There stands David on the bank of our city’s great river in the heart of the South Waterfront neighborhood.  In the background, one can spot an osprey nest seemingly floating in the trees on the not-too-distant Ross Island.  In the foreground, culled from a the title of a recent Oates essay, the offering - “what we love will save us.” This is the juxtaposition of wildness and urbanity that David has spent his life as a writer and activist thinking about - how our human world of thinking and feeling connects with the larger world of natural wildness.  And, as is evident from the “where” of this photo, David’s January project for the South Waterfront AiR program - Of Time and the River and the Big Shiny Buildings, continues his exploration of these ideas.  In a series community writing workshops over the month, David has invited interested thinkers to discover, discuss and write the past, present and future history - geologic, social, cultural, political and natural - of the SWF area.   Generous, embodied and in David’s words, “connected” writing has resulted from these collective sessions.  On Wednesday evening, January 30th, in the AiR studio, David and workshop participants will share this work in a form and style that David likens to a three-movement, bebop word symphony - layered, syncopated, bold.  David will also read from a personal work created over his month in the district, two weeks of which he spent as an “insider” living in the Meriwether East.  Please join us at 7p on this evening for dessert and generous literary treats.  

Our monthly guest artist series continues with David Oates in January 2008. Join the discussion as he writes about his experiences in creating art that celebrates the South Waterfront community.