“I’d rather kill the radio and listen to the rain hit.”

If only it were actually possible to finally do away with the radio. Well, not the radio itself, per se, but the vast amount of crap sent from the various stations that marshal their music into our ears and, thus, into our thoughts. That we could do away with.

Nonetheless, my self-deprivation of electronic media was unexpectedly very up and down. I chose Sunday, a day of fittingly, seeing as how I was in bed for most of my day.

Normally, I love the tranquility that comes with rainfall in November. The grey skies create a stark contrast against the changing colors of the leaves which, at this time of year, begin their calm descent to the grounds they’ve, for so long, hung over. Normally, I wouldn’t mind just sitting in a light drizzle, maybe reading, pondering, or writing, even if it’s for a few minutes. But this Sunday was terribly different. Curse Fall for so suddenly making it’s annual metamorphosis to Winter so…sudden.

So because of the unbearable cold rain outside, I spent much of my day inside. I awoke around midday, ate a late breakfast, and automatically got into a rhythm of finding stuff to do that would divert attention away from the electronic media around me. Or right in front me, for I literally had a television, CD stereo, and phone sitting about 10 feet in front of me. I ran some errands for my parents which cut some time away, but I mostly read my day away, reading the likes of Mumia Abu-Jamal (insightful and eloquent, a political prisoner of our corrupt judicial system) and Tupac Shakur (poetry’s simple, yet provides the reader with a look at his own personal depth). There’d be brief intermissions, in which I would just pause and think about what I just read, maybe jot some notes down, and than, once again, doze off in uncontrollable thought. Than right on again to the reading routine.

I stopped several hours later to grab something to eat. I was joined by my four-year old nephew and we conversed for a bit. Afterwards, I went to do some graffiti stenciling. He joined in with some paper and markers. As I began creating a rough stencil for a politically-driven project me and a friend decided to pursue, my nephew began drawing an intense battle between Spider-Man and his nemesis, Venom. Except when it came down to it, it was a page that consisted of purple lines and squiggles. Ahh, how it must feel to be as innocent and non-objective as a 4 year old.

The rest of the day, I spent reading (picked up Fahrenheit 451) until my parents came home. We went to a relative’s birthday party (media-free surprisingly, aside from music playing for little kids, in which turn I walked out for a bit) and came home well into the night. By that time my brother was home. We talked for a little while, he wanted to know how my media fast was going, and afterwards I pretty much went back to reading (this time the Washington Post). I did some schoolwork as well during this time. Eventually, once 12:30 rolled around, I made myself a nice bowl of cereal and snuggled up on my couch, eager to watch the highlights from the days games I missed (I’d heard form my brother that the ‘Skins were quite the disappointment).

Though this is a simple synopsis of how my day went, truth be told, this media fast was a lot more difficult to manage than what I previously thought. To do away with television, the internet, and phones were easy: I’ve pretty much been without all at one point in my life or another. What I dreaded most and what definitely made my day that much more unbearable was the fact that I had to suppress feelings of popping in three CDs into my three-disc stereo changer. On most weekends I usually start my day and end my day that way, allowing the CDs freedom of rotation and expression. Kweli and Cannibal Ox are what makes the sun rise and sun set in my world. But for a 24-hour period my music was made obsolete. And so I had to find other ways to entertain and subtly educate myself with reading. In actuality, that wasn’t difficult. It was just every fleeting moment when my mind was caught out of loop, it would automatically turn it’s attention to the echoes of the music I most sorely missed. And so more so than anything, I caught myself rapping aloud at the most random of moments.

What also made this day so hellish was the fact that I was practically alone for much of the day. My grandmother and nephew were home, but neither can really hold a conversation. So while I occasionally stopped with one of them to chat it up, the majority of my day was spent in solitary loneliness. While reading, writing, and stenciling kept me busy for much of the day, I couldn’t help but feel eager to have some kind substantial human interaction to divert my attention away from the ills of media.

I expected to accomplish this assignment and I did, even though time seemed endless. The absence of people and music in my day made for some grand obstacles. Our reliance on media only exists if we allow it to. For me, this experience was calming in a lot of ways. I accomplished a lot in terms of reading, writing, and artistic work. I had nothing to do, except everything opened itself up to me, including my own thoughts. Of course there will be instances where we need T.V. to escape our lives for the trivial nothingness embellished by television corporations. But to surrender our time and lives, religiously, causes you to lose your sense of self. Sometimes you just have to sit back, relax, and smell the roses.