I
recently had the privilege to attend a special "Hope & Survival"
launch event featuring artist & author Laurie Swim. Held at the Halifax Central Library on November 4, 2017, this launch event introduced Laurie's visionary efforts to commemorate the Halifax Explosion in the 100th anniversary of the tragedy. Laurie captivated our interested group with stories of her special project, an effort that grew from a chance "turn of the millennium" encounter with a book about the Halifax Explosion by Janet Kitz. Laurie's remarkable commemoration efforts include a stunning centerpiece quilt (with visual & tactile imagery from scenes of the explosion). There are also fabric "Scrolls of Remembrance" honouring the names of each of the
victims of the tragedy in text & also beaded in Braille - quite fitting given given the unprecedented number of eye injuries
that resulted from the flying glass & debris of the explosion. In fact, learning to triage and treat the tremendous scope of explosion-related injuries was an important part of the learning that came out of the tragedy.
The Halifax Explosion is of particular importance to me personally because I have direct family connections to this event. Both of my parents were born and raised in rural Eastern Shore Nova Scotia. Of their parents, I had one Grandmother I knew and two Grandfathers I knew that were children over 100 kilometers from Halifax and could remember hearing the explosion in Halifax. However, it was my one Great-Grandmother that I got to know - My Nana's mother Louisa Eisan, her husband & their growing family that actually lived in Halifax when the explosion happened. Apparently, as the family story goes, my Great-Grandmother was bathing her infant son (my as yet unborn Nana Ruth's older brother) at the time of the horrific explosion. From where she lived near the Halifax Commons, all my Great Grandmother could do was lean over her son to try to shield him, and herself, from the firestorm of flying glass. Somehow, my Great Grandmother's family (including her husband who worked in the dockyard) all survived the actual explosion. Unfortunately, my Great-Grandmother's husband died very young the next year from what was thought to be influenza but turned out to most likely be collateral lung damage from the Explosion. The tragedy of the Halifax Explosion physically changed Nova Scotia's landscape, but it also changed the faces & character of the province with untold losses of generations of families and communities.
The learning that came from the tragedy of the Halifax Explosion changed not only our city, province, and region, but also
our country & our world. Hopefully the learnings will ensure such a
tragedy never happens again. As we commemorate this important
centennial - 100 years of learning, love & hope stemming from this
tragic event, we also take time to remember all those now not here to
give thanks and remember for themselves. As the years pass, there are less and less survivors with direct known connections to the actual Halifax Explosion event. This decline will continue. Most of the relatives I knew with direct connections to the explosion have since died and I am no longer able to hear any of their voices or any of their stories. But writing this, I know I have been extremely lucky - extremely lucky to have multiple levels of generational influences in my life, not everyone gets that chance. Lucky to directly hear, and hence my commitment to share, hopeful stories of the past. Today, now, here, writing (and/or reading) this - please remember that we all have important stories to share - the stories just take different forms. We are all are survivors of life who are alive, here, now - living & learning & playing & working & passing on lessons from our collective passed, and path & past. We continue to have so much to learn from our shared stories of hope & survival - all of which have played some kind of a role (no matter how seemingly major or minor) in getting us to where we are now. As a lifelong learner, teacher, apprentice & journeyperson of life I feel the imperative and the importance to continue to inform, influence and inspire others by generously sharing our stories of learning and stories of hope to help ensure the mistakes of yesterday are not repeated.
Laurie Swim's Halifax Explosion commemoration efforts are inspiring to me. I think they have the potential to be inspiring to others too - that is why I am scribing & sharing this piece. My interest in Laurie's work initially grew out of my love of family patchwork quilts - I have received beautiful & lovingly created hand crafted quilts of various forms from all my family members. I have followed this project for some time & think it is a
book & a museum exhibit display I highly recommend experiencing for anyone interested in
celebrating hope, survival & lifelong learning...
Take gentle care,
Sue 8)
p.s. these are a few of the photos I took from the event ...
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