if . . .

"How can you occupy a place and also have it occupy you? How can you find such a reciprocity? . . . The key, I think, is to become vulnerable to a place. If you open yourself up, you can build intimacy. Out of such intimacy may come a sense of belonging, a sense of not being isolated in the universe. . . . . Concentrate instead on feeling a place, on deliberately using the sense of proprioception. Where in this volume of space are you situated? The space behind you is as important as what you see before you. What lies beneath you is as relevant as what stands on the far horizon. Actively use your ears to imagine the acoustical hemisphere you occupy. " ( A Literature of Place by Barry Lopez/via Bowen Island Journal: May 18 ) :: comment :: ... need to document place ... more will come ... this comment is not frozen in time or space ...

"We write things we believe, we write things we want to believe, we write things we ought to believe even though we cannot believe them. We write about who we were, not who we are; we write about who we wish he had been and what we wish we'd thought to say. Isn't that more true, in the end, than a recording?" ( Mark Bernstein: Salam Pax Is Real ) "Silence is associated with many virtues: modesty, respect for others, prudence, decorum. Thanks to deeply ingrained rules of etiquette, people silence themselves to avoid embarrassment, confrontation, and other perceived dangers. There's an old saying that sums up the virtues of silence: "Better to be quiet and thought a fool than to talk and be known as one." The social virtues of silence are reinforced by our survival instincts. Many organizations send the message[~]verbally or nonverbally[~]that falling into line is the safest way to hold on to our jobs and further our careers. " ( When Silence Sp...

Arnika, Augentrost, der Trunk aus dem Brunnen mit dem Sternwürfel drauf, in der Hütte, die in das Buch - wessen Namen nahms auf vor dem meinen? - die in dies Buch geschriebene Zeile von einer Hoffnung, heute, auf eines Denkenden kommendes Wort im Herzen, Waldwasen, uneingeebnet, Orchis und Orchis, einzeln, Krudes, später, im Fahren deutlich, der uns fährt, der Mensch, der’s mit anhört, die halb- beschrittenen Knüppel- pfade im Hochmoor, Feuchtes, viel. "Is this going too far? Is the reader, or translator, or exegete, or hermeneut digging too far below the surface of the poem's word? I don't think so. It is exactly in those "semantic geological stratifications," if I may say so, of that one little word, "Wasen" used instead of the more usual "Wiesen," i.e., in the substitution of an "a" for a long "ie," that the poem opens up from the restricted economy of a containable and constrainable structure (the simple, tight network ...

TODTNAUBERG Arnica, eyebright, the draft from the well with the star-die on top, in the Hütte, written in the book - whose name did it record before mine - ? in this book the line about a hope, today, for a thinker’s word to come, in the heart, forest sward, unleveled, orchis and orchis, singly, crudeness, later, while driving, clearly, he who drives us, the man, he who also hears it, the half- trod log- trails on the highmoor, humidity, much. TODTNAUBERG Arnika, Augentrost, der Trunk aus dem Brunnen mit dem Sternwürfel drauf, in der Hütte, die in das Buch - wessen Namen nahms auf vor dem meinen? - die in dies Buch ...

". . . Koltès quickly turned to themes of commerce, racism, violence, sexual desire, third-world exploitation, and psychological degradation. His plays are cascades of free-falling language - often in monologue - in which social and internal realms converge. In reflexive wordplay, thoughts bend back on themselves in characters' minds, pointing to logic's terrifying traps and tricks." (Village Voice > theater: Worlds Under Siege )

. . . way too long ago, in the days that have been come to be known as the "AMOK Time"(1979), I called myself terroristDuck . . . an illegitimate offspring of Katie Duck . . . performing on the streets of Rome in a piece called "Red Trees" with Ily . . . a dangerous, playful era . . . the times they have a'changed . . . names may still be found though the language has developed . . . these past few days have been a treasure chest of internet searches where the past boldly prints to screen . . . try it - search your past . . . it's been fun . . .

:: comment :: . . . this is where my thinking on democracy landed . . . it is local with universal dimensions . . . rooted in particiaption & informed trust . . . "The analogy between the terms "global" and "universal" is misleading. Universalization has to do with human rights, liberty, culture, and democracy. By contrast, globalization is about technology, the market, tourism, and information. Globalization appears to be irreversible whereas universalization is likely to be on its way out." ( CTHEORY.NET > The Violence of the Global by Jean Baudrillard translated by FranÁois Debrix)

. . . after some general yard clean-up, garbage can in hand, stood mauling at a pile of rotting wood wondering how much will it take to rent a truck & when . . . the MLA for the area drove by & jumped out . . . "Am driving around doing a little neighbourhood clean-up. I'll come back and remove that load ." . . . twenty minutes later the back was cleared . . . the school up the hill had ordered a couple of extra disposal units . . . a politician hauling away garbage on a beautiful Saturday morning asking about an opinion on the new arts aid package . . . new meaning to 'dirty politics' . . . wondering about democracy . . .

"Patterns of light and darkness. We're near the end now, thank you for our time. Earth and rain. The hunger at the pit of language, not to inform, but to touch. Silence on a blank screen. A song, heard once, in a cloud forest. Snow and fertile ash." ( Mark Abley : IN A CLOUD FOREST ) :: comment :: . . . a name from years ago . . . finding the past on the web is a feature/bug . . . anticipating the new book . . .

"It's fifty seven short, sharp pieces busting with cadent neologisms - some borrowings - that leap and sing in your mind, twist your heart and speak of our fate now, our demise and the state of the language."({openbrackets: un ) :: comment :: . . . wonderful when the review has the verve and joy of the piece it honours . . . Jellybelly was my daughters favourite (or was it mine) . . . still use it in my university drama classes . . . also follow comment #5: enjoy, in joy, enjoy. . . ignore or enjoy the farts . . . "A poem enacts in words the presence of what we live among. It arises from the tough, delicate, heartbreaking rooting of what is in its own nonbeing. From that rooting, there arise elemental movements of being: of hunger, of play, of rage, of celebration, of dying. Such movements are always particular, speaking the things which are. A poem enacts those living movements in words."(Dennis Lee. Cadence, Country, Silence: Writing in Colonial Space: Canadia...

(Maria Miesenberger "Uncut" via robert mann gallery) :: comment :: . . . feeling vulnerable . . .

Re: Inappropriate message regarding school & students "Gur Oernxsnfg Pyho" is a recognized contemporary classic in the traditional 'coming of age' narrative. The play traces the journey of characters caught in that time of adolescent confusion trying to make sense of each other and the world around them. It presents 'characters' in their stereotypical groupings/labels and offers the audience an opportunity to view each character crossing barriers into moments of self-realization. It challenges each character to become an individual and invites all of us to look closely at our superficial perceptions of each other. The students chose "Gur Oernxsnfg Pyho" precisely because it reflects their struggles and gives voice, expression and recognition to their inner spiritual turmoil and take much pride and hope in being supported and guided in their development. ". . . But we think lbh'er penml gb znxr hf jevgr na rffnl telling you who we think w...

"Drama begins where politics and the civic and direct involvement leave off. It inhabits a different territory. . . . And leave drama to the really dangerous world - the world of the imagination. . . . And the irony is, all theatre is political in a profound way. Why? Because it is subversive. It can, without resort to the vote or the gun, alter climate, change opinion, laugh prejudice out the door, soften hearts, awaken perception. Of course it can, because humans learn not by precept (the exhortations of so much political theatre) but by imprinting. Yell at a child to be quiet and you are teaching him to yell. . . . In the end, drama is, as Laurence Olivier said, “an affair of the heart”. It is to do with insight, at warp speed; it cuts to the quick. And it is - can be, should be - very potent. As René Descartes wrote: “Feeling is thinking.” And needs all the help we can give it. (Guardian Unlimited | more ... Guardian Unlimited | a continuing series on political theatre)

Quotes: Jerzy Grotowski "The performance is not an illusionist copy of reality, its imitation; nor is it a set of conventions, accepted as a kind of deliberate game, playing at a seperate theatrical reality... The actor does not play, does not imitate, or pretend. He is himself." -- (quoted in Grotowski's Laboratory) Ludwik Flaszen "Examining the nature of theatre... we came to the conclusion that its essence lies in direct contact between people. This in mind, we have decided to get beyond art to reality, since it is in real life rather than on the artistic plane that such contacts are possible." -- (The Theatre in Poland) Leszek Kolankiewicz "It is not theatre that is indispensable, but something quite different. To cross the frontiers between you and me." -- Jerzy Grotowski

("Spring Scrolls," via nytimes: obituaries ) Skunder Boghossian

The idea of repeating an exact performance every time has its place in the theater, as with the Noh artists of Japan, or Jerzy Grotowski's Polish Theater Laboratory, in which the performer studies the life of a single gesture for years and even decades. Yet, in these traditions, the magic for the audience resides in the superhuman ability to perform these acts, as with a high-wire act in the cirucus. In these cases the repeated acts must be performed live for the true fullness of the accomplishment to be recognized. However, in most western theater, the idea of repetition began and continues as a commercialization of the theater; a repeatable product to be sold to anyone at any time. :: comment :: . . . time for diamond work . . .

"To revive means to bring someone or something back to life and consciousness. Adaptation is the process by which an organism becomes better suited to its environment." "In New York this truth is grasped most often by Off Broadway companies. They are the ones who keep grappling with Shakespeare. Their classics can be unpredictable and exhilarating, from Sophocles to J. M. Barrie (Mabou Mines's "Gospel at Colonnus" and "Peter and Wendy"); Racine to Gertrude Stein (the Wooster Group's "To You the Birdie" and "Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights")." . . . "They make me think that the best revivals share certain characteristics. They are based on challenging work that is not regularly staged. The cast works as an ensemble even if there are stars in leading roles. The staging points up the text rather than competes with it. And the relationship between its time and ours is dramatized but not exploited." ( nytimes: Arts ...

"Mountain Language (1988) by Harold Pinter is perhaps the most concise, powerful, and violent example of what language is and can do, how language differentiates people and can make them mutually unintelligible." (Michel Aaij, 1998) :: comment :: . . . students listen as Henry Wolf, Pinter's friend and peer (they went to high school together and have worked together ever since) . . . he was moved more by their work than the National Theatre performance . . . so much to experience . . . "In his 1965 speech "Writing for the Theatre," Pinter famously commented, "There are two silences. One where no word is spoken. The other when perhaps a torrent of language is being employed. When true silence falls, we are still left with echo but are nearer nakedness." One of the rich discoveries of Mountain Language is that, if language is a tool of oppression, silence can be unspeakably intimate and ultimately hugely liberating. When I first read the play, the s...

Beat Generation poet Ted Joans , whose work drew from the African-American story-telling tradition, has died in Canada aged 74.( BBC News ) :: comment :: . . . don't know why this hasn't been picked up more . . ."This bent metal serpent"

Poem by Makoto Ooka. Translated by Janine Beichman. From Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets (Katydid Books) "Although poems are in most cases written by people with little worldly power, they offer one of the most important keys to the basic form and essence of a culture. Layers of spiritual history are hidden within even some of the most ordinary words, and poets can use these words to awaken people to the great continuity of time of which they, through seemingly discrete entities, are an integral part." (Kurumaza and Japanese Poetry From: Columbia University | By: Makoto Ooka found at FATHOM via Wood s lot)

ANAGRAMS (15) Wednesday, May 07, 2003 I'm within the outside It feels like being locked in. (13) Thursday, April 24, 2003 God is lost in the outskirt of Human knowledge (12) Friday, April 18, 2003 Ultimate Home One day All of us will arrive home With our mothers' shadows upon us Weeping on a piece of stone. (11) Tuesday, April 15, 2003 Last night For the first time I shared my bed with my soul There was only one blanket Which I gave it to my soul And when I got up in the morning I had caught cold. (7) Wednesday, September 25, 2002 Two trees by the road on two sides The road itself goes And trees fall. (VAHID. more scattered at GOOSSUN .)

Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! - Julia Ward Howe.(1870) (please visit code pink

"The best relationship between two people goes by the proof of permitting deep honesty. To speak and to be spoken to freely is the just measure of loving affection." ( nqpaofu: get go )

"Whenever power can be wielded freely, and without responsibility, corruption is never far behind. Expect a big growth in the powers and budget of Homeland security, probably fuelled by an imminent danger of some kind (which may or may not come)." (Curiouser and curiouser!: Free Country ) "Humans gain trust by interacting and "getting to know" people. Transparent technologies that make it easy to see what people and companies are up to (in a sense the opposite of firewalls) are what help me trust. I like Reagan's saying: "trust, but verify". It implies that trust requires means for openness, not firewalls and secretiveness."(DPR: Security doesn't create trust )

"In Anti-Oedipus, Deleuze and Guattari advocate one of the more radical models of the improvising self by deconstructing the "restrictive codes of Oedipus" and the tyrannical suppositions of psychoanalysis in general. In their place, they substitute "schizoanalysis," a method which shifts its attention from the neurotic--"the one on whom the Oedipal imprints take" (xxi)--to the psychotic, the one who is "incapable of being oedipalized": "It might be said that the schizophrenic passes from one code to the other, that he deliberately scrambles all the codes, by quickly shifting from one to the other..." (15). The work of the Open Theatre on transformations and of Grotowski with the holy actor have many parallels with Deleuze and Guattari's mythopoetic schizophrenic, not the least of which are the goals of penetration and fluidity." ( Improvising Character: Jazz, the Actor, and Protocols of Improvisation by Marshall Soules)

Everything that the pencil says is erasable, Unlike our voices, whose words are black and permanent, Smudging our lives like coal dust, Unlike our memories, Etched like a skyline against the mind, Unlike our irretrievable deeds . . . The pencil spills everything, and then takes everything back. (Charles Wright. Black Zodiac. "Lives of the Saints")

Osmose (1995) is an immersive interactive virtual-reality environment installation with 3D computer graphics and interactive 3D sound, a head-mounted display and real-time motion tracking based on breathing and balance. Osmose is a space for exploring the perceptual interplay between self and world, i.e. a place for facilitating awareness of one's own self as consciousness embodied in enveloping space. - Char Davies (Vectors)

. . . spent the weekend (Thursday - Monday) in architectural spaces carefully constructed with the sound of the word & the sound of the sound in heart&mind . . . not with the skilled, trained artist . . . with the young in the midst of discovering/exploring what the artist is in them . . . . . . they take the stage . . . a precious instrument . . . to listen to the before . . . prepared they arrive and humbled they depart informing the next . . . . . . dear are those spaces where we shape our thoughts and words and actions . . . attentive to the colour, the texture, the breath, the palette of relationship, the character . . . the place we question and celebrate again & again . . . over and over . . . what is the meaning . . . this life . . . lest we forget . . . . . . from further away a traveller writes: hi I am in Berlin, Germany. I still cannot believe that I am in Europe. It is a very overalming experience here. Everything in berlin is in the construction burying over t...

Giuseppe Ungaretti Translated from the Italian by William Allegrezza Pink in flames Vallone August 17, 1917 upon an ocean of repeat rings suddenly floats another morning Serene Bosco di Courton July 1918 after much fog one by one the stars reveal themselves I breath the freshness that the color of the sky leaves me I recognize past images Caught in an immortal turn another night Vallone April 20, 1917 in this darkness with hands frozen I distinguish my face I see myself abandoned to the infinite - Giuseppe Ungaretti Translated from the Italian by William Allegrezza