128: Four Corners
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What is the significance of the Four Corners monument?
Let us speak of our nation's monuments. When you're at the Statue of Liberty or standing under the rotunda at the U.S. Capitol or when you're at the Alamo, it is clear what they mean. But why do thousands of tourists go every day of the summer to four corners, that spot in the wilderness where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, four different states, meet at one point? I went one summer, drawn inexorably, magnetically, without quite knowing why, just like every other wandering tourist who strays within 250 miles of the place. Chances are you have done this yourself. You've driven three or four hours out of your way, and you show up, and there's a marker on the ground, ringed by dozens, literally dozens of t-shirt stands, and families come, and they stand on the supposed spot where the four states meet, and what?
hold hands, they sit on the ground, and then mom or dad or sis stands a little platform they have there built specially for this purpose and takes a snapshot. And then, often, there's this kind of aftermath moment where everybody just sort of stands around haplessly like, what was that all about? You know, we came for this? And then the next group comes in. The arbitrariness of it all, I think, is lost on no one. I saw one family with young kids who simply placed a teddy bear on the spot where the four states meet and snapped a picture of that. Couldn't any four corners hold just as much meaning as this place? And my friend, the answer, of course, is yes.
How can one street corner tell the history of America?
And today on our program, we offer our own little national monument here on the radio, our own picture of life in America, our own Four Corners. From WBEZ Chicago, This American Life, I'm Ira Glass. Today on our program, Four Corners, we tell the story of life in America through portraits of life on four different corners in four different states across this great nation. Act 1, History. Act 2, Love. Act 3, Neighbors. Act 4... How to Become an American. Stay with us. Just American Life. Today's show is a rerun from 1999, a very memorable rerun, but I mention this just in case you notice some outdated language. Act one. Let's begin with the most epic of our four stories today. Back when we made this episode, writer Sarah Val had a theory that she could tell the entire history of America by describing what happened on and around one single street corner.
Specifically, the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive here in Chicago. She thought she could just swivel around and point at the whole dark and inspiring tale. Here then, her story.
When I started, I had only a few things to go on. A couple of French explorers, a plaque on the bridge said pass by in 1673, an Indian massacre in 1812 right there in front of the Burger King, vague notions of Abe Lincoln's debt to the Chicago Tribune, whose quaint gothic tower looms over the bridge's north side. I thought, that's enough American history, and I'd just make up the rest. Turns out my theory was only too right.
What went wrong during Scott and Julie's first kiss in Louisville?
The intersection of Michigan and Wacker, I found out, isn't just a corner, it's a vortex. The deeper I dug into the history of Chicago and its relationship to the history of the country, the more crowded the ghost traffic jam clogging up the Michigan Avenue bridge got. Okay, I'm standing here right now on the Michigan Avenue Bridge, and the Chicago River is right underneath me. There's some ducks floating under there, and a boat just went by. And here's another one coming. Out there is where the river meets Lake Michigan to the east. And looking south, the place where the bridge hits land is the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, where you can get your vision checked or buy a nice fur coat, should you desire.
I'm swiveling around, and the view from the bridge is just picture postcard pretty, especially at night when the Wrigley Building is just lit up so soft it glows. Supposedly, the building so delighted Joseph Stalin that he had the University of Moscow designed in its image. And who can blame him? The American national mythology revolves around the idea that the promise of America is best seen in the West, home, home, on the range, etc.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the significance of the Four Corners monument?
0:01–1:39
2
How can one street corner tell the history of America?
1:39–3:26
3
What went wrong during Scott and Julie's first kiss in Louisville?
3:26–5:33
4
How did a community of dog walkers form in a Portland cemetery?
5:33–7:23
5
What themes are explored in Achy Obejas' short fiction?
7:23–10:25
6
What does the story of Scott and Julie reveal about love?
10:25–13:28
7
How does the cemetery in Portland reflect community dynamics?
13:28–16:36
8
What does it mean to become an American in today's society?
16:36–58:50