Messy
this is about getting it out there
Hubbay - Frubbends!
(Is there anyone my age who can tell me whether that greeting comes from Zoom or Electric Company? Google didn’t know what I was talking about—but then, Google is a lot younger than me. For those of you who are as young as Google and have never used a phone with a dial, Electric Company and Zoom are both PBS shows from the age before purple dinosaurs.)
Today’s missive is about a happy mess - this bookstore was such a joy to me - completely disheveled, with stacks and piles and teetering monoliths of books piled on every conceivable surface. But owner Dr. Ned Sparrow knew where all of them were. He was also proud to lead us through a truly narrow walkway into a back room where he had finally cleared enough table space to allow six very skinny people to sit at a table together and do a writing workshop. I med Ned because Pen Parentis (the nonprofit I founded to help writers stay creative after having kids) was attending the launch of an issue of an arts magazine we sponsored for our NEA-funded project, “Pen Parentis Across America.”
The project had three stages:
1) the call to action for writers who were parents to submit to the journal (our publishing partner was Full Bleed, an annual publication of MICA, one of the top Visual Arts Colleges in the country)
the editing stage, done by MICA students under the direction of Paul Jaskunas (his bio matches mine: Lithuanian-American writer born in Texas, working in Baltimore - we met when I happened to sit beside him in Vilnius!—how crazy is that coincidence?)
And the launch! Hosted at MICA in Baltimore, we had a great time - and the best was a performance of Sylvia Plath poetry by the inimitable Ned Sparrow on guitar! I also got to do a reading of poetry by Ukraine poets who are currently serving on the frontlines. (These too, all parents, and the poems are amazing. The journal is available online and in print. Click here)
What I loved best was that the whole artistic portion was impromptu - I chose the readings an hour before performing them, and Ned accompanied me without us having a word of discussion about it. I think we did a great job, picking up on each other’s vibe and doing our best to honor the voices of the poets whose words we were performing.
It was great to be back in Baltimore - a truly transformative trip. Speaking of messy - here’s an excellent old-B’more hangout…I don’t think a thing has changed since 1951.
Writing:
New essay is up: “How the Internet Broke Art” (it’s about maintaining art for art’s sake). If you follow this link, you can avoid the paywall. If you do please share the piece or at the very least click the “Like” heart when you’re done reading.
This is my 100th piece published on Medium. Have you read them all?
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On Tuesday, May 21st, at 7 PM, I’ll be one of the readers at Randee Dawn’s May Brooklyn Books & Booze reading at Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room in Industry City, Brooklyn! I love this place!
Other readers that night include Matthew Kressel, Christina Cooke and my friend, the Bram Stoker Award nominee, Nicholas Kaufmann!
It’s free and open to the public! Visit the Facebook event page for more information!
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But wait there’s more! On Sunday, June 2nd, at 6 PM, I’ll be a featured reader at another friend’s book launch: John C. Foster’s new novel Hate House will be launched at Shade Bar NYC in the Village! If you like haunted houses or books set in coastal Maine or if you’ve ever been driven to near madness by a swarm of sand crabs, grab this book now!
Joining me on stage at John’s launch will be Nicholas Kaufmann (yes! again!), as well as Scott Adlerberg, my brilliant friend Ben Francisco, and of course John C. Foster himself!
It’s free and open to the public! Visit the Facebook event page for more information!
Five minute read: How the Internet Broke Art
Random Final Thought
I'm thinking Zoom.😀
Ahahah, it's definitely from Zoom PO Box Boston Mass 0-2-1-3-4