4.5 Keira Essex Relates

This is the script as brought into the studio to record the intro and extro wrapping the conversation with Keira which was not scripted nor transcribed. 

Theme

Welcome to season four of Something Different This Way Comes, episode five. I’m Heather McLeod and today you’ll hear my conversation with Keira Essex. She is a student at Lakehead University, one of the three dozen or so people who came together to create the Northwest Climate Gathering 2023: Hope & Action, which is happening both on line and in person on November 25 & 26. I hope you’ve already registered, I’d love to see you there

One of the aspects of the Gathering that Keira is really helping to inform, is to make it welcoming and impactful for all sorts of people, those whose gifts and focus are well suited for a conference-style speakers and listeners, and those for whom hope and action need less binary settings, more relational and less instructive.

What does that mean, you may be wondering? Well that’s what this conversation explores: community, relationships, commitment, creative practice - we went many places and yet we kept circling back. Which is also, perfect.

Here is a taste of the song this conversation inspired me to write for you today:

What are the stories leading to & from?
What do relations teach & share in love?
Help me to trust to trust the chaos & the sum
Of love, of love, of love

You can find the lyrics and chords and so much more at www.SomethingDifferentTHisWayComes.ca

Keira Essex and I met first thing Monday morning at the coffeeshop the Study on Lakehead University Campus

—------ tape —----------

Keira Essex is a student at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and she grew up here on the shores of Lake Superior. She is also one of the people leading the Northwest Climate Gathering 2023: Hope & Action. I will include a link to its website in the episode notes at www.SomethingDifferentThisWayComes.ca

Now here is the song I composed this morning, after spending a couple of days listening to that conversation as I edited the tape of it.

Home by Heather McLeod

chorus:

(dmin) Home. Water it calls me

(G) home. How can I honour

(dmin) Home? Water it calls me

(G) home

(A maj) Build relation- (A7)ship to here

Verse 1:

(E maj) What are the stories leading (Amaj) to & from? What do

(dmin) Relations teach & (G) share in love? Help me

(E) to trust the chaos (A) & the sum of (dmin) love, (A7) of love, of (d min) love

Chorus

Verse 2:

When I’m away I miss you every way.

I speak of you too much always I say

The lake when I see rivers, water calls 

me home, me home, you’re home

Chorus out:

Home - water it calls me home

How can I honour home?

Water it calls me home,

(A maj) Build relation (A7)-ship to (dmin) here, to love, to here, to now

(A maj) Build relation (A7)-ship to (dmin) home

I so enjoyed that conversation with Keira Essex. I always enjoy talking to Keira. She listens so closely, and gives so generously of herself. I love when she called for us to set down our linear expectations that we can bring into new or important things, our wish to predict how it will unfold, to start confident we are 100% prepared. Keira said to trust the chaos, that the world and life itself is essentially benevolent. That we are surrounded by Elders who love us and want to teach us how to do better. That we are many, with such a diversity of gifts between us and that is all good, good things we can trust and lean into

I love how circular our conversation proved to bring, pushing forward to swing around, back to art and community to intention and practice and being relational rather than transactional, to celebrating our incremental steps, and the possibilities we can’t predict but can recognize when they appear

Theme

There will be a hole in this season - I will be too busy taking part in the Northwest Climate Gathering on the weekend of November 25 & 26 to be able to edit up and post an episode that following Tuesday. But there will be two or three more episodes in December before this season ends and next week I will return with a conversation with a dear friend and long-time inspiration Lucie Lavoie.

Thank you for listening. Give this podcast a great review, recommend it to a friend, that makes such a difference

Theme out.