4.4 Kevin Brooks Sparks Community Action

Grow Dirt by Heather McLeod (script brought into record around interview tape below)

Chorus:

(E) Grow Dirt, it’s a (G) meta-(A)phor for (E) life
Dirt is (G) any- (A)thing by in-(E)ert
It teems with (A) life
And feeds it (B7) too
It teams with (A) life
And feeds it (B7) too
Grow (E) Dirt, it’s a (G) meta- (A)phor for (E) life

Verse 1:

Consider (A) garbage
And (B7) find within it (E) gold
(A) peels & leaves & leftovers
(B7) book to poison in the (E)
(A) compost to (B7) life lump by (E) lump

Verse 2:

Consider (A) food
And (B7) find within it (E) joy
(A) Chemistry, Biology
All (B7) the wonder of this (E) life
(A) choose to (B7) nourish without (E) strife

Verse 3:

Consider your (A) time
And (B7) feel it (E) stretch
With (A) joy & air & touching the soil that’s
(B7) so alive, such a sweet (E) metaphor
Grow (A) Dirt & you grow (E) life
Grow (A) dirt & you grow (E) life

Script:

Theme

I sometimes wonder why I do this -
it takes a lot of my time, and my time is stretched already
between my full time work, my family’s growing and cooking much of what we eat,
the precious time I get to enjoy with Arno, Ben, Sam, friends and family,
and the time I need just to feed my soul with books and walks and more solitary pursuits.

This podcast takes some of our family’s money too,
not much but some and that too is stretched.
There are other things I could be spending money on that one could easily consider
more valuable than recording something and giving it away
in the hopes you might choose to listen.

But you are listening, and I am so glad to be heard.
And to share with you this conversation with Kevin Brooks,
which is all about the joy of listening, and of being seen and heard and valued.
About appreciating the gift of choosing to show up and participate in your community,
to help shape and inform and lead it, to pitch in.
I think our assumptions about what is worth doing, what nourishes us and brings us joy
Is not actually rooted in knowing us humans and our complicated hearts
It is based on stories we hear and notions we are taught
But actually this podcast gives me so much more than it costs me
And so does the time I get to help make something happen
That I know is good, is helpful, could help change things, something, anything - for the better

Plus it’s a creative prompt that has me speed-composing wee songs for you for every episode of the season.

Here’s the chorus of today’s:

I think our assumptions of what makes us happy and is well worth our time
Can miss the joy we get from helping, and connecting with our community
Like helping to organize the Northwest Climate Gathering coming up November 25 & 26
Which both Kevin Brooks and I are doing - as you’ll hear.
I’ll include a link in the landing page for this episode - check it out.

And having an excuse to drive to Kevin’s home in Thunder Bay,
Parking out front just as the sun baths the sky in colour above the Sleeping Giant
Perfectly framed by the street dropping away right in front of me,
The colours reflecting in the bay and bouncing off buildings
Then being welcomed into his lovely home with a wander past a lifetime of arts and other lovely finds gathered and shared there
Offered a mug of strong coffee
And a seat in their large, wood floored and bright sunroom overlooking their autumnal garden
What a great way to start a Saturday.

I set up my old computer
with a recording program chosen because it is most like the one I used at CBC well over a decade ago,
the microphone I’ve owned for over 30 years now, still faintly smelling of old beer & bars,
And the microphone cord long enough to snake from a sound board through an audience to a stage, that is much longer than is needed to record this conversation
But works.

It takes me a good five minutes to get it all good to go.
And once I’m set up we chat about what we’d like this conversation to encompass
While I set levels

… tape

I chatted with Kevin Brooks in the sun room of his home in Thunder Bay.
I’ve got links to the many things we referenced there at www.SomethingDifferentThisWayComes.ca

And I’ve also got the lyrics and chords to this song that conversation inspired.

I know I could have focused in on so many things: degrowth, housing, storytelling and community-building. But what sparked my creative heart was Kevin’s ode to Composting as a metaphor for life.

This is Growing Dirt

That is Growing Dirt composed and recorded by me, Heather McLeod, inspired by Kevin Brooks

I hope you like it Kevin! And find yourself humming it whenever your compost or garden

I love how Kevin values the spark a conversation can blow into a fire
Honouring where the energy flares, and helping build that Spark into a welcome change
I am so looking forward to being his foil and counterweight as we reconvene
After each of the ten topics of this year’s Gathering are introduced,
Then discussed in our break-out groups or workshops
And help him catch the sparks, build the fires, launch whatever this Gathering leads us towards.
I know I will learn so much,
And I am already so glad for his part in this event.

Theme

And I am so glad you are here, listening, proving my time was well spent in making this podcast
It is a one-woman show.
I finance it (though I welcome contributions).
I research and record, edit and compose, promote and am accountable for every error made
I send out a weekly email with some behind-the-scenes scoops during each season

Sign up for that, donate to help pay me for my work, or just peruse past episodes of the show
At www.SomethingDifferentThisWayComes.ca

I’m Heather McLeod