[-empyre-] Introducing Lynne DeSilva-Johnson!

[Margaret J Rhee]

Many thanks again to Keith, Sun Yung, Jenny, and Saba for the rich 
threads generated by the conversation this week!

To add to the Machine Dreams, I'm very happy to e-introduce Lynne 
DeSilva-Johnson, who is a dynamic and inspiring artist, activist, 
professor, and publisher. Lynne is also the founder and editor of The 
Operating System, which will be releasing my full length poetry 
collection of robot love poems this Fall. We are thrilled she can join 
us for the last few days of the dialogue, and look forward to hearing 
more about The OS, and her alchemist work as an artist and editor.

I actually first met Lynne through a digital into to The OS by dear 
mutual friend poet and activist Ching-In Chen, and Machine Dreams 
contributor Alex Crowley, who is also my editor at Publisher's Weekly, 
and has a wondrous poetry chapbook published by The Operating System 
titled Improper Maps.

Alex's drone poems are in the Machine Dreams Zine (pg 20) 
https://issuu.com/repcollective/docs/machine_dreams_issuu

You can read more about Alex's collection with The OS in a fantastic 
dialogue with Lynne here: 
http://www.theoperatingsystem.org/reconversations-of-sound-mind-process-and-practice-with-improper-maps-alex-crowley/

Lynne is also the co-editor of this recent anthology of resistance 
poetry: http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/resist-much-obey-little.html

and you can read a Wave Composition interview with Lynne here: 
http://www.wavecomposition.com/article/issue-11/an-interview-with-lynne-desilva-johnson/

----

To begin, Lynne, I wonder if you can speak to the importance of dialogue 
in your editorial process? I was struck by the interview you had with 
Alex and other authors you work with, why did you decide to include 
dialogues, and how do you approach the publishing process differently? 
I, and many others, are all very moved by The OS and this description:

"THIS is not a fixed entity. It is an ongoing experiment in resilient 
creative practice which necessarily morphs as its conditions and 
collaborators change."

I love how alive The OS feels, and how you begin with THIS. It reminds 
me that The OS is alive. And this has resonance to a recent conversation 
I had with really amazing artist Margaretha Haughwout and my class on 
art/activism last week. I first "met" Margaretha on empyre as 
participants in Kyle McKinley's social practice forum too, and 
Margaretha's work has also been a constant inspiration, and she 
described collaboration with humans and (non) humans as well in her 
work: http://www.guerrillagrafters.org

I'm feeling some resonance here, and I am moved to think about the (non) 
human, but also human and living elements of The OS, and both of your 
collaborative practice. Could you share more about The OS, and the 
intersections of organic, technological, and poetic in your work as an 
artist and editor?

Lynne's bio is below:

Lynne DeSilva-Johnson is a queer interdisciplinary creator, curator, 
educator, and facilitator working in performance, exhibition, and 
publication in conversation with new media. Now a visiting assistant 
professor at Pratt, Lynne was previously an adjunct at CUNY, and 
teaching artist for over a decade. She is the founder and Managing 
Editor of The Operating System, as well as Libraries Editor at Boog 
City. Lynne is the author of GROUND, blood atlas, and Overview Effect, 
co-author of A GUN SHOW with Adam Sliwinsk/Sō Percussion, and co-editor 
of the anthologies RESIST MUCH, OBEY LITTLE: Inaugural Poems for the 
Resistance, and In Corpore Sano: Creative Practice and the Challenged 
Body. Recent or forthcoming publication credits include Drunken 
Boat/Anomaly, The Brooklyn Poets Anthology, Gorgon Poetics, Supplement, 
Live Mag!, and a Panthalassa Pamphlet from Tea & Tattered Pages Press. 
She performs often, resists always, and lives in Brooklyn NY.



-- 
Margaret Rhee, Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Professor
Women's and Gender Studies
University of Oregon