I believe we are shaped by place.
I live and work in the small city of Kingston, Ontario, which was Canada’s first capital in terms of settler history. The city is situated on the territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples. Every day I am grateful to be working, writing, and playing on this limestone-rich land at the confluence of Lake Ontario to the south and west and the St. Lawrence and Catarqui/Rideau rivers east and north.
I believe we are shaped by place – by the elements in our surroundings that contain us and make us feel safe, that usher us into a vastness that helps our spirits fly. In my city, I am held by the limestone buildings of our historic downtown and by the woods and granite cliffs of Canadian Shield country just a short drive away. I find the room I need to breathe at the shore of Lake Ontario, where the distant horizon joins moving, living water with open sky.
My writing life is spent in a cabin on the property of a kind friend, whose house in the woods looks out on the great St. Lawrence River. I rest, connect, and write to the sounds of birdsong, wind in the trees, and waves shushing into shore, to the feel of the cool breeze coming off the river through the open window.
The places I want to go in my writing are, like my studio in the woods, quiet ones. I want to chart the ripples of our hearts, minds, and spirits – what we long for, what hurts and mends us. And I hope, most of all, to illuminate the moments of transcendence that come to us as unexpected gifts and show us that we and our world are radiant, lit within and without.
If you would like to share your thoughts you can reach me at lori.vos@gmail.com or visit my Facebook page.
Lori Vos 