Re-authoring Confinement: Inspirational sparkling moments in everyday life

In response to Covid-19, most of us worldwide are sheltering at home and/or experiencing lockdown. While fraught with challenges, this period of "Re-authoring Confinement" is also fertile ground for the emergence of many creative projects and collaborations. This homemade resource is bursting with contributions from members of our community: video reflections from around the world, Covid inspired music, Fundraisers, Communities collecting wisdoms, Children and Family projects, Animal companions, Arts & Crafts, Gardens & Nature, Performances, Poetry & prose and a Discussion Forum. Please send us your contributions so we can truly "create a collaboratory" together.

Making Music

Are you making music at home during confinement? Inspired by the special Lockdown musical video in above Youtube playlist made in Mumbai with Abuzar Akhtar, Hemant Tiwari & music video director, Shamin Mehrotra? Our audio musical playlist begins with a beautiful collaboration across the world: an original song by Pierre Blanc-Sahnoun (France), sung by Charlie Crettenand (Sion Switzerland) and produced by Dean Lobovits (Berkeley California). Michael Castelli (Middlebury Vermont) contributed our second song, Redrocks along with his friend, Tim Joy who laid down the piano and organ tracks; having played this song at live gigs, he started recording it about a year ago; “It only took a global pandemic for me to finish it.” Do you have homemade music to add? It doesn’t need to be an original song, just keep copyright restrictions in mind.

Communities Collecting Wisdoms

A number of communities have been getting together to share their wisdoms and create collective documents with each other. Please contact us if you’ve been using collective practices to bring together communities remotely during confinement.

This hope document is a collective that was created by over 60 people in a gathering that was hosted by Ummeed Child Development Center, Mumbai. The monthly gathering is a space for individuals to explore narrative practices and come together as a community to support each other in their journey of the practices. The April gathering happened over a Zoom owing to the covid-19 situation and we got together to explore what wellbeing and hope looks like to us in these times. Over conversations, reflections and silences, the participants located hope in its little-big acts of resistance, in metaphors of nature and in acts of solidarity, in picture-books and poetry verses, in music and acts of care. These conversations of hope were parallelly coming alive through illustrations and each of them sought to weave in their hope into the collective. The collective document is a testimony to people’s acts of response and resistance to the current distress, their acts of collective care and continuing to access hope for the coming days.

Narrative Practices India and the Mental Health Team, Ummeed Child Development Center, Mumbai

We Know This – Narrative Therapy India Blog

Kolkatha Community Care Collective Document

Special lock down tree of life for children and family (1)Special Lockdown Tree of Life for Children & Families: Bordeaux, France

Fundraisers

Check out these fundraising events and projects. Our friends in Mumbai, Mexico & Nepal are offering training events to raise funds for those affected by the lockdown. In addition, Gene Combs started a fundraiser to feed families in Rwanda. Please contact us with your fundraising projects and we will share them here!

Help feed multiply-marginalized families in Rwanda organized by Gene Combs

Abuzar Akhtar and Shamin Mehrotra (Mumbai, India) started an organization last year called Ek Zariya (it means A Medium) to support families with monthly rations as well education. It is in tribute to Abuzar’s father to continue doing the community work he used to do. Given the Covid-situation in Mumbai, they have been busy raising funds and supplying meals to daily wage earners and monthly ration kits to families. So far they have been able to supply over 25000 meals and 350 monthly food kits to families, many of whom they know from their participation at Ummeed Child Development Center. They look forward to all the support they can get in these unprecedented times.

Children, Families & Animal Companions

What’s it like being together as families in confinement together? Through her collage and essay, Lodovica Guidarelli (San Diego-Italy) shares some hidden gems in home schooling. Through brief videos, Maria Tiunova (Moscow) and Elena Baskina ( Florida, NYC & Moscow) offer glimpses of their children’s wisdom. Please contact us with something you and your family would like to contribute.

I have my children back! – Lodovica Guidarelli

Making Arts & Crafts

Many of us are making art and crafts while sheltering at home. Thank you Ananya Broker Parekh for sharing your book, Getting Unstuck. What about baking, sewing, and other homemade projects? Please contact us with glimpses of your discoveries.

Nature & Gardens

Nature can be such a source of comfort during stressful time. Some of us still have opportunities to walk outside and grow gardens while sheltering at home. Others are finding ways to grow something green in their apartments or on their balconies. Please contact us to add to our collection!

Performances

How are you- and your communities- finding creative solutions to performing in confinement? Our first contribution is from Cindy Parrish, our multitalented Narrative Camp filmmaker who created “WomAnimal” (also now featured on our Re-authoring Confinement Youtube playlist at the top of this page). This one woman performance is part of Bear Tales: Six Feet Together, a special online self-taped, presentation of new solo material from New York’s The Great Barrington Public Theater. Please send us your contributions!

Bear Tales – Six Feet Together

This free online program showcases new work by many talented performers, playwrights and storytellers in the Great Barrington New York region including a brand new one-woman play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet.

Poems and Prose

For some of us, sheltering at home can offer contemplative writing time. Thank you Pam Smith for sharing your poem, For Today, with us. Others might have written prose. Please contact us if you have something to add.