Saturday, December 11, 2010

A heart needs a home

Theme Thursday test

The Unthanks perform Robert Wyatt's 'Dondestan' (with clogs dance).
London, Union Chapel - December 8th, 2010

Palestine's a country / or at least used to be.
Palestine's a country / or at least used to be.
Felahin, refugee (Kurdistan similarly)
need something to build on / rather like the rest of us.
Palestine's a country / or at least used to be.
Palestine's a country / or at least used to be.
Felahin, refugee (deportees similarly)
need something to build on / rather like the rest of us got

Its just a year ago that we saw The Unthanks at the  Hebden Bridge Trades Club [ my photos].. This week I booked my tickets to see them play Manchester Cathedral on 30th April.
Becky Unthanks (2nd clog dancer from the right) although born in  Northumberland , now lives less than a mile from my house in Hebden Bridge.I see her shopping in the CO-Op & suchlike........
Halifax born Dominic Rivon threw out a challenge this week on his blog Choose one question from All Soul's College exam paper & write a blog post on it.
I have picked..................... Is exile always a misfortune ?

"Exile" might usually be seen as a geographical idea. To live apart.It's also tied in with a feeling of banishment . The majority have exile trust upon them. Those who choose exile do so out of circumstance.
I guess my Dad's life could have been described as one of "Exile".Living in Britain because he couldn't return return to his home in Poland.I am sure he saw this as his total misfortune.
[Incidentally , I am looking forword to seeing the new Peter Weir film The Way Back based around the life of
Sławomir Rawicz
born in Eastern Poland near my dad & like him, conscripted into the invading Soviet army, in 1939 from which both deserted and fled through the World to escape.]
The problem with this geographical exile is that truth & fact can become hidden\lost & incomprehensive in the exile's new home. It difficult to pass the legacy on..........I , for example, still don't fully understand how my Dad got from "A" to "B".I know he escaped Poland. I know he traveled via South Africa.I know he ended up in Scotland to join the Free Polish Airforce. But I don't know how this was done. I guess I never will...............
My dad hated his exile. Maybe if you chose it yourself it is different.? The World is full of happy expectant migrants Sailing to "New Worlds".in the hope of a better life.I,m sure it's not always a misfortune. The misfortune is not having a choose in one's life.................
How odd , at this point I was going to quote something Bryce Taylor said to me once.
" To Have True Freedom You Must Always Have 3 Alternative Options In Any Decision ". You Are Not Free If You Have No Alternative.........
I studied under Bryce when doing a 2 year Transpersonal Diploma with Oasis Human Relations. He had a very powerful influence on me.I lost touch after I left in 1996.It's a measure of my exile from him that I only tonight learned just now of his death in March via the Oasis
facebook page.
How strange ,reading his obituary  in The Yorkshire Post I found out things I never knew about him.He was born in Rochdale and he was a "keen photographer, gardener and Bob Dylan aficionado."
He was full of Power............To Say I liked the man would be wrong.But I respected his power & insight. He Saw me better than I saw myself (which was a worry !) bryce was one of the most influential people in my life.It is strange now to know of my exile from him.............He changed my life is ways I still have to discover.

His position was ,maybe, that We are all in exile.but we have the fortune to find our way home.
The facebook site carries photos of tree planting ceremonies to him on October 20th in Boston Spa,Yorkshire & Boston Massachusetts ( GRLI GA).Below a photo of Bryce (holding a carpet someone thought looked like a tree stump) & me.on the grass, in exile............
Another final point.You might find yourself in Exile and never need to move an inch! You stay still & the World changes around you.The current political & economic climate a case in point.Maybe it's not a geographical thing at all......................

Phil's Birthday

  My friend of 60 years Phil got married just a week ago to Iris . (He died last Sunday ) .  Today was Phil's Birthday . We went o...