Stephen Malkmus in Africa

My silly little hipster mix--with tracks from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, the Decemberists, the Shins, Neutral Milk Hotel, and others--was the only music that my friend remembered to take on her 2004 Peace Corps journey to war-torn Chad,

the primary destination of Darfur refugees fleeing the Sudanese government's genocide campaign, and the current site of further conflict and attacks (toward both refugee Darfurans and native Chadians) by the Sudanese.
It's astounding to think that the same mix I listened to while driving to the grocer's served as her single musical soundtrack to four months over there. Upon her return, she told me that she still listens to it. I wonder whether her musical memory is as photographic as mine, and what kinds of images those songs might recall for her. (Certainly nothing as neutral and mundane as sitting at the stoplight on Circle Boulevard or driving past the OSU Dairy--my own memories of the mix.)

She'll be at karate sometime this week. I think I'll make a new mix for happier times in happier places. I'll post the final list later.