Ugly dogs and store closings.

What is a home when objects are not present? Jemma meditates on the routines and loops that invisibly cement the identity of a brand new place.

Created for Earlid.

Full Transcript:

[deep group exhale between four people]

[exhales begin rhythmically moving faster in BPM]

I just got out of a recording session

for one of the podcasts I produce, and uh, the host was talking to musician who plays a lot with loops.

[lip smack] And, um, they were talking about the power of looping and, she said this phrase in the context, um, of their conversation –– she said, um, you know, I'm captivated by the power of

transformation through repetition.

And, it jumped out to me, and I think the thing, a thing,

I love very much about home is, transformation through repetition.

[mirrored exhales between four people turn into giggles]

How I change, you change, the house changes, through [lip smack] the micro and macro daily acts of repetition.

Toothbrush goes in holder, milk inside of door;

Grinding the coffee, put it back in the cabinet;

Shoes under the bench, chair pushed under the table;

Opening the curtains in the morning, closing the curtains at night or in the summer;

Closing the curtains during the day and opening them at night.

And how all these little acts, um [lip smack], become, part of us, and part of the map of this house.

I don't have that map yet, I just moved into my home. And so, I'm map making right now, like, I'm inventing in real time, um, in some way I'm projecting uh, what are my transformations going to be through repetition? Um, what acts am I going to repeat?

And I'm making that map by putting certain objects in certain places, um, and I'll probably going to move them a bunch of times, but at a certain point they'll kind of settle into place.

And um…and then I'll really have a map, and it will repeat, and it'll cycle, and it will loop and it will become me, and I'll become the loop inside my home.

Gran, I miss you.

A commission for Unfinished.

Written, directed, produced, sound designed, mixed and mastered by James T. Green.

Edited by Afi Yellow-Duke, Christina Djossa, and Benjamen Walker.

Derrick is played by James T. Green

Derrick’s friend is played by Zakiya Gibbons.

The Block Chorus was played by Jada Green and DeVante Green.

The Block Charlatan is played by James Bennett II.

"There have always been ghosts in the machine." A collaboration conceived by Olivia Bradley-Skill.

Hot cheeto dust on the collar of a short sleeve jcrew shirt. A NPC in someone else’s narrative

Friendly and approachable, like hosting a dinner party.

Music by Podington Bear.

Years ago, a cardiologist insisted I have a loop recorder installed in my chest. The purpose was to monitor my heart. Little did they know, they created an android. This piece meditates on the history of Black bodies as vessels of experimentation, and how the melding of tech and self has a longer history than one might imagine.

The piece is titled PMHx, a medical acronym for Patient Medical History. It originally aired on BBC Radio 4’s Shortcuts.

A special thanks to C’ne Rohlsen, Axel Kacoutié, C.C. Paschal, Cher Vincent, Zakiya Gibbons, and Veralyn Williams for editorial and artistic guidance.

Emily Shaw is a San Francisco-based podcast producer and consultant. Find out more at www.emilyshawcreates.com, and follow Emily @emilyshawcreates (Instagram) and @emshawcreates (Twitter).

Created at Augmented Audio Realities, my workshop in collaboration with UnionDocs.

Emily Shaw is a San Francisco-based podcast producer and consultant. Find out more at www.emilyshawcreates.com, and follow Emily @emilyshawcreates (Instagram) and @emshawcreates (Twitter).

Created at Augmented Audio Realities, my workshop in collaboration with UnionDocs.