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Hey there, it's Major.

As we take a look back at the slowdown's deep well of episodes,

we're revisiting some standout moments from past hosts.

Today, we're going into the vault to bring you an episode from Tracy K. Smith,

one of the voices that helped shape the slowdown into what it is today.

This is just one of the many special selections from our archives.

I'm Tracy K. Smith, and this is The Slowdown.

Rain hammers down onto my roof as I write.

It's one of my favorite sounds,

like the night is thrumming its thousand fingers onto my house.

How can there be so many raindrops? How have they not been exhausted?

If I listen discerningly, I can hear the difference between the droplets hitting my house and those landing in the trees.

Persistent, a blanket of sound covering everything.

Tomorrow the ground will turn to mud.

More leaves will litter the slick street. But the pines, the laurels, and whatever else has held on to its green, will look happy come morning, well rested. My son's piano teacher

told me the other day that worrying helps nothing. Does she know me already that well,

or was she talking perhaps to herself? There's time to resolve once more about what to become.

...