m m m Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 5559) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: rjerred@haltonsearch.com Evening with Oriah Mountain Dreamer was Invitation' to explore inner feelings By Liz Campbell SPEC IA L TO TH E BEAVER She rejoices in the nam e o f O riah M ountain D ream er. It's not h er b irth nam e. However, she explains w ith a self-deprecating nod to those who m ight think this a bit `flaky', it's now h er real nam e. It was given to h er by a sham an. And it perfectly suits the wom an who held a large audience silently enthralled at A ppleby College for nearly tw o hours last week. Oriah donated her time to speak at a fundraiser for the Women's Information and Support Centre o f Halton. She spoke without notes, fluently, and from the heart. Oriah's success began with a poem. She wrote The Invitation in 1998 after coming home from a party, some what dissatisfied with the level of exchange with the other guests. She had recently lost her closest friend to a brain aneurysm, an event she says, which forces one to re-evaluate what is impor tant in life. The Invitation begins: It doesn't interest m e w hat you do fo r a living. I w ant to know w hat you ache fo r a n d i f yo u dare to dream o f m eeting y o u r heart's longing. It's a long poem and it ends: I w ant to know i f you can be alone with yourself, A n d truly like the com pany you keep in the quiet m om ents. "1 wanted to say to myself as much as to others that we spend too much time on the things that don't matter," explains Oriah. "I want to go deeper with people to what does matter." She had been leading workshops in spirituality, taking groups to retreat cen tres, so she sent her poem in her newsletter to students. And many of them sent it to others. To her astonishment, in a matter of months. The Invitation was on more than 80,000 Web sites around the world. Somewhere along the way. someone had attributed it to `a native elder'. And so her first book. The Invitation. was bom. Using each stanza of the poem as the basis for meditations, the book is " . . . a declaration of intent, a map into the longing of the soul, the desire to live passionately, face-to-face with ourselves and skin-to-skin with the world." A Toronto resident now. Oriah was bom in New Liskeard, Ontario, 100 miles north of North Bay, a place she describes as being close to the wilder ness. So when she began to learn with Native American elders, the need to spend time in the wilderness alone was comfortable for her. She has spent as much as 22 days alone in the wild, without food, in her quest for understanding. But lest you assume that Oriah is a strange woman, a mystic or even a dreamer as her name implies, it is also clear that this is a person grounded in reality. Her life experiences have often been hard, from sexual assault at a young age to two failed marriages. She has been a social worker, working with abused women. Her illness. Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome, when her two sons were very young, forced her to examine her life. It was then, hav ing exhausted all the normal medical possibilities, that she sought out a Native American shaman, who healed her. "It was a pivotal point in my life," she says. "I did a vision quest and. as a result, I made a huge number of changes in my life." Her two sons keep her in the real world she says and even tease her. "When I'm not behaving according to that essential compassionate nature I'm vowing I have, and I'm yelling at my son about the toaster, he'll say, 'Can you feel the compassion?'" she laughs. "They keep me grounded." Her most recent book is The Dance. It grew from a "somewhat desperate attempt to find the wisdom and knowl edge to live consistent with my deepest desires. Ready to face the truth about myself. I plunged in, askiHg as I wrote, `Why am I so infrequently the person I really want to be?' I just wanted to know how." The D ance is available in book stores. Bookers sold copies of both books at the fundraiser for the women's centre, which they sponsored. Melvina Walter, director o f the W omen's Support Centre praised Oriah: "We're so grateful to her. Her message is such a perfect fit with the work we do, with depression and pain." But she adds. "The spirit at the (Women's Support) Centre is unbelievable." Peter C. McCusker · O akville B eaver O riah M ountain D ream er shared some of h er life experiences with a captive audience at Appleby College last Thursday. John Laing Singers celebrates 20 years Critically-acclaimed choir will hold anniversary concert Saturday By Wilma Blokhuis OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Performance to benefit HWP The White Oaks Secondary School Drama Council is holding a benefit performance of Timberlake Wertenbaker's The Love o f the Nightingale in support of Halton Women's Place, a non-profit organization devoted to assisting abused women and their children This encore performance will take place tonight (Wednesday), at 7:30 p.m. in the White Oaks Secondary School South Campus Cafetorium. The Love o f the Nightingale revolves around an ancient Greek myth based on two sisters, Procne and Philomele. daughters of the king of Athens. The drama council says it is proud to be present ing a play of such significance involving issues of sexual assault abuse of power, the silencing of victim and revenge. While not appropriate for young audiences, the play's rele vance in society cannot be ignore, says the council. A Pay-What-You-Can policy is in effect with a recommended minimum donation of $2. For more information, please call The White Oaks Drama Council at 905-845-5200, ext. 521. M em bers of the Jo h n Laing Singers are celebrating their 20th anniversary. The critically-acclaimed choir, founded and directed by John Laing. organist and choirmaster at St. Jude's Church since 1987. will bring its 20th Anniversary Celebration Concert to the church on Saturday. The performance will be part of the St. Jude's Celebration of the Arts. The choir will perform a little bit of every thing, from sacred to Renaissance to humourous secular tunes and folk songs. The repertoire will include 'M iserere' (Psalm 51) by Grigorio Allegri, Kyrie' from `H eiligm esse' by Joseph Haydn, 'Hymn to the M other o f G o d ' by John Tavener. `Three C at S o n g s' by Dr. Paul Rapoport. music professor at McMaster; and The O xen' by Robert G. Rivers, based on a Thomas Hardy's poem. The concert will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $18 for students and seniors, and are available at S t Jude's Church, 160 William St.. 905-844-3972. The John Laing Singers have represented Canada at choral festivals in France, Switzerland, and the United States. At the 10th annual International Choral Festival in Nancy, France, in 1989, the choir placed second from among 40 competing choral groups. At the 28th annual Montreux International Choral Festival in Switzerland in 1992, the John Laing Singers placed fourth among 10 adult choirs invited to perform. The John Laing Singers entertained at the Feb. 22,1997, Hamilton Day dinner, in Sarasota, Florida, Hamilton's twin city. The dinner was held to celebrate Hamilton's 150th anniversary. Tours, recordings and broadcasts have brought the John Laing Singers widespread pop ularity. TWo years after its founding, the choir won gold at the Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival in 1984. The John Laing Singers' first CD, 'M y Love Dwelt in a Northern L and. ' released in 1998, has gone into its third pressing. More than 2,000 copies have been sold. Included in the 26-voice choir are Nicolas Burbidge, Robert MacMillan and Adam Smith of Oakville. White Oaks Secondary School teacher Peter Dooley, and Sheridan College counsellor Carol Goodrow -- a 20-year member. The choir previously performed at S t Jude's five years ago, and has also performed with the Oakville Symphony Orchestra, and has partici pated in the Oakville Club's annual Christmas concert. Laing, a distinguished conductor and key board soloist, has led choirs in Montreal, Ottawa and Hamilton. He trained as a chorister at King's College. Cambridge, England. As an organ scholar at Corpus Christi College, also in Cambridge, he obtained his Master of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees. An accomplished recitalist, he performs regularly across North America and Europe. 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B o o kby M idori Stfwarl T he Board meets the second Thursday o f the month, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. mo w i P a d u ia H a m ilto n Place F e b ru a ry 28M a rc h 2 H0066306 Kindly submit your resume to: Si u ra rs a s y M a r a t 7 t it sc 7suu at the City of Mississauga's Meadowvale Theatre Tickets go on sale February 11, 2002 at the Meadowvale Theatre Box Office 6315 Montevideo Road, Mississauga call 905-821-6090 www.city.mississauga.on.ca/meadowvaletheatre Accepting Visa, Mastercard, Interac The Nominating Committee Oakville Senior Citizens Residence 2220-2222 Lakeshore road West Oakville ON L6L 5G5 e-mail: oscr@oakvilleseniors.com Applications will be accepted until Friday, March 15, 2002. Tickets a va ila b le a t Ham ilton Place a n d C opps Coliseum Box Offices, all "aa sH S H B b- locations, ticke tm a ster.ca or c h a rg e by p h o n e 905-527-7666 TM & © 2001 The Jim Henson Company. 5327 1/02