Maps

So I have a "This American Life" addiction that was really prompted by the hour(ish) bus excursion I take to school three times a week. Now, because of lucky backlog, I also listen to it when I run around, but it's harder to concentrate with all of the bouncing and crinkly ear bud noises.

Anyway, tonight, on the bus, I had one of those moments where I try very hard not to smile to myself (because people aren't supposed to be happy on the bus, particularly independent of communicating with another person). Portland Elvis was there carrying a brown lunch sack with "Elvis" written in purple mom-style cursive on the front. For those of you who don't know, Portland Elvis does the impersonation thing at Saturday Market with a mini guitar and a white suit and sometimes you accidentally run into him at Voodoo Donuts and your friends start a conversation with him about old Buffy episodes. Portland Elvis made me smile first. Then Ira Glass was talking to a guy named Denis Wood who "creates maps that are like novels" of the things in his neighborhood that folks don't often notice or pay attention to. That made me smile again. We were just leaving the Lloyd Center bus stop.

Here are some pictures of the maps.

Notice the pumpkin map on the far right. I can't handle it.

Here is the link to the episode. The second act is about the different tones the hum of machines/appliances in our lives inherently have (heaters, air conditioners, computers, toaster ovens) and how, depending on the combination of intervals, they could effect our mood or our experience in a particular environment. Pure gold.