Feelin fine in Philly

Being in Philadelphia these last few months has been very good for me creatively. I left New York with a broken spirit largely because of the energy that I had put into my work only to be disappointed by the awfulness with how it ended, but also because of my disillusionment with the slam scene. Philadelphia offered me not only a chance to start over personally but also it seems that the city itself is starting from a cleaner place artistically. They don’t have the same pressures to compete for attention and resources in the same way as New York . You can pursue things without thinking about their commercial viability or how the performance you are giving affects your overall goal of “making it”. This is not to say that my everyday artistic life often involved those concerns but I knew people were hyper-aware of their prospects and who in the room could do something for their career. The expectation is different here in Philadelphia . From my limited exposure to the artistic community here in both the poetic and theatre arenas, people are more concerned with how other artists and activist see them and their work rather than jockeying for the attention of critics or agents. That is the kind of attention I am comfortable with. Perhaps this is my naivety or my inexperience in the Philly scene but I feel the possibilities are more open here. I don’t know if I am falling into a big fish small pond mindset but I would doubt it. For one I am no big fish and second Philly is more of a lake that seems to have tributaries feeding it from New York and Washington , especially since the cost of rent is continuing to rise. There have been so many people moving here from other cities especially ones on the east coast.
My friends meanwhile have had a lot of great things happen to them in their artistic lives. Cristin has a book coming out that she has been toiling over for a long time. It’s almost in its final form and I am so happy for her. I think it will be an important book and I’m not just saying that because I helped transcribe some of the interviews. It’s not my place to say more right now but as soon as it has a publication date I will post all about it.
Omar also has had a great project come into being with the “Edge of the World” theatre project. It will be featured in the Asian American Theatre fest in New York this June. I was able to see the show in its initial form here in Philly (that still sounds weird) and it was fantastic. The show is truly powerful work that will affect all who see it, in a good way of course, not in a Queen of the Damned way. I will post details as soon as I have them. There is also some stuff that I am working on for the fall, that I will sketch out in my next post. Thanks.