Radio Chthulucene 87.9 FM

Yesterday, I returned to my previous journal entry, where I discovered an unspeakable horror: a glaring factual error of gargantuan proportions. I confused UC San Diego’s Jeannie Auditorium with a writer I recently enjoyed (Jennette McCurdy, I’m Glad My Mom Died. I also misspelled her name. In any case, I highly recommend the memoir). I considered emailing our IT guy and asking him to destroy the evidence. In the interest of obscurity, however, I decided to leave the original post as is. In the interest of transparency, I then decided to write a follow-up post admitting my sins. Let my proofreading failures be a warning to all: write after midnight, and edit the following morning.

I am interested in the radio broadcast and blog as spaces to process shame and humiliation on both personal and community levels. Additionally, I am interested in Transparency and Obscurity as two distinct modes of self-expression. Can code-switching be a means of moving across, or between, these two “languages?” My own internal language (of journaling, therapy, and drunken text messages) is quite different from the language I perform in others’ presence. Artists and writers must oscillate between both in order to generate emotional connection. Perhaps this seems obvious to others, but I have never shared my art before, and I am so terrified to do so. How much do I dare reveal?

Sofia Aiello