Hearing these audio stories on NPR was a very enriching experience for me. I chose to listen to Remembering Self-Determination by Kelley Libby and Who Is My Neighbor? By Mona Yeh.

I found that both audio stories did an excellent job utilizing background noise on top of their interview excerpts and narration. Some sounds that stood out to me were creaky footsteps, squeaky chairs and the busy streets / transportation in a city. Personally, I found that the creaky steps and squeaky furniture established more of an intimate feel to the piece; these sounds can only really be heard in a quiet and desolate place, which made me feel like I was right there with whoever was speaking at the time. Additionally, the sounds of car horns and traffic was, also, very effective in the sense that I felt present and apart of the interview.

I found that these aural postcards are very similar to Her Long Black Hair– the audio story we listened to on our field trip in Central Park. Both stories felt very intimate, personal, thrilling and a bit creepy. For example, both experiences involved background noises that could have be mistaken for actually occuring in real life. In other words, I felt a little confusion when listening to these stories because it was difficult to differentiate what was coming out of my headphones and what I was organically hearing.

Overall, I am fascinated by the world of audio stories that I am just now being introduced to! I hope to expand in this field and become familiar with all the enriching material it has to offer.