A year ago, I hadn’t seriously considered going to the New School, I originally just applied to make sure I had options. But, once I visited I realized that this is the place I wanted to be. I came to the New School from Providence, Rhode Island which is only about 3 1/2 hours away.
My Experience and Meaning activity started by breaking into groups of two’s and three’s. In those groups we introduced ourselves to each other, and after that each person introduced another person to the group. We then began discussing Tony Hiss’s writing about deep travel and wonder.
“My expression for moments like this is deep travel. In an instant, our sense of the here and now that we’re a part of expands exponentially, and everything around us is so vivid and intensely experienced that it’s like waking up while already awake. Deep travel has a distinctive taste, and people who like it tend to look for ways of getting more of it. It often surprises us, stealing over us unawares. (Tony Hiss)”
After discussing that for a while we all went into Union Square, some people in groups and some people by ourself. We were told to observe everything going on with all of our senses for ten minute. There was so much going on, from all the smells coming from the farmer’s market, to the people playing music and chess. I then just observed the park with our ears, by closing my eyes and doing my best to focus just on the sounds. After a while, I was able to hear things I couldn’t before, like people playing music and the sounds of cicadas singing. After that I went back to the classroom and met back up with the group. We then talked briefly about R. Murray Schafer reading about sound before the activity ended.
“The first thing to realize is that the soundscape is dynamic. It is constantly changing both in time and place. And every sound commits suicide—it will never be heard again. (R. Murray Schafer)”
I was surprised that I was able to hear many more sounds when I just focused just on sound. The entire time I was focusing on my sense of sound was very calming and relaxing. I also saw a young boy and an older man playing chess. This really made me feel a sense of wonder because these two different people from different generations were brought together in that moment.
I think that the whole concept of wonder really interests me and I think I would explore the concept of lost wonder. I would also like to explore who wonder affects different people.
