Sunset Micro Wave: Vol. 4

VOL IV

THE TABLE OF CONTENTS

Charlie Persuk Stephanie Pan Amia Ma Arsema Asfaw Jonesy Costa-Schmell Austin Nie Grey Smith Karen Situ William Cao Trish Owyang Sofia Steinhart Jarron Ikeda Erica Chen Alyssa Yin

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

CHARLIE PERSUK: ABOLISHED FOR BEING TO This cycle, I took it upon myself to make a more personal piece. I knew I wanted to tap into more details from my own life and incorporate several art styles that inspire me. Khokhloma folk art, as well as the psychedelic surrealism of Russian cartoons I grew up watching, influenced my process throughout the cycle.

The clown in the middle is a representation of me.

It’s a recurring character I use to portray a lot of different emotions I feel, mainly when I need to express feelings that can only be conveyed through visual art. I wanted to flesh out this character and give it more life than the typical pencil drawings I have been doing when these emotions surface.

Initially, the concept that sparked the idea for this theme was the historical role filled by clowns and jesters, who were the only ones allowed to poke fun at the kings, queens and other royalty. I had a kind of backstory idea for the piece, that maybe this clown persona had been abolished from Earth.

First, “Abolished for Being too Funny” was going to be the title, but since I say swag so much, I thought it would be even funnier to call it, “Abolished for Being too Swag.”

The other element - the lion - is a personal detail from my astrological life. I have been interested in astrology for a couple years now and though I’m not sure how much I believe in it, the zodiac definitely resonates with me on some level. The lion is my sun sign and the one most people would know from their birthday, but it is also in my Mercury placement, which rules communication.

Leos are known to be bold, passionate, overdramatic, and theatrical, so it also fits with the theme of being abolished for my actions, speech, and swag :)

OO SWAG

STEPHANIE PAN: BLOOD FOR GRADES

Too often, parents and adults have no idea what their kid is going through. In this video, I want to give people insight into what a student’s life can feel like. The story shines a light on their obsession over test scores, student bullying, and self-harm.

AMIA MA: BIZARRE BAZAAR

CLICK TO READ

EXT. GROCERY STORE - AFTERNOON The image of the grocery store expands as he gets closer. ‘Joe’s,’ it reads in dying lights. The sign is generic and you can find it anywhere.

Faint 80s music plays in the background, but listening closely, the melody is discordant and eerie. It looks cold.

It FEELS cold.

He walks around the store. Something isn’t quite right, but he doesn’t seem to notice.

ARSEMA ASFAW: BEYOND THE HAUNTING

- Albert Bredow "Romantic Winter Landscape With Gothic Castle"

EPIGRAPH “It’s gonna hurt, now,” said Amy. “Anything dead coming back to life hurts.”

- Toni Morrison, Beloved “When we think of haunted spaces, we think of structures or defined areas with clear borders. Can the sea be haunted? How does a ghost inhabit that which has no borders, something formless that ebbs and flows?”

- Leila Taylor, Darkly

in your house— what lies beneath your cupboards and underneath the venerable wooden planks and within the hollow pillars filled with memories of a time that has packed its bags and taken its doormat— houses are filled with homes of people memories— trinkets— burdens— negative space— unspoken words and misspoken actions— your house is scarred flesh not a living thing— the will of the house tangential to the will of its inhabitants the windowsill heavy the doorframe sleepy i want to trace the scars of your home whisper in its ear— show me what are you hiding from me? if i slithered through the anguished creak of the door, what would i see? hear? feel ? taste? smell? the house is a tall child. a very tall child. its childhood is forged from the bark of its ancient mother and its sprung father its knees scarred with the burdens

of occupiers scrape your knee: it is only skin a house that is haunted contains the ghosts from our pasts— our residual accumulates nooks and crannies filled with phantoms strung together by safe armed dreams on the back of your house is the projection of temporality an innately human— ergo exclusive— gift that our absence— lack of presence— insinuates a bestowing of i traced my fingers along the weathered leather like skin of your house the door that moaned —a failure of relief —let me in this is beyond—your house told me be·yond /bē-änd/ state of being 1. what the human body cannot contain, our boundaries insufficient and borderline formless. what we leave for the physicality of the house

JONESY COSTA-SCHMELL: RECOVERED

AUSTIN NIE: MIDDLE WAVE

NOW ON SOUNDCLOUD CLICK TO LISTEN

GREY SMITH: GREY’S VISAGE

My project is inspired by Chinese opera masks, which are made to represent varying ideas, characters, and emotions. Using vibrant colors, unique patterns, and specific details, these masks convey very specific character traits. My mask represents the feeling of being scared and unsure of what to say.

The eyes are cut out, but the mouth is not. I left the mouth wide open to represent words that need to be said but cannot be expressed due to fear. This is how I feel on a regular basis. I’m not great at communicating, so I thought this mask would be an accurate way to represent my emotional journey. Perhaps representing this fear through my mask will help me overcome this obstacle?

KAREN SITU: I WANT TO BE A DEMON! CLICK TO READ

Story Excerpt: “Why don’t ya’ walk faster an’ stop hoggin’ the walkin’ space?” he spat.

Lilith could feel the veins in her head begin to bulge in frustration. Her? Walk? When this brat was the one who ran into her? She laughed, standing and brushing off the dirt from her uniform.

“Oh? I suppose I need to teach you some manners then.”

Lilith said as she cracked her knuckles.Her two servants backed away with serene looks on their faces, as if challenging someone to a brawl wasn’t out of the ordinary.

The oni made a face. “Hah?!

An uptight noble challenging me to a fight? What next?

Are you going to crown me as the next emperor?” The oni began to pick himself up from the ground, but Lilith raised a fist and brought it down upon his head.

- Victoria Le

- Victoria Le

Story Summary:

In a world where demons and angels roam the sky and the underworld, all living beings strive to become angels—the pinnacle of what one’s existence can become. As the true natures of demons and angels begin to unravel, the lies that served as the foundation of the kingdom of Ilgma begin to surface. Faced with new revelations, Princess Lilith decides, “I want to be a demon!”

WILLIAM CAO: SWING BOPS Last summer, while scrolling through my youtube recommendations, I came across a video titled "16 Levels of Piano Composition: Easy to Complex | WIRED.” Eager to learn more, I clicked on it and listened closely to how the simple “Happy Birthday” melody transforms into elaborate arrangements of soaring interwoven voices and layers of rich harmony. Before I knew it, I was going down a rabbit hole and binge-watching a whole bunch of videos by the pianist/composer Nahre Sol. For my column, inspired by Nahre Sol, I wanted to explore different types and genres of music and chose to focus on jazz piano. As a classically trained pianist, jazz was unfamiliar to me. So, I researched and learned the basics from youtube tutorials. To familiarize myself with both the harmonic and melodic components, I used a pdf version of The Real Book (a collection of lead sheets for jazz standards) and selected two tunes to practice and analyze.

I picked the jazz standard “All The Things You Are,” composed by Jerome Kern, and transcribed all of the chords on manuscript paper (paper used to write music) and practiced them with smooth voice leading (arranging chord tones to make them sound good).

Lastly, I added the melody in the right hand and used all the tools that I learned from video tutorials to complete the arrangement.

As the summer cycle comes to a close, I want to reflect on the incredible experience I had studying jazz. It was super fun listening to jazz lofi hip hop while transcribing lead sheets and legendary jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, and more!

TRISH OWYANG: MIRRORS

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SOFIA STEINHART: A DINNER AT HOME

JARRON IKEDA: IKIGAI EP

Ikigai is a Japanese word that describes what gives your life fulfillment. To me, it’s all about whatever makes me say, “Life is good.” Music has always been a huge influence and something that brings me happiness when I’m making it. One day, I hope I’ll be able to perform for crowds and grow over time.

NOW ON SOUNDCLOUD CLICK TO LISTEN

ERICA CHEN: ENTRY OF A DAUGHTER

ALYSSA YIN: CREATING A VTUBER

Designing the model and preparing for rigging.

Animating the model with rigging software.

A vTuber model is a drawing that’s designed to mirror for your face (blinking, speaking, etc). I decided to draw and rig my own model!

SUNSET MICRO WAVE VOL IV After a year and half of virtual programming, we resumed our work in person this cycle, and what a summer it has been! If you’re new to The Wave, you might not know that these zines are relatively new to us.

Over the past seven years, we have been posting via our website, sunsetmediawave.org, but with the onset of the pandemic, we shifted to a zine format to simplify the bureaucracy and keep the focus on experimentation and creativity. As a result, Volume 4 is the first issue of Sunset Micro Wave to be completed onsite at SNBC on Noriega Street and what a difference it has made! Naturally, this summer has been an adjustment for everyone. Most of us have spent the past year working in our bedrooms or at the kitchen table, relying on Zoom to communicate and interact. Being around people again felt unnatural at first, but over time, the organic interactions and collaborations began to click and simple moments of artistic alchemy resumed. Brainstorming, kicking around feedback, listening, sharing, seeing works in progress, discussing, debating, joking around, recording in our studio, spontaneous moments of creation, taking walks, breaking bread, moving between rooms without turning off our cameras - these have felt like revolutionary acts! On the surface, this issue may feel similar to our previous ones, but what is harder to put a finger on is the pure enjoyment we have felt, sheerly from being together. Down with Covid-19 and long live The Wave!

Editors Jon Bernson Rachelle Banares Caley Akridge Sasha Nakamura Layout Design Jacob Thompson Special Thanks Matt Pemberton, Helen Lee, Devon Saucedo, Campbell Gee, Leah O'Neil, Glenn Jackson, Mandy MacGowen, Ella Boyd-Wong, everyone at SNBC, BACR & DCYF. IG: @SUNSETMEDIAWAVE /// ONLINE: SUNSETMEDIAWAVE.ORG