284 ARTFUL DIALOGUES CONVERSATIONS WITH ANCESTORS AND CREATURES My fmt day of classes at OISERTT was September 12, Rofessor Diamond's classroom seemed rather crowded to me. The followhg morning 1 called Rofessor Olson. Manhew: 1s it appropriate to tell my teachers at OISUUT that I need more space in the classroom, that 1 need to learn how to be a student with O thers? Margaret: Yes. Do you have an advisor? Matthew: Pat Diarnond. Margaret: Go talk with Pat first. Let me know how it goes. (Diary, September ) The next &y, I dropped by Rofessor Diamond's office. Matthew: I'rn sony but i'm really nervous in dass 1 need lots of elbow room 1 feel trapped I'rn ûying to leam how to Iearn can I sit by the door? can we leave the door open? I talk too much because I'rn afraid when the teacher asks a question 1 speak up trying to protect everybody this is hard work to say this right now 1 feel iike I'rn going to cry it's so hard sorry. Pat: No problem, Matthew. Sit where you feel safe. Watch and listen how the other students do it. Don't be responsible for the class. Relax. Breathe. Perhaps you could write a letter to Little Matthew, telling hirn that he's safe now, that you're taking good care of him. (Diary, Septernber 12,1995) "Letter." One word. Resonance. to losc had been published only four months. In many ways, that book was a Ietter to my dead father. He was never late in his life-he missed it altogether-1 see no reason why I should refer to hirn as "Iate" now. 1 addressed him directly (Stewart. 1995, la, 106, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 120, 122, 125, 149, 150, 151). Five years earlier 1 had taken my unsent letter-a poem-to my mother (above) to my therapistteacher Dr. Wehrspann.
285 To make progress in [education], it is essentiai to estabiish a dialogue with significant others from the past and present-a dialogue in the Literal sense...in this way you becorne in a very real sense the &&i's adv At last we will be able to see conflicts throu &...As chiidren we were either unable to conduct such dialogue or never leamed how... Thus it is crucial that we releam and practice such dialogues....leadhg to self-enhancing behavior...carried out viva voce-in other words, in actud speech-for this dows us to constantly reexamine the interaction taking place within Our system. (S tettbacher, 199 1,54-56) In many of my poems already written, such as the poemletter to Abraham (above) I had invoked the name, therefore, the presence. of whom 1 addressed. One of my healing teachen, the poet e.e. curnmings, also invoked powefil presences into his prayerpoemlettea. Are not the written prayen of Job, Daniel, David, Samson, and Jonah, invocations and letters to Great Spirit? The biblical new testament consists mainly of letters, many parts of which 1 had to memorize as a boy in order to survive: epistles from the apostie Paul, whose narne was changed, from Saul, after his conversion (Acts I3:9). And Sad, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto a high priest... And as he journeyed... suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?... And Saul was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink...and Ananias went his way... and putting his han& upon him... there fell frorn his eyes as it had ken scales; and he received sight forthwi th... And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues... (Acts 9: 1-20) Saul went into darkness. like Jonah in the belly of the fish, for three days. He becarne fishlike with "scales." Then he emerged from darkness transformed, symbolized by his new name, Paul. "Letter." One word. I cannot Say no to Professor Diarnond; 1 live this word. 1 write. Thank you Professor Diarnond for the gift of your compassionate listening. for helping me find the word "letter" again in myself. "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1 : 1).
286 Matthew: Could I submit a letter as part of my essay for this course, Pat, showing how I've grown here? Pat: Yes, Matthew. (Diary, November 6, 1995) So began my series of letters to my OISE/UT teachers (see chapter 9). Through dialogue with my teachers, via letters, I have allowed myself to open up. Through these letters I have been able to voice my experience of growing and learning in the classroom by reflecting how the day- to-day lessons help me heal from my trauma This is an empowering exercise. Letters to my teachers help me record my voice, and gives them the opportunity to record theirs. We are connected, therefore, through conversation. Their comments reflect back to me that indeed I have learned something. What I have learned is valuable to me; it is valuable to them. I read their comments over and over, until I something move inside my body-a little chunk of fear inside my gut breaks away. Slowly, I come to that I'm not faking my way through these courses, that I'm not stupid. When I know I am being heard, I breathe easier; I learn I do not have to try so hard, so often. to be heard. I W respected. I more like a human being, less like an alien in class. I f&l happy. This inquiry, Gentle Reader, is my letter to you. Letter to littie Matthew September 14, 1995 Oh Matthew, You are dive. Oh yes. You are dive. You are hearing me now from the other side, little Matthew, the other side of yourself, where you are going. Every time the pain is too great, and you stop breathing, and drift into this deathdarkness, I shall be with you. Rest. I shall breathe for you.
287 I shall be your very own rainbow. 1 shall bathe you gently in every softwami colour of life. Rest You shall hear me sing blue and green, mauve and yeilow, and be comfoned. You shali not die, little Matthew. Oh no. For in your chest lives heart of Bear. And in your heart lives Spirit of Bear. These are my gifts to you. Rest I hem your heart, yes 1 do, I hear it breaking. Your heart must break, little Matthew, because that is the only way it will open. Every time you drift into this deaihdarkness, 1 shall gather your Spirit home to my bosom, 1 shall keep the drumbeat of your heart for you. Rest- Every time he breaks your bones, 1 shall sew them while you rest here. 1 shall sew them with threads of summer starlight. He canot break your Bear Spirit. Oh no. You shall in al1 ways grow. And corne the dam, Little Bear, when you are strong enough to breathe again, 1 shall carry your Spirit back to you on the dauntless shoulders of my breath. Rest. 1 breathe Grizzly. I breathe muscle. Claws. Teeth. 1 shall roar. 1 shall shred even the entrails of the name of him who wounds you now. You shall be heard. I am Grizzly. 1 breathe in beauty fiom Song of Bluejay, flight of Heron. and vision of Eagle. 1 breathe flash of upriver Salmon, bending of Bluespruce in storm, and leap of Whitetaildeer. 1 breathe Porcupine on hillside, Honeybee in lilac, Turtie on log. 1 breathe them as they breathe me. Rest. You shall lem, Little Bear, to breathe deeply. Oh Littie Bear, I breathe the laughtertears of your son and daughter in f~eiight. 1 breathe youthem freshbread, gardensalad, roastturkey, pumpkinpie. Milk by the gallon. 1 breathe youthem swimlake, dancemusic, and playball. 1 breathe youthem sailboat, canoe, houseboat, and wormhookfkh. 1 breathe your chiidren for you now. They are waiting for you to grow to breathe
288 Woman to breathe them into Life. They trust your broken heart to let them in. You shall leam how to be a safe place for them. 1 breathe your poems and stones. Rest You shall be heard Your truth shall bring honour to your new name. You are alive, Little Bear. 1 give thanks for your life. You shd1 leam to give thanks, and in your thanksgiving, you shdl find justice. Rest. Amen and blessed be. Big Matthew (Stewart) Letter From Grand-dad Algernon: My father's father September 25, 1995 Dear Matthew, 1 am more than a thought in your head. 1 am a presence in your life. Although 1 died before you were born, your body knows me. Say the word "Grand-daddy," Matthew. Whoa! Slow dom, breathe when you speak. Try it again, rolling the r, and sounding the a's like ah. "Gmahnd-dahddy." That's me. That's how 1 used to Say it when I was a lad in Edinburgh. My son strove to make things look perfect- Such a man canot be a daddy. Only a brute. 1 am asharned to cal1 him rny son. 1 cail him that only so you know who 1 mean. When 1 was an old man, and Iived not two miles from him, near the lake, he visited me two or three times a week to show ail the neighbours what a good son he was. You must not blame me for the choices he made. 1 strove to things perfectly. 1 built a small barn for Roy, my horse. 1 saw to it that
289 evew hem, every plank, and every board fit together perfectly. Not one nail did 1 waste. I built it for Roy as a refuge from the bitter winter winds. 1 built it as a refuge for myself fiorn Emily's rage. She simply wanted to be Young, and with each birthday she became more desperate. When rd tell Roy dl about it, and he'd kick the wall of his stau for me. well, that felt more satisfying than swearïng. On Thanksgiving Day, I replaced ail the screens in my new barn with windows. 1 made them myself. They fit perfectly- 1 set Roy's blanket on the seat of my cutter. I leaned my forehead against his strong neck, listening, as he munched the third of our best apples from my hmd. Even the latch on my barn door, which 1 made, clicked perfectly. In the moming, 1 found Roy dead. 1 had built my new bm perfectly airtight, and he died for want of a little fresh air. 1 waiked most everyplace &er that, and 1 began to see beauty in things that 1 had judged imperfect, therefore, unworthy. Was I not walking about, after dl, at the end of my &y. in perfectly smelly socks? Was I not, at the end of my week, perfectly in need of a bath? To mark the change in me, 1 changed the way I signed my name-1 began to add a senf to the first letter of my last name. Your body knows me, Matthew. Your body trusts me. That's why you seek the 1st letter 1 wrote to my son, that's why you love the little serif in the first letter of your last name today, that's why you chose that particular typeface for your letterhead. 1 have guided you to lem to paint letten on paper with fountain Pen, as 1 did, to help you slow down. You brought me honour when you brought your son, my greatgrandson, to visit my grave. You bnng me honour by sharing him with me. 1 shdl not fail to protect your honourable son from my dishonourable son. Death brings huth to life, and makes us equals.
290 Fear not You shall not hurt me nor dishonour me by changing your name. Our surname is not mine, was never mine. 1 oniy borrowed it for a while. When it no longer serves you, move on. Your son needs to find his own narne too. Write on the walls, Matthew. Write in your textbooks, and in your Bible. Wnte in the mist on the bathroom rnirmr. On the back door of dirty trucks. Write with pee in the snow. Write with your finger on the beach. Write your dying friend's name in the air with a buming stick. And when you wnte your poems and stories and essays, I'll be right here, suggesting you Say it wrong to Say it right, suggesting you use too many commas, io help you breathe. Tmly yours, 1 wrote this healing letter before 1 received the letter to Ngernon from his father, in the package bearing both their signatures. Letter from Gramma Win: My mother's mother October I 1, 1995 Dear Matthew, 1 know you miss me most at Thanksgiving, that's why I'm here. I'm your Gramma Win, Matthew, and I'm here to rernind you that I only died 1 did not leave you alone. So you don't have to miss me anymore. 1 need to tell you a little bit about justice. 1 refer to person x, who is not quite dead yet. She does not deserve to be called my daughter, or your mother. Shame on her.
291 Her 1 left alone. Anna my daughter, told me at the hospitai that she called x and she was on the plane coming to see me. 1 could have waited a few more hours to die, Matthew. But 1 was not sure that Pd be strong enough to hold my tongue. I feared, in truth, 1 might curse x. Shame on her. Oh, how I yearned to look into the eyes of my beloved man just one more pink morning. Your Grampa William and 1 waked through our midnight orchard for over years, Matthew. Nothing pleased me more than pressing him agahst the tnink of Our appletree with my lips in a thunderstom. Ah, I'd take hold of his wrists, and bear down, trapping his han& in his pockets, and I'd kiss him tiu he'd breathe. Oh, when that man breathed, Pd hear his breath surging up from deep in the earth, up through the roots of our appletree, into Our trunk, our branches, our leaves, and I'd hear it plunge down into the earth and surge up again. He may have said no to me once or twice. now that 1 think on it, but 1 couidn't quite hear He used to say we could be struck by lightning. That was before he figured out 1 was his lightning. Striking him up. Amid the sound of the rain dmrndrumming our apples at Harvesttime, we drenched each other. Ah, I danced upon that man like a WiIlow in the wind. For your Grampa William loved me. And 1 knew by the smell of the joy in our apples 1 was pregnant again. The Thanksgiving Day when you were but seven years old, your Grampa William and 1 walked about in our orchard the whole day and night That was the first we had heard how x knowingly allowed her children to suffer. Shame. We were already very old, Matthew, and almost wom out. Nevertheless. that day, we wore no warm clothing. No socks, nor shws. We
292 neither ate nor drank. We used not our walkingsticks. We sidestepped not the mud. We fell often. We did not reiieve ourselves. In so doing, Matthew, we aligned Our Spirits with you children and we suffe~d beside you. Through our suffenng. we came to a deep respect for your fortitude. We prayed for each of you. We gave thanks that your lives had ken spared, and we asked for guidance. We decided to fight. With great sadness, we stmck the name of x, my chenshed firstbom, and your Grampa William's dearest, from Our wills. Revenge? No. Justice. For by what right did she bring forth so many children, and refuse to honour and nurture them? By what right did she hide the truth from us, we who honoured and numired her? By what right did she prevent us from honouring and numiring Our grandchildren? Shame. By what right did she prevent our grandchildren from honounng and nurturing us? By what right did she devote herself to that shark instead of running him through for attacking our grandchildren? Sharne 1 Say, shame. We never failed to insist that she bring you children over to visit. Surely you recall the shields Grampa William made for you to use during snowball fights. From the window, Matthew. as 1 made hot chocolate, 1 watched you try to gather a pile of snowbdls together from behind your shield, but you could not deflect al1 the incoming ones. When you took a direct hit in the ear, you stood still and cried, and they pelted you more. Then you threw your shield aside, whooped your warcry, and charged your bigger brothers, dipping and scooping and blasting away. I hung your shield proudly in the barn der you left. When the weather tumed bitter, whenever we could arrange it, al1 of you helped your
293 Grampa William in his workshop. Surely you recd how he made you your very own basebail bat. You took it home. He often said that a housewindow is the best reason to play ball, and he replaced almost every pane of glass in Our place cheemilly when he pitched for our chikiren. He kept score, and at the end of each season, whoever had broken the most windows won a new handmade bat. Only a few things in life are worth coveting, Matthew, and that prize was one of thern. Your Gmmpa William would corne home fiom work, when we were fighting, and he'd stand outside the dmr and toss his hat into my kitchen. Whenever 1 tossed it back, he'd go to his shop and work on that bat, while 1 kept his dinner warm. Fair bail. Sometimes. love is impossible. so love is forgivable. Injustice is unforgivable because justice is always possible. 1 have served Justice; 1 played fair baii with you as I drew my dying breath. Truly yours. Gramma Win These letters enabl e me to establish a link, a heding dialogue with ml 1 interior Little Matthew, Grand-dad Algemon, and Gramma Win selves. Their voices ground me, and expand the circle of my family; I feel loved by them. I am strawberried; 1 am rosed. These letters, Gentle Reader, swim in the vast sea of letters that have never travelled through the post. Here they surface. They connect me with anyone who has ever written a letter and not posted it. They connect me with anyone who loves their ancestors or wishes they did. They connect me to anyone who hopes to create a sense of belonging in the world for themselves. A history. A healing history. For "...there are no events anywhere in the universe which are not tied to every
294 other event in the universe" (Bronowski, lw8,58). These letters bear witness to our conversations, to the exchange of ancestral voices, human and otherwise, that transcend time and space. They are as sacred as the roarings between Griuly and me during my rneditation (below). Like Santiago, 1 feel related to animals and fish. Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him...a is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers. (Hemingway, l995/1952,75) Santiago taks to the marlin (Hemingway, 1995/1952,42,52,54,61,64,66,74,88,92, 1 10, 1 15). He talks to a bird (54). He talks to sharks (108, 109, 1 14). Nick Adams talks to the fish (Hemingway, 1973,94). None of them talk back, Iüce the ass in the bible. A Taking Animal in Scriphw And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And [Great Spirit's] anger was kindled because he went; and the ange1 of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was nding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass tmed aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. But the angel of the Lord stood... where was no way to tum either to the right or to the lefi. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaarn's anger was kindied, and he smote the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened the rnouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have 1 done unto thee, that thou hast srnitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: 1 would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would 1 kill thee, And the ass said unto Balaarn, Am 1 not thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was 1 ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said Nay. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way... (Numbers 22: ) Does the narrator of this story expect hifier readers to believe that an ass literally talked using human language, or are we to discem that Balaarn confronts his own assself (this is the first time I
295 have joined 3 s's in one word) and angelself on his joumey of transformation? See illustratiion page 279. Biblical scholars locate the tale on their maps:... when king Bal& felt the need of a particularly potent spell to defeat his Israelite kinsmen, he applied to the seer Balaam, the son of Beor, who lived at Pethor at the confluence of the Sajur and the Euphrates rivers, twelve miles south of Carchemish. Despite the length of the joumey (twenty days by donkey), Bal& thought it wouid be well worth his while to wait to have the israelites cursed by the powemil incantations of so famous and femd a magician. (Avi-Yonah & Kraeling, 1962,64-65) Other researchers overlay biblestories on other maps of human development (see aiso Eisler, 1988; Greenslade, 1963; Friedman, 1987). The more I leam about the history of the bible, the more thanlduli am for the depth that its stones bring to my life. 1 have no need to church. This sacred space in which I write, like a grassy field, like the dock in the lake near my front door, like my kitchen table, like my bed, like my shower, is my church. Thank you, Great Spirit, for the opportunity to do this inquiry. For this pain, through which 1 have learned to love Life, thank you.... al1 illness is stereophonic. It plays out at the level of actual body tissues and also at the level of dream. All illness is meaninghil, aithough its meaning may never be translatable into entirely rational terms. The point is not to understand the cause of the disease and then solve the problem. but to get close enough to the disease to restore the particular religious connection with life at which it hints. We need to feel the teeth of the god within the illness in order to be cured by the disease. In a very real sense, we do not cure diseases, they cure us, by restonng Our religious participation in life. (Moore, 1994, 168) For storytellen and healing stories, thank you. For al1 those people who lived before me that helped bring healing stories to me, that I might breathe life into them again, thank you. For the biblestories with the ass that talked and the great fish that swailowed Jonah. thmk you. For asses and great fish, thank you.
297 Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and Rage In this conversation, the Great Fish cornes to devour me against my will as my father overpowers me, shutthg out light and hop. 1 lose au sense of time. space, and direction in the darkness of the tnink of the car. 1 cannot hold ont0 anything to prevent myself fkom king tossed about and hurt. 1 become bodily lost in the overpowering smells of oilrags and gascans, the incessant vibration, and roadnoise. 1 corne to know darkness as blackliquid. Summen are hot and winters are cold hem. I am dazed. too dizzy to stand, and blinded by light whenever the trunk is opened in daylight. 1 crawl out ont0 the ground Laughter. As soon as 1 can walk, 1 scmb the tmnk to clean up my vomit The smell of bleach takes three days to leave my sinuses. 1 cannot fight my father: I fight the Great Fish. Matthew: Oh no! Whale: Oh yes. Dad drove a 1949 Packard. It was black; I was afraid of it. My tears jumped off my face and slid dom the shiny bumper. Dad stuffed me into the aink to teach me to not be afraid. (Stewart, 1995,O) Matthew: Please no! Dont eat me! No, please! Don't swdlow me down! Don't lock me in! Please please please! Let me out! LET ME OUT! Whale: 1 must devour you. Matthew: NO! I am holding ont0 your teeth; 1 want to see the sun! Whale: You're a worm on my tongue and you dare fight me? Enjoy the view from behind my teeth. There. Now 1 will srnile for you. Ardt 1 kind? Enjoy the sunset, boy, as 1 close my lips.
298 He closed it on me. Every time we went out, (Stewart, 1995,6) Maîthew: Please no! NO! Whale: Down you go. Maîthew: NO! 1 won't let go of your teeth! Whale: You've got a good grip, for a worm. Nobody else can hear you now. And 1 don't want to. I'II shake you loose. 1 think I'1I hum myseif a tune this trip. Hmm. Let me think. Matthew: 1 recognize your voice. Whale: No doubt. I'm Rage, boy. To Barrie: fourteen miles. (Stewart, 1995,6). Rage: How about a tune you like? How about "Mary had a Iittle lamb" while I dive and roll over? Matthew: Please, no. Please, please- Rage: Mmmm-hrnrnm hm hm hm-hm-hm, hm-hm-hm- Matthew: 1 can't hold on! 1 can't! Rage: Down you go. Matthew: I'm going down. I'm curling up into a bal1 a soccer bal1 no harder a softball no harder a hardball yes to protect myself from king squished when Fm swallowed. ï'm holding ont0 myself Pm holding myself together. Rage: Down you go.
299 Manhew: I'rn bouncing dom, bouncing off the walls of your-oh! oh! my head! my shoulder! I've hit something hard in here. Rage: Ah-ha! You found the carjack and the tire iron did you? I swallowed those a few &ys ago. Matthew: Where are you going? Rage: Wherever I like. Matîhew: I'rn lost. I know you're tuming because I'rn gening tossed around herr in your stornach, but I can't tell which way you're tuming. 1 can't tell how long I've been in here. How long? Rage: Miles, boy. Many miles. Matthew: How long will 1 be in here? Rage: Counùess miles. To Toronto: fifty-two miles. (Stewart, 1995,6) Matthew: I've got a carjack and a tire iron. Hmm. PU bang myself a tune this trip. Hrnm. Let Rage: How dare you! Matthew: How about a tune you like? First the chorus: BANG BANG-BANG BANG-BANG BANG-BANG, BANG-BANG BANG BANG-BANG BANG, BANG-BANG BANG BANG-BANG BANG, BANG BANG BANG BANG, BANG BANG BANG BANG,
300 BANG BANG BANG BANG-BANG BANG, BANG-BANG, BANG-BANG, BANGBANG, BANGBANG, BANGBANG, BANG BANG BANG BANG-BANG BANG. I know the words too. III sing them for you: Three sailors went a sailing, Across the briny sea, Across the briny sea, And one was nine, and one was five, And one was ody three, Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho, yo-ho, yo-ho! And one was only three. At fmt they caught a minnow, And put it in a pail, And put it in a pail, And then they caught a lobster, And then they caught a whale, Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho, yo-ho, yo-ho! And then they caught a whaie! (Davis, cited in Brooks, 1982, 133) And now more chorus: BANG BANG-BANG BANG-BANG BANG-BANG, BANG-BANG BANG BANG-BANG BANG, BANG-BANG BANG BANG-BANG BANG, BANG BANG BANG BANG, BANG BANG BANG BANG, BANG BANG BANG BANG-BANG BANG, BANG-BANG, BANG-BANG, BANGBANG, BANGBANG, BANGBANG. BANG BANG BANG BANG-BANG BANG. Rage: Now just a minute, boy-
301 Maîthew: -No! You just a minute! Pm taking apart this carjack. I've got the sharp piece of carjack that gashed my head, and the sharp end of this tire iron that gashed my shoulder and I'm going bang my tune on the walls of your bowels as I pass through you! 1 couldnft escape your teeth; you're not going to escape mine! stab stab-stab stab-stab stab-stab, stab-stab stab stab-stab stab, stab-stab stab stab-stab stab, stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab, stab stab stab stab-stab stab, stab-stab, stab-stab, stabstab, stabstab, stabstab, stab stab stab stab-stab stab. Rage: BOY! STOP! Matthew: My name isn't "boy"! stab stab stab Rage: Hohhh! Matthew: I've got a name! My name is Matthew! stab stab Rage: Hohhh that hm! Matthew: You want to taik to me. you cail me my narne! stab Rage: Hah-ahhh! Matthew, please stop. Matthew: Why?
302 Rage: This trip is over for you. At this moment, my tail is on the beach. The sun is shining. This is the time of high tide. 1 am releasing you. Matthew: 1 don't believe you. Every tirne we came to dad's house. (Stewart, 1995,6) Rage: If 1 do not release you, you wiu kiu me. You have given me cramps in my gut; 1 can hold you in no Longer. You are a brave boy, made of indigestible fibre. Matthew: I'l1 leave my tools here in case 1 need them again. Rage: No doubt. Ready? Matthew: 1 am a hardball. Ready. 1 nevet learned, (Stewart, 1995,6) Rage: Are you alive, Matthew? Matthew: Yes. Thank you for letting me out. Rage: I didn't & you out. You cleaned out my pipes. You out. Matthew: What a beautifhl sunny day! Rage: Breathe it in, Matthew. 1'11 be back for you in a few hours. And then again and again. In the above healing conversation my voice changes from victim to survivor to warrior. The Great Fish surrenders. In the following healing conversation, 1 accept my fate.
303 Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and Anrilihilation Matthew : Whale, please corne.... he holds the strap iike this and stretches it behind his head and how he brings both amis down, aiming, Like this and lets go with his left hand and how his right hand keeps swinging down iike this and how when the strap hits my chest fmt it pushes me dom into the mattress and how when dad's hand is Iower than the rnattress both ends of the strap lick my sides and bounce me up a Iittle... (Stewart, 1995, 142) Whale: 1 am here, Matthew. Your father calied me already. Matthew: 1 recognize your voice; 1 know your name-annihilation. Annihilation: Yes. This is a licking. Me licking you. Matthew: Please swdow me down. Your tongue bums my skin Like fire, covering me with stripes. Annihilation: Not yet. Matthew: Please swallow me down. The hotsharp edges and the tip of your tongue are cutting me into strips. Annihilation: I cannot swallow you whole, you know that. Matthew: Please swaliow down my hands and feet. Annihilation: Mmmm. Matthew: Swallow down please my nose and eyes and ears. Annihilation: Mmmm. Matthew: Down my shoulders. Annihilation: Mmmrn. Matthew: Please rny privates down.
304 Annihilation: Mmmm. Matthew: My guts down please. Annihilation: Mmmm. Matthew: Down my hem. Annihilation: Mmmm. Matthew: Please my memory dom. Annihilation: Mmmm. Manhew: My voice please down. Thank you. Annihilation: Mmmm. You're all dom. Matthew: Oh no! The pieces of me in here aren't together! Oh no! How can 1 put myself back together? Annihilation: Don't cry, Matthew. AU your pieces are there. They're in motion, passing through me. Matthew: Please dont let part of me go! 1 need al1 my pieces! Annihilation: I'11 hold it al1 in for as long as 1 cm. Don't cry, Matthew. Use your energy wisely. Collect yourself. Matthew: 1 found my heart! Oh, it really hum. Annihilation: Keep your focus. You found it! Keep moving. Matthew: 1 found my shoulders! Annihilation: Good. Keep going. Matthew: What's this? 1 can't tell. Where does it fit? Oh, it's my foot Annihilation: 1 can't hold it al1 in any longer, Matthew. I'rn sorry. My tail is on the beach. This
305 is high tide. It's raining, and it's colcl. rm sorry. Out you go. Matthew: This is a lot of muck to sort through to fmd myself! Annihilation: Keep your focus on what you find, not on what you havent found yet. Focus on how you're corning together. AU your pieces are there. 1 must go. Matthew: Must we keep doing this? Must my Me always be this process of losing and finding the pieux of myself? Annihilation: Yes, as long as you are brave enough to live. Bravery has many voices. In the following healing conversation with the Great Fish, my trauma becomes an opportunity for laughter. Conversation with Great Fish: Matthew and Ferdinand Matthew: male, be near. Whde: I'm here, Matthew. I heu. Matthew: Have you corne far, Ferdinand? 1 stripped in front of him in the shed. He held a three-foot piece of two-by-four with both hands. 1 was so afraid L..locked myself up like always. "Touch your toes!" he bellowed. (Stewart, 1995,75) Ferdinand: Not far, Sir. Only from Greeniand. Matthew: Today is the day Pm beating my dad. Ferdinand: It's your life and your death. He's quite mad. Matthew: Open wide, Ferdinand Fish. Ferdinand: Your comrnand, Sir, is my wish.
306 I've got you buster, I thought. You're so maci, you want to explode. Go ahead One &y. One day. 1 touched my toes. Then 1 suddenly stood up straight, and hmed and faced him and shook my finger in his face. "One &y! " 1 yelled. "One day what! You! You threaten me!" He cracked me on the head My defiant thought shattered inside my skuk 1 tried to cover my head as 1 went dom. Two-by four on my shoulders and back and bum and legs and feet and head and I couldn't feel or see or hear anything but blackness. (Stewart, 1995,75) Matthew: Now, Ferdinand, down the hatch with me. Ferdinand: Down you go in me, down 1 go into the sea. Matthew: I just beat my father. Ferdinand: You're grow ing; s wallowing you whole keeps getting harder. Matthew: Stop complaining. Ferdinand: Right Where are we heading? Matthew: There's a beautiful beach in Barbados- Ferdinand: -Where wonderhi1 women w iggle their toes- Matthew: -in the sparkling sand sipping Scotch on the rocks- Ferdinand: -reading perfectly plumb poems to penguins in socks- Matthew: -Plum? Pardon me? Ferdinand: Plumb, with a "b." Sorry Captain. 1 forgot for a moment you hate straight Iines. I tried- Matthew: -Donlt try. You swim one length of your forgetful fishness, one flap of a fin, in a straightline, Ferdinand, and you're finished. Fid. Filleteci. Fried.
307 Ferdinand: Yes Sir. Perfectly peachy poems to penguins in socks- Matthew: -made from sweetsmelling, slippery, shinysmooth silk- - Ferdinand: -fiom weary woms with whiskers, white as milk, Matthew: -who talk about trees in Tibet- Ferdinand: -green gum trees. that dont grow there yet Excuse me Captain, it's high tide. Matthew: I've really enjoyed this wiid ride. Ferdinand: My tail's on the beach, Sir. Matthew: How's the weather? Ferdinand: Few clouds. Warm. Full moon. Matthew: Good night, Ferdinand. Thanks. Ill be calling you soon. Gentle Reader, the above conversation witnesses my growth through this inquiry. Whether or not 1 "pass" the oral defence of this thesis, right here, right now, I "pass" myself. For I have "passed through" traumatizing terror with humour in my heart. 1 have the tale by the whale. "Yea, though 1 walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 1 will fear no evil..." (Psalms 23:4). 1 do not have to learn this al1 over again. Men 1 forget, 1 shall find ways to remind myself. 1 shall sit quietly with my Eagie feather. 1 shall listen to music. Truckmusic--Diq Entry Today 1 met with Theresa. She analyzes my voice, ploning it on a musical chart, and makes a special musical cassette tape for me while 1 am hooked up to a pulse-oximeter. When I experience three particular bass notes combined, my pulse drops from 72 beats per minute to 62, while my use of oxygen rises from 94% to 98%. 1 can hear and feel various parts of my body resonate at the same frequency as the music. 1 like it. The octave is so low that it sounds like a big tmck idling far away. 1 cannot reproduce the sound with my own voice. Once in a while, rny
308 vocal chords utterly relax and 1 speak in the same deep bass tones with which 1 sing. "...the voice can only produce what the ear hem" (Tomaîis, 199 1,53). Sometimes 1 vibrate and 1 can hear the note inside me without the tape playing. My pain inside sounds like a page of musical notation for a symphony that has been cut up and ail the notes, stacked on top of each other, and are king played al1 at once inside my body. The din is black in colour. Heaiing is king able to bend that stack of notes and stretch them out on the staffs, separated by light, so 1 can play them and hear the harmony they create. I particuiarly enjoy the sound and the sensation of my wrists and ankles bumming. 1 am listening with my body; comforting myself. Leaming how to feel safe. It is not the psychic energy that tums to glowing cheeks, shining eyes, humming nerves through the body. and laughter. passion or tean, that is dangerous. It is the colci, btic denial of emotion that causes homble splits in the mind and leaks out into saange ideas, bodiless voices, and chill moonüt inner landscapes. (Priestley, 1975, 129) Although 1 have a disabled parking permit because of the intense pain in my legs, 1 love every fibr of my legs from my tendo Ach.üiis to my Gluteus maximus. They are the instruments and guardians of my bodymotion. They are my source of lifting strength. I draw the pain in m y wrists and ankles as clusten of broken glass, yet I am stubbomly "strong at the broken places" (Siegel, ). (Stewart, June 22, 1995) When 1 was in a grade four class. we were al1 given a fresh slice of red clay tile about 5 inches square and the-quarters of an inch thick. Al1 our tiles were going to be used in a school mural. Using the sharp end of a small finishing nail, 1 drew the driver's side, the left sideview of a big 26- wheel tank-train going up the road from right to left, diagonally across the tile. The tractor-the pulling part of the truck-had ten wheels-two front ones for steering and eight "drive" wheelsfour sets of duals (one set of "duals" is 2 tires together on one end of an mie) on tandem axles (a pair of axles close together). Mounted on the chassis of the tractor was a sliding fifth wheel-the part that looks Iike a big tongue that the kingpin on the underbelly of the trailer-it looks like a big tooth-slides into and gets locked in place for hauling. The reason the fifth wheel slides on the
309 chassis (this can only be done when the tmck is stationary) is to move the weight so the front wheels of the tractor bear more or less weight. Too much weight over the clrive wheels, for example, makes the front of the truck too light and dangerous to dnve because the front wheels slide when you turn, rather than grip the road. 1 drew two tank trailen. The fust one, that hooked up to the tractor, was a long tank, with tandem axles and duals-8 wheels. The second trailer, a short "pup" tank trailer, had one axle front and rear with duals-8 wheels. 1 drew the BIA logo on the sides of the trailers. B/A stood for British American, before the Company changed its narne to Gulf Oil. But to me, B/A was two-thirds of BAD. 1 wanted to drive a tanker truck like the one 1 drew. 1 wanted to load up my saddle tanks-matching fiel tanks that straddle the chassis of the tractor below the cab-and both traders right full of diesel fuel. My boss would tell me where to deliver this load. But 1 wou1d drive that tank-train as fa- away from home as that much fuel would take me. Anytime the saddle tanks were near empty, I'd just refill them from the tank trailers. 1 would sleep in the truck. Along the way, at rest stops, 1 would wnte my boss a letter admitting 1 was B/A/D for stealing his tmck and his fuel, but 1 really had to get away from home. He would understand. He would send somebody to bnng back his truck. 1 would mail the letter from Buenos Aires (B/A). Good Air. 1 would learn how to breathe- 1 stii1 go to the auto wreckers and sit inside the dying trucks and smell their breaths. The spring-filled, clothcovered seats and wood in the cab hold the smells. I picture the driver as somebody's kind brother or grandpa. Like the ill-placed junkyard, they may be an eyesore, and yet no one can deny their fascination. Children love to play in an abandoned car... Ruins conjure up the past, not only with a historian's reckoning of calendar time but in a haunting way
310 that rnakes the past immediate. Ruins place us chillingly and perhaps attmctively in the world of ghosts, where the sou1 is as much at home as it is among the Living. (Moore, ) 1 build whole family stories of how they bought this truck and took their sweethearts out to the dance in it. 1 imagine what they hauled whe~ and when for whom and how much and how they traded it for a newer mode1 or an older mode1 or a horse and buggy. Al1 from the smell. My nose is crooked but I donit care about that. i'm glad my nose works at ail. "Did anybody ever hit you in the face?" asked Dr. Y in the Spnng of He's an otolaryngologist. What a funny word. 1 had gone to see him about an ear infection. 1 laughed. "Dad you didnt even know you still had a broken nose?" asked Wilton. "How could you forget your father breaking your nose? Didn't your face hurt? I'd know if somebody broke my nose! It must hurt a lot-" "Well, he broke many of my bones at the samc tirne," 1 said. "Everything hurt I had to focus on trying to stay dive, not isolate the pain in my nose. 1 didn't forget. He did it too ofien for me to forget. I've had other things to take care of first." 1 agreed to let Dr. Y break my nose again on June so I could breathe easier. (Yes, it must hurt a lot.) If 1 donpt like the smell of a truck, 1 don? get in it. If I smell too much of what 1 donit like, 1 get a migraine and throw up. Even a good smell. if it's too strong, is no good for me. My partner and Our sons and daughters love al1 the friendly space in my truck. 1 keep the frisbee, the bat, baseball. home plate, and my glove in the cargo bay so we cm play anytime. Driving anywhere used to be a time of acute anxiety for me. 1 spent my whole trip
311 worrying about what 1 hadn't done and what 1 needed to do, and 1 drove fast "to make time." 1 got les than my share of speedhg tickets while endangering myself, my passengen, and others on the road. It's taken me many years tu allow myself to acfually enjoy siower driving. Quite often now 1 remember that these highways are really ody wide paths through fannefs fields. Before they were farmer's fields. Natives and birds and animals breathed and waiked together here, and their Spirits can't be buried under tons of concrete. On rny drives to OISUUT, 1 wonder what ail these trucks on the highway smell iike inside. Joe's dumptnick doesn't smeu Iike Luigi's durnpmick. Ali's pickup srnells different than Gale's cernent truck. Smell is signature, unique. The stones that 1 imagine of these truckpeople paradoxicdiy fil1 my trip while also shortening it. Medi ta tion The difference between my prayen when I was afraid of Great Spirit, and my "Thank you" meditation mantra today is this: Now 1 know I'm heard. My mantra makes a difference to me, within me. 1 corne to the classrwm tmly thankful for the gift of my life. 1 know it is a gift, because 1 know from experience that 1 do not have the power to hold onto it. How easily it cm be taken from me. 1 have been denied breath; I tend to try to hold it in- It is diff~cult for me to lem to trust, to learn that my next breath is waiting for me to enjoy. When 1 was gagged and tortured, 1 learned how to stay dive with very littie breath. I learned to inhaie as little as possible, for that act expanded my chest, rnaking me a bigger target. 1 close my eyes and Say "Thank you" over and over, silently, to the Great Spirit, in my Meditative Voice. My teeth feel Iike they open like flowers. 1 open my mouth and feel the wind of my inhalation lift the pressure from inside my teeth. My exhalation carries that pressure outside
312 my mouth where it disappears. Breath like a gentiy flowing river. As the personality perceives it, the world is structured into (thoughts, objects, people: anvthing is a form). And forms always tend to delimit, ultimately to imprison. The world of the Self, however, is experienced as fonnless-which is why contact with it can induce a sense of fieedom and expansion beyond al1 limitation... Jt is not that forms disappear, but rather they lose their limiting aspect.--. (Ferrucci, 1982, 135) 1 leamed to curl my shoulders in to protect my chest, and up to protect my neck To breathe, to relax. was threatening to my physical survival. 1 had no time, no space to live. Space is time. The greater the physical space between persons, the greater the opportunity to slow dom the interaction. Driving on the 401 and king in class are sirnilar inasmuch as space helps keep us dl cornfortable. The tighter the space, the more friction and heat we generate because we might bump into each other. As carcirivers, we dl recognize and respect that big loaded trucks need more lane space as well as acceleration and braking space and time than cars. As truckcirivers, we take care to give cardrivers time to adjust to Our space and Urne requirements. Downhill, we take care to respect the rights of slowpokes in cars and we use our four-way flashers to draw their attention to the fact that we are slowpokes going uphill. How can a teacher not allow each person in the classroom the freedom to choose and exercise hisher right to operate within their individual "cornfort zone"? My spiritbodymind taps into and utiiizes intelligences and resources beyond explicit knowledge or conscious control to create a spacetime-a calmsafe interior Place herenow. And for me. often, that Place was death. Through rny "Thank you" meditation exercises, however, I've built new roads to that Place. The names of these new roads are Joy and Bodily Pleasure. 1 close my eyes and say "Thank you" over and over, silently, to the Great Spirit, in my
313 Meditative Voice. My feet glow w d y frmn the inside, and the sensation spreads up my legs to just below the knees. Healing energy. My body is a source of quiet pleasure-my identity is no longer prllnarily connected to physical pain. Meditation is a tool to use agaimt pain. just as medication is... seing in pain is very counter-productive. It is a huge drain on your energy, and it takes away your ability to attend to anything else in life... Don't ignore your pain or try to tough it out. Instead, ask yourself, "How is my pain trying to heip me?" Pain aiways has two cornponents: the underlying physical condition, and the message it is trying to give you... most of us are so afraid of pain and resist it so fiercely that allowing ourselves to come doser to it may actualiy lessen it. (S imonton, l992,9 1-92) In class 1 feel exposed and shaky whenever 1 speak. My words corne through a filter of bodily pain, rather than flow. and they sound to me like take up too rnuch space. I'm self- conscious. Everyone can see Pm struggling to find my balance. When others share their experiences, 1 see their wlnerability, and 1 feel myself connecting with them. I can feel their stones in my gut, and 1 am moved. I value highly this aspect of my healing. Until recently 1 believed basically that only those who had survived war intact (many do not) could ever understand me and my behaviour. My classrnates have tmckloads of stories. The more 1 am my Open Self, the less 1 bulldoze other's stories with my intensity, the more 1 hed. 1 close my eyes and Say "Thank yod1 over and over, silently, to the Great Spirit, in my Meditative Voice. My lower jaw feels like warm putty-1 am Ietting go of and unioading my stubbomness. As 1 leam to tell my stones and share my art with less intensity, people tell me how 1 have moved them, and thank me. Whole, wholesome circle. I understand my joumey inside the classroom as moving from self-consciousness to self-
314 awareness. Sometimes 1 participate so wholeheartedly that 1 forget my fears for a moment. Everyone takes the same risk; everyone is equal. 1 tend to rneasure my success in an endeavour by how well 1 handle the bodily stress 1 think 1 can or need to endure to accomplish my goal. 1 think in terms of "making rnistakes" rather than "failure." Making mistakes is positive for me, inasmuch as 1 aiways give myself credit for trying. In the classroom, 1 find it dificult to leam that 1 will not be punished for my mistakes. Not king punished stiii feels Iike not king punished S. 1 dont know how to let go of this fear. At home alone, 1 do not ailow my fear of punishment to silence the cal1 of art; every poem, sculpture, short story, children's book, drawing, essay, or drearn that 1 create is full of mistakes. Recovery, like revision, is the process of building on my mistakes. As 1 write this, 1 see that my reai classroom challenge is that of tmsting my Open Self to trust others. Many classrnates thank me pnvately, saying the demonstration of my Popbottle People art was "powerhil" for thern. Most people still think I'm too intense, and they're right. 1 tend to live my life as if I'm king driven-1 always have things to accomplish. Yet the more I slow dom. the more 1 actually get done. Calmsafe interior place Education and heaiing are synonymous for me. 1 need help creating a calmsafe classroorn to which 1 cm bring my calmsafe interior Place. 1 am obviously not ready to bring rny calmsafe interior Place to the classroom (though 1 suspect that, when 1 cm, that act will help create the very calmsafe classroom I seek). For me, the physical walls of the classroom are an extension of my skin-1 am in the classroom as much as it is in me. Al1 the people and fumiture and windows and lights and books, and most importantly, the presence of Mystery, f'unction to connect
315 Spiritbodymind. Al1 these parts need timespace to breathe so they can work easily together. 1 can imagine my Open Self resonating in haxmony within the classroom, when I am able to lwsen the boundaries between ctassroom and self and auow them to merge or blend, like the boundaries of my hands during meditation. 1 close my eyes and Say "Thank you" over and over, silently, to the Great Spirit, in my Meditative Voice. 1 feel my hands, connected to my arms, until they blend. 'Wrists" takes on a new lengthwise, rather than a crosswise meaning. The line inside where "every day 1 pressed the blade of my carving knife against my wrists" (Stewart, 1995, 134), for years, is fading away. 1 want to learn that 1 dont need to be brave-where no fear exists, there is no need for bravery. 1 want to be fearless. But wait. Would 1 trade my (first mate) Starbuck-like self (Melville, 185 l/i976) for a Stubb-like sel. Could 1, like second mate Stubb, willingiy "hum [my] old rigadig nines while flank and Bank with the most exasperated monster... convert[ing] the jaws of death into an easy chair" (2 13)? If 1 iose my respect for Suffenng and Deaih, how could 1 numire my compassionate self? Only through suffering do we lem to appreciate our world and make an effort to uncover the hidden causes of illness and pain. What else are wisdom and insight if not the resuit of gradua1 abandonment, at various levels, of the illusion of an individual self? (Kalweit, 1988, 158) How could 1 nurture others with my compassion? How could I let others nurture me? Without compassion, how could 1 hear the voices of my many selves? Without compassion, how could 1 hear the voices of the many spiritselves that swim about me in my natural world? How could they hear me?
316 In many tribal cultures nature herseif plays an important role. During his initiation, the apprentice is often cut off fiom his fellow beings. He seeks the loneliness of the mountains, the forest, or the tundra, where he cornpletely surrenders to the sacred powen of plants, animals and rocks. To live in complete harmony with nature, to lem its ways and becorne conscious of its greatness and power is an inherent characteristic of initiation. So we should not be surprised that a bear or other animal-rather than an abstract deity-acts as a bridge to higher consciousness... only when the apprentice becomes aware of his smallness and helplessness. when he becomes modest and humble, can his spirit blend with these tremendous forces. (Kalweit, 1988, ) Interlude: Three Meditations Alone. 1 am standing on a grassy hill, in the bush. Suddenly a huge male Grizzly bar, on his hind legs, stands before me, not ten feet away. He is roaring at me with all his might. 1 can sec down his throat. His mouth is wide open and his saliva pours forth as he rom. 1 stand my ground. He does not advance. 1 am not afraid, "What are you roaring at me for?" 1 yell. He keeps roaring. "What are you roaring at me for?" 1 yell again. He keeps roaring. 1 stare into his wide brown eyes and I hold his eyes fast with mine. Suddenly 1 am behind Grizzly's eyes, looking out at Matthew standing in the long grass. 1 am roaring at Matthew, and Matthew is standing his ground. 1 keep roaring my loudest. (Diary, November 18, 1994) 1 am lying on my tummy, hiding in long gras in a shallow ditch. A huge Eagle lands directiy bide me on my left. 1 am temfied, yet 1 roll ont0 my right side to face Eagle. His claws are as big as a man's hand In one claw he holds a rough chunk of gold about the size of a large grapefruit. He raises this claw and smashes this chunk of gold through rny chest wall directly into rny heart. (Diary, March 7, 1995) 1 sit on the concrete steps to the front door of a house close to the Street, 299
317 waiting for Grizzly. He cornes waiking down the saet on al1 fours. 1 take my long piece of black chain, and loop it round his neck. We are going to go for a long walk The chah is for me to hold onto; Grizzly leads. (Diary, June 2 I, 1996) 1 choose to nurture my Starbuck-lïke self, respecting au Life, even though to live 1 take life. Respecting my connection to al1 life, 1 choose to numire my Santiago-Like sele "Hail Mary full of Grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou arnong women and blessed is the fmit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of [Great Spirit] pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen." Then he added, "Blessed Virgin, pray for the death of this fish. Wondefil though he is." With his prayea said, and feeling much better, but srnering exactly as much, and perhaps a litile more, he leaned against the wood of the bow... (Hemingway, 1952/1995,65) A Prayer for my Father My chilciself has been alone in a worid without compassion; 1 would not wish this terror on any living soul. Not even my father. THE MISTREATED AND NEGLECTED CHILD IS completely done in the darkness of confusion and fear. Surrounded by arrogance and hatred, robbed of its rights and its speech, deceived in its love and its trust, disregarded, humiliated, mocked in its pain, such a child is blind, lost, and pitilessly exposed to the power of ignorant aduits. It is without orientation and completely defenceless. Its whole king would like to shout out its anger, give voice to its feeling of outrage, cd1 for help. But that is exactly what it may not do. Ail its normal reactions, the reactions with which nature has endowed it to survive, remain blocked. If no witness cornes to its ai& these natural reactions would enlarge and prolong the child's suffering. Ultimately, the child could die of them...my by means of [educational] disdosure that dispenses with bogus morality and pedagogy can this calamitous ideology be stopped. Survivors of mismament need to discover their own ûuth if they are to free themselves of its consequences. me effort on the work of fmvem jeads them away from m. (emphasis added, Miller, 1991, ) Great Spirit, I pray for my fathefs transformation, that he may leam the joy of learning how to be human. From this sacred place, with these words as my witness, 1 release my father's sou1 from
318 the curse of suffering which 1 set upon him in my rage. Great Spirit, bring him back to the Iight of life. Amen and blessed be. Let every Gentle Reader Say "Amen and Blessed be-" 1 corne to the classroom as a fellow traveller, sharing some parts of the road and my selves. 1 must be still in this space and time to appreciate that 1 move through my journey as it rnoves through me.
319 [Great Spirit], sex, killing, loving, fear, hop, and hate rnust dl be open to discussion... It is absurd to suppose that we are educating when we ignore those maners that lie at the very heart of human existence. (Noddings, 1984, ) Arts-based, holistic storying curriculum creates space for students to voice the stones of their wounds. It recognizes that survivors' voicing of their stones is integrai to their education-in- community. It enables and empowers survivors to create within thernselves a healing Listeningspace. Whatever form their stories take, they must be told, for the telling bnngs the teller to compassion for him/herself. Survivors of intrafamilid violence are experts in survival. The farnily home has been their classroom. Researchen and teachers who quanm survivors' Iives in the school classroom and plot them on some convenient scale or plug them into little boxes on report cards gag and dehumanize the student as well as themselves. Survivors need space and time to leam and grow. They need fieedom. Arts-based storying curriculum allows them freedom to explore their own Hoping Self (Mrazek 1987). Resilient Self (Mrazek 1987), Healing Self, Loved Self, and many others, as 1 have done in my graduate courses and this inquiry. They Iearn that education is heaiing. Teachers are friendly guides who can overcome their fear of king abused (Garamini, 1995; Sullivan, 1997) by the sunrivor and hisher abuse story by recognizing the opportunity for their own growth-away-fiom-fear-to-tmst, extending compassion to the suffenng student. Storying teachers (Pearl, 1990; Sanders 1995; Press 1979; Schneider, 1987; Oates et. al ; Craig, 1985, 1992) make valuable researchers. So do survivors. Why would teachers want to connect with my stories and creatures on a personai and
320 practical level? Although the suvivor decides the meaning of the violence for hidherself, others who hear the story may decide it means something else. Sumival stories are both personal, and practical. Personal knowledge... is constinited by the stories we usually keep to ourselves, and practical knowledge by the stories that are never, or rarely, related, but provide, nevertheless, the structure for the improvisations that we call coping, problem solving, action. (Gamet, 199 1,70) Through dialogue, both the sunrivor's meaning and the listener's meaning rnay change, as they share their different perspectives. The healing process involves the survivor gaining distance from the violent events, and opening to more perspectives. Though stories are effective in depicting and evoking powemil feelings... antithetically, by providing a perspective outside the tangled flow of experience, stories are also therapeutic in the detachment they evoke. (Narayan, 199 1, 1 14) The survivor's story has value to othea who may or may not be working through similar stories. The value of the shared story is exactly in the sharing, the connecting with each other that is enabled through the exchange of their stories. - In both art and healing we transform pain and conflict into flmations of life and States of well-being. occurs in the telling of the storv an- - (McNiff, 1981,42) Even the noblest of teachers/researchers, hear the survivor's violent story from the outside and can keep it the=, safely out of their awareness. By choice. How can survivor-mearchers and researchers without the experience of extreme intrafamilial violence dialogue uniess we share with each other?
321 My Teacher Voice As a graduatc student, 1 view this world as a place that 1 cocreate with every other life- fom, animate or inanimate. 1 experience this world as perpehial world-in-transition as, I with others, mate myself-in-transition. This world is the place to give thanks for and to nurture the gift of life itself. This world is the dangerous, beautifid place. The place to stniggle vaiiantly for justice and peace. The place to lem safety amid chaos and war. The place to leave a iegacy of hope and inspiration to future generations. The place to heai, and to help others heai. The place to Iearn to be more human, to learn love. A loving education. As a boy, 1 needed a teacher to love me so 1 could leam how to love myself. A loveless education is hardly a gain at dl. Sitting in hard school chairs is quite pauiful when the body is so tender. Furthemore, feeling constantiy overwhelmed and afiaid directly affects the kidneys, and 1 needed to run to the washroom every few minutes, but the teacher wouldn't let me. I had to hold it al1 in. In school, 1 needed to leam how to see, to hear. to srneil, to be a human king. 1 needed to learn that my violent world at home was escapable:... it is the office of the school environment... to see to it that each individual gets an oppominity to escm from the limitations of the social group in which he was born, and to corne into living contact with a broder environment. (emphasis added, Dewey, ) 1 needed a loving role model. "One good role model is worth a thousand psychiatrists" (Lefevbre, November 18, 1996). 1 am trying to provide such a model to teachers and other survivors by pursuing this self-inquiry. My parents' fear of exposure and criminal prosecution had them isolate and silence my
322 brothers and sisters and me. As 1 now quickly look at family photographs, 1 see that 1 aiways chose to stand aside-on my own. In my imposed silence, 1 became aiienated from my own selves, my brothers and sisters, my classrnates, and everybody else in the world. Healing is a lifetime project- This culture of silence, generated by conditions of an oppressive reality, not only conditions behaviour patterns of peasants while they are living in the infrastructure that produces oppression but also continues to condition behaviour well after the infrastructure has been momed. (Freire, 1985,3 1) 1 had to doneam what was prescribed by the teachers, or go home and be beaten for not doing as 1 was told. They expected me to sit still and listen to them, often while 1 had broken ribs and nose. Even students from Dewey's (1943) "ideal home" (35) cannot be expected to lem this way. Learning? certainly, but living primarily, and learning through and in relation to this living. When we take the life of the child centered and organized in this way, we do not find that he is fvst of ail a listening being; quite the contrary. (Dewey, I943,36) Not one teacher knew so could not actively care about my health, safety, or well-king inside or outside of school. Not one penon in the world among the many who knew that 1 was being tomired ever tried to protect me. Julius Rath, my brother-in-law, could not then be my rescuer. Matthew: Did you know about the violence that happened in our house when 1 was a boy? Julius: Oh yeah, I heard many of them, oh yes. 1 havent seen, 1 wasn't present to witness it, but 1 heard many of them-not just you boys, the girls-two by four's and punch 'em out and so on... 1 knew there was a very rough rough old monster in the house who did al1 these things to kids. Matthew: 1 rernember you used to bring big trays of pork chops to Our house- Julius: -Yes, yes. But 1 stopped doing that... 1 says [to my ex-wife] "We're not going to bring food into this house and the old guy eats the meat and throw the bone to the kids, to lick."
323 Matthew: Do you know he really did exactly that? Julius: Of course..l saw it myself! (Rath. Audiotaped Conversation. October 6, 1997) Not one teacher. until 1 began graduate snidies at age 39, dlowed me to tell the story of who 1 was and what 1 was learning about life. And there are countless people who have never in their Life met anyone who could tnily relate to hem without trying to "educate" them, that is, to change them. How cm such people be expected to discover their talents? (Miller. I984,298) Not one teacher allowed me to be myseif-in-process inside the school classroom. "Education is more interwoven with living and with the possibility of reteuing and reliving our life stories" (Connelly and Clandinin, ). It is too easy to imagine Dewey's ( 1966) idealized notion that "the inclination to lem from Iife itself and to make the conditions of life such that dl will lem in the process of living is the finest product of schooling" (5 1). It took me years of struggle, however. until 1 was 34 yean old, to finally find someone-my therapist-teacher-brave enough to listen to me. Now I stniggle to be "allowed" to share this inquiry with teachers and others. Not one thing 1 ever learned in a classroom helped stop the bleeding or mend my broken bones. or helped me endure the violence when it was happening in my family home. From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in the school cornes from his inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while, on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school. That is the isolation of the school-its isolation from life. (Dewey, 1943,75) My experience in school led me to the understanding that curriculum without love is tyranny. My definition of love here means the teacher allowing the student to lem how to actively embrace the freedom and responsibility of king a cocreator of hidher own life-with-
324 others. "WhiIe we teach knowledge, we are losing that teaching which can only be given by the simple presence of a mature loving person..." (Fromm, 1963,98). In practice, this means the student is nurtured gently, f dy. and consistently through the implementation of a storyteiiing or holistic curriculum She is encouraged to actively cultivate a iibemting imagination, develop his/her unique sense of personal identity, and learn how to grow into a loved and a loving human king. Violence has taught this student to dread the suffering of pain ancilor death on a moment- by-moment basis. The loving teacher offen this student hop, oriented in the moment. As these moments accrue, this student gains the opportunity to cultivate an intemal capacity for relief from suffering and a wholesome sense of humour with which to celebrate life, and to enjoy a healthy, peacefid sense of bodily history. Although this process may taise a lifetime of leaming, the loving teacher through hidher teaching that fhis.. 1s. This student cornes to school bearing inside the precious gih of life itself. With hidher very being. this student offen to help break open the teacher's heart. A storying, holistic cumculum is the act of creating new worlds. Only through the compassionate teacher's act of sailing a boat to the world of the traumatized student can that student learn how to sail a boat to the world of the classroom. Now when 1 go to sea, 1 go as a simple sailor, right before the mat, plumb down to the forecastle, aloft there to the royal mast-head... It touches one's sense of honor, particularly if...just previous to putting your hand into the tar-pot, you have ken lording it as a country schoolmaster, making the tallest boys in awe of you. The transition is a keen one, 1 assure you, from a schoolmaster to a sailor... (Melville, 185 l/l976,96) The traumatized student needs a sailor-teacher with guts enough to learn how to sail, not a teacher who "teaches" by wielding hisher authority. serving every student in the class the same
325 recip of expectations, wignmentr and tea. drowning their individuai voices. The teacher carmot be the only expert in the dassroom. To deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower the m th student and teacher are expert at what they know 1988,288) Interlude: Entries h m my Learning h g December 6, 1994 My fmt visit to Margaret Olson's office at Trent University. "1 need help and 1 don't know who to ask," 1 Say. "1 dont know how to lem how to leam. I've never had the chance-too much trauma The problem with school is that 1 find king in a classroom a traumatic experience, and 1 don't know how to handle it." Margaret taiks with me about different learning styles, gives me some articles to read, and invites me back to talk about my problem. We make another appointment, 1 hop. March 22, tell Margaret about my Sociology class, Family & Kinship. We were watching videos of women, who've been assaulted by men, tell their stories. These women sound like my sisters. The men sound like my father. 1 sat at the back of the classroom, as far as possible from the screen. I usually sit in the third row from the front, on the extreme right. It's hard work to listen to their stories. These women. like my sisten, are real people, not mors is some violent movie. Sorne of them were killed by their Pamiers. 1 told the class that I felt like 1 was at a funeral. Isn't that appropriate? 1 cried The teacher, a PhD student at U of T told the class that 1 had written a book about abuse in the family, but she hadn't read it. "On the 1st day of class while we're having cake," she said to me privately after class, "you cm talk to the class for 5 to 10 minutes about your book." "That's not enough time," 1 said. She requested a meeting with the Chair of the Sociology department, in which she stated again that her course outline dictated how much time must be spent with the readings assigned, and there was no more time than what she offered to ded with my book. Rather than continue the fight, 1 agreed that she was hemmed in by the course outline. "It's not every day that a student has written a book about course material," he said. "Too bad there's so Iittle time for it-" When the teacher was il1 during the term, the class material she cancelled dealt with child abuse. My anger is just. I strive to keep it constructive. March 27, 1995 I'm arnazed that Margaret keeps her office door open in such a heavy traffic zone, rather than posting her "office hours" on her door. 1 need quiet to read
326 and write, so 1 can Iisten without spending my energy on trying to block out the noise of the world. The one sound I welcome while 1 wock is birdsong. While we are taking, other students flow in and out of her office and our conversation adjusts. 1 am vulnerable, and dont want to share my vulnerability with people in the hail. 1 sit at Margaret's table with my back to her open door, unable to see who's coming. Afhid. 1 prefer to sit with my back to the wall near a big plate glas window-1 hate bars in windows. Theoretically, 1 know 1 have nothing to fear. 1 dont know that yet in my body. Margaret faces the open door. 1 watch her fafe for the sign that someone is behind me. The space between my back and the doorway is less than the width of her blue office door. What can 1 do to feel safe in her office? May 9, 1995 Matthew: So rny experience of trauma and fear counts as "knowledge?" Margaret: Yes, you Ieamed things, so you know things most of us, thankfully, don't kno W... Matthew: It doesn't feel like knowledge inside. It feels Iike fear. 1 feel like 1 don't know anything... Margaret leans over and writes the word "meaning" right-side-up from her perspective, upside-down from mine, on the bottom of my page, in pencil. She closes the bottom of her "g" with a big lay loop, and topped her "i" with a circle. How do you hold your pend and write without fear? How can 1 leam to do that? At home, 1 circle that word in pen... May 15,1995 Margaret and 1 draft severai versions (she writes, I think out loud), of the "Nature of Study" and Specific Topics to be Studied" part of the Queen's University application for this half course. The information must fit in the box measuring Zand-a-half inches by Gand-a-half inches (les the quarter-inch across the top of the box that accommodates the above heading). In the space provided, measuring five-eighths of an inch by eight inches, under the heading "Personal History" I write "not relevant to this application." Who would devise an application form of little boxes? Some penon actually did this, and it was approved by the bureaucracy as being appropriate. 1 am offended by this farcical application procedure, and protest by refusing to disclose my humanness in linle conformist boxes that no one in the bureaucracy cares about, yet this is part of their judgement of my "admissibility." Margaret tells me the story of how she was driving past a graveyard of wrecked autos in a field, and one of the cows had its head under a car's hood, like a mechanic. Two herds. We laugh. "1 wish 1 had a camera," she says. "1 don't want to see the photo," 1 Say, "I've got my own movie." May 23, 1995 A blue jay crashes into my window in front of my desk. From way up, Blue Jay dives. Straight dom. He worked hard to get so
327 high, for the joy of rushing back He has done this ali his Me. The fim time, when his mother pushed him, he dropped, and spnad his wings to Save his Me. Today, he zooms down past the tree tops at the edge of the lake, like always. Just above Earth, he lifts his head, his wings and t d cut a curve in the air, and he barely clears the short grass. He usually levels off over the lake, but today he sees two lakes. He is confused. He crashes into the reflection of the lake in the plate glas window, and drops. Down goes Blue Jay like he has never known, like he has no wings, like he is not hirnself. The rock punches his breast He cries out The German Shepherd lunges from the doghouse. Blue Jay will carry the window and the rock and the dog up into the tree in his Song, or the dog will crunch Blue Jay's bones like cookies. 1 Say thank you that Tm alive to feel this pain. 1 ask that the lessons I've learned through this pain and through my writing work will help encourage othen who have suffered to keep ûying to lem how create love. June 2, 1995 Bible. According to the Oxford Reference Dictionary (Hawkins, 1989, 80)- the word "Bible" cornes from the Greek "bibiia" meaning books, a diminutive of "bublos" meaning papyrus. (See also Klein, 1966, and Skeat, 1974, 59.) According to Ackroyd and Evans ( ), however, Byblos was a Mediterranean port city in ancient Phoenicia (now modem Lebanon). The city's chief export was papyrus, and part of its definition is "belonging to Pharaoh" (30). The method of its manufacture was a royal secret. Phy the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) described an incorrect method of making papyw lived from 4 to 79 A.D. He died curious, wanting to lm, "observing the eruption of Vesuvius" (Hawkins, 1989,643). I respect this man. He was a man, like me, who grew hair on his legs, in his ears, ate breakfast in the moming, and defecated And he Iived 2000 years ago. He doesn't sound dead to me. 1 feel more connected, to the history of Earth and the history of People. 1 am beginning to see that my existence is dependent, not on my father and mother, but on the ancestors that have gone before. 1 am like a drop of water in a flowing river, part of this large, mystenous thing cailed Life. 1 am glad to know about papyrus; 1 value paper highly. It is the only thing 1 hoard, so 1 divest myself of large quantities of it regularly. 1 cal1 it editing. 1 edit my life. 1 mean 1 clean it up, make space for new writing, new life. Like raking up last years brown leaves, for compost, so new grass will grow. When 1 edit too much paper-too many diaries, parts of myself-out of my life 1 give myself a huge cnppling pain in the stomach that lasts for days. Mouming time. Learning about the history of the Bible means I can look at the book from a new, healthier perspective. Maybe now 1 can leam how to read it. I have always considered the Bible one of my parents' weapons. We had to read it aloud at the kitchen table, almost every night. We each read a verse, around the table. My fear of making a mistake, of king hit for that mistake, makes me still dread reading aloud. When one's body is the site of constant, life-threatening physical violence, one's energies
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