Could You Please Explain the Gap in Your Resume?

While the burden does not solely fall on women, recent research still shows that women carry a larger share of care-taking responsibilities, whether that be for children, elder care, caring for persons with illness and disabilities and more (this discrepancy only exacerbated by the pandemic). Society often gives women such as myself very mixed messages, imploring us to always be there for our children (elderly parents, ill relatives, etc.) while simultaneously questioning our lack of productivity at work. As a composer who has taken a break from composing due to care-taking responsibilities, getting these contradictory messages from those around me is very much a lived experience. The Max/MSP patch in this piece directly relates to this ‘contrary messaging’. The patch increasingly gives opposing information to the audio over the course of the work, resulting in a different outcome each time, as each ‘choice’ progressively impacts the overall trajectory of the music.