Often, those who tread off the beaten path are misunderstood or mischaracterized and so we asked folks from the community to reflect and tell us about the times they’ve been misunderstood or mischaracterized.

Abel Paúl

The fact that one’s work does not fit within certain aesthetic paradigms or trends should not be an impediment to developing a personal language; quite the contrary. For some years now, I have been working with a type of electronic music that escapes certain traditional approaches (miniature electronics, exploring hybridizations between acoustic instruments and small loudspeakers). Read More>>

JAC M.

I chose this topic because as a Black femme I am constantly being misunderstood or mischaracterized due to society’s internal and external connection with white supremacy and the patriarchy. In the last two years, I have dedicated my entire Life to the people and lives who are enslaved, to the most documented genocide of our lifetime, in Gaza, Palestine. Read More>>

Mikkita Moore

For years, I was known as the woman who could motivate a room, yet there were seasons when I struggled to motivate myself. I built platforms while broken and encouraged others to keep going while quietly questioning my own worth. I learned how to inspire without having language for my own exhaustion. What hurt most was not the work—it was the people. Read More>>

Lawrence Kan

I think that, especially when attending a college without a film production program, the film community in Berkeley can be very cliquey, so a lot of one’s actions are always heavily scrutinized — where reputation, alliances, and perceptions circulate faster than the films themselves. I am an overly anxious person, and as a consequence of that, the scrutiny always feels sharper. Read More>>

Holly Gowland

As someone who is situated between the classical and electronic music realms, I often feel like I do not fit into either community, as I am too classical for the electronic world but too electronic for the classical world. Read More>>