Man who walks among the stars

Day 4 – Wednesday, October 18: Urtega to Cirque – 18km or 20km

I had a deep cry  before bed last night after reading the news that Gord Downie died. I knew it was coming, we all did, but still, it cuts deep and makes big fat tears run down my cheeks as I write. Today I will hum songs and maybe even do a kinetic Gord dance as I walk. In fact, just now I remember doing so in my dream!! Wow.

I was blessed to have had the opportunity to photograph and to work with Gord on several occasions including in 2002 when he sang on a recording to bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women.

His generosity, kindness, intelligence, advocacy work, creativity, courage, passion and grace were strikingly powerful and will always be of inspiration to me.   I’ll end this message with two quotes from CBC articles. From an interview with CBC in 1999: “I think my body’s giving subtext and with my voice I’ll give you the confines of my heart, which is illegible.”

And also this sentiment, from a CBC article
“Downie never sought to be iconic. He called concert touring “grunt work,” and talked about building the fan base one person at a time. He said he told Canadian stories because they were there to be told, and said he performed music because it was the ultimate medium for expressions of love.”  Good-bye and thank you Wicapi Omani,  “Man who walks among the stars.”

Om shanti. Xo