I am not one to write about personal things in public, though I will say it’s been a year. Or more. In these times there is much and more, contributing to a sense of complete overwhelm, incalculable loss, gross injustice and just plain insanity.
Not immune to the toll life takes on people, I found it necessary to take a break from the usual grind in the face of contending with current international realities under which I have no control, personal/family matters and inevitable losses over which I have a modicum of control, and my own well being which necessitated medical intervention: I’m happy to report the latter part went well. All this is to say, in this season of very deep fog on the coast while the rest of the world swelters, I’m ready to walk into the sun once more. In that spirit, I will share with you a few things in the mix before summer’s gone.
On newsstands this month and online is my medium length read for Current History, the newly revamped 100+ year-old publication devoted to comment on “the profound changes transforming every region of the world, providing readers with a better understanding of today’s crucial events and pressing global trends through contributions from leading and emerging experts and scholars.” I am super-grateful to the editors for inviting me to contribute, joining a list of past contributors that includes Leon Trotsky, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey. Are you kidding me? I am not. My piece, Winter In America, concerns the role music has and will play in reshaping and repairing this presently unrecognizable (or maybe all too recognizable) country of ours.
Later this month, a group of friends and I will debut pages from the book I promised my friend Howie Klein I would finish for him following his death at the end of 2025. I have spent much of this year preparing this manuscript and just can’t wait to share it with others. We’re not taking the traditional route for this book, of course we aren’t: Howie was anything but traditional yet his story of counter cultural living was with purpose. He never gave up the fight for a free and liberated society; his fight remained personal and political and his persistence was inspiring. He was also fully human, a trickster and full of contradictions. Please join us on July 26, in-person and online to celebrate the preliminary draft of Memwah. I feel like the title needs an exclamation point after it. And yes, we are seeking a publisher. Be in touch if you dare…
Finally, in an effort to pass on what I’ve learned on my own journey into the center of grief this year, I will be co-facilitating a grief-writing workshop with the SF Village community throughout August. For more information, please inquire here. Space is limited and members of SF Village are prioritized, but this may become an occasionally offered workshop if we find it fruitful. Creative, journal and letter writing prompts will ask us to consider the large and small losses in our lives and look at how we may be healing and growing, before, during and after inevitable endings…
which brings us to the inevitable end of this post. Thanks to all the artists, musicians, friends, and loved ones, alive and not, for providing me with the fuel to persevere in faith in something greater than this never ending, man made nonsense in which we’re living.
Filed under: anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-war, Arts and Culture, Book news, California, Protest Songs, books, Gil Scott Heron, life, music, wellness, writing
Denise Sullivan 