Sometimes I drive around the country and talk to people. There’s no law against it.

• Scott Carrier, “Home of the Brave – The End of the World“, Feb. 2015

These two short sentences stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to wonder, “Who is this person, and where can I find more of his work?” The unique combination of intriguing narrative, excellent sound design, and truly challenging subject material felt like it transported me straight into someone else’s world. A sometimes very familiar, sometimes very uncomfortable world.

To this day, that quote from 2015 runs through my head often. The second sentence coming immediately after the first, as if to challenge everything about our society’s current problems in six syllables. He knows that the common view today of driving around, just talking to people, makes him seem unusual. That the thought of a stranger coming up and asking questions, or starting a conversation, is so off-putting to some that he must follow up with a defense. “There’s no law against it.” I believe he’s saying: “This should be normal and yet somehow we’ve lost our sense of community and openness.”

On the other hand, I think he’s doing an amazing job of disarming the listener as well. He’s about to walk a path most of us (or at least myself) would choose to avoid at all costs. Follow along, but know that it’s unlikely the narrator will be arrested or come to physical harm. Unlikely, but possible.

How I Found The Work

I came across Carrier’s work through This American Life in my podcast feed. Probably the “Running After Antelope” or maybe “The Test.” It was a heavy podcast period for me, and the politics and times of 2015 kept me consuming media voraciously. I listened to NPR Politics seemingly daily and This American Life weekly. I read Boing Boing hourly, Corey Doctorow, and national news as often as I could, with a soft spot for places like The Intercept and anything coming out about Manning, Snowden, or other investigative pieces that confirmed my suspicions about the erosion of our privacy, liberty, and generally everything.

Then, it was too much. Too anxiety inducing. Too overwhelming. Too much focus on the outrage of the day. I turned off my politics podcasts and daily news to keep a more curated feed of This American Life (and a few other less-urgent shows). This American Life had a show with Scott Carrier, and either they, or Boing Boing must have mentioned Home of the Brave.

When I had tuned out just about everything else, Scott Carrier’s stories somehow made it through my filters.

Why It’s So Compelling

I think the part I can’t look away from is the mania that drives this character through the world. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I see a direct reflection, but a glimpse of something we all might share. Maybe more.

My favorite episode is “The Dry Wall“, where Scott is gripped by something that won’t let him go. I have to admit, when I listen to it, I drift a little further from reality myself. Like looking into the abyss and realizing it’s deep, and closer than you think.

It’s the sort of thing that compels me to literally sit and transcribe what the author has managed to do. It doesn’t come through the same way in printed text, but that’s not really the point. When I listen to it, I must type it out. To process.

I am the one gripped by something and you’re along for the ride.

So for your consideration, I’ll write it out here – but please consider clicking the link to listen.

One time I had a girlfriend who told me if you ever start feeling really neurotic, the best thing to do is paint your walls white and buy new sheets for your bed. She said it worked for her, and I believed her. Last year I had a job. It’s not important what job it was. What’s important is I thought it was going to be the job of my life. The job of my dreams. Last year I had this job for a few months, and then I quit. I won’t bore you with the details. I quit my job and I was feeling really neurotic, so I tore down our house. Actually I just gutted the inside, tore down the ceiling and all the lathe and plaster on the walls, tore up the floors, ripped out the furnace. I ran new wires, rebuilt the kitchen, sheet rocked and taped and sanded, and THEN I painted the walls white and bought new sheets for the bed. But, it didn’t work. I was pacing around a lot at night. I was moaning and groaning in the shower. I was scaring the kids.

• Scott Carrier – The Dry Wall

I think the reason this is so much more powerful in spoken form is the sound design. The episode opens with a cold and hollow drip, like a leaky pipe or roof in winter. Then the author’s voice is calm, almost quietly soothing. Contrasted by, and punctuated with staccato bursts of a hammer demolishing with drive and focus.

I could go on, but I’ll end it here. Take a listen. If you’re hanging out with me in person and we don’t have anything to talk about, ask me about this.