This year is hurtling through time/space
So many things in life feel like the weather, when what you really want is the Sun to endlessly graze your skin. Microscopic beads of sweat blossoming out of your pores all at once keeping you the perfect temperature, and not too sweaty. No threat of a breeze cooling you down too much as it all comes to an end.
I know this isn’t real or possible. Life will never be like this, and shouldn’t. And as always I make new attempts at embracing the Sun without being burned alive.
I am talking about everything and nothing all at once, and I think I’m allowed to do that. I continue to be a shifting evolving person. I feel illegible, and I have a difficult relationship with that feeling of illegibility in that I love and hate myself for it all at once.
The world continues to be awful, and I am inspired the people I see making meaningful and consistent attempts at living better.
Ground as shaky as ever, June brings fresh perspective and and many opportunities for positive changes in all areas of life.
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Activities: A Report
I went to see some experimental music and dance at the DiMenna Center. I especially loved Bryan Ellis & Erin Landers’ piece We Grow Together. The choreography was honed and thoughtful. And the use of phone motion sensors coupled the music to the movement in a way that actually had musicality and depth. It was evocative and included a moment for group participation which I enjoyed.
There was another piece involving a balloon and a contact mic, which I do not have the energy to describe. But it was gripping, and the performer Caitlin Cawley had clearly spent a lot of time with this instrument. I think this performance inspired me the most, and I will not say more.
August 29th is a show at 6BC Botanical Garden, find soft moon sounds in their schedule: https://www.6bcgarden.org/events-2025-schedule.html
It will be myself, Shara Lunon, Kwami Winfield, and my friend Jennae Santos performing their project Eternal Oyster. These folks are some of my favorite artists in NYC. Real ones that you must check out if you’re in the city.
I’ll say more in the next news letter
Job Hunt
The hunt continues. I had an amazing interview at an awesome arts/education org, and we are just going to hope. It’s full of genderdiverse people and femme presenting cunties. So I definitely need to work there.
Whoa I feel a poem coming on. Okay here goes:
May it be me.
May it be me.
Praise be.
May it be me.
Wow. I really felt that one. Didn’t you?
Content I’ve Consumed: A Report
How to leave tech to become a farmer
I loved this article. It’s an interview that stays true to the title. Whats better is that it’s not like that gross flavor of “I left tech to do ” style articles. This person does not put it on a pedestal, and makes clear that you need to COME CORRECT. Anyways, this makes me feel hopeful, especially as I truly fail to see how/where/why I fit into that industry
A weaponized AI chatbot is flooding city councils with climate misinformation
Obviously we are seeing a lot of this stuff lol
Cory Doctorow - PyCon 2025 Keynote
This keynote is incredible. If you want to understand why the internet sucks, listen to this keynote. Cory Doctorow has a strong understanding of why things are broken in my opinion. You don’t need to be a technologist, this talk is for everyone. I applaud PyCon for giving him platform.
USENIX 2018 Keynote - James Mickens
A conversation I had about AI sent me down a deep internet research rabbit hole. And I remembered this amazing USENIX keynote from 2018. It is still relevant. You don’t need deep technical expertise to understand all of this. It’s a very entertaining and informative talk from someone I really admire.
Here are some interesting papers:
Also I won't say much about them. If you read them, I would love to have a discussion. Because they’re horrifying.
GUILLOTINE: Hypervisors for Isolating Malicious AIs The references of this paper lead to a lot of great papers.
I have more but these two stand out the most. Definitely give them a read and email me. Especially Alignment Faking. Also remember stuxnet?
Moon:)