Mandela and Music

We are hosting the event at a gorgeous inn/farm/cafe where I was lucky enough to have brunch last weekend. They brought fresh falafel to the table and had a large collection of board games that made it feel even more like home. After brunch, I got to visit some donkeys and ducks. It would be tough to find somewhere more exciting for a gig.

Continuing with the musical note, last night was my first rehearsal with the Cathedral Singers. We are singing for the cathedral's Evensong service the week after next and I enjoy the repertoire quite a bit. There was one other singer on the alto parts with me last night. It took a minute to shake off the choral cobwebs, but by the end of rehearsal I had my feet beneath me once more. 

Many of the most special moments from the first half of the internship have been connected with music. From high school choir songs stuck in my head on the plane, to the Palliative Care Conference and singing with kids at Sunflower House, I'm grateful to find connection through my ears and my voice. 

The kids have been enjoying books with me lately. I brought one of the older ones to pick out a book from the shelf and they immediately gravitated toward "My Coily Crowny Hair" by Zulaika Patel. The story is bright and colorful and encourages kids to find confidence in the many ways they can wear their hair. If I put a book in every set of hands and sit on the couch, we can enjoy the stories all together. I also started Pie by Sarah Weeks with a few of them. I haven't read it since Battle of the Books in fourth grade, but decided to bring it along. There is a magic in rediscovering the characters and plotlines that helped me learn to enjoy reading again when I was much younger. 

One night this week I stayed up a little too late reading a book length collection of poetry from young people around the world. Rosetta Life, the group that compiled it, is in its second year facilitating Place4Hope. The initiative welcomes teens from Brazil to Greece to Malaysia and more to reflect on the impacts of climate change and I'm lucky enough to see some of the work going into this year's project. Below is a film from last year reflecting on the role of water in the young filmmakers' lives.

It has been such a full week that this doesn't even begin to cover all of it, but I hope it offers some insight into what I've been up to. 

With love and light,

Lillie

Bonus: The Oregon Country Fair that I briefly mentioned in my last post has now wrapped up. OPB, our local public radio station, recently released a film about some of the happenings there that might provide some insight into aspects of my upbringing that I struggle to explain with words. If you're bored and want to dive into a very niche subject, the documentary is about an hour long and hopefully lots of fun.