David Greenberger

David Greenberger
Born (1954-06-26) June 26, 1954
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Occupation Artist, Writer, critic
Nationality American
Period 1979–present
Genre Non-fiction
Subject Aging
Notable works Duplex Planet
Website
www.davidgreenberger.com

David Greenberger (b. June 26, 1954, in Pennsylvania) is an American artist, writer and radio commentator best known for his Duplex Planet series of zines, comic books, CDs, and spoken word performances and radio plays. From 1996–2009, he was a frequent contributor of essays and music reviews for National Public Radio.

Biography

Greenberger grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania on the shores of Lake Erie.[1]

In 1979, having just completed a degree in fine arts as a painter, Greenberger took a job as activities director at a nursing home in Boston. On his first day, he met the residents of the nursing home and abandoned painting in favor of conversation. "This is my art," he said. In this unexpected setting, Greenberger found an unusual medium and a desire to portray the people he met as living human beings instead of "just repositories of their memories or the wisdom of the ages."[2] Instead of collecting oral history about significant events, Greenberger focused on talking one-on-one with ordinary people about ordinary things—the joy of a close shave[3] or answers to "Can you fight city hall?".[4]

Greenberger began publishing his conversations with old people in The Duplex Planet, a small, homemade magazine he started in 1979, and still publishes today. It has subsequently found larger audiences in other forms, which are all derived from the original template. A series of personal commentaries drawn from Greenberger's experiences with this body of work has aired regularly on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered". Greenberger was the subject of a segment in 2007's "Life Part 2: Language of Aging", part of a PBS series on aging.

References

  1. ↑ "The Changing Face of America: Commentators Look Back Pt. 1: Erie, Pennsylvania & San Francisco, California," NPR All Things Considered. (Feb 2000).
  2. ↑ Life Part 2 . R-E-S-P-E-C-T | PBS
  3. ↑ Duplex Planet: Mortality, Aesthetics and a Smooth Shave
  4. ↑ The Duplex Planet - City Hall

Further reading

External links


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