Sara Jewell's Blog

Spread More Creativity

 Albert Einstein is credited with saying, "Creativity is contagious. Pass it on."Recently, I had the more amazing opportunity to witness the contagion of creativity in a  Primary (Kindergarten) classroom. 
Now, this is a challenging class. There are three to four boys who simply don't function well in the classroom after lunch, and I only see them for one hour, every 8 days, right after lunch. Every time. So I've been tweaking my time with them the entire school year trying to figure out what works to calm them and keep them calm. 
To keep their inappropriate behaviour from becoming contagious. 
Let me say this: These are not bad boys. Well, one is known for his work refusal and his resistance to doing anything, but the others are just -- uncontainable after the stimulation of lunch recess. And let's remember, there is a whole generation starting school that is being raised on (by) technology and don't know how to sit and sit still without watching or playing something on a device. That, and refusal behaviour, makes teaching a lesson very challenging. 
That's make the sudden appearance of "Some Old School Ways of Teaching We Need To Bring Back" posts on social media rather telling... 
Anyway, after seeing the calming effect colouring mandalas had on a Grade One class in my other school, I decided to try that with this crew. Five and six year olds are known for their fast colouring, although by the spring, they are usually better at taking their time (and scribbling less). The second time we did the mandalas, one of the girls asked if she could use scissors and glue to make a handle. 
She wanted to turn her mandala into a shield. 
That's what she saw when she looked at this design. A shield. I said sure, no problem, and that's when it started. The other girl at her table wanted to make a shield, and I don't know how it spread, but I ended up, near the end of our hour together, taking a group photo of every student (willing to be in the photo) holding up their mandala shield. 
Creativity is contagious. 
I made sure my clever little student understood that it wasn't a case of copying, but that she inspired others to do the same because they recognized a good idea. And it was the most content and most "under control" I'd seen that class in the almost nine months we've spent together. 
This is why I love doing art with young students, and why I like doing freewheeling art. I get that art done in the classrooms, and art done in art class, is often all the students following one way, following the same guidelines -- I see that in classrooms all the time -- because of time constraints, and sure these mandalas are pre-designed and actually printed off the internet for my convenience. But the creative idea that young student had, what she saw and wanted to create, the next steps she knew to take, was freewheeling. 
And my heart did cartwheels because of it. 
~ Sara xo 

It's So Basic, What Are We Afraid Of?

 I wrote this for Facebook shortly after the Conservative Party released its plans for this country if they win the election. The more I thought about the campaign promise to give police more power to arrest people living in tent encampments, and apparently forcing some of them into drug rehab, the angrier I got.
The day after the election, I still feel this way. No matter who is running our country, party or person, the time is long past to do what is right -- and arresting people because they are struggling is NOT the answer.
Tent encampments aren't the problem. They are a symptom of the problem, which is a lack of proper support for those in certain kinds of need. There is a solution to this problem, but no one has the balls, the guts or the spine to implement it and stick to it. And it doesn't take any of those body parts to do it, either. All it takes is a brain. A brain that looks at more than 50 years of evidence, both research and anecdotal, to know that Basic Guaranteed Livable Income works. P.E.I. is about to launch a Guaranteed Basic Income program for its residents so I’ll use their numbers as an example: This maximum annual benefit would be 85 per cent of the official poverty line, so a bit more than $19,000 for a single adult and $27,000 for a family of two adults in P.E.I. This program could cut poverty on PEI by 80 per cent – with 65 per cent fewer Island children living in poverty. Anecdotally, I heard that after the Ontario Liberals brought in a basic income, the people who qualified for it were doing better. They were able to pull themselves out of the hole. Then the Conservatives were elected into office and immediately cancelled the program. So all those families - those children - whose lives were improved by a basic income were plummeted back into the hole again. It's outrageous and it's wrong. The program has been proving itself over and over again in Canada and in the United States for decades, but no one has the balls, the guts, the spine or the brains to do the right thing and make it happen permanently. No one has the heart to do the right thing. There is no more proof to present. It already exists. And I don't want to hear your "well, I know someone who" stories because cancelling a program that helps 7 or 8 out of ten people because two or three people are "milking it" is wrong wrong wrong. Look at the people running this country and that other country with whom we share a border. Look at the people running corporations. You don't think they're "milking it"? Why do the wealthy get admired and rewarded while the poor get ignored and punished? This is why you have a brain. Don't let the politics of fear or the promise of tax cuts distract you. It's bullshit. You won't have less if others get some. Your kids won't get less if the 1.3 million children living in poverty get the support they deserve. Remember this: The numbers thrown around during the election campaign don't have 50 years of documented proof behind them. They are empty - and expensive - promises.
And now we'll see what happens. We're one hundred horrific days into the latest Trump administration. Let's see what our country's first 100 days under a new-ish government looks like.

~ Sara xo

Is It Time For Snack?

 

Someone asked recently how Enzo and the cats are doing. Everyone is great!
Enzo is hoping people will sign up for the birthday party workshop because he will be there and can't wait to eat cake!

Creativity and Cake, A Birthday Workshop

 

My 55th birthday is coming up next month, and when I thought about the best way to celebrate reaching the middle of my 50s, which I have to admit has been a difficult decade so far, I realized I wanted to do host my own "party" and do all the things I love doing.
So a workshop. A gathering for writing and drawing and exploring our spiritual gifts, and eating cake and ice cream. Honestly, that's what I'm most excited about - getting to eat cake and ice cream with a bunch of friends after doing some creative stuff and having some pretty cool conversations. 
It's the afternoon of Saturday, May 10th, from 1-4 pm. Just three hours!All ages are welcome - bring a friend, bring a parent, bring your teenager - and no experience is necessary. If you can hold a marker and a pencil crayon and a fork, you are welcome!

There is a fee but just $25 to cover the cost of all the supplied materials. 
Hope you can make it! Email me at jewellofawriter "at" gmail "dot" com to register. 
~ Sara xo 

The Pope Who Didn't Forget the Poor

 

"The co-existence of wealth and poverty is a scandal, it is a disgrace for humanity."~ Pope Francis, 2015
Pope Francis has died, and I am sorry about that.He was an example of "Jesus in the world today", a man who was a true Christian, in that he followed the way of Jesus - the way of peace, justice, truth, and mercy. He championed the poor, the refugees, the migrants,those who are treated terribly by the very people Jesus opposed:the wealthy, the greedy, the influential, the powerful, the manipulators, the liars, the cheaters, those in power, those with power, those who used their powerto hurt others, to oppress, to suppress, to deny, to deport, to disappear. 
I don't write about theology or religion.My faith is a faith in the work of Jesus: the work of peace, justice, truth and fairness.Kindness, compassion, and mercy.Acceptance, welcome, and hospitality.Respect and dignity. Humility.
Pope Francis represents dignity.Dignity for all human beings, and especially for those who struggle,who are ignored, who are shoved aside. Like Jesus, Pope Francis believed our work begins at the margins,where those who are poor, vulnerable, weak, disabled, ill, struggling, despairing, but utterly deservingare shovedby governments and corporations, by bureaucrats and educators. The marginswhere they can be ignored and neglected and forgotten. 
The papacy of Pope Francis was founded on a simple phrasespoken to him by a cardinal moments after his election as pope:"Don't forget the poor." 
That phrase is the reason he chose the name Francis,after St. Francis of Assis, the patron saint of animals, the environment and ecology,and associated with the poor, justice, and peace. 
How very Jesusy. 
Pope Francis was the world's prophetfor the poor and for the planet. Pope Francis apologized for the church's role in the genocideof Indigenous children in Canada. 
This did not make him popular with conservatives,those whofor some reasonwhether they are in church or in governmentrefuse to take care of the pooras Jesus asked us to,refuse to take responsibility for decisions madeout of arrogance and ignorance and greed.
Like Jesus, Pope Francis did what needed to be donewhether it made him popular or not. 
That's what's most upsetting to me these daysis the complete upending of Jesus' ministry.The utter ignoring of his words,his commandment to love one another,his parables about helping everyone,especially those who are less fortunateand suffering more. Especially those who need help. 
That's whyI snarled a bit at the television when the reporter saidhis time as pope "wasn't without missteps"because that's not fair.There is no life, no living without missteps,without learning from mistakes, without experiencing - and surviving - failure.Our whole faith is founded on the idea of resurrection:that love is stronger than anything, even death, even hate,that love gives us second chances (again and again)that love offers us grace and space to try again (and again)that love allows us to change, transform, recreate our lives,our selves, our identityas we learn who we truly are, what we want to do, how we can use our gifts and our passions to change, transform and recreate the worldthe way Jesus wanted to. 
To have the spiritual courage to say what needs to be saidno matter who objects or how many.
I worry that the conservatives will win the papacy back,that the fascists will infiltrate the Vatican,that those who don't even know where the margins are,who pull their robes around themselves when they are nearthe poor, the vulnerable, the meek, the disabled, the ill,who choose to ignore not only the words of Jesus but those Jesus loved and died for. I worry that the work of the gentle, relatable, charismatic Pope Francis,and the work of Jesus, will end with him. 
This is a man who was dying - and still appeared to bless everyone who gatheredon Easter Sunday for that blessing. Who showed up even when it was hardbecause it was the right thing to do,because it's what Jesus would have done. 
The same reporter mentioned that many people considered hima pastorbecause he was so friendly and relatable. The pope as pastor. Jesus would have loved that. 
I just edited twenty essays (former sermons turned into personal reflections)about Jesus,about how the world needs more Jesus,more love, kindness, mercy, peace, justice, equity, hospitality, acceptance, respect and dignity,about how we are all manifestations of Jesusbecause we are all capable of taking care of one another, and taking care of others we don't knowregardless of the colour of their skin, the place they were born or where they live,the person they want to love, and how they want to dress, BUT it is so much easier to let it all fall on the shoulders of the dead guy,to make ourselves believe only one guy - Jesus - could do this,could be so kind and loving and thoughtful and supportive,so why would be bother? 
Pope Francis was a manifestation of Jesus,he was a deep and committed Jesus follower,he was Jesus' hands and feet and heart and spirit in the world today. He always said to those he met, "Pray for me"
and I will pray that the next pope won't forget the poor. 

~ Sara xo 
(photo by Siarhei Plashchynski, via Upsplash) 

p.s. I've been watching the news - the life and death of Pope Francis is the only story today. So many people now hearing about his work on behalf of the poor, of refugees and migrants. He once brought a group of migrants back to Rome on his plane with him. A theology professor referred to him as a pastor so perhaps for Catholics that was a common idea about him. Also, contrary to what I wrote about above - what I worried about - Pope Francis has been working on his legacy, and apparently chose himself two-thirds of the bishops (or cardinals?) who will be voting for the next pope. So let's hope, let's pray, the work and mission of Pope Francis will continue, and that whatever he left unfinished, whatever he didn't accomplish, didn't address in his twelve years as pope, can be tackled by the next pope carrying on the tradition of not forgetting about the poor. 

April Is Poetry Month

 I'm reading half a dozen of my poems two weeks from today,Sunday, April 28 starting at 1 pm. 
It's in Truro, at a place called The Communeat 563 Prince Street. Easy to find, lots of parking. 
Go early and get a coffee from NovelTea just along the street. 
I'm going to read a couple of never-before-shared poems, including one that's included in the new book coming out in 2026. 

The Creative Spirit Returns

 

My friend, Richard, is a poet. He's a really good storyteller. His voice is compelling. His personality is engaging. His delivery of stories and poems is riveting. You can't NOT listen to Richard when he speaks. 
April is Poetry Month, and last night, I attended Richard's reading at a local library. As promised, he read never-before-shared poems and stories, and as usual, it was an amazing hour. He is humble and humorous and willing to be vulnerable, and his spirit shines through his words. 
Last night, I heard him like I've never heard him before. I think that's because my own creative spirit is alive again, and it was being nourished by Richard's poems. Having given up writing for over a year, and trying to settle into art as a form of creative outlet, I guess attending my first writing related event since I realized I can't give up writing reinforced that discovery that actually, I am a writer. And I must continue writing. 
The usual struggle with art is present: I can't settle on an art form. Painting? Watercolour? Acrylic? Flowers? Landscape? Abstract? Brushes? Palette knives?Drawing? Pen and ink? Pencil? Charcoal? Black and white? Colour? Markers? Pencil crayons? Flowers? Dogs? Chickens? Quotes? The possibilities are endless and I dabble in everything. Actually, it helps to write it all down like that. No wonder I'm frustrated by art! I don't know what I want to do so I don't get a chance to practice and improve. 
When it comes to writing, I have spent thirty years practicing and improving. 
I love poetry and I want to keep writing poetry. I love writing personal stories and I want to keep writing personal stories. I even love editing although I really do need someone else to edit my work in order to push me past my comfort zone and those unseen boundaries that writers have. 
I came away from Richard's reading and from my conversations with friends (fellow audience members) feeling invigorated and inspired. I want to work on my Dad poems, and I suggested to Richard that we do a "head to head" event next April. Our poems and our deliveries are similar, and where we are different will combine to make a great performance. 
I came away from Richard's reading with an even greater longing to be part of a creative & spiritual community. To belong to a group of supportive, deep thinking and productive artists and writers. I need to surround myself with those people, to be around people with the same energy I have, with the same creative spirit that I have. 
What I have learned is that it's one thing to encourage the creativity of others, particularly young people, and another to encourage it in yourself. For thirteen months, I focused on encouraging the creativity of a group of Grade 5 and 6 students, and believed it was enough, believed I could experience creativity (and writing) vicariously through them. 
Nope. I need to be writing. No matter what else I'm doing, I need to keep writing. I'm a writer AND a teacher. I don't have to be one or the other, and honestly, I can't give up my own creativity, can't ignore my own creative spirit. It is such a force inside me. And like any energy, any force, any spirit, it becomes stronger and more potent when it is around other energies, forces and spirits. 
I guess I needed a hard breakup, I needed to stop writing entirely and try to live without it, try to not be a writer, to just be a teacher, in order to appreciate and accept that I am a writer and to be alive means to cherish and nourish my creative spirit. 

~ Sara xo 

A New Book Next Year

Signed the contract for this book tonight. The image creation is mine, it's not the actual cover. No idea when it will be published, but I'm thinking spring 2026 or the fall of that year. You know it takes a long time to get a book into print! And I've been busy editing for the last month, ever since I contacted the editor and said, "You know, I think I want to go ahead with this project." 
I have to pay for a few things, which is different from traditional publishing, but this publisher will do poetry and I don't want my Jesus poems languishing in a file in my computer. 
What helped me decide? Knowing I would have death-bed regrets if I didn't. The bonus is I get to work with my Alphabet of Faith editor again. 
~ Sara xo 

The Restorative Power of Baking

 

Last September - so, six months ago - our oven stopped working. The whole stove was, remarkably, 15 years old, a workhorse of a stove and I was rather sad that we were going to have to replace such a hardworking friend, especially since I know appliances are no longer built to last. And, since I'm saving up and paying tuition, I knew I'd have to buy cheap. 
A month later, our new stove, ordered online, arrived and my husband hooked it up. It didn't take long for us to realize it was set for gas and I hadn't ordered the conversion kit for propane. That meant we had to use our elements sparingly (propane in a gas stove leaves serious black residue on the bottom of pots) and put our oven out of commission for another couple of weeks. Unfortunately, when the technician was converting the oven, he broke the piece. Just as the postal strike was getting under way. 
Friends, the oven wasn't converted until two weeks ago. It's amazing what you can cook with just a stovetop and a toaster oven! I actually didn't really miss the oven; until recently, I didn't have much time for baking anyway. 
My March break started a day early, since I took my personal day on the assessment and evaluation day the teachers get. On the first day of my vacation, I had this urge to bake. So, while waiting on a friend to call for a long chat, I decided to bake Aunt Lila's Chocolate Cake, an easy and quick recipe that would be appreciated by everyone, especially me. I can't eat chocolate but something made with two tablespoons of cocoa seems to be okay. I set the oven to preheat, and started mixing my ingredients.
All of sudden, I felt whole again. The same way I felt when I started editing pieces for this book I'm working on. I'm doing what I love. I'm doing what relaxes me, makes me feel happy, makes me feel like me. Myself. I. I am a writer.
I am a baker. 
I am a baker who hasn't baked in over six months. At first, it was the rush and stress of getting ready for back to school then it was a broken oven. More than six months since I felt the calm and connection of mixing ingredients and baking cookies or cake or crisp. Or granola for breakfast. 
Baking is one of those activities where the concentration on the recipe, on getting the measurements and ingredients right (is it soda or powder?), on mixing and stirring, rolling out or cutting, has the power to put our minds in neutral and send us into a kind of meditative state. Or at least, a not-thinking-about-anything state, which is a blessing to some of us. 
It felt so right, so good to grease the old, battered pan that was in the house my mother inherited, the house her grandfather built. It felt so right, so good to pour the brown batter into the square pan and set it inside the oven. To start anticipating the cooked cake. To turn the page of my recipe book to Grandma's Icing. 
Except that the oven didn't feel hot enough. It didn't feel like 350 degrees. But the digital numbers said 350 and who am I to argue with a brand new oven? Just in case, I set the timer for an extra five minutes.
When the timer went after 35 minutes, I was on the phone with my friend. She heard my howl of dismay when I said, "It's not cooked!"
It was as jiggly as a pair of middle-aged thighs. 
After six months of not baking, after 35 minutes of waiting, I was not going to eat chocolate cake after all. Devastating. After the relaxation, the anticipation. Our technician says the ignitor is gone. "Which surprises me in a new oven."
Nothing surprises me anymore. And since it's under warranty, we now wait for someone else to show up to fix it. Another couple of weeks. Without cake. Without cookies. 
What I'm trying to figure out is - is my return to myself on hold? Is the installation gauge paused at three-quarters? Am I stuck at almost returned? Will I stay stuck? Does my installation stay stalled? Can starting the whole process over - baking another cake to COMPLETION - reboot my system? Will the return happen in its entirety? Or does this simply ruin the whole effect? 
I suppose the answer is this: Baking, like writing, is part of who I am and what I enjoy doing. So whenever I have a working oven again, I will bake a cake, I will make cookies, I will cook a lasagna. 
I will feel like myself again, and I will be happy. 
Because happiness is a warm oven. 

~ Sara xo 

Protective Factors

 

The winter course in my Master of Education program is about trauma-informed practices for teachers: what trauma does to the development of a child's brain, and what we need to know to support their learning and healing. 
So far, the course has focused on what trauma is, including discussing what to do in specific scenarios (which is more challenging that it seems), what schools can do (are doing) to support students dealing with the impacts of trauma, whether a one-time event, or chronic abuse or neglect, and the generational trauma experienced by Canada's Indigenous peoples because of residential schools. 
The topic of our latest class was RESILIENCY, which is the ability to cope and recover from difficult life events; also, a pattern of positive adaptations in the context of past or present adversity. 
A couple of long-time studies figured out why some kids were successful despite trauma (a.k.a. adverse childhood events, or ACEs), and they determined there are "protective factors" that help those kids become resilient - help those kids adapt successfully in the face of threat or disaster. 
There are five protective factors: 1. problem-solving abilities2. competence in some area (being good at something and knowing it)3. positive self-image4. a sense of control5. having one caring, supportive adult 
Those are in no particular order, so the instructor gave us two tasks: on our own, we were to rank our #1 most important factor and our #5 least important factor. Then in our small groups, we were to compare our lists, and report back. 
Out of ALL the groups, I was the only one who chose "competence in some area" as my most important protective factor. Everyone else chose "having one caring, supportive adult".(I did have that as my #2)I put that choice down to my love of writing and art, and my commitment to creativity. 
Later that evening, it dawned on me why that being competent in some area was my first choice. 
Let me share a story I've never told publicly, not because it's awful or upsetting but because I simply haven't had a reason to share it until now. Also, I didn't remember this until I was in my thirties, but I'm writing this as the memory because when it came back, I remembered it vividly. 
The summer I was nine, I spent a week at camp. I was familiar with the camp, having attended summer camp before, and because my church did an annual fall family retreat there. One evening while we were on a sleepover in another building, one of my counsellors woke me up. "Sara, you were crying in your sleep."I realized I was dreaming. I had been dreaming about my great-aunt Vera who had died the previous Christmas. It was just a dream, and who knows why my brain chose that time to dream about her?"Are you homesick?" my counsellor asked.And in that split-second moment, I believed it was better to say Yes than it was to tell the truth: that I had been dreaming about my dead aunt. From that moment on, I was The Homesick Camper. I remember the head counsellors wanting to keep me out of my sister's sight because apparently homesickness was contagious. I was nine, and I didn't know how to speak up and correct the adults. 
How to tell the adults they were wrong. 
My mother picked us up at the end of the week, and we never went back to camp. We never talked about me being homesick, but every so often, my sister would bring up how I made her homesick at camp. For thirty years of my life, I carried that label, that shame, that regret, and it wasn't real. 
As an adult, from the moment I remembered this, remembered I wasn't homesick, this story makes me angry. Now I know we don't plant ideas in kids' heads, we don't suggest how they are feeling. It was just a dream. If she had to wake me up, how could it be homesickness? 
It's another What if? I drag around with me because what if she hadn't asked me that, what if I'd told the truth, what if I hadn't been branded The Homesick Camper? I likely would have kept going to camp, I likely would have likely worked as a counsellor, I likely might have had more confidence as a person, etc...  A positive, transformative life experience was taken from me by someone else. From an "adult" even though she was probably only 16. 
So you add that story to the high school art teacher who told me not to take any more art classes, and the teacher supervising my final practicum who told me I shouldn't be a teacher, and I get even angrier. That's how I understood why I chose being good at something rather than a supportive adult as my number 1 protective factor. 
I was let down by adults who were supposed to encourage and support me. 
I'm not claiming any trauma; it's simply unfortunate, mainly because of nuture and nature. Once art and teaching were taken from me (my personality not being the "screw you, I'll show you how wrong you are" kind), all I had was writing. I also wonder if this is the reason I've always been resistant to guidance from others, from seeking guidance from others, why I don't like being told what to do. There were voices deep inside my subconscious telling me not to trust anyone. But I also now can see the manifestations of how I also didn't trust myself. 
Who knows? It would take a lot of therapy to help me unpack all of this! 
One thing I know for sure: it does explain why I am passionate about my lunchtime creative writing and art groups for Grade 5 & 6 students, and why my one-on-one chats with students who just want someone to listen them mean so much to me. 
If there's one thing I can do, it's be the caring and supportive teacher I never had. 

~ Sara xo