Episode 30 Back and Forth

Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. This week: immigration, telephones, late night feels!

If you like what you hear and want to support the New York Neo-Futurists, subscribe to the show, consider making a donation at nynf.org, and join our Patreon. Patreon membership gives you access to bonus content like video plays! We’d really appreciate any support in these difficult times. Contributing to our Patreon helps us continue to pay our artists. 

Take care of yourself, paint your face in the spitting image of your worst enemy’s face then send them a selfie, and share it with us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

1:32 - For Americans Wanting to Leave by Robin Virginie

4:06 - Go ahead ask (abridged) with Yolanda & T & Rob on the phone: Part II by Yolanda K. Wilkinson, Rob Neill, and T Thompson

10:10 - I Will, I Will Rock You by Annie Levin

Our logo was designed by Shelton Lindsay

Our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean

Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Julia Melfi, and Léah Miller

Take Care!

Transcript 

Episode 30 Back and Forth

Show Intro

Chill electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Julia: 30. Back and Forth. I’m Julia Melfi—a New York Neo-Futurist. While our on-going, ever-changing, late-night show, The Infinite Wrench, is on hold for the foreseeable future, we wanted a place to keep making art for you. And thus, Hit Play was born!  

If you’re already a fan of The New York Neo-Futurists, or any of our sibling companies, hello there! We can’t wait to go on an international trip with you. If this is totally new to you—welcome to it!

We play by four rules: We are who we are, we’re doing what we’re doing, we are where we are, and the time is now. Simply put: we tell stories, and those stories are our own. Everything that you hear is actually happening. So if we tell you we're recording this and then chugging a glass of water, we’re really recording this and then chugging a glass of water, like I am about to do right...now! 

Sound of Julia chugging and swallowing a glass of water. 

Julia: And now, Annie will Run the Numbers!

Annie: Hey there, I’m Annie, a New York Neo-Futurist. 

In this episode we’re bringing you 3 plays. The first is by Robin Virginie. The second is by Yolanda K. Wilkinson, Rob Neill, and T Thompson. And the last one is by me, Annie Levin.

That brings us to 121 audio experiments on Hit Play. Enjoy!

Music winds down.

Play 1: For Americans Wanting to Leave (1:32)

Robin: For Americans Wanting to Leave. GO!

Sound of thumping and buzzing. 

I remember when my Green Card came in the mail. It was a big day.

The little pamphlet accompanying it saying Welcome to the United States. Laying out the new ground rules as a permanent resident. Not allowed to vote but definitely allowed to enlist. I still have that pamphlet.

I remember jumping from visa to visa. I remember the interviews. The waiting. Figuring out a way to come up with the thousands of dollars each time. I remember the documents, the letters, the press clippings, proving I was worthy of being here. I remember the medical exam. Don’t forget about the medical exam.

I come from generations of first generations. People who chose to start anew. People who were taken and forced to start anew. I myself fall in the most privileged category of immigrant. I came here because it was my biggest dream and my European passport makes for the smoothest possible track within the American immigration system.

Now we are here. And more than ever I see Americans post and talk about wanting to leave, wanting to move. I can’t blame them. What I want to ask is this: 

Are you ready?

Staticky metallic sound

Are you ready to start over, are you ready to start from scratch? 

Are you ready to learn a new language, learn a new history, new culture?

Are you ready to feel behind, are you ready to feel on the outside looking in? 

The following line is overlapped at different speeds

Are you ready to work are you ready to work are you ready to work

Are you ready for that first moment when you realize the glasses with which you arrived were at least partially rose-colored?

Are you ready to be on the receiving end of ‘go back to where you came from if you don’t like it here’, perhaps hearing this for the first time, or perhaps hearing it again, this time in a different place?

Are you also ready to hear ‘You don’t have the right to speak on this country anymore. You chose to leave’.  

Are you ready to feel guilty? Are you ready to feel extra guilty on unproductive days, knowing what has been sacrificed to get you here?

The following line is overlapped at different speeds with some echo

Are you ready to be homesick are you ready to be homesick are you ready to be homesick. 

And. are you ready, to go out in the streets and protest for your new country because inevitably your new country will go through a necessary uprising as well, and your responsibility as a human being is a global one and does not change depending on your location.

Are you ready?

Same staticky sound effect. 

Play 2: Go ahead ask (abridged) with Yolanda & T & Rob (4:06)

Yolanda: Go ahead and ask with Yolanda, T & Rob on the phone: Part II. GO!

Sound of phone ringing

Yolanda: Hi

Rob: Hey

T: Hey

Ding!

Rob: This is Rob

Yolanda: This is Yolanda

T: This is T

Yolanda: Question 1

Ding!

T: In this time of pandemic, what has been the go to meal that you are gonna have, after the pandemic?

Yolanda: I love seafood. I believe I'm part mermaid because I eat so much seafood. 

T: (laughs) Nice. 

Yolanda: I've been having a lot of fish. And salad with fruit. 

Ding!

Yolanda: Like all mixed together. I was doing that before the pandemic, but it's really stepped up now, like last night, I had greens, mesclun greens with orange slices, walnuts, dried cranberries, with avocado and salmon. Like poached salmon. 

T: Aw. I might have to get that recipe from you. (T laughs) That sounds amazing. 

Rob: Question 2

Ding!

Rob: So this is a Would You Rather question.

T: Okay. 

Rob: Would you rather give up smoking for a year or coffee for the rest of your life?

T: Wooooo. 

Rob: I believe that those are things that are close to you!

T: Oh gosh, yeah, they're so near and dear, and they go so good together. 

Rob: I know. 

T: Wow. Okay. I'd have to go with the cigarettes for a year. 

Ding!

Rob: Yeah?

T: Coffee is just so good, it's part of my morning and daily ritual. (T laughs) So yeah, I’d give up cigarettes for a year. 

Rob: Tough call. 

T: Question 3

Ding!

Yolanda: How would you spend one million dollars?

Rob: Oh my god. I’m not sure what one million dollars buys exactly, but I would definitely put into the Neo-Futurist and Lower East Side community and try to expand what is being done down there for the people that are actually living in the East Village and Lower East Side, through art. So paying artists to facilitate people working on memoirs, people being creative, people being active and activists and trying to not only pay artists but put it back into the community where we traditionally do our art. 

Yolanda: Oh we need to hurry up and get you a million dollars!

Rob laughs. 

T: Seriously.

Rob: Yeah. 

Yolanda: Question 4

Ding!

Yolanda: T!

T: Give it to me, come on!

Yolanda: What are your nightmares generally about?

T: Wow. It’s usually like I’m in some sort of post-apocalyptic situation and there are zombies, of course, and I’m trying to get me and my loved ones somewhere safe. And there’s usually a moment where it’s not so safe, 

Ding!

T: But fortunately, I’ve learned how to do like, change a dream so it’s safe--what’s that called?

Yolanda: You’re lucid dreaming! 

T: Yes. So I can change the situation now. I’ll be like, ah, yeah, that’s too scary and then we’re like on a beach somewhere chilling out, yeah. 

Rob: That’s awesome. 

Yolanda: That’s impressive. 

T laughs 

Rob: Question 5

Ding!

T: So Rob, would you rather give up theater for a year or your really nice apartment up there?

Rob: (Laughs) 

Yolanda: You’re already doing theater for a year…

Everyone laughs

Rob: Yeah. Definition of theater… I mean, yeah, I guess I already am, Yolanda. I’m gonna keep my apartment. 

T: Yes, you are currently finding a workaround for that. And you still have a great apartment. 

Rob: Yeah, yeah. 

T: Question 6

Ding!

Rob: Yolanda. 

Yolanda: Yes.

Rob: What is something you would like to talk about that no one has asked you about recently?

Yolanda: Umm, I would like to talk about what the world is going through in this immense moment of change and perhaps we should think about more positive things than being negative or thinking that we’re in some end times type of experience. 

Ding!

Yolanda: Maybe we are in the end times, but it’s an end times for things that need to be done with, and need to be over. And if we’re talking about the world changing, it could very well be that the world changes for the better, you know, because when you look back in history, any time there was some huge catastrophe, some huge human event that was absolutely abysmal, something wonderful happened right behind it. I mean, like, the polio vaccine that was given out for free to vaccinate against polio that came after there was a pandemic of polio. There’s all kind of good things, so I think if we focus our attentions and our energies toward the kind of the world that we want, we’ll get it. 

Rob: Wow, yeah. 

T: Dig it. It was cool chatting with y’all! 

Yolanda + Rob: yeah! 

Yolanda: I hope to catch up when this is all over! 

T: Seriously. 

Rob: Alrighty.

T: Take care, bye!

Rob: See y’all!

Yolanda: Bye!

Play 3: I Will, I Will Rock You (10:10)

Annie: I Will, I Will Rock You. GO!

Annie: For a few nights last week, I’m part of the overnight wake-up rotation for my 19-month-old nephew. 

Subtle lullaby underscore

We’ve been living together since mid-March, but usually his mom and dad are the ones to comfort him in the middle of the night. I’m pinch hitting. 

He wakes. His crib is in a room off a bedroom, under the eaves. A fan is on to cool him, and a sound machine plays ocean waves. 

Sound machine joins the music

It’s pitch black, but I can tell from the height of his cries he’s standing in the crib. Knowing he’s expecting someone else, I announce myself gently. Upon hearing my voice--not mom, not dad--he crumples to the mattress in despair. I stifle surprised laughter, not at his pain--of course--but at the beautiful intensity of full-bodied sorrow.   

I carefully peel his wailing body from the crib and rock him back and forth in my arms. Within a few moments he quiets, his diaphragm giving off the occasional (broken breath sound) as he calms. His head falls onto my shoulder, and soon his limbs slacken. They shake a bit, releasing the tightness from before, the sadness so fully here, then so fully gone. 

I wonder when I stopped knowing how to feel all the way from the center of my body out to the edges. I know how to sing lullabies, but I’ve forgotten how to crumple. What holds my body upright each time it should hit the floor? At what cost?

Lately, I fall asleep tracing imperceptibly small figure 8s with my pelvis, imagining a vast ocean between my hip bones. I think I’m hoping the memory is in there somewhere, not gone, but sleeping. Waiting to be gently rocked awake.

Sound machine rises in volume then fades and music plays out

Show Outro

Chill electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Julia: Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. If you liked what you heard, subscribe to the show and tell a friend! If you want to support the New York Neo-Futurists in other ways, consider making a donation at nynf.org, or joining our Patreon–Patreon.com/NYNF. Patreon membership gives you access to bonus content like video plays and livestreams. And if this episode gets over 1,000 downloads, we'll order one of our Patreon supporters a pizza on us. We’d really appreciate any support in these difficult times. Contributing to our Patreon helps us continue to pay our artists. 

Take care of yourself, paint your face in the spitting image of your worst enemy’s face then send them a selfie, and share it with us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

This episode featured work by: Robin Virginie; Yolanda K. Wilkinson, Rob Neill, and T Thompson; and Annie Levin. Our logo was designed by Shelton Lindsay. And our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean. Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Léah Miller, and me, Julia Melfi. Take Care!

Music fades out!