guest post by Andrew Stirling MacDonald
Hello, fellow readers of Islands
of Joy. Sørina, a very new but
quickly endearing friend of mine, has asked me to take up the mantle of
chronicling the musings and misadventures that occur during the monthly meeting
of Christian artists and performers known as Ekphrasis. My name is Andrew Stirling MacDonald, and I
attended my first Ekphrasis event in October.
To date, I’ve presented some music I composed (I produce video and often
compose music to accompany it) as well as some of my writing. I also act, sing, and play piano, often
simultaneously, something that I plan to bring to the group at some nebulous
point in the future. I am not a
minute-taker, nor am I an agenda-follower, so I may prove to be a very
unorthodox group historian. However, I
will to my best to be an interesting one.
Our most recent Ekphrasis gathering was quite a departure
from our usual song-and-dance – for one thing, it included actual dancing. This was not meant to be an ordinary meeting,
but a holiday party, open to the public.
I took advantage of this openness by bringing my two-year-old daughter,
Somerled, who was, in my entirely biased opinion, a big hit. In addition, several other new faces were
present, in addition to most of the usual crowd (a few were on various holiday
trips and one had her wedding anniversary). We were happy to welcome Nick M, Philip L., and Amanda L. for the first time.
Several members brought snacks to share, and we all munched away happily
as various members of the group presented.
Marian B. was the first to present, another installment in
her long-running fantasy saga. Marian’s
mother, who has heard none of the story so far, had attended the party. She kept herself spoiler-free by taking my
daughter aside and playing with her in another room. Marian’s excerpt proved to be a very dark
one, involving mutilation and coercion.
Interestingly, this set the tone for most of the readings that night,
apparently many people in the group had some dark writings to share over the
holidays.
Betsy G. followed, reading a chapter from her re-imagined
fairy tale (I will have to confer with the various authors to find out exactly
how much they are comfortable with me sharing here; expect to find somewhat
more detailed descriptions for at least some of these in the future).
Richard B, who brought his wife with him as a guest, read a
chapter from an upcoming novel in his “Legend of the Redeemer” series. Since I’ve read the first three books, I took
a special interest in his protagonist, Jack Windsword. A lively discussion ensued.
After a short break, Abigail M. read us a short story she’d recently had published in her school’s
literary journal. It
was a sort of very short personal essay written from the perspective of a
female character who’d just cut her hair short for the first time.
Alex U. brought a chapter from a novel he’d been writing (he’d
developed the concepts with a friend of his).
Again, I’m not sure how much I can disclose here on this blog, but it
involved death. Geographically.
I read the third chapter of my NaNoWriMo novel “Lullaby,” a
concept which I’d developed some years ago as a series but decided to repurpose
as a novel. Although my chapter did have
some funny and light-hearted moments, it also included a young boy being forced
to watch as his father was executed by impaling, so.
With all of our literary presentations spent, the night
turned towards the direction it always ought to when people are done talking:
dancing. Sørina had requested
that our resident English Country Dance caller Betsy G. lead us in a dance
called the Coventry Carol. Betsy went
above and beyond and brought three songs for us to dance to. My daughter Somerled was very enthusiastic
about the dancing, and Betsy was kind enough to take her hand and dance
alongside her while calling the first dance.
For the second song, we danced in two giant circles, switching partners
every half-verse of the song. I only
tripped once, and my partner-at-the-time, Amanda L., very impressively helped
to hoist me to my feet. The song continued
on without incident. We finished the
evening’s dancing with the Coventry Carol, a beautiful-sounding song that was
about parents trying, and ultimately failing, to save their young children from
execution on the orders of King Herod.
So very in-keeping with the unintended dark theme of the party. The dance was for six people, and by the end
we’d figured out how to do a pretty cool interweaving star thing, with two
stars going at once and spinning ‘round like clockwork. I cannot claim that we mastered this dance,
but we quitted our parts pretty admirably, and we were all well-satisfied with
the results.
This concludes my first report of our Ekphrasis
gatherings. We are meeting again the
first Monday in January, and you can expect another report from me as soon as I
find the wherewithal to write it. Thanks
for your attention!
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