brought to light

i was reading the saturday paper from toronto recently and came across an article referring to a documentary assembled by the national film board that is entitled "this beggar's description." i hadn't seen it, nor had i heard of the subject of the documentary - montreal writer and artist philip tetrault until i read about him in an article entitled "the "r" word". "r" being the first letter in the term retard.

as a child, the term "retarded" was used as a handy catch-all phrase to describe anyone with an undefined or difficult to define intellectual disability. nowadays i hear it used as a perjorative to describe anything that doesn't work quite right, or that is stupid. within my own little world i find it offensive in the same way as sexist or racist comments. it lumps the non-neogtiable features of a group of people into a term that is negative and a put-down.

on a more positive note, it is one of the challenges and joys of our time that that term has been unpacked to a degree and that the full spectrum of what is hidden and contained within it, is not only being recognized, but better understood and even accommodated and celebrated.

to be frank, the journey has barely begun.

the film entitled, "this beggar's description" was shot by pierre tetrault, philip's brother. in it he documents his brother's journey through the darkness of mental illness. diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, philip (as is often the case) also carries the double-edged sword of being an extraordinarily gifted person.

in this clip, philip shares a park bench, drinks, and his writing with leonard cohen, one of his longtime friends.