Trip Preparations

I leave for China in a week and a half. Being the good Virgo that I am, I've got lots of lists going. The longest one lists the tech toys I want to take: my Zoom H4 digital recorder, my new omnidirectional microphone, my digital SLR camera, extra memory cards, batteries and battery recharger, converter plug, and the iPod so I can store photos and audio files. Some women obsess over how many pairs of shoes to pack; I'm obsessing over how much gear to take.

I blame it on the weekly radio show, This American Life. I'm completely addicted to this program. I eagerly await the weekly podcast, and have listened to some of them several times. I find these stories about real people and real circumstances captivating, and a refreshing change from the tidal wave of celebrity "news" that I seem to be exposed to, whether I want to or not.

From time to time, I think about the leaf player I'd heard at Ankhor Wat in Cambodia in 2004, and how utterly amazing his music was. He played a soaring melody, like an Indian raga, with precise pitch and intonation. I was shocked to turn the corner and see this man, holding a leaf between his hands, blowing across it to create those amazing sounds.

So, I have this crazy idea: I'm going to Thailand with a friend anyway, why not go back to Cambodia to interview and record the leaf player, and maybe some other musicians, and create my own audio essay? I've never done anything like this before, but I think the journalist in me wants a shot at it.

As one of my art professors in college said, "It's the process, not the product." So regardless of the outcome, audio essay or no audio essay, I'm enjoying the sense of adventure and of learning something new by doing.

I'm off to see a man about a leaf.