Michelle Day
“Composing Spaces”

TEXT-ONLY VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

[black screen]

Coffee, crossed legs, laptop, notebook, phone.

[music]

Coffee, crossed legs, laptop, notebook, phone.

Coffee, crossed legs, laptop, notebook, phone.

[video of Michelle sitting on couch, setting up coffee, laptop, notebook, and phone]

Coffee, crossed legs, laptop, notebook, phone.

[video of Michelle in coffee shop at table, setting up coffee, laptop, notebook, and phone]

For me, multimodal composing is about composing spaces. Spaces that are structured and mobile, in the presence of people and natural light, where I can cross my legs, and make the same precise workspace every time.

[video of Michelle driving]

It's a workspace that can move as much as I do, so I can let my mind and body do their natural wandering between many projects and obligations, yet be drawn back to the stability of a familiar workplace.

[video of Michelle at kitchen table, setting up coffee, laptop, notebook, and phone]

Composing for me is about a balance of chaos and composure. My tiny precise workplace and an obsessively organized file management system gives my physical space the kind of stability that's impossible to enforce upon my frenetic head space.

[video of Michelle driving]

My head during composing is caught up in a barrage of long to-do lists, memories, the full spectrum of human emotion, the constant realization I'm late for something, not to mention sporadically occurring waves of inspiration for the several projects I'm always working on.

[video of Michelle sitting on floor in hallway, setting up coffee, laptop, notebook, and phone]

It's the controlled physical space that integrates multimodal composing into the rhythm of my life and gives me the grounding I need to let my brain wander freely in the unpredictable flow of my creative process.

[video of Michelle walking, then sitting in cubicle, setting up coffee, laptop, notebook, and phone]

[black screen]

Coffee, crossed legs, laptop, notebook, phone.

Repeat.