Radio Chthulucene 87.9 FM

I officially installed my radio on Friday! It is hidden under a sign at Art of Espresso, and I am quite excited that the location ended up working out. I think the installation being hidden gives it a cool effect, where the radio will pick up on the audio, but the person will not know where the connection is coming from. This was partly intentional partly not. If possible I wanted for the listener to not be able to see the radio because I think it speaks to the connection we often feel with family, where we know it is there but are not entirely sure where it comes from. In the end it worked out because it is where the most out-of-the-way outlet ended up being. I am also happy because with the radio being at Art of Espresso the piece get to be listened to outside, which is important to me.

I am relatively pleased with how the auditory translation of my poem went. I originally attempted to add a bunch of sounds effect, but found it overstimulating and distracting. I also think the intentional silence makes more sense considering the theme I am exploring, so I therefore decided to use intentional absence of sounds. I think this also makes the static more noticeable and memorable at the beginning and end.

Ending the quarter on the visit from Professor Hoang, while unexpected (in terms of the ending of the quarter early) was lovely. It was a nice reminder that there are so many avenues that you stumble down in writing and practicing your craft, and that not every project needs to have the same process. I was so intrigued by the piece she shared, and even more impressed to hear how original it is, how no one is writing in Vietlish like her and her collaborator are. I also think the triptych structuring was interesting, to me reading it left to right, the Vietlish is obviously the main focus, but the Vietnamese is the language that is place second, and English last. I found this interesting because she talked about the limited audience who will truly connect to the piece being Vietnamese people living in the diaspora. This makes the linguistic prioritization of the piece following the Vietlish in order of language exposure, meaning people most likely grew up hearing Vietnamese more or only speaking Vietnamese and then learning and speaking mainly English. I am probably reading into that too much but just found myself thinking about the ordering a lot! All this to say, I am very grateful for all that I have learned this quarter, from my peers, Professor Carroll, and the amazing guest speakers. All have definitely pushed me to be more comfortable in experimenting in my writing and delving into more complex personal topics I have not felt comfortable writing about in the past.