Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert F Barsky.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
In the very heart of Covid, my wife Marsha and I moved from Ottawa, Canada to Atlanta. It was a study in contrasts, to experience the pandemic in this way, since Canada was for the most part entirely shut down, while the US was largely open, with variations from region-to-region. Even the Canada-US border seemed like a wasteland through which only the most daring would risk passage. We drifted South, with all of our belongings in tow, and caring for our elderly cat who was accustomed to relative calm, rather than a mobile bed and bathroom.
When we arrived in Atlanta, we began searching for an AirBnB that would host us for a prolonged period of time, while we searched neighborhoods for an appropriate home. We arrived in the heart of the Black Lives Matter protests, the curfews, the pandemic, and the warm summertime. Most AirBnB’s refused cats, which rather narrowed our options, but we finally found the perfect temporary home. We weren’t sure how this was all going to work, but we were excited, hopeful, and exhausted from packing, driving, moving, and wondering.
One of our first stops was the Atlanta Beltline. The entrance near Piedmont Park was easily accessible from our lodging, and it seemed to open up to the entire city. For me, who loves public transportation, public spaces, and quests, it was a bit like arriving in an urban paradise. I wanted to be on the Beltline all the time, I wanted to explore all 22 miles, and, as it turned out, we did. Over and over. And we still do, every day.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The move was complex, because I had a long commute, because we thought we were going to stay in Canada, because Marsha was starting a new job, and because I was returning to a job that I loved. We also didn’t know where we should live. In fact, we didn’t know anyone in the entire city, except the real estate agent who was trying to find us a nice rental home. We were enticed, though, by the extraordinary Atlanta neighborhoods, in particular Piedmont Heights (where our AirBnB was located), and the adjacent gorgeous Ansley Park. Atlanta is so green, the neighborhoods so appealing, the trees so gigantic and abundant, the people so open and welcoming. We toured around the city, returned to the Beltline, toured around some more, and then went back to the Beltline. We had to be home by dark, so we had lots of take-out food, especially pizza, and our cat was very pleased by our being around all the time.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We found a glorious neighborhood and home in Ansley Park, where our neighbors welcomed us like longtime and long-loved friends. Covid meant that people were gathering together to chat and to eat and drink, to learn about the joys and challenges of that complex moment. I felt inspired, by our new friends, our new environment. I love the diversity of Atlanta, the warmth, the excitement of Midtown. I also kept returning to the Beltline, and began to study its history, its evolution, the challenges that developers and planners had faced, and the opportunities they created. I heard about the artworks, and began studying them, tracing their origin stories, looking into the artists who had created the work that adorns that magical pathway. Having just finished a book about Refugee Law called ‘Clamouring for Legal Protection’, which was about epic quests, from Homer and Chaucer and Dante all the way up to James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, I felt compelled to quest along the Beltline to discover its stories, and the stories of our newly-adopted city. Then it came to me. Following the extraordinary model set forth by Lord Byron in his poems called “Childe Harolde” and, in particular, “Don Juan”, I decided to write an epic poem about the Beltline. I wanted to create a story that would follow all 20 miles, 48 neighborhoods, 8 regions, as well as the multitude of people that this emerald trail connected. Shortly thereafter, I won a Guggenheim Fellowship, and decided to make this epic quest into my second project (my first being a book about the negotiation of contemporary Refugee law).
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
As it turned out, the poem became my obsession. I researched, recorded people on the Beltline, took a zillion photos, met with planners and architects and politicians, and biked and walked and scootered and ran with Marsha all over that amazing trail. I also met a remarkable artist named Susan Ker-Seymer, who happened to live a few houses away from our rented home. Her work, abstract and multimedia and powerful and filled with layers that invoke the trails upon which I loved voyaging, was for me a further Beltline inspiration. So we decided to collaborate on this poem, with paintings, the project now dubbed ‘The Beltline Chronicles’. Portions of it were mounted on the Eastside and Westside Beltline thanks to a grant from Art on the Beltline and the Mayor’s Office. Then Vanderbilt University supported the work, so it also became a gorgeous site via Knowledge Futures Group at MIT, and then, at last, a magnificent art book. Because of the prizes and subventions I won, I was able to cover the publisher’s costs, and so now we are able to give away our book in exchange for people assisting organizations that help those who are homeless. This means that the project has come full circle, as it were, because before the Beltline took shape, many homeless people lived on what is now the pathway. So our working to assist them ensures that this project is also a way for us to give back to our community. The project has now raised significant funds, and we host fun raising events where we offer the book in exchange for donations, as well as prints of paintings contained therein. Our next plan is for a painting/poem mural on the Beltline, and then, I hope, another project connected to MARTA and to public transportation. Here’s to quests along the Beltline!
Pricing:
- 29.95 donation to any organization that helps homeless people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://contours.pubpub.org/beltline-chronicles
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barskyrf/
- Other: https://robertbarsky.substack.com/publish/home?utm_source=menu
Image Credits
Robert Barsky; Marsha Barsky; Susan Ker-Seymer
