28 September 2020

Dear Everyone:

The subject line of this message borrows from a piece Aaron Hammes shared with us at our most recent Friday Forum.  In “A Manifesto Concerning Citizenship,” Aaron writes,

This world, the one that wealthy people pretend to be citizens of, will end, either in fire or flood.  There will be trouble, more trouble, and there will be a call, and that call will be answered, and there will be a fight.  There is already a fight.  In the meantime, we will work to discover the means of our souls, how much beauty they will contain and how much they can produce, and we will live beyond them.  We will excavate reservoirs of beauty inside ourselves which outstrip any we have seen outside.  We will invent new ways to be beautiful.

Aaron, together with Madeleine Barnes, Brad Fox, and Trace Peterson, offered us such lovely work: so carefully wrought, so attentive to word and cadence, so meticulously textured and richly of the many and varied worlds out of which they emerge and toward which they (and we) incline…it’s no surprise, the immense creativity of their work, nor their generosity in sharing it.

And/but, so, too, the engaged generosity of everyone who attended! “Stunning” and “so good” and “incredible” exemplify the ethos of the chat from our zoom, along with thank yous of many kinds.  To those I add my own to Aaron, Maddie, Brad, and Trace: thank you for the work and labor and time and beautiful collegiality!

Here are links to each of their works: explore, relish, support!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/749514492/one-smashed-window-for-every-divided [etsy.com]

https://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9781946104151/since-i-moved-in-new–revised.aspx [spdbooks.org]

https://www.rescuepress.co/shop/to-remain-nameless

https://madeleinebarnes.com/order-book

This coming Friday features two events also centered around the work of people who study with us, in these as articulated through the program’s first two exams (the third exam is the dissertation defense).

The first is an Orals Workshop at 2p, organized by Nancy Silverman and featuring students and a faculty member who will share their experiences of preparing for the exams. Especially those who haven’t yet taken the exam are encouraged to attend!  Here is the zoom link for that meeting: https://gc-cuny.zoom.us/j/92145313431.

And, at 4p, the Portfolio Showcase, organized by Christian Fryer-Davis, will feature work included in the portfolio (aka first) examination by students – please keep an eye out for a link for that event!

I’ll be (virtually) attending a conference on Friday but hope and plan to be with you all at the showcase and to hang thereafter!

To those observing Yom Kippur, I wish you an easy fast, and to all, I hope the week will be full of encounters with beautiful words!

Kandice