Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
and sings the tune without the words
and never stops at all.
~Emily Dickinson
There’s a town just south of Calgary, Canada, called High River, population 13,000.
Hollywood loves High River. It became Smallville in Superman III and doubled as High River, Montana in Caitlin’s Way, a Nickelodeon series. It’s currently the home of Heartland, a popular CBC offering.
Except for that tenuous entertainment industry link, High River couldn’t be further from Los Angeles, my hometown—small vs. big, charming vs. sprawling, seasonal vs. season-less.
Last year’s seasonal floods devastated the entire Alberta region, but hit High River particularly hard.
You might recall one story out of High River—Momo the Maine Coon jumped from his owner Kevan’s arms as Kevan’s truck sank, and led them both to safer shores.
High River’s still recovering. They’ve declared March “Inspiring Hope” month, after an anthology their town councillor contributed to:
Residents are invited to stop by Pixie Hollow and join local author and town councillor Bruce Masterman for the High River launch of the book Inspiring Hope: One Story at a Time on Friday, March 7.
…Mr. Masterman will review the genesis of the book, speak about hope and share one or both of his stories that have been included in this global, heartfelt literary collection.
Despite the distance and thanks to the magic of the Interwebs, in reality, zero degrees of separation exist between High River and me.
I’m honored to have a few stories in that anthology with Mr. Masterson and forty other writers from around the world.
All net proceeds from Inspiring Hope will be donated to the Asturias Academy Library in Xela, Guatemala—a private, non-profit Pre K-12 school dedicated to helping the most vulnerable students in the community.
The world is small. Hope is big. What gives you hope?
Opening Image: The Sower with Setting Sun by Vincent Van Gogh