"If These Walls Could Talk: Inside Youth Speak Out" SEASON ONE > Comments > "If These Walls Could Talk"
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Commenter Profile
- Sara Zhang
- Username: sarazhang
- Location: Carmel, Indiana
- Joined PRX: Sep 22, 2009
Piece Information
- ""If These Walls Could Talk: Inside Youth Speak Out" SEASON ONE"
- Summary: "IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK: Inside Youth Speak Out" is a poetry series drawn from testimonial writings by the youngest members of America's prison system. Written and recorded by the authors themselves between 2009 and 2010 inside juvenile halls in northern California, they proudly present, here, Season One.
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If These Walls Could Talk
Sara Zhang
Posted on March 30, 2010 at 03:54 PM
Video killed the radio star.
TV promises it all: sound, sight, and the power of imagination, all compacted into a box. Baird Television hit a winner when they branded TV; the word evokes progress and wealth for those without it, and comfort, entertainment, and family for those who do. While TV has industriously increased market share, radio has metamorphosized into an auditory feast: tenor in Technicolor, harmony in DVD, and discourse in Blu Ray.
Radio, A.T. (after TV), has created pieces like If These Walls Could Talk, a collection of 20 poems. The Walls are a group of incarcerated youth at the San Francisco Juvenile Youth Center, and their mind is their Talk. The poetry sounds like music. The words are notes, sometimes in harmony, but more often in discourse. For me, the greatest strength of this piece is the freedom it allows the listener. The words in conjunction with voice provoke my imagination. Regina of My Voice has curly hair and she talks without hand gestures. What Happened to Forever’s writer, Ray Sanchez Junior, lived in the library when he was younger, he likes white shirts. H doesn’t believe in God, but he used to.
Can TV do that?
Video killed the radio star (You are the radio star).