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monthly reflection on current Lapidus-related issues

January

winter

As winter's cold grips tight and harsh in the UK and elsewhere, Louise Gluck's poem Snowdrops is an encouragement and a reminder.

The news compels attention through the many tendrils of media. We hear harsh news of flooding around the world, economic recession and conflict. Writing and story-making continues - in journalism, in academic articles, in fiction, in poetry. It may seem to be a requirement that in these circumstances we pay attention to the 'factual' narratives, that we do not avert our eyes from the bald plain truth and harsh realities.

Yet a creative narrative is needed - for reflection, for re-shaping, for pleasure, for alternatives, for challenge, for resistance. Because no journalistic narrative is the whole story. Because life moves and changes, and what we tell ourselves and others influences what happens next. Because framing the story differently is an act of courage.

Like the surprising snowdrop, which we can never take for granted, and which every year is a small miracle, creative narratives can break through earth hard as iron.

In spite of the challenges, new organisations form, bridges are built in small and larger ways, and communities gather. See for example the way medical students turn to creativity in the Out of Our Heads! project in Bristol - read about this and other projects via the Projects Around the UK page.

It can seem a harsh environment for arts projects and for areas such as writing for wellbeing. Yet in the harshest winter the sight of a snowdrop is all the more welcome.

© F Hamilton