Sunday, June 26, 2016

Trying something new...

While I am away from my church community, I still want to share thoughts and reflections
about wandering through various places, spirituality, culture, music, art and all the rest. But I want to do this in a more private way; so, I am going to experiment with this new blog - and ask your patience. My friend, Len, mentioned the French word flâneur to me last year during my sabbatical. Later I came across it in Barbara Brown Taylor's excellent reflection, Leaving Church. Wikipedia does a good job at synthesis, too:

The term flâneur comes from the French masculine noun un flâneur [ahn flah-NUR]—which has the basic meanings of ‘stroller’, ‘lounger’, ‘saunterer’, ‘loafer’—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means “to stroll”. Charles Baudelaire developed a derived meaning of flâneur—that of “a person who walks the city in order to experience it”. Because of the term’s usage and theorization by Baudelaire and numerous thinkers in economic, cultural, literary and historical fields, the idea of the flâneur has accumulated significant meaning as a referent for understanding urban phenomena and modernity.


Starting tomorrow, Monday, June 27 I'm going to be away from all work in every way except those tasks like housecleaning and yard work that I love. On Wednesday, we head off to the Ottawa Jazz Festival for a week. While there, in addition to some wonderful and soulful music, we'll visit L'Arche Ottawa for their community night. I am interested in this community for a host of reasons and look forward to getting a feel for their operation on July 4th.

My hope is that you will join me in this sojourn and let me know if you find any of my postings bring a little light and joy into your life, ok?

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