https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-steelpan
Part One
Some steel pan information:
it’s not a drum. It’s an idiophone:
any instrument that produces
vibrations without strings or membranes.
Part Two
Steel pan music started as
an act of resistance in the 30’s
in Trinidad and Tobago
when formerly enslaved people
from West Africa were barred from participating
in the Trinidad Carnival so they used sticks and bamboo.
They kept inventing instruments, using discarded metal
like dust bins and car parts. They invented oil drums too.
Part Three
I love Google animations.
I wish my favorite animator
Sarah Jane Lapp would make one.
PART FOUR
Thirty six years ago, a month
before we adopted Noah, we went
to Tobago to talk about Something Else
besides Noah and what it would be like
to have a child. All we talked about was Noah.
(We heard many steel drums.)
PART FIVE
Google’s narrative is progressive.
Their politics are not.
It took many years for a small number
of Google workers to unionize.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/01/google-hired-union-busting-consultants-to-convince-employees-unions-suck/
PART SIX
I keep thinking I should turn this site
into a personal magazine.
Just like this.
PART SEVEN
A million years ago
Abby Glazer who is Abby Robinson now
and I started a handwritten magazine
called GAB. I gabbed
and she illustrated. She’s been
an amazing photographer for years.
https://abbyrobinson.com
PART SEVEN
Maybe my Overheard magazine
will be just like this.