In the first chapter of It Still Moves, Petrusich tells the reader about her relocation to New York City - more specifically, Brooklyn. Just like any person in a new environment, Petrusich observes her new surroundings and neighbors to see just how different it really is. From reading inquiry, I captured Petrusich's great sense of paying attention to detail. She notices things in Brooklyn that seem interesting to her and immediately starts to reflect on the city as a whole. For example, when she first moves to the city, she states, "Brooklyn is removed from mass American culture in complicated ways and consequently feels intensely foreign to the outsider..," (Petrusich 11-12). By reading that statement, I feel I can picture in my head exactly what I would feel if I moved to Brooklyn as well. Her attention to detail contributes to her first impression of the city. This also carries on over the time she lives there, observing everyday, the streets, the people, and the atmosphere.
Later on, Petrusich starts to talk about the scholar Alan Lomax and his father, John Lomax, whom had great passion for folk music. Petrusich talks about how Alan Lomax went "song hunting" and went on to record plenty of folk music, himself. She also mentions that Alan had saved a lot of folk songs from vanishing among the public. By doing this, Alan saved many pieces of American history that many people later on would learn to appreciate and adore. Because of the Lomaxes and many others, Petrusich was interested in exactly how the music they made came about. In one of her statements, she says "Like so many other things, this is as much about the quest as it is about the prize," (Petrusich 15). Rather than just accepting the facts, Petrusich goes a step further and tries to find out why things happened the way that they happened. She seems inquisitive, questioning every detail and finding out about the journey itself, rather than the destination.
In addition to Petrusich's inquisitiveness, she is also very curious. She loves to explore things when she finally gets the information she wants. One example of this is when at the end of the chapter, Petrusich says she is going to Memphis and says, "..in the quest to identify the roots of American music, all roads lead to Memphis" (Petrusich 21). She examines the issues at hand and seems like she wants to know the story from different points of views. In addition, she is also looking for different people, not just people who love folk music. Her journey does not involve one story, but rather multiple. Her puzzlement and curiosity eventually lead her to Memphis.
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