I wrote about Synanon, and a strange set of personal connections I have to the history of that group, for this talk. Fingers crossed I can find time to publish something on this. That's the theme of the year - finding time.
The annual conference for the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present , ASAP13, was in Los Angeles this year. I participated in a seminar called "Out of Your Lane: Writing at the Edge of the Discipline." I got to spend time with some truly excellent writers and thinkers in a no-holds barred conversation about what disciplinary conventions and methods both give and take away. We saw this parking sign in a garage and were thinking we should make team jerseys.
The vibe on the lovely but sprawling UCLA campus was intense but dispersed. It was the first time I had been in person with conference peers in a long time. I'm keenly aware of the sustainability and access issues surrounding in-person conferencing, but we lose so much when we can't create the social ties that in-person allows.
