Summary

In “Some Notes on Attunement,” Smith describes the experience of hearing Joni Mitchell’s music played at a college party. When asked if she likes Joni Mitchell, Smith answers reflexively no. Years later, she is in the car with her husband, who scolds her for not liking Joni Mitchell. Since then, however, Smith has begun listening to Joni Mitchell and invariably responds to her music with “uncontrollable tears” (105). She admits that, though she is a connoisseur of novels, she is not a very good connoisseur of other topics. She notes that her obsession with Joni Mitchell never cost her much work, more like a “leap of faith” (110) or “sudden, unexpected attunement” (110). Smith concludes the essay with a pledge to research more into Mitchell’s later African-American-inspired...