While penciling in my new zine, KIN, I find that I need to listen to something other than music. Oh, sure, I could exhaust my music collection–I do this only when I have to work on text and have to really concentrate–but when inking panels I find myself growing bored and sloppy. I’ve listened to, I’m not kidding, all of This American Life since Sammy clued me in to the show about four years ago. Yup…just about every back story and podcast in their archive I’ve ingested over the years of needing something to listen to while I distractedly draw, pack boxes to move, or work on jewelry. So what’s next? Radio Lab.

I was home a couple of months ago on a Friday night feeling like kind of a loser. I think I was baking something (I always listen to the radio when I bake), and I absentmindedly turned on NPR. Lately, I’ve made a pact to turn the radio off whenever they start talking about another shooting in Baghdad, another round of soldiers slaughtered in a road side bomb, or what have you…I need a break from the war. I can only think: “What a totally pointless and sad death for a completely asinine war” so many times. It used to be every time Bush started yammering on in a media clip I had to rush over with sticky, dough covered fingers and click him off. Now, with olive oil coated fingers, I turn the radio off whenever the hint of violence starts creeping into the news. (This goes for driving in the car too).

Anyway, I was listening in and the program was all about music. How, if you listen to the same sentence repeated over and over again it will start sounding melodical. The whole episode analyzed our reaction to music, and I recall thinking: “Wow, this is great radio!” Other highlights include a really interesting look at sleep, and how every animal on the planet sleeps. However, we’re the only creature who sleeps entirely and completely. Many animals, like birds, shut down each part of their brains one at a time. They literally have one eye open the whole time, just in case they have to flee from predators. Humans have developed such a great sense of well-being that we are able to totally and completely give ourselves up to sleep. (This episode has an extremely haunting sound clip of a child in a sleep laboratory having a nightmare).

Other worthwile episodes include the one on Morality (would you kill one person to save seven people?) and Memory (what would your life be like if you had no long-term memory whatsover? I sat in a UPS store parking lot listening to the story of Clive Wearing and thanked my lucky stars for my memories).

Oh…and Princess Camp is thankfully over.