Grit Uplifted Offers a Place for Self Expression for People who are Homeless

I would like to share with you information about a unique writing group based in London, Ontario.


The "Grit Uplifted Creative Writing Group" is an open forum for learning, self-expression and the building of trust and community for people who are homeless, at risk of being homeless, or have experienced homelessness. The group has a blog which serves as a venue through which the Grit Uplifted writers can share their work, their ideas and their experiences. Visit http://grituplifted.com/ The site features stories, poetry and video and offers a place to share personal experiences and revealing insights raising awareness about the human stories of homelessness.

"We need to value the artist practitioner as a professional and a critical force for change, a vital player, one to be consulted in the change process along with educators and researchers, city planners and scientists, healthcare professionals and others who care about improving the quality of life for our citizens and communities. Rather than tossing the arts out and slashing funding...in these challenging times, we need to hold fast to the arts and all that they offer and put them to work for the betterment of Canadians and our communities. We have never needed the arts in action for the health of our country more than we do today."

C.L. McLean, Publisher, Executive Editor
The International Journal of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice IJCAIP
Editor, Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice Research Series, Detselig Temeron Press

Presentation by Cheryl L. McLean

2011 Creative City Summit UnConference May 10 in London, Ontario

Research and Arts in Action for Community and Cultural Change

Cheryl L. McLean, Publisher of The International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice (IJCAIP http://www.ijcaip.com) and Editor of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice research text series, Detselig Temeron Press, speaks about the vital role of the creative arts in research for transformative community change drawing on leading edged research and compelling and illustrative examples and stories of the creative arts working for hope and change in practice in communities in Canada and abroad.

May 10, 2011, Museum London 3:45 - 4:15

Quote from upcoming article by The Arts Health Network Canada BC. (in press)

Review reports text shows how arts may be used in social research to raise awareness and move pubic to act

A review of the International Journal of The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice IJCAIP, research text "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change" by Dr. Amy Clements-Cortes, Baycrest Centre and University of Windsor, was published today in the newsletter Doorway to Rm. 217 published by Bev Foster Executive Director of the Room 217 Foundation. The complete review can be found at the Room 217 website.



Excerpt from review below:

"Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, is a unique collection of research that features participative, communal, active and experimental methods. The book is conceptualized in 5 parts and provides firsthand accounts from leading researchers, educators, physicians, artists and others who use the creative arts in their practices.

Part 1: Creative Arts in Research and Action for Community Change tells stories and provides examples of how the arts may be used in social research to raise awareness, move the public to act, and provide help to marginalized populations. Information about various social issues is combined with stories of arts research projects, demonstrating the power of the arts to reach people and bring about change.

The text inspires readers with its narratives of people coming together, helping one another and finding meaning through the creative arts. It is clear from the research that arts-informed research methods are inclusive to diverse populations."

(read the complete review here)

More information about the book "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope and Change" can be found at http://www.ijcaip.com. The book can be purchased directly from the website.

John J. Guiney Yallop Releases New Poetry Book

Poetry Reading and Book Launch

Of Place and Memory: A Poetic Journey

John J. Guiney Yallop

Acadia University Club

Thursday, April 14, 2011

4:00 to 6:30

Cash Bar; Snacks Provided

Readers who pick up this book might ask if this is a collection of poetry, a memoir, or a report of educational research. It is all that and more. What John Guiney Yallop has accomplished in this text demonstrates the importance of the passionate and the particular in education. As he argues, “Education needs to be less about telling and more about experiencing, less about making lists and more about making connections . . . .The emotions need to be more present, and more valued, in education—and understood as intelligent” (p. 12). His book shows us just how this might be done.

(Rebecca Luce-Kapler, Kingston, Ontario – from the Foreword)

The poems are bounded by insightful and corroborating guidance for readers interested in exploring what poetic inquiry 'looks like' within the Humanities generally, gender and masculinities studies, Faculties of Education, Faculties of Theology, and the broader literary communities. Guiney Yallop's presentations of his poetry have been enthusiastically received coast-to-coast. His is a startlingly fresh, new, voice. Read this book.

(Cornelia Hoogland, Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario)

Of Place and Memory will appeal to scholars and educators in education and creative writing and the social sciences, but it will also appeal to readers who are not part of academic circles. The book can be read as a collection of poems that sing out in a sustained and engaging voice, or it can be read as an insightful discussion of research methodologies in the social sciences, or it can be read as an engaging memoir that touches the imagination and heart, or it can be read as the moving testimony of a gay educator who has lived his whole life in the haunting and holy pursuit of language and literacy as democratic and just. It can be read in numerous ways, but it cannot be ignored. John J. Guiney Yallop has composed a compelling book that, by its creative contravention of cliché and convention, calls us together to critical conversation. This book is a singular gift!

(Carl Leggo, Professor, Department of Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia)

Now available through the Acadia University Bookstore, your local bookstore or directly from the publisher, Backalong Books, at http://www.backalongbooks.com/