The 2016 election of Donald Trump inspired Milo, like so many others, to make protest art. She chose poetry because of its directness. Midway through 2 years of research and writing the poems for her poem cycle entitled Miss Experience White, she knew it would have to be a podcast as well: an audio drama with cinematic production values.
The surreal, three-part poetic podcast won a 2022 Gold Signal Award for Limited Series & Specials, Scripted (Fiction), a Silver Signal Award for Limited Series & Specials, Best Sound Design, a 2022 w3 Silver Award for Miniseries & Specials, Cause Awareness, and a w3 Silver Award for Original Music/Sound Design. This book presents the entire poem cycle with all-new illustrations by noted artist John Seabury. The text takes Miss Experience White, a stand-in for the author, on a harrowing and eventually freeing journey through American history through the eyes and experiences of her ancestors and their experiences in the New World, from the Civil War to Western Expansion to our modern era. Brutally honest, mystically evocative text psares the reader nothing, from lynchings and abuse to moments of hope and refuge.
Johnson, Milo Starr: - Milo Starr Johnson is a California-based writer and multidisciplinary artist: a poet, playwright, performer, producer, and indie-pop singer-songwriter. As co-producer, writer, and performer of the podcast version of Miss Experience White, she won a 2022 Signal Gold Award for Fiction in a Limited Series and a 2022 Silver w3 Award for Cause Awareness in a Miniseries. Other poems have been published in Insurgent Imagination #1 and Sparring Artists 2. As playwright and performer, her self-produced solo theater productions received an L.A. Times Best Bet and LA Weekly Pick of the Week. The Perambulator, her album of original retro 60s- and 70s-inspired pop songs garnered praise from music reviewers and industry professionals. A seeker by nature, she specializes in creating provocative and personal work advocating for change with love and mischief. She is a fifth generation Californian with ancestors going back to colonial America.
Seabury, John: - John Seabury is a Grammy-nominated illustrator and designer. His work is featured in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame Library collection, internationally acclaimed publications like The Art of Rock (1987) and The Art of Modern Rock (2004), and in a broad constellation of promotional material for iconic musicians including Radiohead, George Clinton, Devo, The Damned, Kevin Gilbert, Todd Rundgren, and The Mars Volta. His work for Arhoolie Records now resides in the Smithsonian Institution collection. He has produced hundreds of posters, album covers, and T-shirt designs. He is a founding member of the historic Berkeley punk band Psycotic Pineapple and creator of their mascot, Pynoman. As a bass player in many other bands, he's been active in the San Francisco Bay Area music community for decades. Like the author, he has ancestors going far back in American history.
