for the love of radio
Over the last eight months or so, I have made it a habit to listen to podcasts while I work. Whether I was printing something or working mindlessly on the computer, I would plug myself into these stories that were being told on the radio. Granted, I wasn’t listening to anything live, as most of these programs aren’t available locally, but in essence, I was tapping into a nearly-extinct way to communicate.
All of these months, all of these stories that I have heard now… the hours upon hours of information I have been able to consume while my hands were busy with something else have shown me how valuable the old ways of telling stories are. Before anything else, before writing, even, people listened to stories. Poets memorized whole epic poems, reciting The Iliad before an audience. An entire work, with thousands and thousands of verses, recited night after night. That was their job.
It is amazing to think about this now. The only way for people to understand a story was to listen to it. There was no other way. And now, having experienced this, I am realizing the value in it. Listening forces one to hold on to multiple lines of thought, giving no convenient way to look back. Without the visuals, one is allowed to visualize what they want and forces one to really think for themselves.
Some of the programs are really informative. RadioLab, with Jad Abamunrad and Robert Krulwich, deals with science issues in a social way. They interview people who are involved with the issues they’re covering, as well as weave a story with natural progression throughout the episode. I have learned about diseases, peoples, places and scientific concepts I never knew existed before. Another information-based program is Stuff You Should Know. They take a topic and explain it in plain language in around 40 minutes. From the Black Plague to Munchausen Syndrom, Art Theft to the Mob, these guys cover anything and everything they’re curious about.
My particular favorite programs to listen to are the storytelling shows. Here are a few:
The Moth: This is a long-running live program that has the audience place their names into a hat to tell ‘stories without notes’ to an audience. The winner of a weekly show is chosen to be broadcast on the podcast. Sometimes they’re hilarious, sometimes I cry. But all are brilliantly told and are stories I can’t forget.
Risk!: Take The Moth, make it a themed hour-long episode with multiple stories and crank the rating up to NC-17 and you have Risk!. This show is hosted by Kevin Allison, a member of The State, a sketch comedy group out of New York City. From the looks of the first episode, it seemed like it was just an idea among friends to ‘tell stories you never thought you’d dare to share.’ Most of the stories are laden with swearing, sex and drugs, but they’re brilliantly told and the music is well-chosen. It feels like you’re sitting around with friends, trying to one-up one another with a funnier, weirder story.
Snap Judgment: ‘It’s that left, that right, jump! Or don’t… Storytelling with a beat.’ This is a newer NPR show hosted by the smooth-voiced Glynn Washington. These stories deal with a moment’s decision that changed the course of the person’s life, whether briefly or forever. They’re remixed with beats in the background, sound effects and commentary from the hosts. The stories, while not fall-over hilarious or soul-crushing sad, are completely engaging. They’re fantastic adventures that you can barely believe are real. Some of them have supernatural elements to them, those strange occurrences you can’t explain.
Standing boldly between storytelling and research-based is the long-running This American Life. Ira Glass presents two to 20 acts, with stories and documentaries researching specific subjects. There is a reason this show has been on WBEZ since 1995. It is thorough, indelicate and informative in the way it goes about looking for answers to specific questions. One of the first episodes was about gay men in straight marriages who cheat on their wives and never tell their children. Glass thew hard questions at the gentleman he was questioning and didn’t let him off the hook. It is a brilliant show that, while being an older show, doesn’t sell out for being popular.
I feel like these shows have helped me to continue learning while I am still out of school. I am able to listen for a long period of time without interruption and comprehend all of what was told to me as well as make connections in a way that I had some difficulty with before. I would often drift off and stop listening at certain points during lectures or conversations and I feel like it’s become easier to stay present.
a reminder of how it was
I know I stopped posting a long time ago, but this is important.
But first, a small review: I did not get into Binghamton, my trip did not happen. But I retook the GREs and currently have applications out to Notre Dame, Tufts, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. I want to get into Notre Dame and I will not find out until the end of next month.
And now, the important part:
I just found my old iPod from college. It was one of the original little clip-on shuffles. It looks like this:
It was only 1g of music, not even completely full. I plugged it into my computer and didn’t let the computer completely clear it. I opened it and paused for a moment. Something I don’t often think about is that this laptop that I’m using right now is not the computer I used while I was at Fredonia. While I have been able to save all of my information, the number of times I played a particular song was not saved.
It was always something I looked at with great interest. I could see the trends my listening was following by looking at this count. Existentialism on Prom Night by Straylight Run always had the most plays, with Set the Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol came in a pretty distant second. I know why: Existentialism always help a special meaning to me from my freshman year of college and Set became an obsession for some reason my junior year.
Unfortunately, with the new computer, I don’t have record of this. I only have new counts, new obsessions recorded. The most played song on my iTunes right now is April and May by David Fridlund with 82. Existentialism only has 40. Set only has 19. I have lost that record of my favorite songs from that time in my life because I switched computers. I didn’t think it would make me as sad as I am now, but there it is. Who knew?
But this little ipod… there is still a record of plays on it. It’s like looking at a photograph or painting. It’s a small piece of my history on a piece of technology. I know this all sounds so post-modern, but I guess that’s just where I am now. I look through it and I see that Existentialism was played 121 times. Set has 107. Such Great Heights by The Postal Service has 101. I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab for Cutie has 90.
This is a look into who I was and what I loved. It was what I listened to walking between classes, working out in the gym, writing in the library… it was always with me. Music has been and always be essential to me and how I remember. It is a way to interact. I remember listening to Lux Aterna by the Kronos Quartet (21 plays) on repeat one night after a frustrating evening with my thesis. I remember blinding light on the snow as I walked across campus in time with the down beat in The District Sleeps Alone Tonight by The Postal Service (88 plays) which actually made me think of a different evening in Fredonia my freshman year that had me and three friends walking all over Fredonia proper. I remember bouncing my head along to Supermassive Black Hole by Muse (61 plays) and imagining the people around me dancing along. I remember finishing my thesis while listening to I Found A Reason by Cat Powers (65 plays) at 3am.
I don’t think I will erase this ipod. It would be like burning a journal. There is so much that I can remember from simple song counts on a four-year-old ipod.
the first step
I finally took the first step towards this little trip of mine: I started getting everything ready to apply to graduate school.
It seems odd that this would be the first step, but let me explain: if I weren’t attending graduate school in the fall, I would not have the opportunity to run off for two weeks. I wouldn’t have enough vacation time, nor would it ever be approved by the managers. So, by having graduate school at the end of August, I would know where I was going to be and I can plan out my money accordingly.
Basically, it comes down to this: I will have eight months to save up money, not only for this trip, but to move into an apartment in Binghamton. I also have to balance student loans, my car loan and rent, along with car insurance and, you know, food.
The temptation I’m facing is to save up the money to pay off my car instead of going on the trip. That would be the practical thing to do. It is something to consider: without a $100 payment each month for another year, I could save up money for the trip and possibly be not-quite-so strapped for cash in the long run. The problem is if I don’t do it now, there is no guarantee I will ever do it, especially not by myself.
It’s not that I wouldn’t want to go with Vince or anyone else for that matter. I would love to go on a long trip with Vince, just the two of us. But this is something I want to do on my own. The more that I’ve thought about it, the more attractive the idea becomes. It would be amazing to be responsible to no one else; to stop where I want to stop and do what I want to do. It would be something I would have for myself. It would be hard, since no one else would know what I was talking about or understand what I went through, but I think it would be worth it to show that I would be able to survive on my own for two weeks.
The other problem is that I need to seriously chart a course across the US that would be do-able in the time-table I figure out. Much like anything else I do, I try to take on too much all at once. I need to know exactly what I want to see and prioritize it based on what is feasible. Then I need to plan it out and have an idea of when I want to get to each place and know how much time I have in between stops.
The only thing I know I want to do is to drive south from Portland to San Francisco. It’s cheesy, but the song California One/Youth and Beauty by The Decemberists makes me want to make that drive. It sounds amazing… to drive down the west coast. To think: me, on the west coast. It seems impossible right now, with Rochester buried under a few feet of snow and the temperatures hovering in the teens.
To watch the Pacific rise and fall…
2,724 miles
I know, I know. I said I was going to post, but that didn’t end up happening. Oops… heh.
Things have been going pretty well considering I’m not where I thought I was going to be. I am still working for the law office, which is boring but necessary. I was able to purchase a car, which is phenomenal. It’s a 1998 Saab 900s convertible in green with a black cloth top. I truly love it. It runs great and I had to learn how to drive stick. I’m doing quite well with it and I was able to go home a few times driving my car.
I am also applying to go to school at Binghamton in the fall. I really miss school, even though the University of Rochester definitely wasn’t the place for me. I think a state school, where I can do my thing and go on to teach, as teaching is all I really want to do.
Now, I come to the title of the journal entry.
Rochester, NY to San Francisco, CA
This is a map of what kind of drive it would be from my front door here in Rochester to the city limits of San Francisco. It is 2, 724 miles. One day and 18 hours. Nine states between California and New York. Further west than I have ever gone before.
I want to do it.
I want to take two weeks and go there and stop a few places along the way. Here are some of them:
- Yellowstone National Park
- Black Hills
- Mount Rushmore
- Grand Canyon
- Arizona/desert
I also want to see a few cities, aside from San Francisco:
- Chicago
- Salt Lake City
- Denver
- Portland
- Reno
- Phoenix
What I think I want to do with my journal for the next few months is to try and figure this out. To see whether or not I would have enough money to do something like this, how long it would take to get to each place and just the general logistics of a trip of this scale.
All I know is that I want to think it out and see what I can do. I know that I want to go by myself, which is all I know for sure. This is a risk that I am willing to take because there isn’t any one else I want to go to that could go. It would have to be someone who would have the perfect combination of the time, the money and the ability to not annoy the piss out of me/not get annoyed with me.
What I need to figure out:
- how much it will cost
- route
- what I want to see
- showering/places to stay
- wireless internet to update
I have to know whether or not my car can take a well-over 7,000 mile journey. I have to know whether or not I could take a trip that long. So this is now going to become my think-tank.
just another new blog
This is an attempt at a blog on a site I am completely unfamiliar with. I’m hoping that I actually keep up with this, rather than letting it fall to the wayside like I have with other blogs before (aka, every other blog I have ever had).
