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It was an exciting year for poet and fiction writer Ocean Vuong.
In June, his first novel, "On Earth were Briefly beautiful, " written as a letter from a Vietnamese immigrant son to his illiterate mother, went out to a lot of fanfare. Shortly before publication, Vuong's own mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer.
Then, earlier this month, he was back from his book tour and was looking forward to the stable teaching routines at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, when he received a phone call delivering startling news.
"I had to make sure they had the right person, because you do not want to cry and then ask them to say that it was a mistake," he recalls. "But then tears came."
Mr. Vuong, 30, is one of 26 people selected as members of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2019. Known colloquially as the "Genius" grant (to the annoyance of the foundation), l & # 39; friendship honors "the extraordinary originality" and accompanies a flawless grant of $ 625,000, to distributed over five years.
This year's Fellows, announced Wednesday, include personalities from the art world who have gained increasing recognition, but have little family name status, for work that pushes the boundaries of disciplines and genres . Among them, Annie Dorsen, 45, a theater artist that integrates artificial intelligence into performance; Valeria Luiselli, the author of the recent novel "Lost Children Archive"; and Mary Halvorson, guitarist and composer working at the intersection of jazz, rock, folk and other styles.
There are also scientists, historians, lawyers, community activists and others, all chosen at a time in their careers where price could make a difference.
"We are looking for people who have demonstrated what I would call big-C creativity," said Cecilia Conrad, executive director of the foundation and head of the scholarship program.
[[[[See the complete list of MacArthur Grants recipients.]
The youngest, at 30, are Mr. Vuong and Cameron Rowland, an artist who used objects seized in civil forfeiture or created by penitentiary labor to expose racialized exploitation systems.
The oldest is Mel Chin, 67, an artist whose hard to classify works range from Stealth conceptual art interventions on the set of the 1990s TV show "Melrose Place" at a 2018 mixed reality facility in Times Square that simulated a view of the region under the rising seas, completed by a marine traffic jam above the head.
Mr. Chin, who lives in Egypt, N.C., He stated that the foundation's appeal had been launched shortly after his return home after a trip to Greenland and Miami for a film on climate change that he was realizing and what he felt rather morose.
"Of course, my disposition changed immediately," he laughs before becoming serious.
"I do not want to use the word" responsibility, "he said." But it sounded like a recognition that maybe after a lifetime's work, you just have to do more. "
Few honors carry the prestige and mystique of MacArthur. Potential fellows do not apply but are suggested by a network of hundreds of anonymous nominators across the country, in various fields, then selected by an anonymous committee composed of a dozen people.
Phone calls – and the amazing reaction they provoke – are now part of the myth. More than one of this year's scholars said they were stunned, lost their chairs, or wondered if it was a hoax.
Although it may seem like an almost divine love at first sight, people have described the satisfaction of knowing that the world – and especially their peers – has been attentive.
"This is the most incredible encouragement to continue, to stay on your track," said Ms. Dorsen.
The nature of human creativity and its relationship to technology is a theme of Ms. Dorsen's work, which she calls "algorithmic theater." "Yesterday Tomorrow", from 2018, the singers read gradually as a computer, according to a different pattern each performance, transforms the score of "Yesterday" of the Beatles in "Tomorrow" of the musical "Annie".
Creativity itself is also a Lynda Barry, a designer, is worried about more and more state-of-the-art means.
Best known for her alternative comics "Comeek of Ernie Pook" and her graphic novels such as "Cruddy", Ms. Barry, 63, has also hosted workshops for non-writers for decades, including a student in pairs at the University of Wisconsin, where she teaches with 4 years.
"I'm really interested in what happens when writing separates from drawing, which is a vestigial language," she said. "I think both are suffering."
Although the scholarship program does not have defined themes, this year's group includes a number of fellows working in areas that are strongly supported by the foundation, including climate change and criminal justice reform.
Jerry X. Mitrovica, 58, theoretical geophysicist at Harvard, uses statistical models to show how to melt glaciers will cause unequal sea level rises around the world, due to the differences between the earth's crust and the Earth's mantle. Kelly Lytle Hernandez, 45, is a historian at the University of California. who wrote about the evolution of the penitentiary system of Los Angeles County.
Dr. Lytle Hernandez, who is also the author of what the foundation calls the first great scholarly history of the Border Patrol of the United States, said the award was a validation of the growing body of work by activist historians studying incarceration and detention of immigration. relies on deleted or scattered records.
"I hope the fraternity will be an even bigger umbrella for myself and for other researchers who are doing this kind of movement-driven research to have more flexibility, to have more. You almost mean credentials, "she said.
Ms. Halvorson, the guitarist and composer, She also spoke about the collective nature of her work and the hope that this association would help her gather the audience for her cross-genre music, which she described as "not easy to listen to".
"When I started playing this type of music, I never thought that there would be such a public," she said. "If anything, I hope I can shed light on this whole scene. "
Regarding the financial windfall, some fellows talked about repaying their student loans, saving for family emergencies, reinvesting in their organizations, or just buying space and time.
Sujatha Baliga, 48, the director of the restorative justice project, received the scholarship for its development work a non-punitive alternative to the criminal justice system that brings together survivors and those who have harmed them.
It was an approach she only learned in her late twenties, after her work as a rights defender and death penalty lawyer left her feeling that she felt like tooth in a machine. She said she hoped to use this money to write a book, as well as to develop a program that can be used in law schools, to help pave the way for others.
"This type of funding, without any conditions, means that I can simply sit down and imagine," What does the next generation of lawyers need to know for restorative justice to be effective? " ; flourish? She said.
Emmanuel Pratt, 42, co-founder and executive director of the Sweet Water Foundation, a community organization in south Chicago that has turned abandoned buildings and vacant land into a sustainable farm and cultural center, said it would use the scholarship to cover salaries and help the group grow.
During the appeal with the foundation, he went to a field of sunflowers on the 2-hectare Sweet Water farm. "It was surreal," he said.
Even beyond the money, he said, MacArthur confirms the idea that there are alternatives to the type of development-gentrification that prevails in Chicago and beyond.
"I do not do the work to be recognized," he said. "I am because it is a way of life. This proves that it is not only possible, but that another solution already exists. It's here. "
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