Item: 1 AAA street map -- Central & Western Area, Metropolitan Los Angeles

Last night on the drive home I was aimlessly scanning through radio stations, pausing for awhile on a traffic report. I realized that I was listening to it in the same way I'd listen to the words of a song that I like. A traffic report varies depending on the day, but there are certain phrases that come up over and over, like "La Cienega," "Harbor Freeway," or, from out where I come from, "Kellogg Hill." I love hearing those names. I love Victory Boulevard, PCH, Rosemead. It's good for me to remember, when I'm busy missing other places, that when I'm some other place, this is what I miss.

Maybe it's from a childhood of listening to KNX in the car, or maybe it's the fact that the LA layout is understood in terms of a car, a freeway, an exit, a distance. Maybe it's the fact that I become extra-attached to what can be found in one place only. Whatever it is, almost nothing gives me a stronger sense of being home than a Los Angeles traffic report.

It's easy for me to be all sentimental about traffic reports, since my commute doesn't require going on the freeway at all, and whatever they're reporting on usually isn't relevant to my life.

But I don't listen to traffic reports for information. Even when I am stuck in traffic going somewhere, the information doesn't tend to be all that helpful. I listen for the refrain of names that mean I'm not home yet, but I'm very, very close.