Webtales

A friend recently wrote something of a personal update for the Spring Solstice. He asked others to reply in kind. Here is what I wrote:

Joe,

Since March 20th is Kathleen’s birthday, it seems we are not destined to celebrate Spring Solstice together. Still, some catching up is in order.

For me, the past year has been about moving outward, building new connections and communities with the idea of participating in a local, neighborhood art scene. I’ve been trying to watch and absorb the thousands of daily cultural collisions in the Mission and in particular, the Valencia Street corridor between 24th St and 16th. I’ve been building urban landscapes and exploring the urban myths of the area. Those then percolate inside and come out in surprising ways. … See More

I’ve made a lot of new friends this year; participated in a lot of group creative ventures. It is, for me, a time of community. My goal is not to worry too much about what I am thinking or feeling; it is a time for me to listen and open to others. What are they thinking? How are they choosing to live their lives?

Lately, I’ve been sitting at a coffee shop, looking out the window at the great show. I can do this for quite some time. There is a peacefulness about it- catching snatches of the daily drama of hundreds of strangers. I don’t make up stories about them, as I have been known to do. I just watch.

So many people. So many different kinds of lives all existing simultaneously. I’ve always loved Thomas’s “Under Milkwood” or Kurosawa’s ” Dodeskaden,” or the “Spoon River Anthology” of Edgar Lee Masters. In all of these works, the community itself is the subject; the individual stories and players part of a much more intricate fabric. Sometimes, when I sit watching out of the coffee shop window, I can feel the music of it.

Several years ago I participated in the Mediascape project at KQED. It was an exercise in locative media funded by HP. In the course of that project I documented with others the “Mission Village Market; a neighborhood flea market and community gathering.” Today, that market is gone. The stories and images I collected at that time are all that I have left of the place. There remains no physical evidence that the place and its history every existed.

That is the ecology of neighborhoods.

And so the question for me this year has been, how do I open myself to that vision; how do I learn the people, their stories and how those stories collide on a daily basis.

This is the opposite of going global. My work is local. My audience is local. My subject matter is local. The rest of the world still exists, of course, but the discovery of this microcosm of culture, time, commerce and humanity is my focus. It fills me with a sense of place and a sense of peace.

So far, it has been a good year. My family is well. My work continues and grows. What more could I want?

All the best to you and the family, Joe.

=stan