Have you ever wondered what a sandwich sounds like?

Not much to it, is there?

Unless, of course, it's a Walker's sandwich.

Mmm, that is good.

Now that's what Asani should sound like.

Go all crisp in with walkers.

Delicious.

Hi there, I'm Jason Gats, and you're listening to Think Again, a Big Think podcast.

Big Think is an online forum for big ideas from the world's most creative thinkers and doers.

With the Think Again podcast, we're in new and uncharted territory.

Each week, our producers dig up short interview clips on every

imaginable subject from Big Thinks Archives. They're a total surprise to my guests and to me.

We ask our guests who are highly accomplished people in their fields to respond spontaneously to

these ideas that they may or may not have any knowledge about. Today I'm joined by actor,

author, a New Orleans native, Wendell Pierce. You may know him from his powerful work as Detective Bunk from the Wire and musician Antoine Baptiste in Tramay.

He's just written a book called The Wind and the Reeds.

It's a memoir that's anchored in Wendell's experiences using art, politics, and activism to help rebuild his hometown after Hurricane Katrina.

Welcome to think again, Wendom.

Thank you. It's be here.

I think I want to start by asking you, what do you think makes art authentic or real?

Like, what is authenticity in art as opposed to in authenticity?

When something is truly authentic, it speaks to people from disparate walks of life who speak different languages, from different cultures. It even is classic in the sense that it speaks to that humanity in us all, even across time and generations. That's why Shakespeare speaks

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