It Would Have Been Enough!
Please enter my brain, so I can show you images of last weekend's Six Points retreat...
We started our journey in a rock-star tour bus. This is what it looked like from the outside, after the bus STALLED ACROSS TRAIN TRACKS IN THE FREEZING SNOW AND WE HAD TO EVACUATE:
Clearly, we all could have died, but it felt particularly scary, since Ofri is pregnant. Dan Safer started screaming, "SAVE OFRI, SAVE OFRI," which soon devolved into, "SAVE THE BEER, SAVE THE BEER!" As soon as the problem arose, David Griffin bolted outside, to stand in the headlights and smoke cigarettes. Saar got delightfully military-ish and helped the bus driver maneuver out of imminent doom.
The rest of us stood around and giggled.
A variety of strangers, police officers and retreat center functionaries arrived to ferry us to our destination (while our bus driver (whose name is Jesus) was arrested for driving with an expired license.) The last people to leave witnessed the high-speed train zoom across the tracks, where, 10 minutes previously, we lingered, giggling and fidgeting and wondering what to do.
Finally, we arrived at "Mount Eden," and reunited with Galeet, who traveled separately with her adorable baby Yaniv, aka Yizzle. Here he is with Ofri, who spent much of the weekend practicing the art of baby-holding:
We also met up with the Six Points partners from the Foundation for Jewish Culture, Avoda Arts and JDub Records. Here is Elise, before she started a late-nite Hebrew hymn marathon, with much table-pounding on beats 1 and 3:
Did you notice the hilarious Hebrew calligraphy on the wall behind her? There was a lot of that.
Meanwhile, in New York City, my new multimedia show ABSENTIA DEMENTIA was premiering at Dixon Place, as part of "Joseph Keckler and Friends." (I'm the "Friends" part.) I was really nervous about it, but as soon as it ended, I started getting really enthusiastic, congratulatory text messages. This felt important. I mean, obviously it feels good when people like your work; but this show was so impulsive and so self-indulgent, so I interpreted its success as a sign that I'm back on track. After several weeks of feeling like I've lost my voice, I think I've pulled a Hillary Clinton. ....Okay, bad analogy. Anyway. Back to Mount Eden.
Dan Safer was my roommate. We watched Planet Unicorn with Saar:
I didn't take any pictures the next day, since we spent most of our time presenting and critiquing each other's work samples. I was simultaneously a) astounded by the high quality of stuff my fellow Fellows are producing, and b) relieved that mostly everyone is just as scared and frustrated with their work as I am. Possibly the most relaxing part of the weekend was just knowing that I'm not alone in my process misery.
The day after that was Shabbas, so we did Shabbasy things and completed Shabbasy assignments. We tried to go on a walk, but it was hunting season, so a man with a large rifle told us to go away. I didn't take my camera on that excursion, because we were instructed to FOCUS ON NATURE. (Others still brought their cameras, so I'm expecting some glamor shots of me in a big tractor trailer very soon.)
After Havdalah, we had a great conversation with choreographer Tamar Rogoff. In the 90s, she created an experimental theater piece about her family members who were killed in the Holocaust, and then produced it in the very same forest where they were slaughtered, using the remaining (mostly gentile) townspeople as actors and technicians. She showed us her film about the experience, Summer in Ivye. Afterwards, we were all excited to find out how she got funding.
Then we ate.
Doesn't Ofri have amazing cheek bones? Saar stole my camera for a bit. Here is the only photo he took that wasn't upside down:
A bunch of us stayed up really late, drinking things out of bottles. Gabby drank so much seltzer, she FELL IN:
Andrea had a profound experience with a box of Female Sage tea:
The next morning, we finished presenting work, and took a survey about the retreat. Jeremiah took it like this:
Then we talked about our feelings some more:
I really like everyone.
We rode back to town in a normal, non-rockstar bus. I went home and promptly fell asleep.
Love
Dan
ps: Here's Yizzle with Osmodeus, King of the Underworld:
We started our journey in a rock-star tour bus. This is what it looked like from the outside, after the bus STALLED ACROSS TRAIN TRACKS IN THE FREEZING SNOW AND WE HAD TO EVACUATE:
Clearly, we all could have died, but it felt particularly scary, since Ofri is pregnant. Dan Safer started screaming, "SAVE OFRI, SAVE OFRI," which soon devolved into, "SAVE THE BEER, SAVE THE BEER!" As soon as the problem arose, David Griffin bolted outside, to stand in the headlights and smoke cigarettes. Saar got delightfully military-ish and helped the bus driver maneuver out of imminent doom.
The rest of us stood around and giggled.
A variety of strangers, police officers and retreat center functionaries arrived to ferry us to our destination (while our bus driver (whose name is Jesus) was arrested for driving with an expired license.) The last people to leave witnessed the high-speed train zoom across the tracks, where, 10 minutes previously, we lingered, giggling and fidgeting and wondering what to do.
Finally, we arrived at "Mount Eden," and reunited with Galeet, who traveled separately with her adorable baby Yaniv, aka Yizzle. Here he is with Ofri, who spent much of the weekend practicing the art of baby-holding:
We also met up with the Six Points partners from the Foundation for Jewish Culture, Avoda Arts and JDub Records. Here is Elise, before she started a late-nite Hebrew hymn marathon, with much table-pounding on beats 1 and 3:
Did you notice the hilarious Hebrew calligraphy on the wall behind her? There was a lot of that.
Meanwhile, in New York City, my new multimedia show ABSENTIA DEMENTIA was premiering at Dixon Place, as part of "Joseph Keckler and Friends." (I'm the "Friends" part.) I was really nervous about it, but as soon as it ended, I started getting really enthusiastic, congratulatory text messages. This felt important. I mean, obviously it feels good when people like your work; but this show was so impulsive and so self-indulgent, so I interpreted its success as a sign that I'm back on track. After several weeks of feeling like I've lost my voice, I think I've pulled a Hillary Clinton. ....Okay, bad analogy. Anyway. Back to Mount Eden.
Dan Safer was my roommate. We watched Planet Unicorn with Saar:
I didn't take any pictures the next day, since we spent most of our time presenting and critiquing each other's work samples. I was simultaneously a) astounded by the high quality of stuff my fellow Fellows are producing, and b) relieved that mostly everyone is just as scared and frustrated with their work as I am. Possibly the most relaxing part of the weekend was just knowing that I'm not alone in my process misery.
The day after that was Shabbas, so we did Shabbasy things and completed Shabbasy assignments. We tried to go on a walk, but it was hunting season, so a man with a large rifle told us to go away. I didn't take my camera on that excursion, because we were instructed to FOCUS ON NATURE. (Others still brought their cameras, so I'm expecting some glamor shots of me in a big tractor trailer very soon.)
After Havdalah, we had a great conversation with choreographer Tamar Rogoff. In the 90s, she created an experimental theater piece about her family members who were killed in the Holocaust, and then produced it in the very same forest where they were slaughtered, using the remaining (mostly gentile) townspeople as actors and technicians. She showed us her film about the experience, Summer in Ivye. Afterwards, we were all excited to find out how she got funding.
Then we ate.
Doesn't Ofri have amazing cheek bones? Saar stole my camera for a bit. Here is the only photo he took that wasn't upside down:
A bunch of us stayed up really late, drinking things out of bottles. Gabby drank so much seltzer, she FELL IN:
Andrea had a profound experience with a box of Female Sage tea:
The next morning, we finished presenting work, and took a survey about the retreat. Jeremiah took it like this:
Then we talked about our feelings some more:
I really like everyone.
We rode back to town in a normal, non-rockstar bus. I went home and promptly fell asleep.
Love
Dan
ps: Here's Yizzle with Osmodeus, King of the Underworld:
Tax Deductible Donations
Dan Fishback is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Dan Fishback may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Would You Like To Shop?
The Search for Colonel Mustard
Maybe Maybe Maybe Baby
Leave a comment