“What Dreams Are Made Of”

“What Dreams Are Made Of” enters Devorah’s story through a newly discovered stereo dial. Heard on Radio Disney at 1560 on the AM dial, the song catches her attention as she begins exploring music she had not known existed. Its appearance marks a small but vivid opening in a life shaped by restrictions on secular culture: an unfamiliar sound arrives through a private act of listening, and Devorah is immediately drawn in.

Discovery Through Mindy

The song belongs to a period of growing closeness between Devorah and Mindy. After becoming friends as young teachers, the two talk over coffee at Lee Avenue Pizza about their work and discover that they had both secretly read books. Mindy also listens to FM radio on headphones and shows Devorah how to turn the dial on her stereo. That lesson makes the song audible to Devorah; the music becomes part of an exchange in which each friend reveals interests she had kept to herself.

A New World of Listening

The song is the first named track in Devorah’s account of her expanding musical world. She lies awake for hours with headphones on, listening to what she describes as foreign, promiscuous tunes. Her tastes develop beyond the song itself: she likes electronic and trance music, while Mindy prefers teen pop. The contrast gives their friendship room for both shared discovery and distinct preference, and the headphones offer Devorah a private way to encounter sounds beyond her familiar surroundings.

Retrospective Resonance

The song’s title acquires an understated resonance alongside the memoir’s later account of Devorah’s life. Looking back, she says that her childhood dreams have come true and describes the improbability of the journey she has lived. The book does not say that she returns to the song or explicitly connects it to that later reflection; rather, the title’s language sits suggestively beside her retrospective recognition that a once-imagined life became real. Its first appearance remains modest and concrete: a song on the radio, a stereo dial learned from a friend, and the beginning of a wider world of listening.