Sasha Sumner

Dear Sasha,

Thanks for your message — and it’s interesting and exciting to see
how our interests intersect!  You’re performing various levels of
energy; I’m interested in finding out what people think (and do) about
various levels of energy.  Maybe there’s potential (energy!) for
bringing our projects and perspectives together???

Thanks again for the performance, for writing, and for this
interesting, ongoing conversation!

All best,

Stephanie

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Hi Stephanie,

Yes I think that we could collaborate, in some way.
In the mean time if you have ideas that you could write here, that’s a start!
Best,
Sasha

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Dear Sasha,

I’m in the process of writing a chapter on “sliding registers” that people in New York City
seem to have regarding energy; energy is a physical force in a formal, scientific sense,
but it is simultaneously a spiritual force, involves an element of belief or religion,
is an embodied spirit, is a sense of collective dynamism, is a political issue of control,
and affects people’s sense of individual agency.

I find myself thinking back to your marvelous performance of energy at your “Energy Shrine”
last October on 14th Street, and wishing I had managed to write down some notes from the
captivating captions (pun intended!) that you had projected from your computer,
a ticker-tape commentary about sliding scales of energy that overarched your performance.

Would you be willing to share with me the ideas or the text of what you were communicating
through those energy “facts” and captions?

I would still be very eager to get together with you to talk about our shared interest in energy.
(By now perhaps your performances have moved on to other topics!)  If you would be game to meet,
perhaps we can get together to share a cup of coffee and conversation sometime this spring.

For my part, I would be very happy to send you the article that I’m working on,
based on ethnographies of energy in the south Bronx.

I hope that this message finds you well!

All best wishes,

Stephanie

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Dear Stephanie,

Hello!  Yes I am planning a
different performance for this coming October, as the theme this year
has changed.  But I’d be happy to share with you the text that I
included in the Energy Shrine performance, that is if you are still
needing that.  It was a mix of information from different sources,
some even from some people that I met on the street there as I was
starting to paint the wall mural.  A father and son stopped there and
gave input on Einstein and physics.  Absorbing or digesting
information and energy is an amorphous and organic process.  The
performance was meant to provoke associative thinking, that which is
different for each spectator/participant.  The text includes facts,
related tangents and written observations from different time periods-
they may seem a bit disparate when taken out of context of the piece.

I’d be very interested to read your article on ethnographies and south bronx.

Best,
-Sasha

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Threeing workshop: creating
sustainable, collaborative relationships using
Paul Ryan’s techniques of engagement.
Presented by The Pedagogy Group.

 http://www.rethinkingmarxism.org/conferences/2013/