When you read, do you ever tap your foot? Does music ever spark an idea in your head? Can you come up with a song or an artist that blends music and literature? Joyce Carol Oates wrote one of her most enduring works of short fiction after hearing Bob Dylan on the radio.

This semester I ask my students to match up their musical background with their reading experience. There are no specific rules to making  their choice. There is no right or wrong. I want them  to reach back into their musical archives, and choose a song that brings a story to our ears.