Singing in the Car
I used to listen to NPR every morning and evening during my commute, but I had to stop.
I would hear a story about Iraqi widows and children living in metal trailers with no air conditioning in the baking sun, with no jobs and no way out of their situation, and I would chew on it day and night, wondering what can I do? So many times, I hear something horrific and I don’t know where to put the information, other than to pray about it. Listening to NPR made me feel helpless and sometimes a bit hopeless, so I stopped listening. I am now less informed, but less neurotic. (Still praying, though.)
I started listening to music on my commute — not the funky jazz Bob likes (sarcastically dubbed “70’s porn music” by a younger friend), or the bubblegum hiphop my kids like (”and a Britney song was on, and a Britney song was on”). My taste is my own — Stevie Ray Vaughn, Patsy Cline, Pavarotti, Louis Armstrong. There is no common denominator there, only that I like it.
Lately, not only have I been listening to this music, I’ve been singing to it — loud, in the car, by myself, even at stop lights when someone could look over and see this crazy middle-aged woman singing “Crazy,” at the top of her lungs.
Why am I doing this? To stay sane, I think.
Posted: October 29th, 2009 under Commute.
Comments & Backsass
Comment from janet
Time October 29, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I still listen to NPR, but usually on Saturday and Sunday mornings when “Car Talk” and “Wait, wait, don’t tell me ” and “American Life” play. But, I must admit, NPR is usually where I get my news, but I don’t listen that often. Sometimes I will drive in silence, just to get my mind focused before going to work. But I also have to confess that not only do I sing in my car, sometimes with the window down, but I dance in my seat, too. Drumming the steering while and moving my head up and down like one of those loose headed plastic dogs that people used to have in their car’s back windows. What ever happened to those? I guess bobble heads took over.
I think being informed on all the world’s crazy heartbreaking woes is way over rated. Just a side note, listening to “Democracy Now with Amy Goodman” can really contribute to that feeling of desperation.
Keep blogging Christie. I love how you put things.
Comment from Danny
Time October 29, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Wow. That piece was easily good enough for NPR. Very impressed. Kudos.
Comment from Dolores
Time October 31, 2009 at 1:15 pm
When I moved from Lubbock, TX to just outside DC, I thought I was in heaven, 2 NPR stations, Democracy Now on a different station, a CSPAN station and an all news/traffic/weather station. I never had music on at all! Eight years later and a much longer commuter to work each day, I listen to my eclectic assortment of songs: Dixie Chicks, Coldplay, Elvis, Buddy Holly(of course I’m from Lubbock!), Alejandro Fernandez, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Lila Downs, Rigo Tovar, Selena……and I was so glad to hear you also sing to the wonderful Patsy Cline!!!! I also love to sing at the top of my lungs, I no longer have my children in the car to tell me “oh don’t sing mommy, don’t sing”. I can sing all I want! I still listen to NPR for my news. But I have decided when I have to deal with all the idiots on the road every day to and from work, I need my music to soothe me, so I won’t be a beast when I get to work or when I get home.
Comment from Trudy
Time October 29, 2009 at 11:52 am
I SO relate to not listening to NPR. I find myself drawn to reading all the US newspapers and all the in-depth reports on tragedies in Africa, the Middle East, whatever, and find that there is nothing much I can do. Which, in turn, makes me feel guilty. If I stop reading I feel better, but as if I SHOULD be reading and becoming informed. How neurotic is this? BTW, love Stevie Ray Vaughn and Louis Armstrong too.