May 24, 2021
I was honored to be a presenter and performer at the Veteran’s Salon, curated by Major Anthony Roberts, U.S. Army, alongside several other veterans whose work is at the forefront of new writing by those who represent multiple generations of deployments in the Middle East, and have a diversity of perspectives and viewpoints about their experiences.
The text “The Clockmaker” is a new performance work from one of my memoirs in progress. My grandfather worked on the Manhattan Project and afterwards turned to clockmaking, and gave my other grandfather – who was sent to a work camp as a conscientious objector – one of his handmade grandfather’s clocks as a gift. To me, this situation speaks to the complexity of existential searching in which the veterans in this salon, including myself, are faced with as we write.
The video and post-performance discussion can be viewed here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21euF3L9d0w). My reading begins at 40:13 minutes into the evening.
