Short Descriptive title (75-character limit): The Interconnected Sounds of America, a soundscape by Jonathan Walton Brief Description (100 words or fewer): This soundscape, produced by 2024 Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI) Junior Fellow Jonathan Walton, explores themes of history and identity while highlighting the resilience and creativity born out of displacement and resistance. The work features materials from the Library's "Chicago Ethnic Arts Project," "Juan B. Rael," and "Center for Applied Linguistics" collections. Author: Jonathan Walton Transcript of the audio: 00:00: Unidentified 14 year old Native American boy: ... trip to ??? 00:03: man: Mhm. 00:04: Native American boy: National monument and um, we went over there and we saw, we saw, whole bunch of stuff like like a museum and we would go up into the mountains and um, there would be like little houses where our ancestors used to live long time ago. 00:18: [music begins] Native American boy: And um, we went to this one place, it was way back, it was about two miles we walked over there and then we went to go see the um, see those houses way up on top of the hill but you have to climb like a ladder that goes up the hill and then we went to um, our family, we went to Mescalero and we went over there cause that was, that was the feast day over there and it was like um, like they danced over there like um, Kiowa and… and… bunch of Indian dances. From here at Laguna um, there was a couple, I mean, yeah, there was a couple of dancers there. Adults that went down there to dance. And we stayed over... 01:08: Isaac Asimov: My first book way back in 1950. That wasn't when I started writing, I had been publishing in the Science Fiction magazines for eleven years prior to that so, I'm a published writer as of 1938. And… with me, publishing and writing are almost synonymous. Ah. [audience laughs] Isaac Asimov: Ha. But uh, when I published my first book, I, I, received a lot of questions and I found it very difficult to answer them. I mean, they say like, "Well, what's the name of the book?" and I tell them and they've obviously never heard of it and they say, "Well, is it any good?" And you don't really know and you suspect the worst and then, "Well, what do the reviews say?" and there weren't any. [laughs] [audience laughs] Isaac Asimov: And I very early figure there's only one way to handle it, so I quick wrote, sat down and wrote 145 more books. [audience laughs] Isaac Asimov: And now, nobody asks the names, nobody asks if they're any good, nobody asks... nobody asks anything. They just say, "146 books, wow!" Because- [audience laughs] Isaac Asimov: Because you know, you stop to think of it, "What's the difference, was it good or not? Have you ever tried writing 146 bad books?" [audience laughs and claps] Isaac Asimov: "What's the difference, was it good or not? Good or not... good or not.. good or not...?" 02:29: [birds chirping] 02:30: woman: ... turn off the clicker for me ??? 02:38: woman: There's one here. And this is my Aunt Rose. She made it for me ??? Peter Bartis: This one, you're having it here? Maria Lecas: That's a very traditional ??? Peter Bartis: How is this done? Is it done on a... is there a pattern or a ...? Maria Lecas: No, there's no pattern on there. Mrs. Theodora Siakotos: See, you- Maria Lecas: You count stitches. Mrs. Theodora Siakotos: You count stitches in the paper, it's per (?) in the paper. And then you count it. It goes like this and then the paper, and then you count it and you're done. Peter Bartis: Wow, that's-this is... how long did it take you to do this? Mrs. Theodora Siakotos: Oh, months and months. Because you don't do it constantly, you do it in your free time. Peter Bartis: Right. Mrs. Theodora Siakotos: Okay. Peter Bartis: Why do you do it in your... Why do you do these at all? Mrs. Theodora Siakotos: Cause I like them. Peter Bartis: You like doing them or ??? it's very beautiful- Maria Lecas: Well, she likes- Peter Bartis: When it's done- Mrs. Theodora Siakotos: It's nice you know, it's a beautiful thing. When it's done, you've made up your table or your dresser, they look pretty. Peter Bartis: But can't you buy one of those? Mrs. Theodora Siakotos: No, they don't have it. Maria Lecas: Even if you could buy it, it would be-it wouldn't be worth it cause you didn't make it. 03:35: [singing begins] Peter Bartis: you... you wouldn't be pleased with that. Mrs. Theodora Siakotos: Right, right. 03:39: Group singing: ... we're on the one road it may be the wrong road But we're together now, who cares? North men, South men, Comrades all Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Donegal We're on the one road, Swingin' along Singin' a solider's song Tinker, Tailor Every watcher's son Butcher, Baker, Shouldering his gun Rich man, Poor man, Every man in line All together just like Auld Lang Syne We're on the one road Sharing the one load 04:17: [string instrument joins, playing to the melody] Group singing: We're on the road to God knows where We're on the one road It may be the wrong road But we're together now, who cares? North men, South men, Comrades all Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Donegal We're on the one road, Swingin' along Singin' a soldier's song Night is darkness Just before the dawn From descensions, Ireland is reborn And we'll all unite