—

Stephen wrote something, a clutch of dispatches from the frontier of his memory, a plea for awakening, for authentic recall. It’s called ‘A Generation’s Worth: Spirit work while the crisis reigns‘. Part recitation, part memoir, part transcription of a libretto of lament, it’s written on account of the plague, that disheveled revealer that came among us.

He aimed for brevity this time. Severity might have come in its place. He wondered – he still wonders – whether the work he’s taken up is useful in a time of plague. So he held himself to the standard of utility. He dated the entries: notes preparing for the call, the session itself, and its aftermath. Times four.

All of it occurred between the end of January and the end of March, 2021. Unwilling to be among the beauty bereft this time, unwilling to have this sentry unadorned in a time of trouble, he wanted the book to have a physical heft and grain unknown to its precursors.

A Generation’s Worth is hardcovered, and it is illustrated: five grabado scenes illuminate the account. The artist and author went further: they made a hundred packets of hand pulled prints on handmade paper from the original plates at a printshop in Oaxaca in May, numbered and signed them. Then they destroyed the plates. They’re already a memory.