Author Archives: weinberg

poetry

their disagreements overthrew their intimacy

Cézanne and Zola

At thirteen they were known as the inseparables.
“Opposites by nature,” wrote Zola, ” we became
united forever in the midst of the brutal gang
of dreadful dunces who beat us.” Inconsolable
with Zola in Paris, Cézanne wrote, “I no longer
recognize myself. I am heavy, stupid, and slow.”
Despite many visits, their disagreements overthrew
their intimacy and they grew apart. “A dreamer,”
was how Zola described his friend, “a failure
of genius.” And in a novel he wrote how Cézanne
“had lost his footing and drowned in the dazzling
folly of art.” Cézanne replied with sixteen years
of silence, yet when Zola died he fled to his room.
“All day,” a friend said, “we heard the sound of weeping.”

– Stephen Dobyns, “Cézanne and Zola” (via essay in Hunting Men, 2.139)

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10-minute play festival, Baltimore

"The Un Saddest Factory
presents
the second annual ten-minute play festival.
August 20, 21, 23, 24

There will be two nights.
Night A (August 20 & 23)
Night B (August 21 & 24)
All shows start at 8PM.
Each night costs $7 or you can come to both for $12.

The plays are written, directed, and performed by Baltimore’s finest.
It’s at The Annex Theatre
419 E. Oliver St.

The facebook event page can be located here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=138614156174102

And tickets can be purchased online here:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/123720"

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Baltimore, the chorus

yesterday

I taught a chorus workshop to 12 students at SCT’s youth conservatory yesterday, and it was excellent. We had about an hour, and we did the process where they each bring in their own 4 lines of text and it ends in a chorus jam with all of them going from one text to another. I really liked it.

I had dinner with S at the end of the day, to celebrate the article, and I commented that I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make these workshops work now. It used to be so hard, and it feels so natural now, so straightforward. He said, “Well begun is half done.” I guess that’s so. After all, it has been a long time beginning, with many beginnings.

I also signed paperwork to become a Free School space steward / person-who-can-hold-a-class-there yesterday, so that Parallel Octave can rehearse there in the future.

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Baltimore

the thursday rainstorm

came early today! Thunderous outside.

Thursday’s been my favorite day of the week for a long time (it is, after all, Thorsday / Fourth-Grade Art Class Day) and I like that the storm couldn’t wait to get it started. It is always an auspicious thing to wake up and find it raining, especially now that I no longer have to drive to work.

Who wants to walk down St. Paul in the rain?

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Baltimore, the chorus

||8ve article in Baltimore CityPaper

“Now taking place at the Baltimore Free School, Parallel Octave is poised to bring all sorts of Baltimore artists together—and perhaps create a new kind of art in the process.”

– from Rachel Monroe’s wonderful CityPaper article on the ||8ve chorus, “All Together Now,” just posted today. It’ll be in tomorrow’s issue.

If you’re interested in our project, please check out our website or course page on the Free School site, or email paralleloctaveATgmail.com.

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moment

The extraordinary playwright and poet Ron Allen, from Detroit, author of the plays EYE MOUTH GRAFFITI BODYSHOP and x restrung cortex, among many other texts, died last night at a hospital in Los Angeles.

He left me a phone message on July 16, and in the extreme bustle that’s been happening, I didn’t call him back. The message is still on my phone.

“Dara Weinberg: Ron Allen calling. Wanted to (…) see how you’re doing, tell you how I’m doing, so give me a call when you get a chance.”

I had a chance–you always have a chance–but I didn’t call.

He had a stroke, was in a coma, and his family decided to let him go rather than to let him linger–which I’m sure was what he would have wanted.

Ron was a teacher as well as a writer. He taught young people, old people, people at rehab centers, monasteries, and prisons, in Detroit and here. He was someone whose life touched many, many, many people, through his Buddhist practice, his writing, his classes, and his love. I will be thinking of him today. I hope you will all take a moment to think of him, as well.

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