Good day y'all
Once again I am sitting on the Terrace at the Granary, shafts of lark light bathing the still houseboats opposite me.
So this has been a week of hellos and goodbyes. Goodbye to my friends at Arc and hello to Jasmine Street and Maciej.Yesterday was my last Arc day apart from the two weeks when I come back to manage the ARKA Teatr visit and to welcome our Polish friends. Its goodbye to nearly thirty years of love, directing many plays and working with and training wonderful actors and enjoying great projects with clients and collaborators. I am feeling a rich mix of sadness, joy and anticipation for the future. As Julian of Norwich said "All will be well, all will be well, all will be well".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich
Yesterday was a surprisingly relaxed day all things considered. Maciej and I got to work on meeting people and dropping off ARKA poster and flyers. I am particularly grateful to the support of Carl Blackburn at the CVS who has given us some very helpful advice and contacts to spread the ARKA word and is helping us to make this visit happen. And to Joan Brandon at the Volunteer Bureau for bringing me more fifties stuff to people my cafe installation and also taking flyers and posters to distribute. Thanks both!
I also had a great visioning meeting with Steve Drury from Rooff who own the Granary and the Malthouse. We are finding our way to cementing a great partnership and I am very excited about realising our dreams for the Icehouse Quarter.
I received a lovely email last night from Nita telling me I should pop into the Arc office as there was something waiting for me, a gift from my Arc team. So being of a slightly impatient nature I had to pop in just now - and there on my now cleared desk sat these. A Jasmine plant for JS and a lovely scented candle. I have to admit a moment of thespian extravagance and a few tears. Standing on my own in the heart of Arc. Thanks guys - it means a great deal. So the beautiful
Jasmine is now settling in, like I am by the door to Jasmine Street. In the office too, as if by exquisite synchronicity my new JS business cards.
And its been a couple of days of mingling and meeting new people too. This coincided with a meeting I went to of the Community Cohesion Sub-Committee for the borough, led by the CVS.
This committee has been delegated to the voluntary sector and as has become abundantly clear to the people around that table - its been gently nudged here because this government and consequently this administration don't tend to use the word cohesion much any more. Its certainly not explicit in corporate planning. The reason seems to be that its a given that we all weave cohesion into business as usual. Whilst I agree with this in principle, the problem is that without a conscious and express intention to see things through this lens there is always a real possibility that we walk unconsciously towards conflict, racism and separation.
Why do I say this? Aren't we supposedly making great strides in the areas of cohesion and diversity? Well yes - it can't be denied that progress has been made. But its not a finite thing, we need to be consistently vigilant and mindful so that our unconscious attitudes and prejudices do not lead us into actions that cause harm and disaffection. Anyway - this was the conclusion of this group. It probably right that the voluntary sector lead on cohesion - after all it is us that are out there in our organisations daily focused on our particular ways and means of contributing to a collective better way.
And I had a bit of personal experience too that chimes with this. My lovely neighbours at home are Bangladeshi, and fully immersed in fasting for Ramadan. In spite of this, Rumi called to me on Thursday over my fence "Aunty - I have something for you'. She then hurried indoors returning moments later with a dish - a gift of lunch for me - a biryani. She told me to heat it up and make a green salad to go with it. I did this later and shared it with a good friend. It was a small act of kindness that touched me deeply and a perfect example of the simple things that make a huge difference.
Later last night whilst watering my plants I found myself in conversation with Rumi's husband, Mohammed, and we talked about this whilst his little three year old jumped about pointing at the aeroplanes and stars in the night sky. Mohammed's experience is that we are very good in the UK at welcoming
people from other countries. He is hopeful and happy, although he too commented that its tougher for new migrant communities like the Polish to root themselves and find belonging. It felt great to be sharing, and we both commented on the very obvious thing - that we have so much more in common than we do in difference. This got us to discussing faith and values. It was lovely to share. Simple and sacred really.
So today - Maciej and I are doing the rounds of the Polish shops and cafes here in Barking and Dagenham to talk to people about ARKA's visit. And off too to a community celebration by U Barking and Dagenham on the Abbey Green in front of the Broadway Theatre. I am looking forward to it.
Have a great Saturday
Once again I am sitting on the Terrace at the Granary, shafts of lark light bathing the still houseboats opposite me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich
I also had a great visioning meeting with Steve Drury from Rooff who own the Granary and the Malthouse. We are finding our way to cementing a great partnership and I am very excited about realising our dreams for the Icehouse Quarter.
I received a lovely email last night from Nita telling me I should pop into the Arc office as there was something waiting for me, a gift from my Arc team. So being of a slightly impatient nature I had to pop in just now - and there on my now cleared desk sat these. A Jasmine plant for JS and a lovely scented candle. I have to admit a moment of thespian extravagance and a few tears. Standing on my own in the heart of Arc. Thanks guys - it means a great deal. So the beautiful Jasmine is now settling in, like I am by the door to Jasmine Street. In the office too, as if by exquisite synchronicity my new JS business cards.
And its been a couple of days of mingling and meeting new people too. This coincided with a meeting I went to of the Community Cohesion Sub-Committee for the borough, led by the CVS.
This committee has been delegated to the voluntary sector and as has become abundantly clear to the people around that table - its been gently nudged here because this government and consequently this administration don't tend to use the word cohesion much any more. Its certainly not explicit in corporate planning. The reason seems to be that its a given that we all weave cohesion into business as usual. Whilst I agree with this in principle, the problem is that without a conscious and express intention to see things through this lens there is always a real possibility that we walk unconsciously towards conflict, racism and separation.
Why do I say this? Aren't we supposedly making great strides in the areas of cohesion and diversity? Well yes - it can't be denied that progress has been made. But its not a finite thing, we need to be consistently vigilant and mindful so that our unconscious attitudes and prejudices do not lead us into actions that cause harm and disaffection. Anyway - this was the conclusion of this group. It probably right that the voluntary sector lead on cohesion - after all it is us that are out there in our organisations daily focused on our particular ways and means of contributing to a collective better way.
And I had a bit of personal experience too that chimes with this. My lovely neighbours at home are Bangladeshi, and fully immersed in fasting for Ramadan. In spite of this, Rumi called to me on Thursday over my fence "Aunty - I have something for you'. She then hurried indoors returning moments later with a dish - a gift of lunch for me - a biryani. She told me to heat it up and make a green salad to go with it. I did this later and shared it with a good friend. It was a small act of kindness that touched me deeply and a perfect example of the simple things that make a huge difference.
Later last night whilst watering my plants I found myself in conversation with Rumi's husband, Mohammed, and we talked about this whilst his little three year old jumped about pointing at the aeroplanes and stars in the night sky. Mohammed's experience is that we are very good in the UK at welcomingpeople from other countries. He is hopeful and happy, although he too commented that its tougher for new migrant communities like the Polish to root themselves and find belonging. It felt great to be sharing, and we both commented on the very obvious thing - that we have so much more in common than we do in difference. This got us to discussing faith and values. It was lovely to share. Simple and sacred really.
So today - Maciej and I are doing the rounds of the Polish shops and cafes here in Barking and Dagenham to talk to people about ARKA's visit. And off too to a community celebration by U Barking and Dagenham on the Abbey Green in front of the Broadway Theatre. I am looking forward to it.
Have a great Saturday
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