The following is a multimodal poem remixing George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From” for MSTU 5002: Culture, Media, & Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. If you’re interested, you can read my reflections here.
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I’m from hand-painted sheets
thrown over PVC frames.
From costumes
questionably fastened to
quavery frames and voices
finding themselves
for the first few times.
I’m from the cult of Rube Goldberg,
nuts, bolts,
knots, lashes
—and minor lacerations,
hidden under damp sleeves
in damper basements.
**
I’m from who/what/where/why
‘cause when matters less for a monthly.
I’m from pica spaces and double trucks,
and eye strain from
late-night layout sessions.
I’m from jam sessions
cut not short enough
by parents who are
saints but not gluttons
for punishment.
**
I’m from giant monitors
when that meant
your advisor meant business.
From bathtub lab apparatus and
hoping against hope
to extend that damn debugger.
I’m from trip the light fantastic and
unleash The Hacker Within,
From ill-advised cups of coffee
and swearing off Microsoft Word.
**
I’m from amateur hour
drowning, floundering,
faithfully, gratefully.
I’m from nerds
making mousetraps—
not better,
but ours.