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Related Pieces
Piece Description
"Most people walk out of a midnight screening of Taxi Drive in a deep depression. But I walked out beaming, inspired" Meet Guyon Knight, former PhD candidate in Mideival History at Yale, and current NYC cab driver. In this essay, Guyon describes his decision to drop out of school and the characters he's met in his hacking adventures: the Russian driving school instructor who advises new drivers on how to deal with "the gays"; the Pakistani driver who is just looking to make ends meet; and the heartbreaking story of a woman with a sick child that reminds Guyon of just why he was drawn to driving in the first place. **Note - Two versions of this piece are loaded here: +Full version comes in at 10:24 and features a :50 music bed outro +Short version comes in at 4:25 and features a:20 music bed outro
2 Comments
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Review of From Yale to Hack [Two Versions]This personal narrative recounts one grad student's quest for direction and meaning, a "mystical connection" to his city and its people which is lacking in his academic life.
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Transcript
Transcript of Essay:
Now that I?m over the initial thrill of driving a taxi, I don?t force conversation with my passengers. The ones that want to talk inevitably break the ice in the same way: ?You know, you?re the first white cab driver I?ve ever had.?
I have a practiced reply: ?Actually, we make up about 10% of drivers? ? a fact I picked up from an official Taxi and Limousine Commission study.
Usually, the passenger will ask me how I got into the industry. ?Well, I dropped out of school last year, and I needed a job to make ends meet. I had always wanted to drive a cab, so here I am.?
?Where were you in school?? some of them will press.
Here, I pause, and then rattle off: ?I did undergraduate at the University of Chicago, got a Master?s Degree at Oxford, and I left a Ph.D. program at Yale. I studied medieval monks.?
At this point, my fare in the backseat is no d...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
+ Suggested Intro:
Many people drive taxis to get on the road to the American Dream. But what prompts someone to drop out of Yale to become a hack? Guyon [Guy-On] Knight provides this essay.
+Suggested Outro:
That's former graduate student Guyon Knight, who can safely say he knows more about Carthusian monks that any other cabbie.
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elements | Lemon Jelly | Lost Horizons. | Xl Recordings | 2000 | 00:58 |
| I Know | Beta Band | The Three EPs. | Astralwerks | 1999 | 01:15 |
| Green Grass Of Tunnel | Mum | Finally We Are No One. | Fat Cat | 2002 | 01:40 |
| Red Rolled and Seen | Finley Quaye | Maverik A Strike. | Sony | 1997 | 00:56 |
| Theme | Jon Brion | Eternal Sunshine SndTrk. | Hollywood Records | 2004 | 01:50 |
Bill Anderson
Posted on January 05, 2007 at 10:18 AM | Permalink
Review of From Yale to Hack [Two Versions]
I enjoyed this work by Guyon. Honest, sensitive, touching at times and even funny.
Guyon set me up and kept me curious. Okay, how does this guy with this background end up as a cabbie. Later, he finds another way to keep me listening. Inspired by Taxi Driver. Oh my, who is this Guyon Knight?! I must keep listening.
Due to the length I am glad he added appropriate doses of music and his experience at taxi school became more enjoyable when Guyon fell into the instructor's voice.
Guyon bared his soul and I felt his awkwardness at possibly being viewed as an interloper.
In the outset he told us that he needed a place to go. In the end, with a heart wrenching story about one of his riders, we find out where that place is located.
Guyon's deliver can be a bit breathy and maybe some editing of the long-form edition would benefit the piece but I liked this...a lot.
The dilemma may be where to place a project like this. I don't have a place to showcase it. Do You?