Community Reports Vol. 1

Brooks Johnson, a poet and visual artist in Chicago, sent the following report yesterday about art and community-formation that he's involved in. I like the provisional nature of what he describes.

It's important to share stories about what's going on in our diverse locations, and I encourage others to share reports, notes, or comments with me here. Eventually I hope to have a Slow Poetry web site operating with a public forum aspect where these kinds of experiences can be more fully discussed.

Here's what Brooks had to say:

I think that this space of mine--its called Dr. Who's Werehouse of Ideas--has a lot to do with some of the issues yr tapping into for the slopo thing. The house opens itself out into many different directions as well. I've been thinking about it as a community center, a gallery, venue, piece of conceptual art (maybe in the sense of the spiral jetty or something). It's all pretty organic and free-flowing. I'm trying to resist exerting too much control or governance on the thing, I'm more interested in the ways in which this thing is going to grow and mutate. For now, it feels alive, so I'm going to keep on observing the Dao. People come in and with them their ideas and energy, this has its bearing on the community, it alters and adapts, etc.

We are going to start classes here the coming week. Spanish, gardening, a poetry workshop, yoga, and west african music (as some possible ideas). The basic premise is--as was the Dill Pickle's charter--that no one can possibly know everything about a given subject, but a lot of people know something; ergo, we all ought to share what we know. This notion of open-source that you talk about plays in too. My joint is but one in a whole matrix of alternative spaces, and that there is this sort of vague program in place as to how to go about creating these temporary (autonymous) zones and make them thrive in their brief lives. This place may only last as long as the summer (I hope not, but its definitely a possibility) and hopefully others will take note of the minor ways in which I've altered 'the program' and borrow from that in the creation of thier spaces.

I've already written too much and not said enough...I know yr pretty busy...but I just want to say a couple more things. I think one really important aspect of the thinking with the slopo thing is that you make the distinction that this is not something you've invented so much as something you've noticed as an emerging direction in human thought. Much the same way that Bey talks about TAZs. As far as I can observe, we are in the beginning stages of another larger-scale youth movement. Hopefully (if I'm not simply being overly optimistic and imagining things) we can do it right this time. I think that alot of the ideas yr putting forth resonate with how creatively minded kids are thinking outside of institutional contexts.

Also, my friend and I just got a copy of The Crew Change from some gypseys that crashed on our porch the other night. Its the bible of train hopping--how to get where yr going, what and who to watch out for etc. Its a pretty amazing document, photo copied and passed from traveler to traveler. My roommate Wolfman America and I have been (since yesterday, anyway) loosly entertaining the idea of a quick jaunt somewhere to test the waters. How would you feel if we showed up in Boulder next week and talked with yr class in person?  

Rainy here for the fourth.
Hope yrs is more BBQ infused.

Brooks