Thursday October 27

Dear Diary:

A day without a single meeting on my plate (stunning surprise) except to meet with Khari McLelland and Savannah at the Ovaltine at 8am and to go over some ideas for internship with Khari. We are cooking up with Khari some great ideas around community, food, youth and rap. Really looking forward to seeing what arises from these seeds we will be planting with Khari.

Boy, did the pressure cooker head up the afternoon when I realized I had a ton of things that needed to get ready for Friday and the weekend’s Carnegie Jazz Band and Aboriginal Artist Showcase. Also tomorrow we start rehearsals on songs from We Are the People which we will present at the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) national convention on Monday night in front of hundreds of folks at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre. It was totally crazy to take on this event in the middle of the festival, but it was too great an opportunity to pass up: to share – on a national stage – the extraordinary music and lyrics that are coming out of our community through the works of folks like Leith Harris, Wendy Chew, Patrick Foley, Earle Peach, Jason Logan, Mike Richter and others. Boy these people inspire me.  A good thing, as I can feel a cold coming on. Breathe.

~ Terry