Comments for Anywhere But Now

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Produced by Maria Bartholdi

Other pieces by Maria Bartholdi

Summary: The story of a young woman's search for herself, complete with an embarassing visit to a psychic and a dash of a love for Wales.
 

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Review of Anywhere But Now

This is a wonderful piece, captivating and very funny. I think a lot of us, artistic and not, feel lost often, and drawn to somewhere far away. This could be a physical place as this piece describes or a state of mind. The 15 Min. of the piece fly by, you're pulled from moment to moment like a kid on roller skates holding on to someone riding a bicycle.

This is a great piece, with excellent storytelling and imagery

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Review of Anywhere But Now

This piece was real for me. I don't think I've been in a similar situation, but I think it brings up in a very personal and connective way the problems we face in what the professor at the end of the piece called "social saturation." I'm not sure if it deprives many of us of an identity to ponder, but I think it does expose a world too busy for itself. Also, for a college-age student (I am one myself) this was extremely well put together and professional.

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Review of Anywhere But Now

?Anywhere But Now? explains verbatim the way I feel. At one point Maria asks if everyone thinks about where they belong, and why they feel connections to places that they have no connection to, I know exactly what she is talking about. The music layered underneath the essay was completely amazing and the way it was edited took nothing away from the idea being presented, but greatly added to the mood as music in well edited radio pieces seem to have the tendency of doing. Maria?s reading voice is so warm, and its as though she has invited you into her comfortable living room, sat you down on the couch and is telling you a story that you are so compelled by you don?t interrupt. After the immediate story ends with her leaving the ?Past Life Regressionists? office feeling like a complete failure, she comes to some conclusions about how perhaps its our culture, perhaps its technology that takes away the feeling of knowing exactly where you belong because people have less time to reflect on where they really want to be and what they really want to be doing. The essay writing is top notch, the transitions in and out of various tape gives it a more on-the-spot feel, like you are witnessing something happen, and while listening, the majority of the notes I took consisted simply of the word amazing in all capital letters. My physical reaction to this piece was having goose bumps cover my entire body.

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Review of Anywhere But Now

This 14+ minute personal essay does threaten to go off track from time to time but I was suprised at its ablity to snap back with enough twists and turns and actual suprises to make the self-aware narrator's navel-gazing funny, intelligent and, in the end, worth it. It's a refreshing take on a well-trod topic and could find a nice home on any station with a good-sized college audience or during graduation time. The mix of essay with tape and sound effects / music works well.