This American Life

In the This American Life segment that I listened to, I really found myself drawn to the segment on sound. The man that was being interviewed spoke of the sounds that people do not usually pay attention to that are always present in their everyday life: the phone, the hum of the air conditioner, the sound of the telephone. What I found most interesting about this, however, was that he pointed out what musical note each object was in. He said that the sound of his office was in an augmented fourth. This sound was perceived by the Church to be a sound that was fearful. His microwave was making a noise in a C cord.

After listening to this interview, I sat outside with my roommate and we listened to noises that the city of Tucson makes. I found it amazing to sit and take in the sounds that people tend not to bother recognizing. The one the stuck out to me the most was the train. I have always found solace in the horn of the train, and somehow seeming to recognize this, my roommate informed me that the train was also in the C cord. While listening to the radio segment, it was said that this sound is one that symbolizes pleasure, friendship, and longing. I was amazed at how accurate this was. These are all feelings I associate with the train, and perhaps appropriately enough, I think these thing can also be related to the train.

I also found the segment related to touch to be an interesting one. The idea that someone could map out and become acquainted with a street by experiencing the variety of foods on it was fascinating to me. I also thought that when he said that the adventure he experienced in his own town soon became similar to the same thing he was looking for with a job in the Foreign Service. Pico Boulevard sounded like a foreign place to me. Each restaurant that he spoke of sounded as though it had its own culture and tradition. The foods and the people all seemed to have their own story to tell, and when each eating experience was described it was as though he was becoming reacquainted with a place he already thought he knew.

I was also amazed by the concept of maps in the segment on sight. When I used to think of maps, I thought of road maps. When the idea of being able to map anything was proposed, it showed a new side to me of looking at things. Mapping pumpkins on peoples porches, pools of light, and the amount of times people or places have been mentioned in the news were novel ideas to me. I found it really amazing that the pumpkins corresponded pretty directly to the places being mentioned in the news. I also thought that it was intriguing that no matter who lived in a house, some placed were mentioned more frequently than others. It was said that maps equal ways to describe the world. I really liked that they don’t simply have to be a way to show someone what the world looks like in terms of roads and lakes, but maps can also be a way to show the more personal and human nature of the world.