On April 24th, John McHorter, professor of music at Columbia, could not teach silence. He complained that his students could not listen to John Cage’s 4’33” because the students outside were protesting genocide. Students for Palestine filling up space– drowning out time. John McHorter wanted his time clean. He wanted contained space– silence that we’ve never had. He wanted 4 minutes and 33 seconds precise, quiet, and enclosed. John McHorter did not want John Cage’s sound. John Cage wants the sound of the outside– the sound of the audience shifting in their seats, the sound of traffic beyond the window, the sound of people-bodies-place. McHorter hears “from the river to the sea…” as a disruption– a break in his contained consciousness space. Let us break////////

On Friday May 3rd at 4:27 pm a pro-Palestinian rally speaker called for a moment of silence. Silence unbroken. Silence contained. Silence heard by pigs. Silence between you and I– us and them– us and ours. This silence was interrupted by invasion. Helicopter blades whirring. Helicopter blades filling space filling ears. Occupation everywhere. Occupation echoing occupation. Occupation echoing occupation. Occupation echoing occupation. Occupation echoing occupation. Occupation echoing occupation. Helicopter taking away his John McHorter’s 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Your 4 minutes and 33 seconds taken by student voices. Students chanting for Palestinians screaming. Students chanting for Palestinians silenced. Students chanting in front of pigs. Students chanting for corpses. 4 minutes and 33 seconds for 40,000 bodies. 40,000 bodies for occupation. 40,000 bodies for silence.