Ignite Philly

I’ve had so much going on, I finally had time to write an article about the speech I gave at Ignite Philly. Adam Teterus, one of the organizers of the event and point man at Indy Hall, first came up with the idea of doing a talk about how a blind person experiences Philly. We recorded some audio and I edited together a five-minute soundscape in Audacity. Adam also had the idea that people should close their eyes for the whole five minutes, so I made some sarcastic slides. The whole thing went very well, and since then I have recorded a studio version which will appear on WHYY.

We made the whole thing over two or so weeks. I recorded a few hours of audio around my home and at Indy Hall. Adam and I also walked around the block, recording any random city sounds. It gave me a lot to work with and I finally had a five minute piece.

I made a recording of the audio. It has more of the banter, and me downing an entire bottle of water. Zack Seward made a high quality recording taken directly from the mixing board. For those who must see the video, you can watch it on YouTube, but it has horrible audio. Technically Philly also wrote a great article.

I came up with the slides over a weekend. Of course I had to have some generic jokes chiding the viewer for looking. I threw in some plugs for Indy Hall and Philly. I also put in a few quotes from the Secret of the Golden Flower, and various Discordian texts! For the curious, they read as follows.

Close your eyes!

If you can read this you’re cheating.

It’s better with your eyes closed.

This text is a distraction.

If a screen displays a message that you do not see does it still exist?

Stop looking.

Nothing to see here.

Imagine if you couldn’t read this.

Accessibility helps everyone.

Visit Indy Hall! www.indyhall.com

I love Philadelphia!

Philadelphia had the first computer.

Philadelphia: great tech, great beer.

Make a medicine out of the illness.

Use action to attain non-action.

Omnia quia sunt lumina sunt. All things that are are light.

Did you know that you have a lopsided pineal gland?

Sit upright in a comfortable position, make your breath silent, and put your attention between your eyes.

Turn on your inner vision.

Austin Seraphin www.austinseraphin.com

Last Wednesday, Zack invited me to WHYY and I got to live a childhood dream. Sitting in the broadcasting booth felt so right. We recorded a wonderful studio version of the talk, as well as some interview footage. My radio debute will happen in a few weeks and I feel very excited. I would never have thought of this if not for Adam, who came up with the idea. Score another for Indy Hall and for Discordia!