Tanya McGinnity

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I’ve been taking full-on French immersion classes and the effects are remarkable. I’m already feeling so much more comfortable and have noticed my vocabulary is being beefed up significantly. I had been taking classes at McGill for some time but it was only for morning sessions and so much was falling out from between my ears.

For so long, I’d put off dedicating time to learn French and always felt a sense of shame in being so lazy and not sticking with it. Having moved here from New Brunswick, I had a fairly decent base and ear for the language so I have a leg up on the folks in my school who are mainly newly landed immigrants to the city.

This time around, I’m watching many more Quebec movies and tv programs and reading the local newspapers daily. My current faves are:La petite seduction,Tout le monde en parlait and L’épicerie. Oh and I seem to have discovered an interest in Zachary Richard.

I’m planning to start a twitter account to tweet exclusively in French (good practice) and am going to be taking a more proactive focus with the Montreal Girl Geek Dinner group in developing and cultivating an enhanced presence in the local Francophone community.

The focus these days on ‘Personal Branding’ scares me. To think that people are running around chronically analyzing their habits, presentation and vocal delivery seems foreign to me. Granted there is a need in some situations to be more ‘polished’ than others and there is an importance on following social conventions in many circumstances. I’m just worried that we’re losing a degree of ‘human-ness’ in this kind of navel-preening.

Tibetan Buddhist master Chogyam Trunpga Rinpoche (shown here chillin’ with Alan Ginsberg) has spoken of ‘authentic presence’ – a sense when you meet someone who just naturally and effortlessly fills the room with their joy an appreciation for living. I’m sure you know people like this (or maybe you are one yourself). There’s not posturing. No posing. A good storyteller. A better listener. The kind of person that isn’t trying to sell you on anything – especially on themselves.

No amount of courses or training can give you authentic presence. You can’t fake it. You are it. If you dare.

Our culture is caught up with the cult of celebrity and how we think people should behave. I’m refreshed when my concept of how a person should behave is shaken and they prove to be more ‘human’ than I’ve given them space to be.

I came across a blog which posted a series of photos from the 50′s by Philippe Halsman who, at the end of his sessions asked his subjects to jump into the air so he could take a shot of them mid-air. Images of a carefree Audrey Hepburn, Richard Nixon and Professor J. Robert Oppenheimer leaping show that daring. A willingness to experiment and be playful. Are you willing to jump?