Response

I chose This American Life, because we will be making a map of our drift and I wanted to see what kind of maps these map making people make. I wanted to get ideas for making my own map and wanted to see if any of the article relates to me going on my drift. I was hoping it would give me ideas.

I think that it is pretty amazing how Ralph Gentles makes a map of every crack and pothole with ignoring everything else. To do something like this you couldn’t have anything else around bother you. The article says, “Mapmaking means ignoring everything in the world but the one thing being mapped, whether it's cracks in sidewalks or the homes of Hollywood stars.” This got me thinking about the map that I will be making for my drift, I will not be including everything around me such as the people walking on the street, but just where I go and what I decide to record, leaving out unnecessary details. Denis Woods maps his own neighborhood, with the power lines and sewers. This reminded me of going out with my group of fellow sound recorders and putting our ears to the sewers. Other map makers in this article made their maps using only their sense of taste or touch.

Soundwalk

My Sound Walk was in Downer's Grove (Forest). I was to be very quiet while i was there. When I covered my eyes and heard, it was very different from covering my ears and seeing. I saw the things in the forest. I could see them move and be pushed by the wind, but I could not hear their movements. When i closed my eyes and heard (my ears uncovered) it was very amazing. I hear things i would never stop and listen to on any normal day. It was as if their sounds became louder. The trees seemed like they blew harder, the birds chirped louder and I think I was hearing a cricket. I think that if we cannot see things, we rely more on our ears to tell what is there or what is happening.

What did I hear with eyes closed?

Birds chirping 2-3 of them, (not constantly just every few seconds, coming from different places in the forest)
The swaying of the trees (all around me)
The sticks i was standing on
Cars going by every few seconds (in front of me)
A cricket ( constant noise,to the right of me)
Some sort of drilling sound from a machine (did not mix with the nature, to the far right of me)
A basketball htitting the ground ( in the court to the far left of me)
Planes going by above me ( overtook all the other sounds)

What did I hear with ears closed?

My own breathing
Airplanes above me

What did I hear while simply walking out of the forest?

Stepping on the gravel all through the forest
Stepping on the wooden bridge
Birds
Planes
Cars
Swaying trees
Girl screaming
A sports game going on
A whistle
Voices of men
Basketball hitting the ground
Tennis ball being hit by players
Squeaking of shoes from the court
The contents of me bag
Guys saying "Yah!"
My shoes scuffing against the ground
Someone bump into me
Door opening
Someone's jogging outfit
The Sound of the ATM
The spinning enterance to the gym at Klotsche
People not following the rules and talking
The turning of a page of someone's notebook
Girls giggling
Someone breathing
A buzzing from the voltage box thingy that feeds Sabin Hall
A fan

I was hearing so much at once, that I could not concentrate on just one thing. I think that if my eyes were closed while walking out of the forest, it would have been different. It was weird coming from the forest where all the sounds were of nature and going into something completely different like a Gym.