mastodon.world is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Generic Mastodon server for anyone to use.

Server stats:

12K
active users

Warren Senders

Man With Sign, January 22, 02024

I walk up to Roosevelt Circle at 7:32 and set up my big sign. Craige's out this morning, so I'm a soloist. I'm holding up my brightly-colored WEIRD IS THE NEW NORMAL and trying out a new application of sound technology for the roadside practice: a battery-powered bluetooth speaker. Will it give me enough bass response? Let's see.

1/
youtu.be/Z2pbliMghgw

Traffic is fairly heavy, and I get a lot of positive responses to my message. One fella slows, stops, calls out, "it's pretty cold, isn't it?" His tone is sympathetic and friendly. I say, "yeah," and he goes Mr. Hyde on me before driving off: "you're a fucking idiot!" Ah, yes. The it's-cold-here-so-it-must-be-like-that-everywhere argument.

2/

That's actually the first of two times I'm called a Fucking Idiot this morning. The get-a-job guy passes, and (freed from inhibition) I call out, "hey, you should get a job instead of spending all day in your car!" In response to which, he calls me a, well, you know. The speaker's doing a pretty good job; earbuds are exacerbating my tinnitus so I'm going acoustic except in the last minutes when I make the daily video.

3/

This Thursday evening I'm singing a short version of "ho guniyana mila" in Marwa at an NEC faculty concert. This is yet another reason to spend time with this speaker, for it will be providing my accompaniment there also, and I need to become accustomed to its particular sound qualities. I alternate between free melody and structured exercises...

4/

...working primarily on hearing the bass drum accents while singing and adjusting my rhythms accordingly. Those are the sounds which orient me in temporal space, and if my voice drowns them out I'm in trouble. I fiddle with the settings, increasing volume and adjusting tone to get the sound just the way I want it.

5/

The speaker is great. Not having earphones on is a huge relief, and I feel relaxed and easy in my voice. Even when I overwhelm the digitized tabla sounds with higher-pressure singing, it's pleasant; not claustrophobic. Mind you, I'm kind of glad this is not a place with a lot of pedestrian traffic!

6/

At 8:25 I turn off the speaker, put in earbuds, record a video, and finish off the hour. Pack up, wait for the decisive moment to get across the street intact, and make my way homeward. I have a day of students, house work, and the inevitable postcards to voters, currently focused on the NY-03 House seat recently vacated by serial fabricator George Santos (if indeed that is his real name).

See you tomorrow. Don't give up.

Man With Sign

end/