Katie Leggitt

You ever wonder if you bump into certain people for a reason? Seeing a series of people that only really have one person in common with you? What's the message there?  Is it really about checking your baggage, picking it up or setting it on fire? Is it a confirmation of the distance you've travelled and an affirmation that you're on the right path in life? Is it just coincidence... Is it a mirror reflection offering you a glimpse into a part of yourself you haven't felt the need to pay much attention to in recent past? When there's 2, are there 3? Does it matter? With a new year just days away, events such as these do seem more significant, as if a chance to put some life stories to rest, for good, or for now, or at least to make way for new ones. John Butler , Katie

If you can't beat em, join em, right?  That's the saying? I feel like a Christmas warrior as I head into this holiday season.  Parum papum pum.  It's December 2nd, and I already put up my Christmas tree.  I've been listening to holiday classics since 4 pm.  F-it, I figure, might as well get this going. It was like a scene out of a bad 30 year old's coming-of-age made-for-tv-movie, where you just see a montage of this girl facing her fears and getting tangled up in the Christmas lights, and feeling really proud of herself when it's all done.  There's a slow-motion grace to the whole event. Well I definitely wasn't graceful, in my gramma sweater, a big scarf and actually getting my hair tangled in the lights.  No Clark Griswold here, just a modest single gal braving the storm that the holidays bring. Last year was a brutal one, let me tell you. Maybe it was the change in tradition (oh how it changes as we age!), maybe it was the cold weather, or

I just high-fived 200 children as they exited the Fairness assembly I'd organized this morning.  We have a citizenship program at this school and focus on 4 values: fairness, kindness, respect and acceptance.  They all go hand in hand, don't they? Fairness is such an abstract concept to convey to kids.  What's right for you might not be what's right for your neighbor.  That kid who gets to do all the fun stuff for the teacher actually has a need to be walking around more than the others.  Kids just see it as unfair.  Fairness isn't equal.  It's getting what you need in order to be successful. Look at the animal kingdom.  The kids go nuts when I compare elephants to birds and then get them to picture a flying elephant.  They understand the difference and why it's senseless to say that it's not fair that an elephant can't fly. Humour is such a great teaching tool. At a certain point in our lives, we become self-sufficient individuals and releas

Recently my niece turned 16 years old.  I was 16 years old when she was born.  She was the first glimpse I had into babyhood and I have to say I was hooked from the start. She was a crier, and often I would try my best to console her, thinking her young hip auntie had the magic touch.  When my sister would visit our home in Saint-Hilaire and she would cry,  I played my Janis Joplin Pearl record for her and walked her up and down our long hallway, calming her.  Something about Janis' wail must have seemed familiar to my little bundle, because she would stop crying. I gave Sarah that very same album for her sweet 16 just a few weeks ago.  I framed it.  She even likes Janis Joplin today, as I made sure to tell her the stories of holding her in my arms as a youngin,' singing Cry Baby as loud as I could, on purpose. It's really the only time she'll be half my age, and I, double hers.  I felt the need to relay her some important information about growing older.  I bough

It was like a scene out of an after-school special. I am preparing for values assemblies happening next Friday at one of my elementary schools.  This month we're looking at fairness, and I've organized a group of grade 6 students to perform a skit.  Today was the day we were going to meet to come up with an idea and as I'm waiting for all the kids to arrive a student teacher brings one of them down and has him inform me about the events that had just taken place. Now, I had asked the teachers to choose students who either displayed leadership skills or who could use a little extra guidance in the area of playing fair.  Sure enough, this scallywag was one of the latter. We hold a leftover Halloween candy drive to donate to sick kids every year, and so students bring in a big ziploc full of candy to hand over to those who miss out on trick-or-treating because they're hospital-bound.  Well this kid had helped himself to his buddy's loot before he'd sent it in

A grade 2 student looked up at me from her Remembrance Day themed maze activity after her neighbour declared it was too difficult and she said, "if somebody can do it, then anybody can do it." Yep!  I told her, and congratulated her on her positive attitude. Wise words, 7 year old, wise words.  Somebody can do it, and did already, therefore.. yeah we are all capable. That's probably the same attitude that my 6 year old dog had when she broke a tupperware container to get to my homemade flax seed crackers and kale chips while I was out returning some picture frames this evening.  Not cool, Gracie.  Not cool. What was kinda cool though was the assembly I conducted this morning for 250 grade 5 and 6 students.  It was for Remembrance Day (I won't be there on the 11th), and you could hear a pin drop as I went through my WW1 presentation. It was a very successful event but not without the consequential emotional drainage that accompanies talking about the death of

Well New York, I love you.  It's taken me a few weeks to really process the whole experience, but here I am, finally sitting down to write about it. We left Saint-Henri at 8 am, Campanelli lattes and coffees in tow.  The jokes started immediately as we rolled down highway 15, but soon Erin and Alain fell asleep in the back seat of my Nissan Versa, with the rolling sound of pavement beneath us.  Our first stop for gas welcomed us with a cute lil' pumpkin patch, the kind you make delicious pies with.  As we drove through the Adirondacks, the Fall colors wrapped us up with a sense of warmth and a timely purpose.  That, and the blasted sun kept overheating us.  My ears popped the entire drive, and I'm not sure why - I seemed to be the only one.  Must be that American air. We arrived at our Brooklyn Air BnB in the late afternoon and settled in nicely.  4 bunk beds with terrible mattresses (except for Erin's, as Lise and I would later find out), it would do just fine.  A

Arright arright arright.  I get it.  32's the new 24, only wiser and better and more self-aware and cooler and cuter and all the rest of it.  So's I kicked off this year by giving a workshop on what the heck it is I do for a living.  9-5.  So's I got a lot of birthday shout outs.  So's I had dindin with my moms.  And my sister.  'Spose life is pretty good. IT'S ON THE UPANDUP,  uppannnup.  Get your motor running... Head out on the highway! I don't even have much time to think about the impending trip to New York City happening this Friday.  By the grace of the Statue of Liberty, we have found kind homes to take us in, and so much laughter will be had at the sketchfest.  That's the New York City Sketch Comedy Festival, in case you haven't heard?  Oh yeah, we, Genius Gold that is, will be performing on the People's Improv Theatre's stage, IN MANHATTAN, on a Saturday night at 10:30. THIS IS A BIG DEAL! Who am I kidding?  Nobody.  Or ev

There's this thing called Earthing .  It's basically this new-agey kinda thing where you stand on a patch of grass for 30 minutes to feel completely rejuvenated.  And if you can't get outside, they sell mats you can use to achieve the same thing.     You're basically soaking up electrons from the ground when you walk barefoot in the park, leaving you feeling... awesome. This morning I was feeling not so awesome.  Work-related stress was getting to me, and I crumbled under the self-induced pressure. Luckily I had a short field trip planned to our community garden plot that is only a block away from the school. And although I didn't walk barefoot through the park to get there, being out in the open cleansed my worries and provided an opportunity to decompress. The grade 11 students were fascinated with all the community garden.  Some people really go to town and create a beautiful edible getaway in such a tiny space. Our plot, although effective, does not fun

Everything in my life right now is pointing me towards New York City.  I've become obsessed with this city, even though I've never even been. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, this 32 year old quasi-comedian has never been to one of the greatest cities in the world.  A mere 6 hours away, yet a lifetime apart. All that is about to change. It began around December last year.  I'd started mentioning to people how it would be nice to go and visit, if for no other reason than I've just never been.  I remember driving by it on a trip to Florida 7 years ago or so, and thinking it glimmered like Mecca off in the distance.  But I wasn't ready yet.  My mom got me a NYC Lonely Planet for Christmas that I only ever really started to study in August.  And since August, all signs are telling me it's a place I need to be. Things happen for a reason - my friend suggested we go to NYC for the Sketchfest, so she sent in an application, and lo and behold, Genius Gold

I am my own makeover show.  With a really low budget.  15 bucks and a pair of rusty scissors, I tend to reinvent my look once or twice a year.  I don't mean to, it just kind of happens. It drives my students nuts.  They can't keep up and I think it causes a lot of confusion.  Some even get angry at me, ha. I suppose it started around 1995 when I became obsessed with Winona Ryder in Reality Bites.  I somehow computed that we have very similar features (we don't) and that short hair would look amazing on me.  A little while later, I chopped my hair off. I kept my locks short for most of high school, it was the 90s after all, and when it finally grew back, I got into bangs.  Bettie bangs, or baby bangs, like we called them back in the day.  Those were the style circa 2001, and I had this retro raver thing happening for a while.  A straight edge looking raver that hated dance music and listened to hardcore.  Whatevs, I owned it. However temporary, I've had a lot of

A few years ago a colleague generously lent me a fan for my office.  Little did he know I would take it home and leave it there for three years because it was adorable, vintage, and yellow.  I loved that fan, and when he announced his retirement this year I immediately thought about how I would handle those last moments with the fan, the last cool breezes it could offer me in the summer heat. During a move, a woman walking by my truck offered me $250 right then and there to purchase the fan - it was an original Hunter in pristine condition.  I told her it wasn't for sale but I tell you I hung on to her number just in case some day I might need 250 bucks more than I might need my professional dignity. I emailed him to ask what he would like to do, and even told him about this lady because I knew if I didn't it would eat away at me.  He's a Catholic priest, so somehow I suppose he'd be able to smell some guilt, even though I had nothing to feel guilty about other than

I suppose I was lucky to never experience the "new kid" feeling growing up. Today I saw a lot of new faces at the elementary school I'm at on Tuesdays, a lot of eyes staring at the ground during recess.  One kid in particular caught my attention. Short, hands in his pockets, kicking the gravel around - the type of kid who is so shy he can't even look you in the eyes when you talk to him. I greeted him with my signature high five to say hello and break the ice.  I couldn't understand his name, only that it rhymed with Mickey Froto, or something along those lines.  He had no clue that in just a matter of days, he'd have friends before he knew it.  Day 1 must have felt like an eternity.  That first recess, those first, fresh fifteen minutes of freedom seemed all too much for him to handle. He struck me as someone who needs mucho time to warm up to you before he lets you in, and that probably applies to how he interacts with kids too.  Another adult tried

Hello rest of June, you happened quickly, and ohhh! July! Weren't you just a splendid little month! Spent a lot of time watching comedy, soaking up as much funny as humanly possible, still didn't get the net until recently, but here I am! Back and as fabulous as ever. What a terrific summer. Or was it, friends? Somewhere, somehow, in the span of just a few months, I've cracked. I'm cracked. I am crack. I'm on crack. No no no, just cracked. CRACKED UP! (Aaaaaaand this concludes my attempt at comedic writing.) Now that that's out of the way, allow me to be honest. To speak the trouffe. I can't remember the last time I failed at anything (and I'm not referring to writing bad blogs, ha). I've been thinking about it an awful lot lately, and there isn't really anything in recent memory that I can say was a big loss or a failure. I have had malfunctions, like when my skirt rode up my butt as I was walking my dog yesterday (how does a

I'm an hour early for a graduation ceremony so I'll take advantage of the free internet and do some writing. I was just practicing the speech I'm about to deliver to a group of grade 6 students graduating from elementary school.  I got all choked up at the end of it, because the more times I read it, the more times I remember to take my own advice. My closing words are be more you.  Be MORE you.  (That's not mine, that's Gabrielle Bernstein's, but it belongs to all of us now.) The 3 months since I moved into my new place have blown by like a lifealanche.  Suddenly it's summer, Fringe, grad season, prom season, I'm days away from vacation and I feel like I'm being swallowed up whole.  Almost done, almost done,  I keep telling myself, and I'll get there, but a week and a half left of work feels like an eternity right now.  It's autopilot season, and that's the worst place to be. Writing for myself and writing for other people are so

I'm stealing internet from my cellphone right now, and I'll probably regret it later, but I just gotta lay down some words before I hit the hay. I kind of feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz after she wakes up in her new colorful surroundings.  Like I got whipped around in a bad storm and then woke up to a whole new beginning.  Minus the whole dreamy hallucination Wicked Witch stuff. I'm full of gratitude.  It's ridiculous.  I've got some insence on the go, have a couple of grocery items slowly filling up my fridge, Gracie's gnawing on her bone by my side, life is good.  It's great. Now that I feel like I've turned a new page in life, moving out on my own like the grown woman I am, it feels as though I will shed all unwanted emotional residue left over from the tougher times I've experienced over the past year or so.  Not to sound too dramatic, but yeah the outlook is good.  SO GOOD! I've got teapots and cds and mugs all over my counter

I love how sense memory kicks in full throttle at the onset of Spring.  Smells, tiny memories of times past, it all comes flooding back after the dead of the Winter. And this Spring, Katie is moving again.  I'm leaving the Mile End and heading South-West.  St-Henri, it's about to get real. I spent 3 years in St-Henri while attending Cegep.  The Dome Theatre, now a decrepit abandoned building, was located a block away from Place St-Henri metro.  We probably spent more time there than we did with our families at the time, so the neighborhood has a bit of a sentimental flare to it for me. Somehow I became deadlocked on moving to St-Henri and after visiting several apartments, I found one that felt.. really promising.  It's a loft of sorts, an old store, in the very West end of the borough.  I never imagined myself living in a place with such high ceilings, but it seems the ole' universe aligned itself and is giving me space to really spread my wings.  *tear. That&#

Sometimes I start writing a blog entry and I'm not sure what I want to talk about.  They start and then they stay half-completed. Hopefully this won't be another one of those. What I've noticed over the past three years is that if I don't write when the inkling hits me then I lose the inspiration and the words seem to disappear.  Sometimes the thought or topic will brew for a little while and then I can hash it out, but most of the time it's gone by the end of the day. I guess I'm in a state of constant reflection where I pull some common themes together and weave them into a little journal entry on here.  Themes this week: relationships, drama, music, friendships, beliefs... I've been watching a constant stream of Long Island Medium in the past 7 days or so.  I've breezed through almost 3 seasons and I honestly really enjoy it.  I know a lot of people think she's a hack, but I guess because of the work I do, I really appreciate the gift she

I almost bought a rotting couch.  A vintage, victorianesque typa deal.  Upon first glance, it looked great, it was even a bit comfortable.  At 55 dollars, I tried to come up with a plan to find a home for it while I search for my own.  You may have even seen my post requesting some transport to a location off-island.  At 7 1/2 feet long, this thing could be sold for triple the price, and that'd still be a deal.  But one of the cushions must have gotten wet and many years later, is slowly disintegrating.  Ohhhh what a life metaphor eh?  lol I've been house-hunting for the past couple of weeks.  It's pretty exciting, I'm sold on moving to St-Henri, it feels like a place I could really feel rooted in.  I'm already looking forward to patio days in the summer.  We probably all are, what with this neverending bs winter we're having! No need to reiterate what a brutal winter this has been, but with the prospect of Spring finally arriving, based on the calendar and

So yeah, I went to Hawaii. I haven't been the same since.  Literally.  I wake up to the sound of my phone's alarm and can't understand what this weird gadget is.  I can't tell the time and that I need to get out of bed.  My hand randomly made a gesture as though to feel the ocean water while I was driving home the other day.  I'm having weird dreams.  I'm changed. Oh la la... what a nice place I went to.  And because the visit was so short (due to my one week March break and my desperate need to get out of this city), it makes it feel like even more of a dream than it did while I was there. I realized quite quickly that I am absolutely in love with the unfamiliar.  This is progress, as the unfamiliar has created great anxiety for me in the past.  I'm not someone who has traveled the world, though I should be, probably based on my personality, but going to Oahu made me realize how much more of the world I want to see.  And not necessarily to see great t

I'm sitting on a stoop in Waikiki after just having an incredible night making new friends.  No, they weren't from one of the many resorts that surround me, they were locals.   Well, one was a local, and the other two decided to move to Oahu to get away from it all. I had gone down to the beach after my 24 hours of travel to get here and I'm so grateful I did.  I packed a sixer of aloha beer and shared with the drifters I made friends with tonight. One left Oregon after the recession and said he'd never looked back.  He realized he didn't need possessions to make him feel worthy.  The other left a business and a gated community for the same reasons.  And the third member of the troupe was a real local, someone who'd never left the island but who hopes to after he gets his degree in mechanics. I had taken a seat under what I would later find out is called "the magic tree," a warpy  branch tree growing sideways out of the sand on this usually crowded tou

I'm cooking tomato sauce, meanwhile there's a brand new family baby in the hospital.  Fresh born, yo.  Fresh outta the cooker. As my tomatoes continue to stew... nope not going there. I'm just overjoyed. If I realized anything today, it's that life is constantly ebbing and flowing.  Ebb and flow, ebb and flow. I look forward to seeing the ocean do this in Hawaii next week.  Oh yeah, if I haven't rubbed it in enough yet, I'm going to Hawaii in a few days.  Not for long, but I'll be back.  (To Hawaii.) I'm stacking the best possible soundtrack for my rental as I drive around Oahu, Beck's new album topping the pile of cds I'm packing.  Seriously guys, give Morning Phase a listen.  I can't remember the last time I bought an album the day it was released, if ever.  Beck, thank you for understanding everything I needed to hear at this point of my life. I started this blog high off of Arcade Fire's Suburbs album.  It's my predict

This is it.  This is life.  This is what you get. What you gonna do about it? I juiced this morning, hoping it would be the magical tonic that would see me through another Winter day. It's been brutal folks, not going to lie. I know a lot of people are susceptible to the Winter blues, and I feel like I'm in the deep navy hues right now.  Not that it's seasonal depression that's getting me down necessarily, but it's just all the junk that surfaces in me and the rest of Montreal at this point in the season. In some ways, in ways you can't ignore, Winter really gives you the opportunity to deal with your own inner climate as a result of succumbing to outside circumstances, harsh weather and harsh folks.  At least this has been my experience in the last couple of years. The feeling of snow melting in your boot, wet socks, heavy coats, heavy thoughts... whatever triggers you, I know it can get pretty ugly. Sometimes I read old posts I've written to re

Every now and then, Facebook really comes through. A share from an old friend just taught me everything I needed to learn about the shit month I've had. The video is of a little girl interacting with rain for the first time.  Soaked, she loves it.  I just watched it four times in a row, it's so satisfying, and it's what I needed to see to let go of the yuck I've been feeling for about a month. A car wreck claiming total loss of my vehicle, shitty coworkers who take out their feelings on me, unfortunate circumstances, sickness... full circle ya'll! I've been wanting to write something thoughtful for a few weeks, as my little bloggity blog is about to turn 3. That's past diapers, terrible twos, spit-up and wet sheets if you're super lucky, now the blog is fairly interactive, and is developing feelings of its own.  Okay so yeah it's not a baby but sometimes it feels like it is. I started writing when I was on a raw food kick.  If you want t

When was the last time you sat in a principal's office?  I had a great heart to heart with mine today and it was super helpful.  Sometimes life-guides show up in the packages you least expect, but I was so grateful for the wisdom she imparted. I tend to be a little unorthodox in my approach to youth, and my work for that matter.  Not that I don't understand professional protocol, it's just that sometimes I might be making a collage and it's totally justified, because that's the kind of thing I get to do in my work. I speak to kids and treat them like equals, regardless of age.  Yeah I throw in my quirky habits that get 'em to smile but it also helps to get them to talk.  That's what I'm here for. Anyway, I worked on something recently that created a bit of disturbance among some coworkers.  Not the first time, I'll tell you that much.  Suffice it to say that "I" wasn't the problem... it was the junk I left in the hallways that cre

I found the hippies from my youth They were dancing on sand To dubstep at 3 am Still under the age of 20 Still loving each other Still wearing barely anything at all Barefoot Breathing Grooving Tripping That was my first rave. A friend brought me out to this indoor volleyball court in Griffintown that was hosting a dance party til dawn.  Some good djs but I just couldn't get over how I felt like all the hippies from Beloeil circa 1998 came out of their perfectly preserved forest place to dance to dubstep.  It was weird, but the sand felt good on my feet. There were people of all walks there, some chaga on tap and fruit salad for the patrons.  Pretty fun night. The projections seemed to be a focal point for everyone, giant images on the wall moving with the beat.  Energy!  That's what it comes down to... The stuff we put in our bodies, how we manage our energy and how we get in touch with that energy.  Energy. Definitely felt like a lot of people there were

Would you consider yourself a spiritual person? I've never been able to define what I feel.  It has no name, no book per se, but it shows itself often to me.  I believe in the God in all of us, that energy, the spark of life that may be broken down scientifically but it goes beyond textbooks and equations.  We each hold that light but might name it something different from our neighbor. My students often ask me what religion I am.  A lot of the kids guess that I'm Jewish but maybe they're looking to identify with some commonality.  It's difficult to describe my own feelings to a child because most of what they've learned so far has clear labels and I always tell them whatever they believe in is true.  If it makes sense to you, that's all that matters. I grew up in a non-religious family, but definitely have a had a long relationship with God.  It probably started after the death of a relative at a young age.  I would send hugs and kisses to god at night wh