In It Still Moves: Lost Song, Lost Highways and the Search For the Next American Music, author Amanda Petrusich writes of the observational differences between New York in comparison to Virginia, providing many pros and cons. Petrusich states that New York is a place one must become accustomed to. Furthermore she goes into detail about how her move to New York has been a bit difficult even though she grew up only thirty five miles away. Petrusich does however, mentions that New York is a lively place where there's always something happening and there's always a great deal of entertainment to enjoy. At the end of the day, Petrusich feels that the best thing about living in New York is that whenever you leave and go anywhere else in the country, living becomes very easy.
Petrusich does a good job examining issues from multiple points of view. For instance, when writing about Alan Lomax, she describes how different people viewed him as well as his actions. Furthermore she states "To some, Alan Lomax was an unapologetic imperialist, selfishly scouring foreign cultures for folk songs, making a career out of capturing and lionizing and publishing and picking apart indigenous anthems that did not belong to him..." However she then goes on to offer another view point, claiming that what Lomax did was actually save many folk songs from extinction and brought to life the passion of Americana music.
Being flexible with the ideas of others is something else that Petrusich does well. While she does express her own opinions on different matters of appreciation towards music, she does not belittle the ideas and views of other music critics. A good example of this is when she describes how other music critics care a bit more for the aspect of the performance of music, while Petrusich admires the story behind the music and the personal lives of the performers. Therefore Petrusich allows readers to form their own opinion on which method of appreciation toward music they prefer without feeling as though she is being bias, which makes it easier to also revise their own opinions on the issue.
MH
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