Where are Journals #1 to 11? Which one does Hawksley Workman have?!

Journal #1. Handed by me to Kate D. & Ben W. -- handed to a woman & her daughter on the NYC Subway by Ben W. -- wonder what the journal is doing now...

Journal #2. Mailed to my mentor in Vancouver, BC -- it arrived at her school

Journal #3. Mailed to a writing genius in Toronto, ON -- it arrived in his hands

(I only know the above thanks to the Purolator tracking system)

Journal #4. Still dawdling on this one...'tis almost complete -- sending this to Oprah!!! www.oprah.com -- gosh it'll be fun when she reads this, it's a 'Dear Oprah' letter, but in a journal - oh the excitement!

Journal #5. Left at CBC Radio in the studio after my interview on the morning of Feb. 4

Journal #6. Secretly left it on the kitchen counter at my friend Meghanne's home - she passed it on to her mother who brought it to Mexico!

Journal #7. The Secret Seventh - can't disclose anything more than that, but it's out of my hands

Journal #8. I gave this one to my brother, Peter!

Journal #9. I gave this to my acting students at St. Lawrence College on the last day of class.

Journal #10. I gave this to an old co-worker, Katie - she happily took it with her to Barcelona -
yahoo!

Journal #11. This was given to one of Hawksley Workman's band members, Dave, after an
absolutely fantastic show! This was their first show ever, with the new band
members - there were over 20 instruments on that stage - wow - Meghanne (my
dear friend who gave me a ticket for my b-day) and I both wrote messages in the
journal to Hawksley - I wrote the following (oooh...a look inside the journal):

Hawksley, "your beauty's rubbing off, your beauty's rubbing off on me - your beauty's rubbing off, your beauty's rubbing off on me...." Thank you. Claudia :)

So, I basically quoted one of his songs. Ha. What else could I do at his show? It was amazing. They're playing in Kingston next Tuesday - if I wasn't teaching, I would totally be there!

Hopefully Hawksley will send me a photo of himself w/ the journal - I didn't have my camera with me to take a photo. Thus, Hawksley will definitely send a pic for all of us to enjoy! :)

Ben & Kate

in New York City...

































...with the first journal.

I am the first one... (by: Kate D.)

I am the first one…

Recently I took a leap of faith, decided to take time off from my job and really examine if I was living my life fully enough, or was feeding my soul the way it needed to be fed. I have surrounded myself by inspiring and creative people, have been writing non-stop and even planned a trip! WOW! I booked a trip to NYC with my new “friend” and thankfully, Claudia agreed to drive us to the airport in the wee hours of the morning. As she dropped us off, she hastily handed us a gift bag and said not to open it until we were on the plane. Now, I knew about Claudia’s idea of the traveling journals but had no idea that she had selected us, to be the first writers.

I opened the bag promptly, like a kid at Christmas, as soon as I buckled in to my seat and there, wrapped in purple tissue paper, was the journal I had fallen in love with, when Claudia had first showed me her collection days earlier. I remember wondering how Claudia would select her writer and my heart sinking when I thought my words might not be chosen for the book. Boy, fate has a funny way of intervening.

Inside this beautiful journal was a note to Ben and me, wishing us well on our trip, along with a crisp $100 to spend as we wished in NYC. What a generous offering and we were both speechless. It’s not often that you receive a gift from someone just out of the blue, no strings attached…. Just a gift…As I sat there quietly during take-off, all I could think about was what I would write, where I would write it and who would get the journal next. What a big responsibility to be first! Would I write somewhere significant, like at Ground Zero, or would I write after church in Harlem? What if I also wanted to write about how incredible I thought this new man in my life was? Would he read it when he wrote in the book next? Don’t be guarded, Kate… let it be… you will know when and what.

The first need to write, hit me as I sat at a diner on Staten Island, and the next, as the sun poured in the open window of the hotel room the following morning. After 5 days in New York City, I had learned so much about myself and about people in general. I had learned that I had fallen in love with random strangers for how they laughed or how they sang and praised God in church. And the pen touched the paper, the words poured out and I was truly happy

Claudia had given me another gift – it was as if she had said, “Kate, your words and thoughts are important … Please share them.” And I did.

But I also came to the realization that all the words on those fresh white pages are gifts not only to ourselves, but to those who follow and read them…and we don’t need a special journal to be gift-givers. We can give of ourselves; truly, every day… through actions, words… we can’t be selfish with our love. We need to love fully, live truthfully and let the song in our hearts sing loudly.

I passed the journal on to Ben, and he wrote on the subway. I was amazed as he sketched a woman who stood solemnly across the way and was eager to know if he had read the words I had written earlier. I was also secretly eager to learn what he wrote.

We passed the book on to a mother and daughter who sat tiredly on the subway as we rode. Ben handed the book over and said, “Here, this is for you.” The young woman’s face lit up; as I’m sure mine did when I first opened the gift bag. “Really?” she asked with a bit of shock in her voice.

And we quickly hopped off the train, to head home and end our journey…. Funny…. just as the journal was about to start its own journey.

May you all fully recognize the greatness that exists in each of you.

Be generous.

Lovingly,

Kate

"This is the woman who received the journal through the subway door.....

It's mysterious that only we know her face... and others will only know her words....

What is she thinking as she holds it in her hands?" ~Kate D.

The Second One is Ready to Rock (and a thought outside the box)

Heya, just wanted to mention that I just finished writing 15 pages into The Second One -- the book is smaller, but still, it received a lot more attention and TLC than The First One - and this of course suddenly makes sense to me - You see, the first journal was sent to NYC - NEW YORK CITY - everything is fast-paced and full of haste...just like I was in getting it there...the second journal however, is going to VANCOUVER, BC, where people are chill..laid back...'tis perfect...I spent a few hours writing down my teenage girl thoughts -- I'm 30 yrs. old, but when it comes to boys, I turn 16 again. Ha!

Now for...

A Thought Outside the Box

Ok, so ever since I first thought about this project..I always pictured the journal going to many, many people and each individual person filling out a few pages and then passing it on...until... this adorable & rather intelligent boy (who I'm recently getting to know) told me that the journal in NYC would probably end up in the hands of a homeless man who would fill the entire book, pass away on the street leaving the journal to be found by police who would mail it back to me. Wow.

Now of course...this led me to think ahead to a future journey of the travelling journals...the awesome possibility of creating a movie out of this!!!

Enchanted.
Enthralled.
Thrilled.

Claudia :)

(I wanted to sign-off: Magically Yours, but felt too dorky)