Why MUDDLE?

Signs in the Neighborhood

by Rebecca J. Parker - @rjp43
edited by Taylor-Cate Brown - @taylorcate

< Section Title > Connecting Threads.

L1: Waiting for a web of these knowledge sites, sticky spots.
It makes one w[a][o]nder;
L2: Where did the spiders go? cite: an evening w/ LeTriece 📜
Certainly never staying just where they (grow) [correct to grew].

L3: An animal farm's perspective spans too far for one farmer to sow cite: Tay📣,
L4: but CHARLOTTE knows the benefit of a spider's view.
L5: (Outward looking in) [reverse]: Node to node, hooking lines, edge to edge.
L6: Misunderstood when looked upon with haste
cite: newtFire Introduction to Network Analysis 🌌.
L7: Because It takes time to get used to the quirks of this daily race.

L8: Lifes [autocorrect v to f]
NO, I mean LIFES
exist in their singularity but also in an inevitable solidarity.

L9: More narratives mean[s] [as in averages] more faces cite: historical evidence 📱
cite: Julia Rose 📙.

L10: Digital [h][H]umanities remain[s] unanimously re-definable
L11: [THEN][until][WHEN] we restructure the question [use active voice] from what it is
to who? and where? and how? And when?

L12: A steadfast retort:
L13:

WE THE PEOPLE must unequivocally answer such inquiries with the commitment and habituation of collaborative and accessible spaces. We see this as a digital humanitarian occupation of our COLLECTIVE knowledge and shared memory.

L14: What more could a single spider hope for when building its network of sticky no[d][t]es.
L15: These tethered knots need not untie.

L16: A point of many intersections defines a pattern. THUS, "algorithmically" weighted in this analysis.
L17: Because we can't expect to see the network outside looking in:
a refusal to let function form [reverse] WITHIN.

L18: Landing among the stars can't be enough, aim beyond the moon [the sun].
L19: A telescope aids the journey to such depths.
L20: HOLDFAST when TECHNOLOGY serves DISCOVERY.

L21: And R[hy][i]mes of ancient mariners hark a similar tune.
L22: Pitched to the right cloud, waves turn to rain and it's foolish how quick we blame our ODDS when it could be quantifiably readable.

L23: With a way to measure and record the cartographer has no bounds building knowledge that CONNECTS US ALL.
L24: AND in a world where the ship is commissioned, but the cargo is our data -- we must be pirates.
L25: The kind that question wavy lines of pirate lives, sins and Vine [deceased due to deprecated data],

L26: with that much booty on the line.

L27: Spiders clinging to waterspouts spark bouts of silliness for good reason.
L28: Nature has better form cite: Tay📣.

< Section Title > Poster Printing: Polluted Pains

L29: She t[aps][ypes] her digits on the cash register in a room labeled lab and we're suddenly made aware of the money that runs through institutional streams.

L30: No matter the banks, when upstream is muddled with pollution we know not to drink the water, but who will question the SOURCE and read the warnings to those too young, too poor, or too weak?

L31: Why do paper jams and hanging chads fight our input - introducing errors? Faults in our technology - no matter the medium - broken branches or fallen trees. We're so quick to blame the storm.

L32: A game of monopoly clear as day - when the greenbacks hit the bank[s],
we're off to the cutting board. ✂️

L33: Data leaves a trail of tears and blood muddled into one,
but only if you look away when they go to slice.

L34: Tuning in we see the destruction [production] of a tsunami.
L35: NATURE self-corrects and therefore cannot be blamed [shamed] for her revisions.
L36: Have we ever cared to consider her process whilst watching with critical eyes not of analysis but of judgement? L37: Shouldn't we learn from past processes?

L38: Leaves at the door, on tiled floors and found amongst the jackets and the shoes, are summertime footprints in the sand and snowy boot so[u]l[e]s found the morning after a silent night.
L39: Evidence of witnesses, not each singularly, but as a collective.
L40: Not just the faces but the eyes, and hands, mouths, and ears
consuming sno-balls ❄️ and rays of sunshine.

L41: That's the backyard I wanna be in.

L42: Where data points to nature and she nurtures our pathways with the creations [in iterations] of each other.
L43: Spilt coffee☕ stains, but spilled milk spoils.
L44: Embracing the spots on this tablecloth means making mistakes but seeing the happy accidents as lessons grounded [beans] in evidence
past and present.
L45: Mother nature knows the trick to redding up any mess
[Pittsburghese - to redd up is to tidy up].

IN CONCLUSION < that's a terrible way to end a paper [good thing this is a poem.]

L46: When everyone is given access, held accountable, and given opportunity as well as encouraged to create, we will finally live in the networks of symbiosis, that we have idealized [and realized] over and over again in many past mediums [and media].
L47: Form and function hand in hand with creative vision:
"That's the ticket!" - cite: Hobo Johnson 🎶