Letter: Share Your Story for a Book on How Place Shapes Identity
Invitation to Grey Bruce residents to submit stories, poems, or art exploring how land and place shape who we are. Deadline Nov. 30.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Do you have deep thoughts and/or memories of a place you’ve lived? This is your invitation to contribute to a book about how a place has affected your life.
When Charlie Angus was on his Resistance Tour, he talked in part about what it means to be Canadian. He talked about the importance of where we live and said, “We are people of a place.” He referred to the importance of Tom Thomson’s landscape paintings, which depict Canada to the world.
That line made me think about all the sorts of places we are in and from: do we get a sense of personal identity from the place we were born in (or grew up in, or live in now)?
Do people who have always lived in a city feel a connection to the land?
Do people who’ve lived in multiple places have a sense of belonging to all of them? None of them?
And what does it really mean, anyway, that we are “people of a place”? How does the land itself — the farm, the reserve, the escarpment, the town, the lakeshore, the rocky soil, the presence of a river or waterfall — influence who we are as people?
This is where you come in: here's your invitation to think about these things, for possible inclusion in a book about how place influences our being.
What does the land mean to you? What lessons have you taken from it? How are you committed to caring for it?
I’m looking for people who are:
Third or more generations to farm the same acres: what does that farmland mean to you?
People who’ve always lived in the same city, town, or village in Grey Bruce: Do you have a place in that town where you can get close to the earth? Maybe it’s some pots on the balcony, or maybe it’s your back garden. Why is that important?
People whose ancestors have been here for all time: What is your connection to the land?
People who are part of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, and live at Saugeen FN or Neyaashiinigmiing.
People who are part of SON but have never lived on the reserve.
People who have lived elsewhere and now call Grey Bruce home.
People who’ve left town and begun farming: what prompted the change?
People who use a community garden. What draws you to that?
And anyone else who has a connection to a place.
These are just some ideas. You will likely have other ways of thinking about Canadians in general, or you in particular, being “people of a place.” Start writing!
Entries must be from 2 to 5 pages (that’s about 1000-5000 words), and longer pieces will be considered. Your work could be in paragraph form, poetry, or a short graphic story/comic. Writers whose piece is selected for publication will receive a copy of the book. If you would rather share your story than write it, we have people who can help with the writing.
You can use your own name or one of your choosing. Entries can be submitted to connectedtotheland@gmail.com — The deadline is November 30, with a plan to publish in 2026.
Thank you,
Joan Beecroft
Owen Sound
Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.