Here is the transcription of my most recent video blog:
(And here’s the audio on AnchorFM)
Hey everybody, this is Queen Mab, and the reason I look like crap today is ‘cuz this was my first day back at work educating young people in the arts of percussion. And I was planning to talk about something different today, but I’m feeling inspired to instead talk about science and the tough relationship that I have with science.
To make a long story short, I got the message as a kid that I was not good at science or math because I’m a girl. It wasn’t…it wasn’t explicitly said that way, but it was definitely implied, like I had a fifth grade teacher who said, “Oh, you know, well, Catherine’s not really good at like…math and stuff. I mean, I know that’s what she likes…but what she’s really good at is writing,” okay? And so I was steered away from it. And the past couple years I’ve been thinking, “You know…maybe I should look back into that, you know? Maybe I should revisit some of my childhood interests.”
So if you’ve seen my solo show, you know that last year – almost a year ago – I got sexually harassed by a doctor, and as a result, I got really angry. And I wanted to do something productive with my anger, but I didn’t know what to do. And I decided to take organic chemistry. So it worked out that I have a good friend who has a PhD in organic chemistry, and she happened to be teaching a summer course aimed at college students to prepare them for organic chemistry, so she let me take this class. And I had a good time, but now the school year’s starting, and I’m thinking, “Okay, well, what do I do with this knowledge that I learned,” right?
So one of the things I did over the summer was I found a way to “play” the different molecules that we were studying on my pandeiro. So in organic chemistry, you have these cool little model kits…so like, this is a methane atom [should be molecule – sorry]. When I think methane, I always think “fart gas,” but I have a feeling that it has other uses besides that. This is carbon, and then the end of these…there’s assumed to be a hydrogen, and then the bonds consist of two electrons, okay? So one more time…there’s your methane…there’s carbon…there’s hydrogen, hydrogen, hydrogen, hydrogen…and your electrons, okay?
So here’s my pandeiro, and we’re gonna let this be carbon, and we’re gonna let this be hydrogen, and then there’s your electrons, okay? So this is what a methane molecule would sound like:
(plays)
Carbon (bass tone)…hydrogen (slap)…hydrogen (slap)…hydrogen (slap)…hydrogen (slap).
(stops playing)
All right, so…let me know if you found this video interesting. There are plenty of other molecules that I can play. I also experimented with posting it on TikTok, although I have no idea who’s gonna wanna watch organic chemistry pandeiro on TikTok, but…it is there. You can follow me @queenmabmusic. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe, and especially let me know if you liked this. And even if you didn’t, I still wanna know, ‘cuz I…I was planning to talk about fanny packs today, so I’d love to know if you find this to be just as interesting or more so or less so than fanny packs, okay? Thanks, bye!