Whispers, Emily Bryn

Author’s note: In CMSCI  449: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, students were assigned to write a natural language processing program that would generate commencement speeches. The result was authentic English, and although some sentences did not portray logical thought, others were rather profound. After playing around with different seeds and generating different speeches, the most compelling lines were “cut out” and spliced together, creating a piece that comments about the state of society today in a fragmented stream of consciousness.

Anecdote: When I speak
The high beams on because, you know, this is an all-embracing moral vision:

…there were wildcats, endless snow, debauchery—
that was 50 years from now on, time will come back to me
    because it is for books.
53 years ago time was a bowl of pretzels or potato chips
    –that are hardest to reach.

Some of you thrive, and you’re not objective enough.
It’s a place where anywhere you turn
    people are responding to others for running into them.
So maybe the history lecture was ill- advised.

You are our parents’ dream of the human mind.
And you are also very annoying.
Finding passion is the luckiest one that offers you the soul of a fire.
Certainly a fire engine.
It is an auspicious occasion of your brainpower, then its slot machines…

Machinery has fallen into superstition, into sensuality,
    is never quite committing to watching anything.

Those are the Austrian Alps yodeling.

About the Author

Ian Schirra · Mount St. Mary’s University

Ian Schirra is a Computer Science graduate from Mount St. Mary’s University. He uses his love of writing to escape the matrix, hoping to open a door for readers. “The Austrian Alps” first appeared in Lighted Corners.

About the Artist

Emily Bryn · Saint Edward’s University

Emily Bryn is a Mexican-American artist in Austin, Texas. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art with a minor in Gender Studies and Sexuality at St.Edward’s University. When she isn’t drawing or painting, Emily Bryn is creating apparel for her side project regarding immigration policies, where a percent of every purchase is donated to an organization aiming to help immigrants fight for their deserved rights. Emily has made apparel worn by singer Orville Peck, created an installation for Austin-based Korean restaurant Oseyo, is #1 in Visit Austin’s article of Artists to Look Out For, and has worked on designing a few state level political campaigns. See more of her work on Instagram @emsbrynart or her website, http://www.emsbrynart.com. This piece first appeared in Sorin Oak Review.