GUEST OPINION
ITHACA NOTES
The show must go on: supporting the Writers Talk arts as we turn the corner on COVID-19 I B By St e ph e n Bu r k e
By Gr e g H a rtz
efore the onset of the pandemic, arts and cultural organizations in the Greater Ithaca area were thriving, offering performances, shows, and cultural events that brought our community together in ways that truly united us all as one. It was just two summers ago that performers, artists, local officials, business leaders, and members of the community came together as we do best to enjoy all that our city and county’s cultural organizations have to offer. Let’s get back to that feeling and sense of community, as we work to turn the corner on COVID-19 this summer. Americans for the Arts surveyed various organizations in the arts and culture sector, and determined that in Tompkins County alone, almost $2,000,000 in financial losses were expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a devastating blow that our friends and partners simply cannot endure. While government programs are helping, it is up to people like you and me to step in and remind each other how much the arts mean to each and everyone one of us, through
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Greg Hartz (Photo: Provided)
both attendance and financial support. While many of these statistics are troubling, it is worth noting that in the same continued on page 7
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thaca is a town of avid readers, also writers, and every spring marks it with its Spring Writes Literary Festival: scores of literary-themed events featuring over 100 local writers. Most of the events were in May, but because they were virtual for the pandemic are still available for viewing online. Festivities continue this month. Panels this year included “Writing For the Ears,” about podcasts and other audio forums, and “The Crafty Look,” asking the literary question, “If you pop the hood on craft at work, what would you see?” Events included “Literary Jeopardy,” a lighthearted spin on the classic game show featuring “all-star contestants” (says its publicity) such as Ithaca’s mayor, Svante Myrick. Still to come, on June 25 (online registration is still open) is the equally lighthearted “Black As...Trivia.” Its hosts, SingTrece and Kevin McLaurin, call it “the trivia game with melanin in every question.” Spring Writes is a creation of the Community Arts Partnership, a civic organization supporting the arts in Tompkins County. CAP funds the arts with grant programs which have administered millions of dollars to artists and arts organizations. CAP’s publicity says it “helps artists make a life in Tompkins County” with “over 1,000 artists each year” benefitting from its funding, outreach, and professional and networking services. CAP demonstrates that not all Ithaca’s cultural garlands (nor sustenance) come from its colleges. Of course, the schools have historically and indisputably lent luster to Ithaca’s literary stature. Rod Serling, creator of “The Twilight Zone,” the foremost writer in television history, was a faculty member at Ithaca College. At Cornell, E.B. White and Kurt Vonnegut wrote for the school newspaper as undergraduates. Vladimir Nabokov published “Lolita” and other works while teaching in the 1950s. Toni Morrison earned a Master of Arts degree in 1965 and was later a Professor-At-Large. These lights are now extinguished. Some remain. Richard Price graduated from Cornell as an undergraduate in 1971. At age 24 he published “The Wanderers,” a darkly comic novel of teenage gang life in his native Bronx in the early 1960s, to great praise and popularity. The book was adapted for film by director
Philip Kaufman (of “The Right Stuff” and others, subsequently). Price’s 1992 novel “Clockers” became a movie by Spike Lee. Price himself has written screenplays for movies such as “The Color of Money” and “Sea of Love” and for the TV series “The Wire,” among many others. He continues to write acclaimed, best-selling novels. They say you should never meet your heroes, because they will disappoint you. But when I relocated to Ithaca in the 1990s and Cornell had Price for a reading and reception, I sure went. As a Brooklyn guy with a working class background like Price’s, I have long been a fan of his gritty, humorous work. At the reception after the reading, Price seemed to be having a miserable time. He is kind of an antsy, hair-trigger guy, not much for platitudes or pleasantries. One after another guest in the line said “I am such a big fan of your work” and not much more. He’d reply “Thank you” with a tight smile. I figured I’d say something more. When my time came, I complimented him on a line from his reading I particularly liked. He glared at me. “Oh, you liked that line?” he said. “Well, guess what. I STOLE that line.” He mentioned the writer he stole it from. “This is great,” he said over his shoulder to no one actually there. “I come here and do a 45-minute reading and the line the guy likes is the line I stole.” “Wait a minute,” I said. I was trying not to laugh. “Don’t take it out or anything,” I said. “Oh, DON’T take it out?” he said. “This is great. The guy says don’t take it out. I got his permission and everything.” “Hey, listen,” I said. “Let me tell you something. You know in ‘Clockers,’ when the cops go into Strike’s room with a warrant [Strike is a major crack dealer, though barely teenaged] and see he has a Ghostbusters toothbrush? That killed me.” I could see that now it was Price trying not to laugh. “Oh, yeah?” he said. “Well, guess what? I made that up. All by myself! I actually wrote that.” I said, “Yeah, well you are pretty good.” And smiled. And so did he. “Thanks, man,” he said. I thanked him back. All this is to say that you should check out the Spring Writes Festival. You might get to interact with a writer this way, or some other pleasurable way, or someone might with you. They might be the next Richard Price, or someone like him. Indeed, so might you.•
