Unable to join for the days put together by the Urbana Four, I hitched my wagon to the Continental Drift Through the Midwest Radical Culture Corridor for a couple days in Chicago. The highlights were an AREA magazine release in Paseo Park, facilitating a discussion with the visiting Gerald Raunig at InCUBATE, then the next day a mind-blowing tour of the far, far South Side neighborhood of Riverdale conducted by the always inspiring Martha Boyd, and the weekend wrap-up with a screening of The Spook Who Sat By The Door with a long Q&A with the author and co-producer Sam Greenlee. In between the last two events people enjoyed a tasty potluck (not always the case with potlucks, ya know) at the Experimental Station, to which I contributed the 18-piece wing bucket from (where else) Harold's, where the bird is always fried to order.
I'm skipping out on the Milwaukee day because I have to work, but will rejoin sometime on the way to Elk Mound, Wisconsin. A few others are aiming join as the Drift comes back down around to Madison for next weekend. The ever-shifting nature of the traveling group is emerging as one of the beautiful dynamics. Because the combination of voices keeps changing, the conversations surrounding the various experiences are always a little bit different, and in fact may be the sort of productive discontinuity that keeps the Drift lively in ways that the sit-down seminar cannot.
The rural days will be a further test, because we really don't have a lot scheduled. The new information to be absorbed will be provided by the settings themselves. But then again, by the time we reach Elk Mound, especially for the folks who have been with the troupe all
along, time and headspace for reflection might be much needed.
Comments