Episode 051: Reading Rainbow

It’s easy to take our perceptions for granted. Colors, shapes, smells, and so forth are for the most part universal. But some people have this kickass condition called synesthesia, where their wires get crossed and their perceptions get… interesting. BF was privileged to get a man who sees letters and numbers as colors on the show, Shawn Brackett. Never one to miss out on a good freak show, Damn Good Philosopher of Religion Dr. Mark Webb also decided drop by, with Numero Uno Fanboy Jed Cummins and the Uke-tastic Kevin Saunders. Best f***ing believe, it was the trippiest BF ever. Take a look…

This week’s post-show song pimpage: “Roy G. Biv” by They Might Be Giants

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2 Comments on "Episode 051: Reading Rainbow"

  1. kellygreen44
    11/11/2009 at 5:09 pm Permalink

    I HAVE SYNESTHAESIA. crazy to have even found this! We watched your asl video in class and I decided to check out the website at the end and BAM! -synesthaesia- my favorite topic ever. I have the fairly common type of synesthaesia where all numbers and letters have a color associated with them but also for me days of the week. Days of the week are the strongest (Wednesday being orange and Tuesday being cerulean are indisputable in my opinion.) Some words have texture like glossy or knitted. Some words have shapes like green being like |_(semicircle)_| Listening to some music, unfortunately not all, is like fantasia. Some tastes have shapes- eggs, bananas, melons are all very round tasting while sweeter things are flossy. Words are also even and odd. It’s even usually if the letters of the word are cool colors or if the word is particularly glossy. Words are odd if the letters are warm colors or if its more matte. Synesthaesia USUALLY helps me remember better (I think) and inspires a lot of my art but sometimes its a stressor. Picking notebooks for classes is a task. If i don’t get the right color notebook, the class doesn’t feel right. I’m taking ASL now and i love it because it doesn’t stress me as much as Spanish (whose words were all to purple and green but sounded like they should’ve been oranges and yellows.) When I was young my parents painted our living room yellow and it made me physically sick. We didn’t know “synesthaesia” was an actual condition until I was in high school. Up until then I was just the weird girl asking everyone what color their Thursday is.

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  1. […] from a recording studio eerily reminiscent of our Texas Tech days, Stephen met up with our favorite synesthete Shawn Brackett…

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