Two months into my 2nd Degree Bachelor of Music Education at Memorial University, it jolts me like the knots in my back being rubbed out. I'm here to reflect, identify, ideate, integrate, synthesize, and educate. I'm in artist retreat mode. I have noticed a few course assignments and assessments that encourage journaling, so here are some journal entries chronicling an artist on a retreat for a year and learning, as a dear friend Gladys keenly put into words. I'm an artist who has returned to school after ten years of freestyle living because I needed to learn something and be amongst a cohort of driven, like-minded pursuers of education. The life of a wayfaring musician is fun, glittery most of the time, and is also nice to take a break from. This retreat is 10 months including an internship/practicum ANYWHERE in the world, as they advertised, which I hope and intend to do back in my "other here" home, Australia. A brilliant teacher-colleague asked me, on a post-it, why this, why there, why now? I appreciate this inquiry. It gives my intrinsic motivation a healthy challenge to address how certain I want to invest in this program and this practicum abroad. I often reflect on my time living in Australia, and the reasons to return for a 65-day practicum are plentiful, visible and tangible. To work a day and rinse off in the ocean any time of the year is but one of many reasons why. I keep that post-it on my desk. (I have a nice, clean desk, workspace, and house keys! I haven't had these for years!) The idea of having an artist residence (the practicum) IN an artist retreat (school) is very me, the awesome manifestation of aligned hopes and dreams. Work hard on those projects and, as our friend Jordan Rakai sings it, make it good, do it right, oh oh oh. *I got to see him LIVE in MONTREAL and I still feel pretty good about it. Thanks for your music, Jordan.
So much peace and love.

(Image taken by Taylor Donald)