Welcome to Signal Chain
A self-assignment to report from the middle distance between young and old.
This is Signal Chain, a newsletter about living in the middle distance between youth and old age. Jason Clarke is the primary author.
In the context of audio production, a “signal chain” is the order of devices between an instrument (such as a guitar) and its ultimate output (such as an amp). The sound is affected by the number, order, and quality of these devices. Signals can be purposely clarified or distorted as part of the signal chain, and they can also be inadvertently impacted by any link in the chain.
While a signal chain doesn’t define the type of music, it does influence how that music is created and perceived. In the signal chain of thoughts, meaning can be purposely or accidentally changed from the time it starts in the head to when it is written, published, and then read, especially when influenced by time and memory.
As an 80’s kid and a member of the Generation X / elder millennial collective, I’m in middle age now. I’m young enough to still have days where I feel 19 and old enough to have days when I can’t even grasp the memory of that age.
So Signal Chain is about anything, but everything will be filtered through the chain of time and memory from youth to middle age. In a world that has gone from analog to digital and from prosperity to listlessness.
In that sense, this newsletter is probably more about me than my potential readers. However, in this collaboration of sharing ideas and reading them, I hope you find something you recognize.
I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I’ve always considered myself a writer. This is technically justifiable in that my livelihood depends on me persuading people via writing (though Hemingway probably wouldn’t consider composing business emails the height of writerly romanticism).
This is romantically justifiable in that saying you are a writer doesn’t really need to be qualified with any specific credentials. If you wistfully tell people you’re a doctor, but you have no training, your announcement will likely be met more with concern than appreciation.
Sure, some people will ask “What have you written?”, as a way to deflate your pronouncement, and they will have their own internal judgement system to apply. Luckily for me, I do have some answers for those pedants. For example, as a senior in highs school, I paid $50 to a publisher to include one of my poems in an anthology. When the book arrived it was over 200 pages of poems from other kind naïve souls in a tragically tiny font printed on cheap paper.
Some of the content you might see in future issues:
- What happened to Acid rain, one of the threats that terrified 80’s kids
- How learning about glaciers helped me to not get lost on a mountain
- An exact formula for knowing when you will start being aware of your impending death
- and more!
✌️
Jason Clarke
Orono, Maine
January 20, 2026
SIGNAL CHAIN MIX CD
Every issue will feature a song from the Signal Chain mix CD.
This issue's song is Where is My Mind? by Pixies and released in 1988. Despite its impact being dampened by too many appearances in movies, TV, and even commercials, this song is probably the most perfect audio representation of what I feel like on most days. While the song is overtly about scuba diving, it's also about disorientation in any setting, and trying to remain full of ideas and life even when you're confused about what's happening around you.
Where Is My Mind?
Pixies, Surfer Rosa, 1988