In 2000 I moved to Africa for a year to make a documentary on how HIV/AIDS was affecting the people of Malawi and how they were handling a crisis in full swing. I had a lot of expectations about the yearlong journey, but nothing prepared me for what I ultimately got out of it.
Along with visits to hospitals, morgues, under-supplied antiretroviral clinics, prostitution bars, and organizations working to combat the epidemic, my team also spent time with witch doctors and traditional healers in their villages.
Spending time in Malawian villages was absolutely astounding. I felt firsthand an uplifted approach to daily life that seemed to be directly correlated to simplicity. It had a profound effect. My world slowed down when I was in these villages. The simple pleasures of taking in the sky, the sounds, the smiles and easy simple interaction. It was all so direct and real. The tribal history was vivid. Daily existence concerned itself with life and death, and little by way of distraction.
This is where Ndusen was born. Malawi so far away from the Lower East Side tournament where he now find himself superintendent. An unconventional marriage thrust against western conformity leading to inter-family conflicts between Stella and Kondwani, with the children thrown in the middle. Living with his family in a complicated unjust world, lorded over by his building owner patron, Moshi Axelrod.
Axelrod like so many New York City landlords—and more generally, most centralized business owners in this world—is twisted by greed and shortsighted gains. Axelrod’s ruthlessness knows no bounds. His life of privilege hard one by the previous generation. The limits to his voracious selfishness nonexistent.
Ndusen is caught in Axlerod's clutches. And the rest of the tenants have little recourse for the building owner's greed.
We used to live in minuscule social tribes, never leaving our family until the day we died. Now we’re global nomads, able to circle the planet in a little over a day, but often losing touch with friends and family. I have a number of family members I’m aware of, but have never even met scattered across the glob. This is a seismic social shift that affects every aspect of our relationship to self and other, to our daily existence and the arc of our lives. What it is to dwell in the modern condition. To live in closer and closer physical proximity to others, but feel entirely isolated from any kind of deep community. At core this is what Dwelling is about. As a result of joining Steemit and developing @HardFork-Series and other projects within the cryptosphere with wonderful steemians and blockchain enthusiasts, I feel like I have found the kind of transformative community that I was missing in the modern urban condition.
But not everyone is so fortunate. Perhaps reading Dwelling will serve as a palpable reminder of just how important it is for humans to move back towards togetherness and away from individual (and national) isolationism.
I’m very excited to announce that @Opheliafu is working on illustrations to accompany the text for Dwelling. Along with being an incredibly talented artist, she's a super cool person and has the perfect aesthetic to enhance the experience of reading Dwelling. I couldn't be more thrilled!
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the first chapter!
Thanks so much for reading & Steem on!
Doug
SPECIAL THANKS to my wife @zenmommas for years of support during the writing process, @ericvancewalton for his trailblazing, inspired collaboration and incredible guidance, @andrarchy for his mind blowing insight, friendship, @bakerchristopher for being an inspiration as a human artist and bro, @complexring for his brilliance and enthusiasm, Masie Cochran, Taylor Rankin and @elenamoore for their skillful help in editing the manuscript, and to @opheliafu for the fantastic illustrations she created exclusively for the novel's launch on Steemit and to Elena Megalos for her wonderful character illustrations. I’d also like to thank Eddie Boyce, Jamie Proctor, Katie Mustard, Alan Cumming, Danai Gurira, Stephan Nowecki, Ron Simons, Dave Scott, Alden Karr, Missy Chimovitz, my dad Andy Karr and late mother Wendy , and everyone else who helped lead me to this moment.
I am a Brooklyn based writer, film & commercial director, and crypto-enthusiast, my projects include @HardFork-series an upcoming narrative crypto-noir and my novel Dwelling will soon be premiering exclusively on Steemit, and you can check out more of my work at dougkarr.com, piefacepictures.com, and www.imdb.com/name/nm1512347
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