some questions about cars

NPR: one of the things I missed while abroad.  I like hearing some news and some features in the morning so I noticed that my hotel room was quiet.  (The mornings were too cold to open the window and listen to the call to prayer.)  I wondered a bit about the value of bringing along a devise that would allow me to stream news from home and concluded that not hearing NPR contributed to my preparation for the day's activity in Greece or Turkey more than hearing it would.

Nonetheless, I'm glad to get my morning dose again. Today I heard to two stories about cars: one about stock car racing and another about a car museum.  Both provoke me to think once again about the messages Americans' cars give use about our collective values and how those shift over time.

Is stock-car racing a sport?  It was portrayed and referred to in this story as a sport.  In any case it is an activity that celebrates speed and risk.  How characteristic of Americans is this desire to go fast, even around an oval?  How willing are we to risk our lives in pursuit of going around and around as fast as we can?

The other story was more predictable and thus less thought provoking.  It ended by drawing our attention to a Dodge Ram and a Prius and suggesting that our relationship to our cars can go to either extreme.  The story left unexplored the ways in which our values are expressed both practically and symbolically by the cars we chose and how we use them.  In view of our 202 theme, I also wonder how often we are happy in or about our cars.  

Two others stories were about the economic situation in Greece.  Here's a tidbit about cars there.  In January gas in Athens cost over $8.00 a gallon.