I'm also currently working on a memoir on living in New York City, from 1978-1985. After moving to New York City from Pinellas Park, Florida, in May of 1978, I studied at, worked at, became a part of, and was connected to four significant cultural institutions in New York—The Art Students League, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, St. Mark's Poetry Project, and The Essex House Hotel.
In the 2000s, I blogged on The Huffington Post, with my co-author (Michael Foster), mostly on the topic of reinvention. During the pandemic, I picked the best ones from the over 70 posts we published (completely reinvented them), and wrote new pieces reflecting on our collective "history in the making" (elongated) moment we’re all experiencing. We published it on Amazon in the summer of 2020. I recently wrote half a dozen new pieces to bring it more up to date, commenting on current history-in-the-making events. This summer, we’re going to publish the revised and updated version of Manifestos, Reinventions & Declarations: Notes on Living Through History in the Making/The Definitive Version. There will even be a new title: The New Now / Manifestos, Reinventions & Declarations.
I’ll be posting pieces from all of these writing projects here.
(Mystery Box #6 / 2018 / Pasted paper collage) RS
Along with these writing projects I returned to writing poetry again, and quite a few of the poems pick up where I left off, with a prose poem series, combining prose poetry and film noir. Several of these poems are read (some in glorious black and white) on my Instagram page. I also posted videos of my Michael Foster and me reading from: Manifestos, Reinventions & Declarations. Instagram: @russellcollageart / YouTube: Russell C Smith - YouTube. / Twitter: @WritingRussell