Hi there, it's Micah Kilbond, producer of The Slowdown.

Today's guest episode is hosted by the poet and editor Leslie Signs.

I hope you enjoy, and rest assured that Major will return to the host chair on July 1st.

I'm Leslie Signs, and this is the slowdown.

I'm Leslie Signs, and this is the slowdown.

You may have heard the myth.

You may have heard the myth that human ears and noses never stop growing.

As a child, this terrified me.

My paternal grandfather, Manolo, had enormous ears,

which I believed I'd inherited.

I was a morbid child, prone to recurring nightmares and was

frequently haunted by the image of bloated corpses six feet underground always decorated with

cartoonishly large noses and ears. It's true that cartilage, which is about

60% collagen, breaks down as we age.

Add the effects of gravity to the mix, and it's inevitable that our ears and noses

stretch and can appear longer or larger over time.

Here's another ear myth for you that people with larger ears have better hearing.

While larger ears might be capable of amplifying sound, a fraction or so more than smaller ears,

it's the cochlea in the inner ear that's actually responsible for our hearing.

I find that I'm especially sensitive to sound. I also find that Sonics drive my poetics.

In my role as an editor, I gravitate towards writing that prioritizes rhythm,

be it harmonious or unsettling, and I believe phonetics alone has the power to both

...