I recently stumbled onto Lauren
Wheeler’s web site. Although I honestly can’t remember having long or meaningful
conversations with this woman while we were together at Cornell (this is because
they never happened by chance, not because either of us was incapable of such
things – or so I’d like to think), I do have a handful of fond memories where
I had the pleasure of seeing her perform some poetry up in i-town. And from the
few brief conversations we did share, I think she was/is a bit of alright. Admittedly,
reading her words on screen is not as dialogical or powerful as seeing her live,
but that is Mos Def not to say that power is lacking. Check
her out.
Another note, Pat Benatar playing live, and for free, in NYC. Sorry to miss it.
And, for those of you on my side of the globe, Anti-Retroviral
Theatre (ART) has its first showcase of student work this Sunday, beginning
2PM @ The Dance Factory, Newtown Cultural Precinct (downtown, next to MegaMusic),
Johannesburg. Background: ART
is a course aimed at providing people living with HIV with a range of new skills,
in order to transform their own lives and find innovative ways of creating positive
possibilities for themselves and their communities, to become more actively engaged
in social transformation.
I’ve done a few poetry workshops with these peops, and I have to say that they
are doing amazing work – and I’m talking about the students, here, even more than
the facilitators. Ages range from 17-45, and the backgrounds of the participators
are even more diverse (most are coming in from the townships, daily; ART
provides transport money and lunch, and the workshops are all free free free).
Be prepared for some amazing and dynamic people, doing even more amazing and dynamic
things – the course has included workshops in arts, holistic and positive living,
dance, trust, music, painting, photography, storytelling, performance poetry,
sound journeys, acting, mime, physical theater, yoga, PNI (psycho-neuro-immunology),
nutrition and home based care. The showcase will feature its students speaking
back to, and conversing with, these skills and topics.
