Oliver Banton

I really enjoy This American Life, so I was pleased to listen to an interesting episode I had never heard before. I am a big fan of radio journalism and storytelling strictly via sound. I believe This American Life delivers incredibly powerful tales without the use of a visual stimulus. That’s pretty hard to do. My favorite short story from this episode occurred about three stories in, and it’s called “No of Course I know you.” I enjoyed it because of the personal notes it hits with me. I’m sure tons of other human beings feel the way the author feels when he first lays on the girl he swears he knows. At first I thought it was going to be a funny story from the tone of the author’s voice. But as he progressed through his story, it became clear that it was heading in more of a sad and somber direction. It seemed as though he was a sad man and very lonely. He wanted desperately to be able to identify the mysterious woman, but couldn’t for the life of him do it. I found it somewhat amusing that as he tries to place this woman in his life, it goes from loving her to needing or wanting something from her. He then changed gears quickly to waking up early and driving to work in the pitch black. I can relate to this as I had to commute to work this past winter in the pitch black in the morning, and the experience is pretty miserable. I loved the end when he realizes he can’t really place this woman because it’s before his morning cup of coffee when he’s in a hazy state. It was a nice touch of humor to round out a well-delivered story.