Category Archives: communication

Aug11

#uno in the oro league! at least for ‘deux minutes.’

Posted on August 11, 2024 by beth

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a couple of weeks ago

i decided to finally learn italian

something i’ve wanted to do for a long time

half of my family hertiage is italian

though few of us know more than a minimum of words

i find it to be such a poetic language

musical and pleasant to the senses.

one day i hope to visit italia

and even use some of what i’ve learned.

so here i am

at the top of my game

for a couple of short minutes

in my online duo lingo class

not the most thorough or intense course

often like a game show format

but non-judgmental

a good beginning

and i’m learning some things.

i am now at the point where

if anyone would like to order

a croissant, a coffee, even with cream.

in italian

i am ready and happy to help.

even though i’ve begun italian

i still carry

some crumbs of french from way back:

‘je suis fatigue.’

(i am tired) – use as needed

21 years of pre-k spanish:

‘hola! hay una pinata?’

(hi, is there a pinata?) – also as needed

a lifetime of english, still in process:

(‘what the heck is going on?’) – again as needed, and used often

i will soon be heading to portugal

where none of these languages are spoken

but

the more i learn, the more i know, and the more i know, the more i can,

just kind of mash them all together

use my hands a lot

smile

try to do my best to communicate.

all while hopefully

not offending anyone,

getting engaged,

eating any weird meat products,

or adopting a child who i would have to clear through customs.

‘sliante!’ – (cheers!) to all of you-

because the other side of my family are irish

and this may well be the only word any of us knows of it.

—

‘learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things,

but learning another way to think about things.’

– flora lewis

—

.When thinking in another language, it really changes the way you think,

partly due to the way the language works and partly grasping the culture.

Jun24

on the hook.

Posted on June 24, 2024 by beth

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how exciting to find a real working payphone

caused me to do a double take

the umbilical cord connecting to many a ride home

the joy of finding a quarter in the coin return.

—

“the telephone gives us the happiness of being together yet safely apart.”

*mason cooley

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*mason cooley, 1927-2002, was an american aphorist known for his witty aphorisms. One of the aphorisms Cooley developed was “The time I kill is killing me.”He was professor emeritus of French, speech and world literature at the college of staten island and an assistant professor of english at columbia university.

Mar11

‘is there no privacy in this family?′ everyone at the table answers, ‘no.’- ashley elston

Posted on March 11, 2024 by beth

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ah, those wonderful memories

of that wall mounted phone

usually yellow in most houses

began with a 3-foot cord

eventually a 30-foot cord

so important

for one’s privacy

if the phone rang

and the call was for one of us

we’d travel with that cord

way beyond any expected limits

into a corner or another room

with closed door

where we could

listen, gossip, tell jokes, share news, talk about nothing, cry about breakups, listen to music together, compare who got invited to what, predict who was going to ask who out, muse about crushes, complain about our parents and sibs, find out what the homework was because we weren’t listening in class, discuss what you were going to wear tomorrow, make plans…

and then

after what seemed to be about 5-7 minutes

one of your sibs

would start whining, complaining, knocking on the door, telling on you

for being on the phone ‘for hours’

they were waiting for an important call

or had to make an important call

and they were just going to die

if they didn’t get to use the phone right away

the battle for the phone began

if someone had to walk

through the room that cord was stretched across

a taut tightrope about to snap

they had to lift it and walk under

like playing phone limbo

the curly cord

would get all twisted up

because you had been twirling it around your finger

while you were on your call

you had to wait as the whole thing unspooled

sometimes standing on a chair to do so

when you finally got off of the call

your sibling began the whole process all over again

with her friend

until

another sibling jumped into the ring

to go through the whole ritual again

with her friend

until

your parents

or the friend’s parents

put the hammer down

and said

they were waiting for or had to make an important call

it was time for dinner

not to stretch out the phone cord

one sib even figured out how to disconnect the cord

right where it connected to the phone

it was an ongoing struggle

for privacy, phone access, and control

it was the best, like being in a phone derby

and sometimes i won.

‘the shared phone was a space of spontaneous connection for the entire household.’

— Julia Cho; The Atlantic—How the Loss of the Landline Is Changing Family Life

Feb27

word after a word.

Posted on February 27, 2024 by beth

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someone sure has a lot to say

not sure exactly what that is yet

but i think

someone has to pay something.

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“a word after a word after a word is power.”
― margaret atwood

Jan28

tiny grass is dreaming.

Posted on January 28, 2024 by beth

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小草休扈请勿扛搅

inaccurate translation:

DO NOT DISTURB. / TINY GRASS IS DREAMING.

while the image of blades of grass sleeping soundly is undeniably adorable,

the chinese public lawn sign posted near the grass was actually meant to read,

accurate translation:

GRASS IS RESTING. DO NOT DISTURB.

i personally prefer the first.

—

“every act of communication is a miracle of translation.”
― ken liu, the paper menagerie and other stories

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photo credit: university animal clinic

Oct8

all the news that’s fit to print.

Posted on October 8, 2023 by beth

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as a huge fan of reading newspapers in print, i loved reading this news in print:

There’s currently a French castle that’s channeling the past and being built using only medieval construction methods. County Highway has a similar premise, but for the publishing industry.

The U.S.-based newspaper, which launched its first edition over the summer, costs $8.50 and will distribute six issues per year. Most notably, it’s print-only, meaning you won’t find any of its stories online.

“People read differently on the printed page than they do on a screen,” editor David Samuels told The Observer. “The printed page is an immersive experience without constant distractions or the specter of other people’s responses on social media. It’s a much more enriching and human experience.”

Styled after 19th century broadsheets, County Highway cites Charles Dickens, Bob Dylan, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, and Tom Wolfe as inspirations. And there’s clearly an appetite for it: Samuels said the team hit their year-three subscription and sales targets within three weeks of putting out the first issue. “The response has been tremendous,” he added.

check it out below:

https://www.countyhighway.com

—

“i read about eight newspapers in a day. when i’m in a town with only one newspaper, i read it eight times.”

-will rogers