By Shayla Brewer
July 21, 2018. The C-O-M-M-U-N-I-T-Y song was written as a reflection of what community means to me, as well as how my perception of community has expanded over the course of the past month. This song would have never been created if it was not for the love and support of my Redfish community. Putting a song of my own on the internet is very scary, but my community holds me up to be brave and push myself to be the person I want to be. The Redfish community pushed me to explore and share my inner passion for creating tunes. The Salish Sea community inspired me as well by letting me scream my frustration of not finding the right lyrics on to them, the sun setting to let me know it’s time to put the ukulele away to sleep and for the birds, waves, insects and beyond who hummed along with the song. This song was an inkling of a tune and thought along Patricia Bay (North Saanich), it became a solidified tune in Shannon Point (Anacortes), an agglomeration of words at Mount Baker Farms (Orcas Island) and the song was wrapped up and shared along Shallow Bay (Sucia).
There are two recordings attached to this blog post. The first is a recording of just me singing the song, with a lot of nerves and love. The second version is me singing the song for the first time in front of my Redfish community. This version is still full of nerves and love, and a lot of giggles.