By Goda Trakumaite

I wanted to write this article because I once missed a performance by some very important flutist only because I didn’t hear about it until some months after the fact. Although it is highly doubtful that anyone will be half as crushed as I was on that occasion by missing this year’s 215 Literary Arts Festival, it sounds exciting enough to warrant some written mention.

This annual event was started in 2001 in order to acknowledge and engage in the versatility of language. It starts at 9 p.m. this Thursday (October 4) at the International House (3701 Chestnut Street) with “Celluloid Literati: An Evening of Experimental Films.” Although some of these experimental films will likely be bad, the available descriptions sound promising. They include an animated deconstruction of The New York Times, as well as a presumably fake episode of “Reading Rainbow,” which deals less with children’s books about spaghetti and more with the aesthetic revolution. Respecting the 50th Anniversary of the first publication of “On the Road,” the films will be followed by a screening of “Pull My Daisy,” the short 1959 film about a bishop who accidentally finds himself at a bohemian party. It was written and narrated by Jack Kerouac and we have it at MAgill, on VHS.

At 7 p.m. on Friday is “The Birth of Graffiti,” a free lecture at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (118 North Broad Street) by internationally renowned photographer Jon Narr. He will be speaking about his new book, and as the author of “Faith of Graffiti,” the 1974 classic on street art, he will know what he is talking about. His books seem to embody the entire character of this festival in that they are prime examples of a situation where one literary form is used to display and discuss another. This lecture, as well as the other festival events, is meant to explore such connections, to probe and promote the way in which words and reading inspire and interact with other forms of art.

The lecture will be followed by a screening of “Cry of the City Part 1: The Legend of Cornbread,” Sean McKnight’s documentary about the legendary Philly tagger who began his work in the late 1960’s. Cornbread himself will be introducing this film. This should be very informative.

Same time Saturday is a show of comic book art at the Padlock Gallery (1409 Ellsworth Street). The displayed work will feature local cartoonists and illustrators as well as some out-of-towners. There’s no one particularly notable, but the potentially mediocre art will be supplemented by a live performance by Arthur Jones, who apparently is well known for his Post-It note reading series, where he transforms afore mentioned notes into poetry.

There are some other events between October 4 and 7, but the events above are, subjectively, most interesting, and, objectively, most free. For more information go to www.215festival.com. For directions, use the Internet, or if you’re lazy, e-mail me (gtrakuma@haverford.edu). Go to one of these. What else are you going to do? Read?

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