Thoughts on my First Drift.

1. Describe two situations that aggravated, bothered, shocked or otherwise stressed you during Drift 1. (Please note that the situation CANNOT be technology-related.)

As I was sitting at the corner of Wisconsin and Third Street, getting ready to begin my walk, a man came up to me. He asked for change so that he could go into the Grand Avenue Mall to get some french fries. I told him I didn't have any money, which was true, but he probably thought that I was lying to him since I was holding my recording device and a digital camera. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I was aggravated, but it was certainly surprising.

I was a bit aggravated as I walked on Prospect. I wasn't finding any interesting sounds, and I was becoming uncomfortable (the temperature was getting warmer and I was dressed for cooler weather). The problem was that I was walking slowly and hoping that something interesting would arise. For my next drift, I'd like to cover a greater area so that I'll have more material to work with when I'm done walking.


2. Describe, with details, two situations during Drift 1 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.

First, I should point out that the entire drift was strangely serene for me. It was almost like an out-of-body experience. I wasn't so much walking (like everybody else in the city was doing) as I was listening (to everybody else in the city). That said, I was even more at ease with myself and my surroundings later on in the drift. At one point, I came upon a Church holding a Saturday service and decided to go in. Normally I wouldn't walk up to a random building (even a church) and go in, but in this instance I just did it, without thinking twice. A few blocks away from the church I came to a large water fountain in the middle of a park. I sat down on a bench beside the fountain and listened to the bubbling water and the nearby crows. I just sat there - it was peaceful, and very simple. While I didn't end up using those sounds in the blog, that instance stood out as one of the more memorable parts of my drift.


3. Describe three surprises or unexpected situations you encountered on your Drift and in the days that followed. The surprise could stem from your expectations that conflicted with "on the ground" realities, cultural or social issues of which you were previously unaware, feelings and reactions that you did not expect to have, appearances and soundings of things you did not expect, good or bad outcomes of "on the spot" decisions you had to make, or the discovery of "deeper" realities in the materials you brought home. (Again, skip anything technology-related!)

Sometimes I would turn on my recorder when nothing particularly interesting was happening, and moments later I would stumble upon some great material. For example, the family from the segment "We're Going Straight Home After Lunch" came into the recording after a long period of inactivity.

For me, the segment where I was at the Juneau Village Towers (on Jackson Street) was one of the most interesting. However if I had stuck to my algorithmic pattern I wouldn't have stumbled upon that situation. I accidentally turned right one block early... but it turned out to be a happy accident.

Another unexpected (but warmly welcomed) surprise came soon after this... I changed my algorithm at the corner of Marshall and State (I turned left instead of right), and I soon found myself across the street from a Saturday morning outdoor church party. I didn't end up using the sounds I recorded, but in person the sounds (and images) were quite rewarding. In fact, I took four pictures of this church, which I posted as a sort of collage in my "Derive Un" blog.


4. Describe your favorite experience, situation, place, or recollection from your Drift. Be specific about what happened, how you felt, how you reacted, and why you think this particular experience affected you so much.

"Hey, we're going straight home after lunch." These were the words from a father to his crying daughter. When I heard the man say that, I sort of took it in as I had taken in all of the other sounds of my drift - car tires, bells, a cicada, the wind... but in retrospect, this encounter had a huge impact on my understanding of the quiet neighborhoods through which I had been walking. On that beautiful Saturday morning, across from a picture perfect park, a little girl was crying and essentially being told, 'No, not everything is good in the world. There is a darker side to life.' I know, I'm reading into this situation a lot, maybe too much - but it sparks a lot of interest. I might even explore this concept further in my next drift...