This American Life
I recently listened to a radio talk show presented by “This American Life” and found it not only incredibly interesting but also inspiring in a way. If you are anything like me and are in desperate need of inspiration during the summer months please take my advice and listen to this talk show.
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=110
I find that when something is required we as humans are less apt to want to do whatever it may be. Yet if we discover this very same thing for ourselves it is the best thing ever and we can not get enough of it. I had this exact experience at first when I was listening to this talk show. Who just listens to talk shows anymore? In fact, how many people really listen to the radio nowadays? Probably next to no one – in today’s society it is much more convenient or interesting to watch a talk show on television (which I must say is kind of an oxymoron) rather than listen to one on the radio. Therefore I found this a sort of challenging yet gratifying exercise.
According to This American Life, everything in the world can be mapped in one way or another. At first I was skeptical but after listening I realized how possible it really is. I was able to visualize some of these maps and began to think about how I would utilize this way of thinking. The way that the five senses are discussed in this show give a mixed emotional aspect as I personally found them to be both a blessing and a curse. During the segment about hearing the announcer blatantly says that these mappings are always a good thing because when he sat down to write he was incredibly distracted by all of the ambient noise within his home after he was asked to listen for it originally. Additionally, the segment about the sense of touch had a very negative aspect to it. The way that Deb Monroe mapped her body through touch seemed almost self-destructive. She not only injured her own physical body through her poking and prodding causing bruising, she also damaged her mental and emotional state of being.
Overall I enjoyed the talk show. It showed me how to think in a completely new way that I had not thought before. I really liked act two with Jack Hitts and Toby Lester about hearing. When the announcer told the listener to stop and listen to the ambient sounds around I was able to do that. And in this experience I realized how noisy the world is. I found this act to be the most interesting as I have a musical background and I was able to hear the notes within my own home and associate feelings with these grouping of “notes”.
This show gave me my own creative ideas about specific maps that involve either walking or sitting in the same place for an extended period of time. I am interested in mapping the patterns in the carpet or in the thick paint on my walls, or even the paths of the clouds or stars in the sky.
