Blue Ridge Overlook

It’s so hard to say goodbye! And difficult to sum up a year’s worth of joy, wonder, excitement, frustration, fear, near breakdown, breakthrough, and completion! (Not necessarily in that order.)

It’s been a wonderful adventure. I’m happy to have been given the opportunity to share my journey with you here on Marginalia. Through this blog, I have encapsulated my experiences in a way that will help to make them more memorable for me in the future; and I hope that I have been able to give an account of my experiences that was helpful or insightful to those reading.

“So, what’s next?” is the question I keep hearing.

Well, life is an adventure that I take day by day. I just returned from a wonderful visit to the Blue Ridge Mountains and a residency at the Lillian E. Smith Center for Creative Arts. It was wonderful to take a respite from the city and breathe in some fresh mountain air; to exchange for a while the city skyline for an endless expanse of mountains; to exchange the sound of sirens for the sound of cicadas; to hear how the hummingbird sings compared to the sound of the hummingbird’s wings; to be enveloped by the sound of moving water rushing over rocks…

Nancy and Robert Fichter are the gracious hosts of the Lillian E. Smith Center. They have a way of making you feel like family. It’s a place that I have been blessed to return to for many summers. I have met so many wonderful and inspiring artists on my visits here, and this year was no exception: Kamla, a writer and poet; Karl, a costume designer; and Christopher, a choreographer and stained glass artist. We enjoyed a wonderful exchange in presenting our work to each other over drinks in the Center’s Common Room.

It was difficult to leave that space, but it’s always nice to return home, to continue to move forward in the moment, yet planning and looking forward to the next adventure that awaits me. And so, I bid you adieu, with a warm welcome to Wilma-Marie who will be writing the blog posts for the Interdisciplinary Arts MA Department. Wishing you a wonderful journey, Wilma-Marie!