“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are thousands of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
Writer. Celebrant.
Hi, I’m Heidi.
My writing explores often-overlooked places and people, finding beauty and meaning in the messiness of life. Oftentimes it’s as a celebrant, where life and death intersect, that this beauty and mess take on significance.
My lived experiences ripple through my work, and consequently, I write about everything from photosynthesis to cancer, adoption, fairy tales, and medieval mystics. I value seeing with our hearts, coming to the page with sadness that is not sentimental, and reverence for the sacred.
My career path has taken me from agricultural science to work in the nonprofit sector. In the early 1990s at the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association I helped steer the response strategy during the BSE/Mad Cow crisis, and then made a hard left and worked for a street agency for many years. I wrote curriculum for immigrant youth and coordinated a writing program for women new to Canada. It’s been my joy to teach creative writing and humanities courses at Calgary universities as well as literacy for adults returning to learning.
As for my writing journey, I was co-editor of the (M)othering Anthology, recognized by CBC in 2022, and a twice finalist for the Brenda Strathern Award. I’m excited to be seeking representation for my first novel and working on a second.
Alongside my writing, I love rivers and kayaking, walking in pine forests and the smell of cedar, and finding flowers in unlikely places.
Writing that Reflects Life’s Rituals…
Like writing, being a celebrant is, for me, about noticing what’s important and naming it with authenticity and kindness. This posture, or way of seeing involved in officiating rituals, influences my writing life. It’s about placing what is beautiful alongside what is complicated or hard.
Starting in 2016, I began creating and hosting customized memorial and celebration of life services. This means holding space for and listening to friends and family with a commitment to honouring the story of the deceased with authenticity and respect. And holding space can happen in formal ritual or simply gathering at the park (in this picture), as some of us did to celebrate our friend Mike B. this fall.
Some people pass without family or friends to recognize the significance of their lives and stories. I prepare and deliver public trustee memorial services for them, usually with one staff member from the funeral home in attendance at the service and at graveside. This is important to me.
This vocation began when I was doing some work in 2003-4 at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, which included being on call for after-death care. Then, I officiated my first services for families who had experienced the sudden loss of a loved one.
Later, until 2013, as part of the Servants Anonymous Society (SAS, now RESET) community, we’d wanted to honour women whose deaths were often traumatic and whose lives were often unrecognized. We began gathering for informal but intentional ritual when we lost a community member, and this evolved into an annual remembrance of all who’d passed. In this spirit, I created the SAS Memorial Book to reflect the stories of women who’d died and who are remembered and loved by the past participants, staff and volunteers who cared about them.
Writing that is Informed by Life’s Stories…
Never Too Late
Education will save your life.
— Advice from my father,
who crossed the stage at 81.
Never Too Late (offered by Kindred) was a no-cost program for adults wanting their GED. Learning happened in community in a welcoming, often fun, environment. I’m grateful for the chance to have taught language arts and social studies, and to watch people’s self-narratives change as they began to discover they are brilliant when they’d thought and been told otherwise.
For adult foundational learners, trauma is frequently a factor in why their childhood education was disrupted. In a 2019 retrospective study of Never Too Late, 85% reported living with trauma or related concerns. I learned from, and have respect for, adults brave enough to return to the classroom. Life for students after “Never Too Late” is a testament to the fact that showing up changes everything,
Rituals of Goodbye
Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees. — Victor Hugo
Memorials: When the strength of loss knocks us off guard, sometimes we are not sure what to do or even how to feel. Amazing Grace might be the last thing we want to hear. The relationship was complicated. Or, the death was cruel. Oftentimes our grief is too large. As a celebrant, being present to people in such times, to create the unique rituals that honour their stories, is, to me, a sacred privilege.
Saying goodbye in an intentional way offers healing. Protecting ourselves from grief breaks our hearts further. It is the gift of ritual to provide the safe place for expressing feelings. In future “Currents” I will share ways we can experience comfort when our soul is on its knees… On the importance of ceremony... And, on the importance of ritual when no one is present to say goodbye.
The Shoe Project
Every shoe tells a story.
The Shoe Project is a national program of writing and performance workshops in which newcomer women tell their stories of arrival in, and adaptation to, a Canadian community through the lens of a pair of shoes.
Humbling and fun it was, to gather around the table at CIWA (Calgary Women's Immigrant Association) in 2019 as women put pen to paper and talked all things shoes. A nod to the articulate women who generously shared their stories. To Roya Chalaki and Aya Mhana, alumnae supporting new stories as program coordinators. And to Barb Howard, The Shoe Project coach-author.
Walk a mile.
Humanities 101
Education is an act of love,
and thus an act of courage. – Paulo Freire
Humanities 101 was a program of free university-level, non-credit, courses designed for people overcoming poverty, abuse, addiction, or homelessness. Run out of St. Mary’s University, students engaged the stories that connect us to others and society through Literature, History, Music, Cultural Studies, Philosophy, and Art History. I loved the years as an instructor at Humanities 101, especially co-teaching with past participant Kimamanan. Students were introduced to the writings of Viktor Frankl, Martin Luther King, TS Eliot, Neil Gaiman, Lorna Crozier, bell hooks, Seamus Heaney, and Langston Hughes — people they discovered they had much in common with. To name a few.
One of the (many) best parts of HUM 101 was eating together before class. Over a hot meal, good relationships developed. As the semester progressed, students discovered that they belonged on campus. Imagine that… Simply wonderful.
