1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:06,139 ♪ Opening theme music ♪ 2 00:00:14,147 --> 00:00:18,451 Hello, and welcome to this episode of ArtsAbly in Conversation. 3 00:00:18,451 --> 00:00:21,321 My name is Diane Kolin. 4 00:00:21,321 --> 00:00:26,860 This series presents artists, academics, and project leaders who dedicate their 5 00:00:26,893 --> 00:00:33,266 time and energy to a better accessibility for people with disabilities in the arts. 6 00:00:33,299 --> 00:00:38,505 You can find more of these conversations on our website, artsably.com, 7 00:00:38,505 --> 00:00:43,743 which is spelled A-R-T-S-A-B-L-Y dot com. 8 00:00:44,778 --> 00:00:49,916 ♪ Theme music ♪ 9 00:00:57,023 --> 00:01:02,562 Today, ArtsAbly is in conversation with Alex Masse, a writer, a musician, 10 00:01:02,595 --> 00:01:06,332 and a communication specialist living in Vancouver. 11 00:01:06,366 --> 00:01:10,603 You can find the resources mentioned by Alex Masse during this episode 12 00:01:10,603 --> 00:01:14,874 on ArtsAbly's website in the blog section. 13 00:01:15,708 --> 00:01:19,512 Welcome to this new episode of ArtsAbly in conversation. 14 00:01:19,546 --> 00:01:26,553 Today, I am with Alex Masse, who is a writer, a musician, 15 00:01:26,553 --> 00:01:28,922 and also a communication specialist. 16 00:01:28,955 --> 00:01:32,959 They live in Vancouver, in BC. 17 00:01:32,992 --> 00:01:34,994 Thank you for being here, Alex. 18 00:01:35,028 --> 00:01:36,863 Thank you for having me. 19 00:01:36,896 --> 00:01:38,097 Yeah. 20 00:01:38,097 --> 00:01:39,866 Hello. My name is Alex K. Masse. 21 00:01:39,866 --> 00:01:45,238 I use they/them pronouns, and I work in what is colonially known as Vancouver 22 00:01:45,271 --> 00:01:47,106 and the Greater Vancouver area. 23 00:01:47,106 --> 00:01:50,109 I'm actually just outside Vancouver, but I like to say Vancouver 24 00:01:50,143 --> 00:01:53,413 because a lot of people don't know the various other areas. 25 00:01:53,446 --> 00:01:57,317 But yeah, I like to say I do just about anything with words and sounds, 26 00:01:57,317 --> 00:02:01,721 and it's a good thing this is a podcast because I tend to gesticulate wildly 27 00:02:01,754 --> 00:02:04,991 when I talk, and that can be a little distracting. 28 00:02:04,991 --> 00:02:07,193 Thank you. 29 00:02:07,193 --> 00:02:10,263 Well, I know you're doing a lot of things. 30 00:02:10,296 --> 00:02:14,434 Your website is incredibly rich with activities. 31 00:02:14,434 --> 00:02:17,971 Even if you say that it's going to be updated. 32 00:02:18,004 --> 00:02:21,040 There is already a lot of things to explore in that. 33 00:02:21,074 --> 00:02:28,448 I know that you are doing a lot of artistic, like poetry, 34 00:02:28,481 --> 00:02:37,790 you write plays, you perform music, you compose, you do sound design. 35 00:02:37,824 --> 00:02:44,864 Can you tell a little bit about, first of all, what kind of education did you do 36 00:02:44,864 --> 00:02:51,037 and what are you doing now in terms of academic and artistic activities? 37 00:02:51,070 --> 00:02:56,910 Well, as both a writer and musician, I primarily consider myself to be a mix 38 00:02:56,910 --> 00:02:58,545 of self-taught and community-taught. 39 00:02:58,545 --> 00:03:01,347 That's a term that I like to throw around because I really 40 00:03:01,381 --> 00:03:06,819 feel like you can learn so much from a local art scene and local creative scene. 41 00:03:06,853 --> 00:03:11,191 I owe so much to mentorship that I've received in both writing and music 42 00:03:11,224 --> 00:03:18,898 and just general art stuff from local theaters and organizations and all that. 43 00:03:18,932 --> 00:03:25,071 My background, artistically, is - I've been writing since I was a kid. 44 00:03:25,104 --> 00:03:28,608 I did really good in English classes, but I never really 45 00:03:28,641 --> 00:03:31,311 got any professional training in that. 46 00:03:31,344 --> 00:03:35,481 As for music, the only "professional training" I've ever had would be, 47 00:03:35,481 --> 00:03:37,650 I did concert band all through high school. 48 00:03:37,684 --> 00:03:41,988 But I decided at some point that I wanted to be able to pursue 49 00:03:41,988 --> 00:03:45,525 both of those seriously, and I just kind of started. 50 00:03:45,558 --> 00:03:50,430 I just opened up Microsoft Word and started penning away little plays 51 00:03:50,463 --> 00:03:53,833 and scripts and novels and poems and stuff. 52 00:03:53,866 --> 00:03:58,271 I downloaded a free music production software 53 00:03:58,271 --> 00:03:59,973 and pretty much taught myself that. 54 00:04:00,006 --> 00:04:03,009 The free ones are pretty limited, but 55 00:04:03,009 --> 00:04:07,146 I think that I did a pretty good job with what little I had. 56 00:04:07,146 --> 00:04:11,751 I still cringe when I listen to my old stuff, but I feel like everyone does. 57 00:04:11,784 --> 00:04:16,456 It's just exciting in a way to be like, Wow, I've really grown a lot. 58 00:04:16,489 --> 00:04:21,361 Yeah, I like to thank the community that I have in Vancouver, 59 00:04:21,361 --> 00:04:27,867 what is colonially known as Vancouver, for everything that it's done in helping to uplift me and stuff. 60 00:04:27,900 --> 00:04:33,172 I also, in a way, like to thank my neurodivergence because I'm very lucky to 61 00:04:33,206 --> 00:04:37,477 have a brain that's totally cool to just sit down and focus on something for hours 62 00:04:37,510 --> 00:04:41,681 on end and find so much joy in that. Yeah, I don't know. 63 00:04:41,714 --> 00:04:43,583 Art has been very healing for me. 64 00:04:43,616 --> 00:04:47,353 I'm someone with multiple disorders going on up here. 65 00:04:47,353 --> 00:04:54,127 I have autism, OCD, PTSD, and all of those just jangle together and tangle together. 66 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:59,732 And art has always been a refuge for that from some of the rougher stuff. 67 00:04:59,766 --> 00:05:04,837 And it's also just been a means of expressing some of the beauty that I find in having a mind like mine. 68 00:05:04,837 --> 00:05:08,675 I like to write poetry about being autistic. 69 00:05:08,675 --> 00:05:12,912 I like to write poetry about celebrating what that can look like. 70 00:05:12,912 --> 00:05:15,214 And I like to write poetry about healing and stuff. 71 00:05:15,248 --> 00:05:19,352 And on the musical side of things, people call my music "stimmy," 72 00:05:19,385 --> 00:05:24,023 and say that it brings them joy to listen to us neurodiversion people. 73 00:05:24,023 --> 00:05:25,358 Yeah. 74 00:05:25,391 --> 00:05:32,265 Your music is also, I think, very inspired by video games in this universe, right? 75 00:05:32,298 --> 00:05:35,835 Yeah. I grew up playing a lot of video games, or at least 76 00:05:35,835 --> 00:05:37,737 the same handful of video games a lot. 77 00:05:37,770 --> 00:05:41,207 I had a Nintendo DS that went everywhere with me. 78 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,011 I became absolutely enamored with the world and storytelling 79 00:05:45,044 --> 00:05:47,146 and the soundscapes. 80 00:05:47,180 --> 00:05:51,718 And I actually learned flute, my first instrument, by just learning. 81 00:05:51,751 --> 00:05:57,090 I would get better at flute just by playing video game songs. 82 00:05:57,123 --> 00:05:59,726 I would find sheet music made by fans, and that's how 83 00:05:59,726 --> 00:06:03,463 I became more acquainted with music. 84 00:06:03,496 --> 00:06:05,932 But today you play another kind of instrument, right? 85 00:06:05,932 --> 00:06:08,167 I do. What is your instrument? 86 00:06:08,201 --> 00:06:11,471 I can go grab it, actually. 87 00:06:15,007 --> 00:06:17,710 Okay, it should be in now. 88 00:06:17,744 --> 00:06:20,012 I juggle with a handful of things. 89 00:06:20,046 --> 00:06:22,515 I have a kalimba that I use sometimes. 90 00:06:22,548 --> 00:06:25,284 I still bust up my flute every once in a blue moon. 91 00:06:25,318 --> 00:06:28,554 I actually just bought a keyboard and a bass this year, 92 00:06:28,554 --> 00:06:32,391 but my signature instrument is generally the Suzuki Q Chord. 93 00:06:32,425 --> 00:06:37,363 I don't really know how I would describe this for people in the podcast world, 94 00:06:37,396 --> 00:06:43,903 but it's this nice dark purple instrument with a lot of buttons, 95 00:06:43,903 --> 00:06:49,208 and it's shaped like a guitar from the future, except it's not from the future. 96 00:06:49,242 --> 00:06:53,112 It's from the future that people were imagining in 2000. 97 00:06:53,146 --> 00:06:56,716 Yeah, that's the instrument. 98 00:06:57,350 --> 00:07:00,286 It's called what? A Suzuki Q Chord? 99 00:07:00,286 --> 00:07:02,021 Q Chord, yes. 100 00:07:02,054 --> 00:07:08,327 It's part of a line from Suzuki called the Omnichord. 101 00:07:08,361 --> 00:07:11,030 This was the newest version for a very long time. 102 00:07:11,030 --> 00:07:14,600 They're actually making a new model, which I did not buy because it's $900 103 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:21,307 and I don't have that money, but mainly because I bought other instruments in this year, 104 00:07:21,340 --> 00:07:24,043 and I can't justify buying another. 105 00:07:24,076 --> 00:07:30,783 But yeah, the Suzuki Q Chord is, as it says on the front, a digital song card guitar. 106 00:07:30,783 --> 00:07:34,353 Basically, it plays like an electric auto-harp 107 00:07:34,353 --> 00:07:36,789 if you're acquainted with what an auto-harp is. 108 00:07:36,789 --> 00:07:40,126 If not, basically, it's impossible to be out of tune 109 00:07:40,126 --> 00:07:44,697 because there are little buttons that correspond to chords, and if you press the right buttons, you can just 110 00:07:44,730 --> 00:07:46,966 play little arpeggios in that chord. 111 00:07:46,999 --> 00:07:50,369 Yeah, I really like using it. 112 00:07:50,403 --> 00:07:55,308 It's a mix between a keyboard and a bass or something like that? 113 00:07:55,341 --> 00:07:59,345 I guess it's a guitar built like an autoharp. 114 00:07:59,345 --> 00:08:01,614 Okay. Yeah. 115 00:08:01,714 --> 00:08:04,383 I don't know. It's complicated, but it's also very simple. 116 00:08:04,383 --> 00:08:07,086 The learning curve with playing it is very straightforward. 117 00:08:07,119 --> 00:08:10,156 That's part of what drew me to it for a really long time 118 00:08:10,156 --> 00:08:14,093 because I wanted to be a songwriter and I wanted to be a performer. 119 00:08:14,126 --> 00:08:17,964 But the only other instrument that I knew how to play at time was flute. 120 00:08:17,997 --> 00:08:20,566 Flute is not the most accommodating to... 121 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:24,070 It's not the most accommodating to that 122 00:08:24,070 --> 00:08:26,572 because it's hard to sing and play flute at the same time. 123 00:08:26,606 --> 00:08:30,276 I was going to say you sing and play at the same time when you're doing it. 124 00:08:30,276 --> 00:08:31,210 Yeah. 125 00:08:31,344 --> 00:08:35,448 There's probably some way to do it with a copious amount of loop pedals 126 00:08:35,481 --> 00:08:37,650 and the like, but I just... 127 00:08:37,683 --> 00:08:42,388 I figured it would be easier to just find one of these and pick it up and do that. 128 00:08:42,421 --> 00:08:43,456 Okay, very good. 129 00:08:43,489 --> 00:08:51,163 I wanted to go back to your poetry. Are you reciting publicly this poetry, or 130 00:08:51,197 --> 00:08:56,035 are you just writing it for your pleasure and to share it with others? 131 00:08:56,335 --> 00:08:59,005 A bit of both, honestly. 132 00:08:59,038 --> 00:09:02,575 Poetry started as something that I just did on the page. 133 00:09:02,608 --> 00:09:04,810 I started writing poetry. 134 00:09:04,844 --> 00:09:07,947 I started taking it seriously in senior year of high school 135 00:09:07,947 --> 00:09:13,252 when creative writing club became a thing at my high school, and I just had a lot of fun with it. 136 00:09:13,286 --> 00:09:17,790 And on a whim, I submitted to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, 137 00:09:17,790 --> 00:09:21,394 which are this thing that I think is all across North America, 138 00:09:21,394 --> 00:09:23,796 or maybe it's only a national. I don't know. 139 00:09:23,796 --> 00:09:27,500 But I submitted a bunch of stuff on a whim, including a couple of random poems, 140 00:09:27,500 --> 00:09:32,838 and I got a gold key from them, which isn't something 141 00:09:32,838 --> 00:09:36,375 that comes with money, but they gave me a little pin and a fancy piece of paper. 142 00:09:36,375 --> 00:09:38,945 And that made me think like, oh, maybe this is something 143 00:09:38,978 --> 00:09:41,547 that I'm halfway decent at. 144 00:09:41,581 --> 00:09:45,251 Because before that, I considered myself primarily a writer of prose, 145 00:09:45,284 --> 00:09:49,589 and I don't really I have a lot of that professionally released or do it much 146 00:09:49,622 --> 00:09:52,792 on a professional level right now. 147 00:09:52,825 --> 00:09:55,928 But it is something that has always been close to my heart. 148 00:09:55,962 --> 00:09:58,931 But poetry, yeah, I just fell into poetry. 149 00:09:58,965 --> 00:10:05,104 I ended up reading at a friend's gallery opening because they asked me to, 150 00:10:05,104 --> 00:10:07,673 and then I ended up stumbling into a poetry mentorship. 151 00:10:07,707 --> 00:10:13,613 And from there, I just constantly found myself drifting into the poetry scene 152 00:10:13,646 --> 00:10:15,147 across the Lower Mainland. 153 00:10:15,648 --> 00:10:19,352 And you also wrote articles about your work, right? 154 00:10:19,385 --> 00:10:21,087 Can you tell about that? 155 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,189 Articles, yeah. 156 00:10:23,222 --> 00:10:28,427 I write articles on a freelance basis, generally about either media and pop culture 157 00:10:28,427 --> 00:10:33,332 or my personal lived experiences, because I definitely feel like I haven't 158 00:10:33,366 --> 00:10:35,134 had the most conventional... 159 00:10:35,234 --> 00:10:38,704 I haven't had the most conventional journey as an artist. 160 00:10:38,738 --> 00:10:41,974 I feel like a lot of people, they either start from nothing 161 00:10:42,008 --> 00:10:43,509 or they go to art school. 162 00:10:43,509 --> 00:10:47,747 I'm in some weird in between where it's like, I didn't go to art school. 163 00:10:47,780 --> 00:10:50,316 I'm a communication major, for goodness' sake. 164 00:10:50,316 --> 00:10:56,756 But I am someone who has a community that I owe so much to, and not just 165 00:10:56,789 --> 00:11:01,093 as a creative, but also as a queer person, a neurodivergent 166 00:11:01,093 --> 00:11:03,229 person, a mentally ill person. 167 00:11:03,262 --> 00:11:08,534 I owe so much of who I am to the local art scene, and that's something 168 00:11:08,534 --> 00:11:10,136 that I rarely see discussed. 169 00:11:10,169 --> 00:11:14,440 So just being able to go out and write little odes to that and how music 170 00:11:14,473 --> 00:11:18,277 has helped me, and how the art scene has helped me and how I self-advocate 171 00:11:18,310 --> 00:11:21,781 as a queer and neurodivergent person, those are all important to me. 172 00:11:21,814 --> 00:11:22,848 Okay. 173 00:11:22,882 --> 00:11:28,087 Also, I read that you are hosting a podcast. 174 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:30,356 I co-created a podcast. 175 00:11:30,356 --> 00:11:33,292 Yeah, it was this lovely little.. 176 00:11:33,292 --> 00:11:36,128 It was this project with the Future Perfect Project, which is 177 00:11:36,128 --> 00:11:41,567 an American organization that dedicates itself to platforming and uplifting 178 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:43,836 the voices of young queer folks. 179 00:11:43,836 --> 00:11:46,439 I'm actually going to be aging out of their curriculum this year, 180 00:11:46,472 --> 00:11:51,010 which is a little sad, but hey, there are good things that come with being 24. 181 00:11:51,043 --> 00:11:55,214 But yeah, I was involved in this cohort for this podcast that eventually 182 00:11:55,214 --> 00:11:57,283 became called I'm Feeling Queer Today. 183 00:11:57,316 --> 00:12:00,853 I did help co-host a couple of episodes and put things together. 184 00:12:00,853 --> 00:12:03,656 I wrote some music for it. I did a segment on it. 185 00:12:03,656 --> 00:12:05,524 I peered in a couple of other segments on it. 186 00:12:05,558 --> 00:12:08,127 It was a really exciting opportunity. 187 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:12,164 I really love the world of podcasting, and it's just really cool 188 00:12:12,198 --> 00:12:15,034 to be able to be involved in that. 189 00:12:15,034 --> 00:12:20,639 As a communicator, what is the influence of everything you're creating 190 00:12:20,673 --> 00:12:24,710 to your communication skills? 191 00:12:24,744 --> 00:12:27,646 Well, when I work on communications, that's generally a job 192 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:29,081 that isn't just me. 193 00:12:29,115 --> 00:12:34,754 I've worked for Simon Fraser University, in the Office of Community Engagement. 194 00:12:34,754 --> 00:12:37,389 I've worked for a couple of local nonprofits. 195 00:12:37,389 --> 00:12:40,893 When I work in communication for other organizations, it's all about just 196 00:12:40,893 --> 00:12:44,497 being able to put forward their messages and stuff and use my skills 197 00:12:44,530 --> 00:12:47,333 to just get that out there. 198 00:12:47,366 --> 00:12:50,536 But when it comes to my own work, I definitely do try to keep something 199 00:12:50,536 --> 00:12:53,105 of a cohesive narrative. 200 00:12:53,139 --> 00:12:57,743 And that isn't easy because I'm someone who refuses to niche down, 201 00:12:57,777 --> 00:13:02,214 which in the social media world is somewhat masochistic 202 00:13:02,214 --> 00:13:03,983 and troublesome, but I'm stubborn. 203 00:13:04,016 --> 00:13:07,453 I refuse to be just a musician. I refuse to be just a writer. 204 00:13:07,453 --> 00:13:11,190 Those are both so important to me, and they so often overlap. 205 00:13:11,223 --> 00:13:12,858 I shan't. 206 00:13:12,892 --> 00:13:15,027 I shan't to be reduced to either of those. 207 00:13:15,060 --> 00:13:17,296 I really need to stop saying I shan't. 208 00:13:17,329 --> 00:13:19,865 I'm really bad at that. 209 00:13:19,899 --> 00:13:24,570 But yeah, I've tried to craft something of a narrative that is 210 00:13:24,570 --> 00:13:28,007 "social media/algorithm friendly." 211 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,643 But also, I don't know. 212 00:13:30,676 --> 00:13:33,879 You have to pick your battles when you're a creative person trying 213 00:13:33,913 --> 00:13:36,782 to communicate your practice and stuff. 214 00:13:36,816 --> 00:13:40,586 I will probably never be fully comprehensible and algorithm friendly. 215 00:13:40,586 --> 00:13:45,591 I bid farewell to that the second I started being openly queer and disabled, but 216 00:13:45,591 --> 00:13:47,393 I don't know. 217 00:13:47,393 --> 00:13:50,896 I think that I strike a pretty good balance. 218 00:13:50,930 --> 00:13:51,964 I think so, too. 219 00:13:51,997 --> 00:13:57,803 I think that there is nothing wrong with having a diversity of activities 220 00:13:57,836 --> 00:14:02,741 and in a way, they all connect to each other through your personality. 221 00:14:02,775 --> 00:14:08,147 Yeah. No matter what medium I'm in, even if I'm writing newsletters 222 00:14:08,180 --> 00:14:10,783 for a day job, I'm still storytelling. 223 00:14:10,816 --> 00:14:16,655 That's, I think, the combined total of everything I do, that storytelling 224 00:14:16,655 --> 00:14:19,859 is somewhere in all of it. 225 00:14:19,892 --> 00:14:23,929 For a while, I was playing with the idea of labeling myself as a bard 226 00:14:23,963 --> 00:14:25,831 because that's less of a mouthful. 227 00:14:25,865 --> 00:14:30,035 It just brings to mind this image of a person who can play instruments 228 00:14:30,069 --> 00:14:37,009 and can speak poetry and can sing and can recite myths and write myths 229 00:14:37,042 --> 00:14:40,679 and combine and alchemize stories. 230 00:14:40,713 --> 00:14:42,248 And that's what I do. 231 00:14:42,281 --> 00:14:45,684 I guess I'm something of a modern bard. 232 00:14:46,085 --> 00:14:49,588 Plus the auto harp goes very well with the bard. 233 00:14:50,222 --> 00:14:53,692 Yeah. It can actually get battery power, so I can just walk around playing it. 234 00:14:53,726 --> 00:14:55,461 I used to do that with my flute during the pandemic. 235 00:14:55,494 --> 00:14:58,998 I was really bored, and I have a park by my house, so I just 236 00:14:59,031 --> 00:15:01,500 run around playing flute. 237 00:15:01,533 --> 00:15:02,868 It was actually a hit. 238 00:15:02,902 --> 00:15:04,570 People now know me as Flute Girl. 239 00:15:04,603 --> 00:15:08,073 And while I'm not a girl, I am too lazy to correct them. 240 00:15:08,073 --> 00:15:11,443 I live in a neighborhood with a lot of older people who probably have never 241 00:15:11,443 --> 00:15:13,212 met someone who uses they/then pronouns. 242 00:15:13,245 --> 00:15:16,015 It's like, Yeah, I'll be Flute Girl for you. 243 00:15:16,048 --> 00:15:18,984 Why not, why not? 244 00:15:19,084 --> 00:15:21,053 What are you working on right now? 245 00:15:21,053 --> 00:15:25,324 Is there a specific project you are focusing on? 246 00:15:25,357 --> 00:15:28,627 Well, as of now, hang on, let me check my calendar. 247 00:15:28,661 --> 00:15:29,828 How long has it been? 248 00:15:29,862 --> 00:15:32,932 It's been one, two, one, two, three. 249 00:15:32,965 --> 00:15:36,702 It has been just over three weeks since I had my play 250 00:15:36,735 --> 00:15:39,171 Faye’s Room at the Roundhouse. 251 00:15:39,204 --> 00:15:41,173 That was incredible. 252 00:15:41,206 --> 00:15:45,477 For those not aware, the Roundhouse is this lovely venue 253 00:15:45,477 --> 00:15:48,447 in what is colonially known as Vancouver, like 254 00:15:48,447 --> 00:15:50,449 smack in the middle of downtown Vancouver. 255 00:15:50,482 --> 00:15:52,618 It's really lovely. It's right by the water. 256 00:15:52,651 --> 00:15:56,288 I go there a lot for things like festivals and events. 257 00:15:56,288 --> 00:15:59,158 I'm probably going to be going there again this month because I have a friend 258 00:15:59,158 --> 00:16:02,494 who's got some stuff being exhibited there. 259 00:16:02,494 --> 00:16:06,498 But yeah, I have my play at the Roundhouse through Realwheels Theatre, 260 00:16:06,532 --> 00:16:10,536 which was an incredible privilege and an incredible opportunity. 261 00:16:10,569 --> 00:16:13,305 I was just so honored to see my silly little play 262 00:16:13,339 --> 00:16:17,276 that I started writing back in 2023 just come to life. 263 00:16:17,276 --> 00:16:19,578 I kind of think I started writing it in 2022. 264 00:16:19,611 --> 00:16:23,315 I digress. It's one of those projects that I just started on a whim. 265 00:16:23,349 --> 00:16:26,785 It started with a single image, and suddenly there was a whole cast 266 00:16:26,785 --> 00:16:30,122 of characters, and suddenly I was in a writing cohort 267 00:16:30,122 --> 00:16:33,726 with people who were cheering it on, and then I got a first stage reading. 268 00:16:33,759 --> 00:16:38,530 And then last August, I was asked by - One of my creative mentors, Shawn McDonald, 269 00:16:38,564 --> 00:16:43,469 reached out and was like, hey, do you want to bring this to Realwheels Theatre 270 00:16:43,469 --> 00:16:46,872 and have this read? And I was like, absolutely. 271 00:16:46,905 --> 00:16:50,009 And I don't know how much I can say quite yet. I don't know. 272 00:16:50,009 --> 00:16:53,445 But I will say that there will be more with this play. 273 00:16:53,479 --> 00:16:57,249 I'm not done with it yet, and I'm really excited for that. 274 00:16:57,282 --> 00:17:01,720 But in the meantime, honestly, right now, my big priorities are just kind of 275 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,324 getting all my stuff together and trying to graduate. 276 00:17:05,357 --> 00:17:08,327 Not very artistic stuff, more bureaucratic things. 277 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:12,264 I'm trying to write a CV for the first time ever, wrapping up some 278 00:17:12,264 --> 00:17:14,566 artistic commissions that I can't talk about. 279 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:19,171 They're commissions, like scoring things that haven't been released yet, 280 00:17:19,204 --> 00:17:22,341 working on collaborations that haven't been released yet. 281 00:17:22,374 --> 00:17:25,477 I have a song coming out in June, so that's very exciting. 282 00:17:25,511 --> 00:17:32,184 It's called "King's Ruby," and it's about two characters from the Moomin franchise 283 00:17:32,184 --> 00:17:35,454 because I really like the Moomins and I had the opportunity 284 00:17:35,454 --> 00:17:37,456 to write about them for Pride Month. 285 00:17:37,489 --> 00:17:42,127 But yeah, right now, my main priorities are trying to create a CV for the first time 286 00:17:42,127 --> 00:17:44,430 and trying to graduate. 287 00:17:45,197 --> 00:17:49,134 Yep. BA in communication with a minor in publishing. 288 00:17:49,134 --> 00:17:53,572 Yay! Well, yeah, that's - fingers crossed for that. 289 00:17:53,605 --> 00:17:57,810 I know that I don't think you're going to have an issue to graduate, right? 290 00:17:57,843 --> 00:18:00,012 I shouldn't. 291 00:18:00,045 --> 00:18:02,815 After this semester, because I am taking a couple courses. 292 00:18:02,848 --> 00:18:07,820 It is summer, but I'm stubborn and I want to get out of here before 2025. 293 00:18:07,853 --> 00:18:11,590 After this semester, I should only have one course remaining. 294 00:18:11,590 --> 00:18:12,758 So that's really exciting. 295 00:18:12,791 --> 00:18:15,627 Just any third year communication course. 296 00:18:15,661 --> 00:18:18,864 I'm really hoping that I get something fun and very niche. 297 00:18:18,897 --> 00:18:23,135 Earlier last year, I got to write about... 298 00:18:23,135 --> 00:18:27,105 I got to take a course all about popular music and culture 299 00:18:27,105 --> 00:18:30,876 and the production of esthetics and culture through popular music. 300 00:18:30,876 --> 00:18:35,013 I wrote a whole essay comparing two genres I really enjoy. 301 00:18:35,047 --> 00:18:37,883 That's the thing that I love using my major for. 302 00:18:37,916 --> 00:18:41,753 I know that it's not as useful as some of the more applicable stuff, 303 00:18:41,787 --> 00:18:45,090 the things that I've actually done in my communication jobs, 304 00:18:45,124 --> 00:18:49,661 but it's also just really nice and enjoyable being able to just chew on things 305 00:18:49,695 --> 00:18:53,398 through various academic lenses. 306 00:18:53,398 --> 00:18:57,536 I don't know. I find a lot of joy in a lot of very nerdy things. 307 00:18:57,569 --> 00:19:00,839 Plus just know that when you're writing about a variety 308 00:19:00,873 --> 00:19:03,742 of topics, they like that. 309 00:19:03,775 --> 00:19:07,913 They like to know that you're not focused on only one little thing, 310 00:19:07,946 --> 00:19:12,584 that you open your mind, that you can write about different topics. 311 00:19:12,618 --> 00:19:14,486 So yeah, continue doing that. 312 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:15,587 That's the plan. 313 00:19:15,621 --> 00:19:18,824 Honestly, I might add an academic essay section to 314 00:19:18,857 --> 00:19:23,896 my portfolio website because if only just to put that essay that I wrote last year on there. 315 00:19:23,896 --> 00:19:27,432 It's so nerdy. I was comparing new wave music and hyper pop music, 316 00:19:27,432 --> 00:19:30,369 but my prof loved it and I loved it. 317 00:19:30,402 --> 00:19:34,873 Yes, the bibliography was three pages long, but it's fine. 318 00:19:35,641 --> 00:19:39,311 Welcome to the academic world. Ah! 319 00:19:39,344 --> 00:19:42,614 Profs at my university keep asking me if I want to do a master's, 320 00:19:42,614 --> 00:19:47,719 but it's like, I've been in school for about 20 years straight now. 321 00:19:47,719 --> 00:19:49,855 I kind of want a break. 322 00:19:49,888 --> 00:19:50,923 Yes. 323 00:19:50,956 --> 00:19:53,158 Okay, I want to go back to your play. 324 00:19:53,192 --> 00:19:55,861 You said your play was over now, right? 325 00:19:55,894 --> 00:20:01,200 Yeah, it just had a one single-staged reading last month. 326 00:20:01,233 --> 00:20:03,902 It was called Faye’s Room. It was very exciting. 327 00:20:03,902 --> 00:20:05,571 There's more coming with it. 328 00:20:05,604 --> 00:20:10,609 I don't know what's been announced yet, so I can't say more, but there is more in 329 00:20:10,642 --> 00:20:14,880 the works with Faye’s Room, and it's this play that's really close to my heart. 330 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:19,184 Can you give us the pitch, what it is about? 331 00:20:19,218 --> 00:20:21,753 Oh, absolutely. I wrote down the pitch, actually. 332 00:20:21,787 --> 00:20:26,625 I did a whole package for it because I was just so thrilled that 333 00:20:26,658 --> 00:20:29,494 it was getting staged for a second time. 334 00:20:29,528 --> 00:20:34,066 Yeah, it's called Faye’s Room, and it's about neurodivergent solidarity, 335 00:20:34,066 --> 00:20:37,769 intergenerational bonds, and internalized ableism, and it thrusts viewers 336 00:20:37,769 --> 00:20:42,341 into the autistic lens, a world of living mannequins, traveling rooms, and ghosts. 337 00:20:42,374 --> 00:20:46,011 It follows Faye Murphy, an autistic lesbian who works at a queer café, 338 00:20:46,011 --> 00:20:51,283 and who happens to have the power to summon and hide in a magical sensory room at will. 339 00:20:51,283 --> 00:20:54,119 When she becomes trapped in this room with her least favorite coworker, 340 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:58,790 son of the founder and token heterosexual, Chase McLure, an unlikely bond forms, 341 00:20:58,824 --> 00:21:02,995 and the two find themselves having a bit more in common than they had thought. 342 00:21:03,028 --> 00:21:04,730 Wow. Yeah. 343 00:21:04,763 --> 00:21:06,531 Okay. Interesting. 344 00:21:06,531 --> 00:21:08,000 It's going to be great. Yeah. 345 00:21:08,033 --> 00:21:11,103 It's a fabulous story. 346 00:21:11,136 --> 00:21:15,207 It started as wish fulfillment where it was like, Okay, I wish I had a room that 347 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:21,446 could just magically appear and be a safe space for me whenever I get overwhelmed. 348 00:21:22,114 --> 00:21:26,051 From there, it just became this whole project about internalized ableism 349 00:21:26,084 --> 00:21:32,224 and asking questions about how can one get over internalized ableism 350 00:21:32,257 --> 00:21:36,762 and what is a healthy relationship that one can have with neurodivergent and 351 00:21:36,795 --> 00:21:41,333 how can we unlearnt those things that we've been told about ourselves for so long? 352 00:21:42,601 --> 00:21:48,473 If someone is listening to this podcast and saying, I want to do like Alex. 353 00:21:48,473 --> 00:21:56,648 I want to gather all my ideas and put that into a play or into something. 354 00:21:56,682 --> 00:21:59,184 What should they do next? 355 00:21:59,184 --> 00:22:02,921 Well, if you want to create something, there are two pieces of advice 356 00:22:02,954 --> 00:22:07,693 that I was given in my first ever creative mentorship, and it was just 357 00:22:07,726 --> 00:22:10,662 to do even just a little bit every day. 358 00:22:10,696 --> 00:22:16,435 My minimum that I try to do is 200 words a day if it's a writing thing or 359 00:22:16,435 --> 00:22:17,969 10 minutes a day if it's a music thing. 360 00:22:18,003 --> 00:22:20,405 Just like those little iterative blocks. 361 00:22:20,439 --> 00:22:25,744 You so often end up doing so much more, just so much more. 362 00:22:25,744 --> 00:22:28,480 But even on your worst days, you can probably hit that 200 363 00:22:28,513 --> 00:22:30,215 or 10 minute milestone. 364 00:22:30,248 --> 00:22:34,319 And then the other thing that I was told four or five years ago now 365 00:22:34,319 --> 00:22:38,590 was probably: writing is a rewriting. 366 00:22:38,690 --> 00:22:42,527 It's just this concept of being able to just lock your inner perfectionist 367 00:22:42,561 --> 00:22:45,330 in a closet for a while and get a first draft out. 368 00:22:45,364 --> 00:22:48,467 First drafts, they are almost never great. 369 00:22:48,467 --> 00:22:51,603 There's this thing that I like to tell people that they generally get a kick out of. 370 00:22:51,603 --> 00:22:54,239 My mother is a huge Stephen King fan, so I grew up with him 371 00:22:54,239 --> 00:22:57,075 as this mythologized figure. 372 00:22:57,075 --> 00:23:01,480 I heard all these stories about how he wrote this one novel of his, "Cujo," 373 00:23:01,513 --> 00:23:05,250 while he was on a serious bender with a multitude of substances, 374 00:23:05,283 --> 00:23:09,921 and he doesn't remember writing it at all, so he got to read it and experience it for the first time. 375 00:23:09,921 --> 00:23:15,093 But what I'd like to say is we can't all be Stephen King writing "Cujo" on a bender. 376 00:23:15,127 --> 00:23:17,462 Most of us are not Stephen King. 377 00:23:17,496 --> 00:23:19,998 And maybe that's a good thing because we don't need... 378 00:23:20,031 --> 00:23:23,001 The man's already writing a gazillion books a year. 379 00:23:23,034 --> 00:23:25,470 We do not need more Stephen King stuff out there. 380 00:23:25,504 --> 00:23:26,938 The man's a factory himself. 381 00:23:26,972 --> 00:23:32,344 But the point of that little line is your first draft will probably not 382 00:23:32,377 --> 00:23:34,012 be good, and that's okay. 383 00:23:34,045 --> 00:23:37,215 So much of writing is in the editing process. 384 00:23:37,249 --> 00:23:41,253 And that's scary because a lot of people don't like to think of themselves as editors. 385 00:23:41,253 --> 00:23:46,424 But you have to get to know your work before you can really start spifting it up. 386 00:23:46,424 --> 00:23:49,027 If you try to revise something before you've even finished it, 387 00:23:49,060 --> 00:23:50,896 you just end up with a mess. 388 00:23:50,929 --> 00:23:54,900 It's like trying to draw something without sketching. 389 00:23:54,933 --> 00:23:57,335 I don't know. My girlfriend's a visual artist. 390 00:23:57,369 --> 00:24:00,105 I don't know any of that, but I know that you sketch first. 391 00:24:00,138 --> 00:24:01,840 Okay, thanks. 392 00:24:02,707 --> 00:24:08,246 Okay, I have a last question, which is about people you can 393 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:17,856 think of who really encouraged you in all your process and/or inspired you. 394 00:24:17,889 --> 00:24:23,528 If you had one or two people to think of and to mention, who would it be and why? 395 00:24:23,762 --> 00:24:25,497 Honestly, I don't even know. 396 00:24:25,530 --> 00:24:29,901 I guess that there are just so many ways to be inspired 397 00:24:29,935 --> 00:24:34,539 by people. I owe so much to my... 398 00:24:34,573 --> 00:24:37,309 I can't even name all of my mentors in the local arts scene. 399 00:24:37,342 --> 00:24:39,945 Everyone at Realwheels, everyone at the Arts Club, 400 00:24:39,945 --> 00:24:42,747 everyone back at the Frank Theater, even though that was four years ago, 401 00:24:42,747 --> 00:24:45,684 and all the people in between that were truly amazing. 402 00:24:45,717 --> 00:24:49,054 The team that I I had at Faye’s Room, Sean and V, and Jordan, 403 00:24:49,054 --> 00:24:51,756 and my cast, absolutely perfect. 404 00:24:51,790 --> 00:24:55,026 Absolutely just a dream come true working with all of them and having 405 00:24:55,060 --> 00:24:57,229 my work be shaped the way it has. 406 00:24:57,262 --> 00:24:59,364 But also my friends and my girlfriend. 407 00:24:59,397 --> 00:25:02,400 And then on the complete other side of the spectrum, people I have never met 408 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:04,469 and probably will never meet, like 409 00:25:04,469 --> 00:25:07,305 Tove Janssen for writing these whimsical stories. 410 00:25:07,339 --> 00:25:09,908 Literally like my next song is based on Moomins. 411 00:25:09,941 --> 00:25:11,476 I can't not shut her out. 412 00:25:11,509 --> 00:25:16,147 Or I compile the lists of quotes that I really like because I'm a nerd like that. 413 00:25:16,147 --> 00:25:19,117 And the most commonly cited authors were Mary Oliver and Terry Pratchett, 414 00:25:19,150 --> 00:25:22,153 who I've been reading a lot of. Yeah, I don't know. 415 00:25:22,153 --> 00:25:27,225 And musically, God, the entire new wave scene, the people who composed for the 416 00:25:27,259 --> 00:25:32,864 TV shows and video games I grew up with as a kid, it's just, I don't know. It's amazing. 417 00:25:32,864 --> 00:25:35,734 And sometimes I could compare to some of them, which is really cool. 418 00:25:35,767 --> 00:25:40,005 I'm pretty sure I just get told that I'm like Rebecca Sugar because I own this thing. 419 00:25:40,005 --> 00:25:42,440 For the people at home, I'm holding up my musical instrument, 420 00:25:42,474 --> 00:25:44,976 which was popularized by Rebecca Sugar. 421 00:25:45,010 --> 00:25:46,478 But I don't know. 422 00:25:46,478 --> 00:25:48,780 I take every comparison in strive. 423 00:25:48,847 --> 00:25:54,586 I love just my very eclectic mix of musical inspirations. 424 00:25:54,586 --> 00:25:56,555 Some of them are more obvious to the ear. 425 00:25:56,588 --> 00:26:00,091 Others are more just a vibe, like one of my favorite bands 426 00:26:00,091 --> 00:26:03,328 is Talking Heads, but you probably can't hear that a lot in my work. 427 00:26:03,361 --> 00:26:05,063 But that's okay. It's a vibe. 428 00:26:05,096 --> 00:26:09,601 It's inspiration in the process. I don't know. I'm rambling. 429 00:26:09,601 --> 00:26:13,805 Basically, I find myself to be a whole web of inspirations. 430 00:26:13,838 --> 00:26:18,476 There are people I know, people who have mentored me, people I know personally, 431 00:26:18,510 --> 00:26:23,481 people I know artistically, people I know kind of artistically, 432 00:26:23,481 --> 00:26:25,951 kind of personally, in between. 433 00:26:25,951 --> 00:26:29,721 And then there are just people who I look up to, and you can see that in my work. 434 00:26:29,754 --> 00:26:33,925 And there are people who I look up to who are so opposite from what I do. 435 00:26:34,826 --> 00:26:36,895 Anyways, that's the gist. 436 00:26:36,895 --> 00:26:40,332 Any artist who says that it's simpler than that is lying. 437 00:26:41,333 --> 00:26:45,070 Well, yes, it's true that we are all getting inspiration from multiple 438 00:26:45,103 --> 00:26:48,406 sources, and that's a good thing. 439 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:56,514 It keeps us seeing other things that might give you an opportunity 440 00:26:56,548 --> 00:27:01,753 to create a new universe. 441 00:27:01,786 --> 00:27:06,524 I recently read about this term called "worlding," which is basically 442 00:27:06,558 --> 00:27:11,997 this concept of being able to create worlds and storytelling and stuff 443 00:27:12,030 --> 00:27:15,533 through various creative means. 444 00:27:15,567 --> 00:27:17,902 It's not just building in the fantasy sense. 445 00:27:17,936 --> 00:27:22,574 I actually just finished an essay on that, and I'm going to read another essay. 446 00:27:22,607 --> 00:27:25,143 I finished an essay that mentioned that, and I wanted to read 447 00:27:25,143 --> 00:27:27,045 the other essay where it was invented. 448 00:27:27,078 --> 00:27:28,513 It was by this guy called Ian Cheng. 449 00:27:28,546 --> 00:27:32,050 I've only seen excerpts, but I'm really looking forward to diving into it. 450 00:27:32,083 --> 00:27:32,817 I don't know. 451 00:27:32,851 --> 00:27:37,689 Worlding, worlds, the multitude of inspirations, art as just something 452 00:27:37,722 --> 00:27:41,259 so cosmic and nebulous that it's hard to break down, 453 00:27:41,292 --> 00:27:43,695 and that's what makes it so exciting. 454 00:27:44,629 --> 00:27:47,399 Well, thank you so much for all that, 455 00:27:47,399 --> 00:27:50,769 all this great conversation and all these thoughts. 456 00:27:50,802 --> 00:27:53,004 Thank you for having me. 457 00:27:53,038 --> 00:27:54,673 I know it could be a little bit of a mile a minute. 458 00:27:54,706 --> 00:27:57,475 It could be because I'm a little sleep-deprived. 459 00:27:57,509 --> 00:28:02,480 Pro tip, folks, do not travel three hours within an hour of waking up. 460 00:28:02,514 --> 00:28:07,485 It's a little bit much, but if you do, bring a good book. 461 00:28:07,519 --> 00:28:08,486 I don't know. I can't drive. 462 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:10,422 I bring a good book everywhere I travel. 463 00:28:11,056 --> 00:28:12,257 Well, get some rest. 464 00:28:12,290 --> 00:28:14,459 Thank you. That's the plan. 465 00:28:14,492 --> 00:28:16,294 Okay. Thank you so much. 466 00:28:16,294 --> 00:28:18,797 Thank you so much. You have a great day, too. 467 00:28:18,797 --> 00:28:20,632 Bye. Bye. 468 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:26,938 ♪ Closing theme music ♪