Out of touch (but working hard) and they've finally erased the Advanced Learning Lab from the NYU Child Study Center

Since getting back from Maine, it feels like non-stop work. I've been working on "Invisible Man" though some of those poems may re-appear elsewhere and put together a proposal for an interested press for the Hinojosa translations which I hope they look on kindly (please send waves of support into the general atmosphere). It included 18 translations which I think are pretty good. I've also been working on the Guggenheim application, proposal and publications list seem done, but the auto-bio confounds me. Hard to write, since the path on the surface has been rather clear (23 years at Lang, 19 with T & W) but it has not been a seamless one and the telling is a long story filled with more mis-directions than a well-called football offense.

Been working hard too on syllabi for the fall, in particular my Arts of Sport course which is coming together nicely. I have the essays and the non-fiction stuff in order, today got at the poetry, went through a hundred or so poets and found some nice stuff, and will work out the art and music in the next few days. Some of this will be done on the road as we leave for Nimrod on Tuesday, have the Staunton (VA) Music Festival premiere of my poems/song cycle by Dennis Tobenski on the following Tuesday (19th) but I really am feeling like it's coming together. This is a course that makes me feel a little nervous because there's so much material and making the decisions about what to include and what to exclude is not fun.

So a lot to do: but an update on the old NYU Child Study Center. Yes, ALL, the Advanced Learning Lab, that experiment in pedagogy which was meant to really accomplish something and cost most of the parents at least $30,000 with no reimbursement (promised, of course by ALL and NYU Child Study Center) and which was supposed to be something special for a special group of six kids has been erased completely. Barry Ehrlich (nice guy and former director of education) is now finally listed as the director of education for the Asperger Institute, ALL has been dropped (just recently) from Candace Baugh's bio, and of course the Dana Levy bio mention of ALL was dropped the day after I blogged it. Any other former faculty seem to have also been erased (someone correct me if I'm wrong here). The tough thing is what this has done to the kids who expected to be back (and the fact that they had actually been inviting other parents/students to enroll until the last minute) and have no place to go. Of course, this could be a blessing in disguise, though I think not necessarily to those families (nor to the teachers who thought they had jobs and were summarily fired).

Bravo Harold Koplowicz, bravo Glenn Hirsch. What reasons will you give the press when they start wondering how this could have happened? Will leaks begin soon? I know you'll have something interesting to say. I wonder if those journalists will take the time to look at the actual transcript of the famous open forum which you guys conveniently edited (it's available in the complete form, do a google).

abrazos,

Mark

Reporting from Maine (4) note the Advanced Learning Lab/NYU Child Study Center revision (since I obviously like revision myself)

Another one of those days: lots of revision of poems, reading, good cooking. Why isn't this the whole life?

Looked at Jesse's dvd draft of Poet in New York,some terrific footage that needs some stock and b shots and also some reduction (I think there's too much of me in it).

Some work on Hinojosa (mainly review and unhappiness with what I've done). Katherine did some nice painting (she demurs).

All set to go for a good bike ride and for the first time since we got here, the rain arrived and is supposed to continue for the next week. Meaning what? More reading, writing, more trips to beauty.

An update on the ALL/NYU Child Study Center: always interesting the way the world moves. Yesterday I noted that Dana Levy was still listed as the clinical director of ALL. Not anymore. I guess someone there is reading my blog. At least post! You are welcome to do so. But what about Barry Ehrlich? He's still listed as educational director. Webmaster alert! I like Barry a lot, he's a talented and smart educator, though ALL might not have been the place for him. I feel bad that he has been placed in the position he is now in, similar to Lynda? Harold and Glenn, any word here? I mean, you guys are in charge? When will there be a public explanation (considering the fanfare and publicity last year and the promises that were made, the money that you took)? Or do you guys just need a mulligan?

Colette wrote to say that Cannonball should guest blog. Here is his contribution:

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Saludos.

Mark

Reporting from Maine (3--all the good things plus an NYU Child Study Center and Advanced Learning Lab note)

Another just right day. Slept late, then worked on Hinojosa for a good two and a half hours. I think I solved some problems by using a strategy that Pablo and I employed with Poet in New York which was to make the language as tight as possible--this seems logical for Hinojosa anyway because his syntax/language mirrors that. There's little excess, which I think is one of his strengths as a poet.

Played some with Cannonball in the yard (the famous game of stick). Katherine found Cannonball in Jesse's bed this morning, curled up the way he usually is when he sleeps with Jesse (except no Jesse, who we suppose is having a fine time at the media workshop because we haven't heard a word from him!). I think Cannonball misses Jesse some (as do we, even as we do other things).

Drove into Rockland for lunch at the Rockland Cafe which has wonderful fish cakes. Walked around and at the Farnsworth Museum, which is having a Will Barnet show, we saw in the window an Alex Katz print of Rudy Burckhardt. In the gift shop (it was too late to go to the museum) were some Fairfield Porter postcards/cards and one by Yvonne Jacquette. It was strange to see these--another part of one's life coming to the surface.

Back at the cottage, I revised a bunch of poems for Invisible, eliminated a few, and have a sense of how it can come together as a collection even as the revisions go forward. I don't want to rush things but I think it may be ready sooner than I expected. These days of just writing and reading, walking, eating, so wonderful.

Katherine drew while I revised--one of the drawings is of me on the chaise lounge on the deck working. A cover perhaps?

For dinner, grilled a steak, had potatoes and the left over Frankie corn salad. We watched the movie Vantage Point which was fun though I thought it a little too busy (maybe too many vantage points--and why does Sigourney Weaver completely disappear after the first half hour?).

NYU/ALL update: if you google "about our kids" or the nyu child study center (which will show you "about our kids") you'll get a response but if you try and get to the page, there is none! But go to the faculty and look up anyone who was part of it, say, Dana Levy, who was the clinical director who replaced Lynda Geller (no explanation ever provided for why someone with an extensive background in working with kids with Asperger's was replaced by someone whose background didn't include Asperger or Autism but did fibromyalgia, at least according to her bio on their site--an interesting decision by Harold and Glenn) and it shows that they are still part of ALL. But, surprise, click on Advanced Learning Lab on that page and you'll find, you guessed it, that there is no page for ALL. I guess someone forgot to tell the webmaster about these little things.

Saludos!

Mark

Reporting from Maine (2), the demise of the Advanced Learning Lab at NYU Child Study Center

A short one--

stayed up too late last night watching the entire all star game--as a Met fan it was no surprise to see Wagner give up the tying run. Good to see David Wright get a hit. He is an all star.

Today, lots of work on the new poetry manuscript--working name now is Invisible and I think I may actually be able to finish it before the summer ends. Katherine did some nice drawing and painting. We went for a drive and saw some wonderful scenery, a pretty pond called Rocky Pond which I might be able to fish but may need to rent a kayak to get away from the public access. Pablo and I talked and he gave me some good advice on two Hinojosa poems. Grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, made corn salad a la Frankie at Nimrod. Nice walk on the beach at Clam Cove. Tomorrow we hope to get there early enough (the tides) to give Cannonball a chance to swim, ourselves as well.

Read Jesse's Cleaver and the Eye screenplay draft. It has some good stuff in it, some good writing, good drama. Made lots of notes on it.

The Advanced Learning Lab (at NYU Child Study Center) is closing down after all. It doesn't even appear anymore on the Asperger Institute website (which it did such a short time ago). No joy here. Yes, ALL failed Jesse, failed others, but it had the potential to do a lot of good for some kids who needed this kind of place.

Harold Koplewicz and Glenn Hirsch. E-mail them and ask them what happened. I'm sure they'll have some something to say, if they are willing to respond (they always seem to be away from their desks). . E-mail me and I'll have something to say as well.

Saludos.

Mark

Some week, lots of translating, poetry and the filming of "Gwen Hirsch"

Katherine and Jesse were away on Fire Island with some friends so I had the week to work. It seemed like a lot of time was spent waking up at 3 and 4 and 5 so I could call people in Spain re: the Hinojosa project, which is now going well (I think) though there is still some issue of permissions re: the use of the Spanish, though everyone in Spain (the heirs included) assures me this should be no problem as I think they really like the idea of his reputacion as a poet having some kind of resurrection. Of particular help has been the wonderful Alfonso Sanchez. Tin House has accepted three of the translations for their next issue along with a small essay by me which deals with the erasure of Hinojosa as a poet.

My goal these days is to seriously work on two poems of my own and two translations every day, which may not sound like a lot but it really is a lot of work. My goal is to finish typing all the poems from the June 2007-February 2008 moleskin and then using our two weeks in Maine (end of July) to do some serious revision on those as well as on the Hinojosa project. Then we come back to Brooklyn for a bit, off to New Hampshire to Dick Merryman's and then down to Virginia for a few days at Nimrod. Then we hit the Staunton Music Festival where Dennis Tobenski's song cycle for seven of my poems premieres. In between all this, I've got to plan out two new courses for the fall. Yikes.

Have I spelled this out before? Maybe. That would mean reading my own blog!

Meanwhile, while Jesse was out on Fire Island, he made this great film parody, Gwen Hirsch which really gets at the whole of the ALL experience. It really is a hoot but it also gets at how seriously awful and misleading the whole of ALL and the NYU Child Study Center were about what was supposed to be a ground-breaking program but became nothing more than a disaster. What they did to the kids (and the parents) was practically criminal and I warn anyone against having anything to do with them. Or at least go in with your eyes wide open and know that what I've heard from other folks in the field, those guys have the reputation of being full of themselves and have no regard for the kids they pretend to care about.

On a different note, a poem from Celia Cruz:

the evolution of complexity
for Alan MacGowan

why we love
is the first question
if there’s a second one
I think this day
is too beautiful to ask it
the trees are blossoming
white, pink, yellow
crocus and daffodil
the air just smells good
despite the city
despite the world and
its newspaper news
I’m not really interested
in answers
I just like the question
why we love
which invites the
inevitable response
how could we not
okay, there’s the second question
impossible to resist
like going for a walk
on a day like today
so many people smiling
as though paying attention
to the smallest things
is everything

Saludos!

Mark

update and correction and a poem

Today was one of those days where I wrote a little.], worked on my new secret translation project (e-mail me of you care) and also spent some time advising Jesse on his new scrren play which is funny and serious and I think will make a terrific film.

Also, just to clarify: apparently there is a cardiologist is Maryland named Glenn Hirsch, who is quite competent. The incompetent I refer to is not there, but at the NYU Child Study Center. I advise all parents interested in this program, and a special shout here to the folks at AHA to spread the word, he is one of those doctors who makes a diagnosis without meeting kids, claims an interest in their lives and then does nothing to follow up on that. His consultations with parents are short and he is uninterested in what we know about our kids. Our family experiences with him have found him lacking in any kind of social or creative consciousness so if this is the Glenn Hirsch to whom you were thinking of entrusting your child, beware. He's also a terrible prose writer, which kicks me crazy. Koplewicz also has a lousy prose style but he fancies himself a big shot with adolescent kids--the ones I know jut laugh at him. Harold probably thinks they've made a break though but probably it's to the other side and Harry can't go there because it's a place he doesn't understand (you know what happens when you really break on through).

Another poem from Celia Cruz

cemetery

so we linger a long time
and then
try to remember
what remembrance
was supposed to be made of
looking out at cliffs
looking out at the ocean
with a deep forest behind us
you talk about
how you lost your compass
that it was a bad idea
though you really meant fact
you hate facts
how added up
they only have a meaning
so undecided and certain
we always ignore it
today your face takes on
the dreaminess of
love and sex
imagined and real
imagined or real
eyes closed
no movement, movement
you take white pieces of paper
out of your pockets
and throw these
birds, you say, birds
I watch them take flight
stuttering on the air
and think of nests
they’ll return to
illusory homes
a glimpse at a world
unrestrained, perplexed, unfettered


love to all

Mark

back in the saddle

Okay, I know it's been a long time since I blogged but things have been pretty crazy and good and I'll have a lot to write in the next couple of days and weeks and I'm looking forward to summer as a time to put some poems and ideas out into the world. It's late at night right now so I'm going to just start by saying thank you to all the wonderful friends and family who sent me postcards for my 50th birthday. There were so many of them and so many moving notes that I can't imagine having the time to respond to all of them but thank you thank you thank you.

In the days ahead I'm going to be writing about the past few months (some mighty exciting things, wonderful readings and events), about the current months (mainly summer fun and then the fall when Poet in New York goes on the road again, NYC, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, to name a few), about some new projects fueled by some wonderful time in March at VCCA over spring break--which include two new poetry manuscripts, a non-fiction study of the poets of the Generation of 27 and a new translation project that I'm sworn to secrecy on I'll have to kill myself. There will be a constant and big boo section for all things having to do with ALL and the NYU Child Study Center (spread the word--these guys are phony and are ripping off innocent families and kids and I mean this--they use tax dollars to do some pretty awful things to some very good people and while there are good people involved there, they are not the decision makers and if you hear the names Harold Koplewicz or Glenn Hirsch, flee as fast as you can and make sure your wallet is still in your pocket as you do--they've done a great job of ripping folks off to the tune of 30,000 per family and pretending to be a school which the state doesn't even recognize).

A date to circle on the calendar is that Pablo and I will appear on the Leonard Lopate Show on June 23 at 1PM--don't miss it--should be great fun.

So I re-enter the blog world, surprised at how much I've missed it.

Looking forward to hearing from all.

Mark