The Willow Glen Resident

Rudolph Delson

World traveler will share experience in Germany

Inveterate letter- writer hopes to use wanderlust to turn a profit

By Mary Spicuzza

Just about everyone wishes they got more mail. Not bills and junk mail, but the good stuff--handwritten letters that tell stories, induce laughter or just have a human touch.

For a couple hundred dollars, a Willow Glen native bound for Berlin is willing to provide an entire year of correspondence with his new project, Envelope Stage: Written Performance Art by Rudolph Delson. For about $16 a month, 23-year-old Delson aims to sell subscriptions to biweekly records of his yearlong travels in Germany.

On Sept. 23, regardless of how many subscriptions he's sold, Delson will make his way to Germany for a year of writing in his mother's homeland.

But for those who subscribe in time, Delson's trip will mean about 26 installments of vicarious adventures as the young man explores Germany. These reports will include, as Delson describes them, "Impassioned poetic passages on the countryside; culturally shrewd commentary on the urban scene; aesthetically educated essays on art and architecture; shockingly detailed accounts of sexual exploits and hang-ups; aphorism, witticisms, cynicism and despair."

Clearly not your run-of-the-mill tortured artist, Delson has wit and contagious humor that will undoubtedly take center stage.

"It all began as a joke," Delson laughs when asked about Envelope Stage. "My college friends have said I'm whoring my personal life. "

Selling subscriptions to his intimate thoughts may have started as a joke, but the idea has taken hold. Fliers are now circulating, inviting those interested to become founding subscribers.

"Look at it this way: How much money did you ... make on Reagan-era tax cuts? Basically, you profited off of those missile-happy days, leaving Delson's generation not only deeply in debt but deprived of decent funding for the arts," the artist writes in his promotional flier.

Delson, who lives in San Francisco and works "crushing monopolies" as a paralegal for the Department of Justice by day, explains that the idea for Envelope Stage came from a confluence of factors.

After attending Herbert Hoover Middle School and San Jose High Academy, Delson headed off to study at Stanford.

"He could have gone to [an East Coast school] on full scholarship," says retired teacher Edward White, Delson's ninth-grade English teacher. "But I thought he made a mature decision and went to the school that offered him a bigger experience."

White, who taught at San Jose High for 30 years and is still a close friend of Delson's, adds, "Rudy was a spectacular student, an international baccalaureate scholar and one of the top five students in the school. Rudy has always been mature yet idealistic. He's been writing since ninth grade."

Delson has been telling stories for many years, and has been performing them since college. While a linguistics major at Stanford, Delson performed three Spalding Gray-inspired monologues: one about middle and high school, the second about his trip to Germany while in high school and his last one a reflection on his college years.

"In the beginning I called them theater, but by the end they became this scandal. ... Stanford is pretty small," Delson chuckles, explaining that many of his stories are personal, in-depth tales of family, friends and former friends.

"I had these grand visions about graduating from college," Delson says. "I moved to San Francisco thinking I was going to become a writer. I was dumped by my girlfriend and did a brief stint as a stand-up comic."

Delson believes now is the perfect time to try out the expatriate lifestyle. And his mother's homeland was an easy choice.

"When I move to new places, my reflex is to start writing letters," says Delson. "A friend of mine in France once told me, 'Your letters are your best writing.' "

While it stems from his roots in writing, theatrical monologues and a love of letters, Delson also attributes Envelope Stage to the desire to "turn a quick buck." Delson cites Spalding Gray, Woody Allen, Noam Chomsky and Joan Didion as huge influences. And he hopes time abroad will allow him to focus on his writing.

"I think it will be good for him to live abroad for a while and have different experiences," his mother, Rose Marie Delson, says proudly. "Plus, he's going to my homeland."

Rose Marie, who's lived in Willow Glen for 25 years, adds that she has enormous respect for her son's open, honest nature and willingness to expose himself to criticism.

Six people have already bought subscriptions thus far, with only one taking advantage of the "cheapskate discount."

When asked if she's buying a subscription, Rose Marie laughs, "Yes. Otherwise we might not hear from him."

Those interested in "Envelope Stage" should send subscription information and checks by Sept. 15 to Rudolph Delson, Envelope Stage Project, 197 Downey St., San Francisco, 94117.

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