Justin Chang's blog

Final Update - Sound and Silence

My group, "Sounding the COVID-19 Protein", is the small group of me, Noah, and Yelena. Our topics have a pretty great flow to them and, together with Clinton from the other class, we hope to be able to produce some sort of performance/recording! Noah and Clinton will mainly use digital resources to sound the covid-19 protein, while Yelena and I will play our violins and translate sound from our violins into a digital setting to hopefully create something cohesive. Here is the order of our papers for the chapter: 

Updated Outline

I have updated my outline a little bit with some new information based on a little research that I did earlier today. I unfortunately couldn't start writing the paper, as I had two essays due last night that took up all of my time. I plan to finish conducting most if not all my research Tuesday-Thursday, and I will start working on the paper little by little everyday after that. 

Outline (Music and Silence)

Introduction

Week 8 Line Drawing

Probably due to the media, I seem to constantly shift between optimism and pessimism. Some days I am optimistic about the future, but other days I get pessimistic. Therefore, my drawing represents this cycle of optimism and pessimism. However, according to the questions that Linda told us to respond to, I am generally more optimistic, so my optimistic lines (in purple, since I love the color purple) are darker and more definitive, compared to my pessimistic lines, which are dotted and not as bold to indicate that in general I strive to not be a pessimistic person.

Imagination and the Silver Lining

It was really exciting to listen to Siddharth Ramakrishnan’s discussion last week in class. In particular, I was very intrigued on the vivid visualization questionnaire that we did. One of the questions, if I remember correctly, was to visualize the area around a store that you visited often. Thinking about a boba shop back home, I was shocked at how quickly my mind could paint such a detailed picture of that shop. When I was visualizing a sunrise, I had never really paid attention to how much detail our minds put into creating these images.

Reconnecting with Nature and Biophilia

It was very eye-opening to watch Spaceship Earth this weekend. As college students, we constantly maneuver from one environment (whether it be a classroom, laboratory, sports, music, and many more) to another, interacting with different people along the way. In addition, we constantly take for granted that we’ll get food, simply by buying it or cooking with ingredients we simply picked up from the grocery store.

Composing Music to Reflect on COVID-19's Impact on Society

Ever since I signed up for this class, I knew I had wanted to create something musical if given the opportunity. I hope that with this project, I can create music that can reflect on how COVID-19 has changed all of our lives. Countries such as Spain, China, and Italy have used music during this crisis as a method of unity and perseverance (Langley et. al 2020). I want to use music as a means of documentation for this unforgettable time.

Rabbit: Rat Love Compatibility + How COVID-19 Changes Physical Interaction

“Justin! It’s 2020. This means that you will have good luck for your love life! :D” This is what my parents said to me and my oldest brother at the beginning of this year. My brother, like me, is also a rabbit (fun fact – when I was young, this is how I remembered he was 12 years older than me). Apparently, according to my parents, 2020 (the year of the rat) will be an incredibly lucky year in terms of romance and relationship. Of course, I had to ponder for a while to attempt to understand these predictions that my parents tell me.

Some Psychological and Neurological Benefits of Baking and Cooking

One of my closest friends is horrible at cooking. Believe it or not, he managed to burn scrambled eggs. Fast forward to March 2020 and he shows me the sourdough bread that he made on Facetime. His story was similar to that of Zoe York’s (Heil 2020); with panicked individuals quickly emptying grocery stores, my friend was not able to buy bread, so he instead bought flour and yeast. With his family, he was able to make bread.

Thinking About Environmental Bioart During the COVID-19 Outbreak

It was amazing to hear about Dr. Vesna’s work this past Wednesday. I’ve been playing the piano and violin since I was very young, and have always been interested in how music interacts with neuroscience. However, I have always wanted to explore the intersection between science and art. After listening to Dr. Vesna talk about her work, I was fascinated with the amount of creativity that goes into these projects.

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