In Goldstein and Wintonick’s podcast, “Drive Straight Ahead,” a girl is driving as her GPS constantly reminds her of her past while directing her toward her mother’s house. Through the use of diction, repetition, and imagery the author depicts a typical depressed woman who is trying to stay on track but eventually loses her way in the end physically and mentally. In losing her way, she literally gets lost as she is driving but is also lost in her thoughts because of the constant reminders of her past. The evidence of her getting lost in her thoughts is presented in the end where she pauses to get out of her car to walk in the house and then turns away and drives off to nowhere. Since this is a podcast there is no direct visual picture that is presented but the sounds and words help to create a picture in the mind as the reader is listening to it. The interpretation I came to was that a girl was dealing with mental illness while away at school and she came home to visit her family, but instead revisited her entire troubled past back at home. 

In this podcast, the GPS is essentially the narrator. A GPS usually directs you somewhere, from point A to point B with no intended interruptions. In this story, her GPS is taking her to her mother’s house but is constantly reminding her of her past. The diction in the story is directional as well as exhibiting a lamenting tone about places from a time ago. It tells her where to turn and that she should continue to “drive straight ahead” (Goldstein and Wintonick) without worrying about nearby things that trigger emotion. By using the phrases “drive straight ahead” and “we are lost” (Goldstein and Wintonick) I interpreted the GPS as her life guide as well as her navigational guide. These phrases show that she needs to stay on a certain path and has the guidance to do so, but eventually still loses her way in the long run. The GPS’s voice is also very monotonous. This showed how unimportant the problems in her past were to the real world and how easy it could have been for her to forget about them if she really tried to. 

Repetition is used for emphasis of turning points in the story such as when she gets to and from her destinations and at the end of the story where she is lost mentally and physically. In the very beginning of the podcast and at the end, the sound of keys and a car starting was presented. This shows the beginning of something whether it be good or bad. In the beginning of the story, she started her car in order to get to her mother’s house to visit. At the end of the story, she turned off her car signaling that she had arrived to her destination but sat there for a minute. She turned the car on again showing that she was going to go somewhere other than her mother’s house but it was never revealed to where. We never got the end of that trip. I did gather that she got lost somewhere. At the end of the podcast the GPS repeated “we are lost” (Goldstein and Wintonick). The GPS was lost and did not have any navigational directions to guide her where she should go and the girl was lost in her thoughts dealing with disturbing memories that she encountered on her way to her mother’s house. The GPS also repeats “drive straight ahead” (Goldstein and Wintonick). I took this phrase for its literal meaning at first telling her to just continue to go straight, but as the story continued on I thought different. The GPS tells her this so she can stay on track and not fall off into her thoughts. The GPS contradicts itself when it tells her to try to not remember something or try to not look at something on the way to her destination. It’s almost humanly innate to do the exact opposite of what someone tells you not to do. If someone tells you not to look, nine times out of ten you are going to at least glance. 

Since this is a podcast, imagery is entirely up to the reader’s imagination because there is no immediate visual media. This could change the meaning of the poem if you see it at a personal standpoint. If a reader deals with mental illness or a troubled past they could put themselves in the story and connect with it more seeing how the girl feels as she is constantly reminded of hindering things on her drive home. You imagine scenes of hurt and you try to channel into the girl’s emotions as she is driving to her mother’s house. You see her pass houses and areas that she used to go to and she even stops to get some donuts from her favorite donut place as a child. These images are place on the mind through sound and words and it is what helps to determine what is going on in the story without visual pictures and text right there. It gives readers the leeway to interpret it however they want. This story has one meaning but the meaning could be far worse or a lot better depending on who has listened to it. 

The title of the podcast is a hidden message to those dealing with stressors or troubles in their lives. It tells them to keep moving or to “Drive Straight Ahead.” The message in the story is to not give up. You can hide the problems and do away with them eventually as long as you keep moving forward and keep driving straight ahead. Don’t walk off of your set path that you have. The girl could have just got out of the car and walked into her mother’s house to see her mom waiting for her with open arms. Instead, she started the car back up and went off on her own path that got her lost and possibly killed. The GPS couldn’t recalculate a path to lead her back home and she couldn’t gather her thoughts to turn back around to “safety.” In reading this podcast, I felt bad for the girl dealing with her past and carrying it so heavy on her shoulders. People should not have to live like this and not be able to see their families because of hurt they carry around. It is hard to keep a straight head and stay on one specific path. Most successes require some detours to get there. Making sure the detour is the right one to take is the hardest obstacle of them all. She went off on her own path and who knows if she will make it back on the original path she had set forth for herself. This podcast had a deeper meaning than just following a GPS’s navigational instruction. It was presented to show that not everyone is perfect and that a lot of people deal with a lot of things. Driving straight ahead initially is easier said than done, as seen here in Goldstein and Wintonick’s “Drive Straight Ahead.”
