Honestly? I want to talk about you. About how you're the Gertrude Stein of our generation. But way funnier, more humble, probably way more tolerable in a drawing room with Pablo Picasso drawing on a cigarette somewhere in the room's center. "I can’t write listening. I can’t hear someone listen. I can’t listen to listen." I don't wish for your brain to be in formaldehyde, but it might be one day--everyone's going to want to see in your brain, I'm afraid, myself included. "We can also be hearos"!!! Would you hate it, love it, be indifferent if I taught this essay in my classes? Because I'm gonna.
I had a colleagues who could talk for hours and it always impressed me. We never shared truly deep stuff so I'm not sure how she was in the listening department. Small talk is incredibly boring to me, so I'll only really listen when we've moved to deep stuff. Most of the time I get into touchy conversations way too fast just for the hell of it, because that's where the fun is! But I could try to listen more to people's weekend plans, I suppose.
This was so much fun and so interesting to read. I was thinking about speech today. How useless we would be without it. How weird and useless foreign languages sound if you can’t speak them. How such complex ideas can be communicated by arbitrary sounds. It really it all mins boggling. And I think the more fascinated I can get with speech, the less I’ll talk and more I’ll listen… or so I hope. Listening is far better than talking, or at least should be done more.
I celebrate the sounds you make my friend. One of my favorite things has always been falling asleep on the couch over the holidays while family is buzzing about, conversations overlapping, receding, passing by, the distant sounds of kitchen prep, all making a lot of noise, and at the same time producing the "sounds of society" that soothe the soul. To just listen to all of that and drift off in the embrace of the aural chaos is such deep pleasure. I enjoy such soul refreshment from listening to your inner crowd talk with such enthusiasm, abandon, and playfulness. Keep on, keep on.
I adore your brave, wild roaming voice! And I adore the experience of being heard. When someone truly, madly, deeply listens, and hears us, our cells are banging around together like kids in one of those bouncy houses. We belong. We matter. We're not alone. May I listen well to others today!
Honestly? I want to talk about you. About how you're the Gertrude Stein of our generation. But way funnier, more humble, probably way more tolerable in a drawing room with Pablo Picasso drawing on a cigarette somewhere in the room's center. "I can’t write listening. I can’t hear someone listen. I can’t listen to listen." I don't wish for your brain to be in formaldehyde, but it might be one day--everyone's going to want to see in your brain, I'm afraid, myself included. "We can also be hearos"!!! Would you hate it, love it, be indifferent if I taught this essay in my classes? Because I'm gonna.
Your writing in general, but especially this essay so much reminded me of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GvTLfV8fls&t=66s
Guess there's something in the water in The Bay area (he's from SF)
Would LOVE to see you speak it, all slam-poetry-like, into a mic, in a spotlight, for us to listen...
I had a colleagues who could talk for hours and it always impressed me. We never shared truly deep stuff so I'm not sure how she was in the listening department. Small talk is incredibly boring to me, so I'll only really listen when we've moved to deep stuff. Most of the time I get into touchy conversations way too fast just for the hell of it, because that's where the fun is! But I could try to listen more to people's weekend plans, I suppose.
This was so much fun and so interesting to read. I was thinking about speech today. How useless we would be without it. How weird and useless foreign languages sound if you can’t speak them. How such complex ideas can be communicated by arbitrary sounds. It really it all mins boggling. And I think the more fascinated I can get with speech, the less I’ll talk and more I’ll listen… or so I hope. Listening is far better than talking, or at least should be done more.
These pieces never fail to bring a smile to my face and a lightness to my day. Thank you, my friend.
I celebrate the sounds you make my friend. One of my favorite things has always been falling asleep on the couch over the holidays while family is buzzing about, conversations overlapping, receding, passing by, the distant sounds of kitchen prep, all making a lot of noise, and at the same time producing the "sounds of society" that soothe the soul. To just listen to all of that and drift off in the embrace of the aural chaos is such deep pleasure. I enjoy such soul refreshment from listening to your inner crowd talk with such enthusiasm, abandon, and playfulness. Keep on, keep on.
I adore your brave, wild roaming voice! And I adore the experience of being heard. When someone truly, madly, deeply listens, and hears us, our cells are banging around together like kids in one of those bouncy houses. We belong. We matter. We're not alone. May I listen well to others today!