Duration
Atypical Acts of Resistance
The Durational Workshop (or durational personal project)
One concept I wish I had pitched sooner is a durational workshop.
I want to run one of these myself and I would love to see others do so as well.
The basic concept is to slow down.
Plan to meet weekly or semi-weekly and cover material (a single text or area of study) over many months.
Instead of a giant case of beer that lasts Trump’s entire second term, you can pick a project and slow play this.
Slowing down, a slap in the face of productivity (and capitalism), allows you to relish the process, learn patience, break away from our society’s obsession with speed/efficiency/optimization.
I’m covering a lot here all at once. After all, it’s been months. Ask me to elaborate.
Pick a durational project.
Start a durational workshop or join one.
These projects do not necessarily need to span the duration of Trump’s 2nd term. They are not required to go on for years. Plan for something that will go on for months or a full year. Given this, take a little time to consider before jumping in. Of course, the project and experience may shift/grow/transform over time.
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I had a related idea about a decade ago.
A durational interview. I called this an “evolving interview”.
I interviewed Ernest Hilbert on and off over the course of a year and here is the result.
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Here’s another example of a longform interview I conducted with Cameron Conaway.
An Interview with Warrior Poet Cameron Conaway: Part 1 + Part 2
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There was a time when I did quite a few interviews. The research component for this one, with Katherine Ramsland, was… unsettling.
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A Durational Workshop
I’ve had a durational workshop in mind for a while now.
It involves reading/discussing Rick Rubin’s book ‘The Creative Act’, [short] chapter by chapter, week after week, for many weeks. We’d [potentially] do a free writing exercise in response to the chapter, and then write “off the subject” (in Richard Hugo terms — See: The Triggering Town) in response to the group discussion. This would be a workshop that would evolve over time, naturally, in line with aforementioned notions about duration as well as the natural flow that would align well with the general vibe of Rubin’s text.
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Do you have ideas for a long-form workshop or other literary community activity?
What are your thoughts on integrating duration and slow productivity as an atypical act of resistance?
How can you slow down and draw out?
Love the idea of durational! I facilitate a poetry book club. Unlike other book clubs where you discuss a new book each meeting, we discuss one poetry collection poem by poem—every poem for as long as it takes. Sometimes it takes us a year and a half or more to discuss one poetry collection (we take summers off and otherwise meet once a month for 2 hours). And it’s wonderful to pay such close attention to depth and breadth of the work.
I am all in for this. I have been doing weekly workshops steadily since 1989--before I knew what I was doing. One person has been with me from the beginning, and others from almost the beginning. I like work that evolves naturally, over time.