Yardley, PA 1997 & Avenue S

October 19, 2025 Emily Preziose

Yardley, PA 1997: I thoroughly enjoyed this piece. I loved that it was a multi-sensory activity. Initially I just clicked through but I did notice sound-wise something sounded off so once I read the little description about the “score” and all that, it made a lot more sense. I really loved the actual poem itself but I also loved that it was also interactive in performance of the piece. It was more simple and effective as far as electronic literature goes. It was straightforward as far as what to expect going into this piece. Before this piece, the other pieces we walked through so far have had hidden like “easter eggs” somewhere within the piece and having many ways of navigation. The different approach to navigation of previous pieces could be fun but it is also overwhelming at times. Being in class and realizing I missed a whole section because I didn’t click the small illustration in the top left that unlocked the entire meaning of the piece could feel discouraging. I think this is a good entryway into the world of electronic literature. Yardley, PA 1997 had a very nostalgic feel and a layer of melancholy.

Avenue S: This piece executed the chaotic and uneasy feeling of the COVID-19 pandemic. I don’t think we acknowledge as a society how traumatic that time was like the world really shut down. We witnessed people dying, the feed of misinformation, fear mongering, divide, isolation, and so much more through our screens and in our lives. We simply could not escape anything (and still really can’t). We cannot move through the world without acknowledging that the world is different post-pandemic. I was definitely feeling overwhelmed with so many different things to click on but my favorite piece that I got to was the collage titled “THE GREAT EMPTY”. It gave a very disjointed feeling but still conveyed exactly what was happening during that time. We lost many things at that time but I think one of the hardest things we are struggling with to bring back is a sense of community and socialization. I thought the artwork was very effective as well as the pieces of poetry that were embedded through the piece for example the haiku called “Covid haiku” by Sally Stein on the section titled “mask culture”. Overall, this piece made me feel very overwhelmed.

student blogs

Artwork related to Avenue S

October 19, 2025 nortojas803583d717

Hello, I wanted to share some 2D artwork that I created in 2019 when I was taking a course for digital media multi-media design. This was about 2 weeks after going fully remote when I was in MCCC. We had to do a project about how we felt, about isolation and the effects that the pandemic was having on us personally as well as globally. After seeing some the the artworks in Ghost City in Avenue S I thought the theme of my drawings were similar. These representing object that are isolated, but start to make their way outward and over come the barriers and effects from loneliness. Thanks.

student blogs

Avenue S Reflection / Yardley, PA 1997 Presentation Links

October 19, 2025 nortojas803583d717

Avenue S

Once entering the piece and I first notice the rectangle shapes that automatically depict what many were going through globally during the pandemic having your surroundings boxed in, separated, isolated. The dates on the front of each replicated for me the idea of a Time Capsule, or a day in one’s life that was significant. Whatever content would be inside is going to be meaningful to someone if not me, or create a sense of belonging, interaction that many of us were deprived of. Also, a morbid image was present also that of a mausoleum for remembrance with all the rectangles and having dates on them. Like a piece of each person who had died in some way but was left behind for remembrance when you click on the title. There is sometimes filled with memories, items of the pandemic that we all become familiar with such as nylon gloves. There were so many interesting pieces in Ghost City Avenue S. I think we were all more at play, willing to dive deep into our imaginations for mental health reasons, something that we were not allowing ourselves to do when things were “normal” and our lives being filled with all the social and professional distractions of everyday living. The opportunity to express ourselves and still have some kind of voice, interaction with life had opened up in so nonconventional ways and the resources around us were used as extension of those surroundings, people or lack of as well to also resist what was happening or have a coping mechanism outside our uncertain worried thoughts by creating. Being reminded and having an archive of all the social aspects we took and still take for granted, and freedoms such as lingering effects when everything seemed to lack life, meaning, interactions, color.

In some of the pieces the movable elements started as a small, isolated piece, boundaries set with their lines which then overflow or expand outwards similar to what happened as things started to open back up in society. We took small steps, still distancing ourselves due to our own comfort levels and willingness to trust again ourselves, others, and powers to be. The shapes filled up at times in a type of unilateral patterns, or in conjunction with each other simultaneously. Then at points there was disbursement of movement from the inner core to the outer like one reaching out and expanding their presence into one’s surroundings.

The one release and escape during that time was creating art and taking advantage of our resources. Our identities and how they changed were put in flux with the things we no longer had around us, interactions to validate who we are. I think a lot of the Ghost City clips were strongly about one’s identity, fantasy and playing role away from the current world that was being offered with uncertainties, fears, loneliness. Many of the artwork’s movements were morphs or mirrors of each other. Isolated and Alone depicting urban life and the changes brought to social interaction and energy that was once prominent in the streets and neighborhoods amongst each other.