Issa wants nothing

Just watched a CBC piece on TV about the Canadian singer/songwriter formerly known as Jane Sibbery. These days she calls herself Issa. Not sure if that was a legal name change, though judging by her commitment to her life change, it probably is.

Issa, at some point in the last few years, decided to give up all her worldly goods and focus herself inward and outward without the shackles of belongings.

I can kinda relate to that because I've done it myself, although not for the same reasons she did. The process however, did have some of the same impact on my life. The first time I did it was the most complete. When I moved back to Ontario from B.C. after my marriage ended, I had tried to find a trailer to pack all my belongings into. I started trying to reserve a trailer several weeks before I moved, but kept getting told to call back about a week before I needed the trailer. So finally it was a week before the move and no one had any trailers available! You see...I'd made the mistake of scheduling my move for Labour Day weekend...that was in 1998. All the trailers were snapped up by college students returning to school, leaving me high and dry with all this stuff to deal with. I finally had to make the painful decision to give away and sell everything. When moving day finally arrived, all I had left to my name was what I could fit in my car (which also included myself and my father and his luggage), plus four or five boxes of things that I had shipped to myself once I found myself a new place to live.

While it was devastating to me to give up all my things...especially the books...it turned out to be mostly a positive experience. There was a sense of lightness and freedom from responsibility that was really nice. I felt like I was starting all over again from scratch and I could make of my life whatever I wanted to. I do still miss my books though...I wish I could have kept them. There were so many really nice ones, expensive ones and, especially, the useful ones that I often still find myself wishing I could go to the bookshelf for when I need them.

I also had a minor "purging of possessions" last year when I moved to Halifax for a year. All I took with me were four or five boxes worth of personal possessions...even less than I'd taken when I left BC. The thing was though, that the rest of my stuff was in storage in Ottawa, waiting for my return.

Oddly, I found the Halifax experience more difficult in some ways. Perhaps it was knowing that I still had the stuff and could get at it if I wanted to badly enough. Maybe it was harder because I knew it was only temporary and in time I would have it all back. The first time, when I'd moved from B.C., the stuff was just gone...I would never get it back...and somehow that makes it easier to accept.

What Issa/Siberry has done though...I'm not really sure what to think of that. The name change and the way she lives her life now seem, on the surface, admirable. Someone trying to reduce their footprint on the earth, to focus on things that matter rather than on possessions, to become a different, better person than she was.

On the other hand, what she has freed herself from, she has shackled others with. She doesn't have a permanent place of residence. She stays with friends and family and borrows things she needs. How is that honorable as a way of life? Surely all of us have, at some point in our lives, needed to rely on the generosity and hospitality of others to get through a rough patch. But making that your standard mode of operation...it seems selfish and insensitive to me. If I had a friend who had willingly given up her home and all her possessions and then came to me hoping for a place to stay for a few nights or a week every few months, I would be very annoyed. I'd want to tell her to grow up and get her own damn place and stop sponging off me and other people. Even if she pays for her own food and contributes something towards the upkeep of the home, I'd still find it irritating to have her using me as a hotel. Maybe it's just the way I am...I like to be alone.

But dammit, since man started living in caves, he's been responsible for feeding, sheltering and clothing himself and his family. Why should it be okay for one individual to decide that she can shirk that part of being a grown-up and pass it on to other people?

Just because Jane Siberry/Issa is (as she called herself) a "national treasure" singer/songwriter whose name is familiar to many people in this country does not justify the way she is taking advantage of her friends and family. And to be honest, after seeing her on the show and hearing some of the music she's making these days...she is not going to be able to pay her way on the money she makes off her music for much longer. Egads...what ridiculous, artsy-fartsy nonsense it is! And she looks ridiculous too. I'm sorry, but women her age shouldn't dress like 18-year-old art school students. It just looks awful. But now I'm just being nasty.

On the other hand, they said that Issa/Jane still tours a lot. Perhaps this lifestyle makes sense for her and the people she stays with. Perhaps having a permanent dwelling is redundant for someone who's hardly ever home. I don't know. I shouldn't be judgmental.

To be honest though...these days just having your own opinion about something makes you judgmental.