Tag Archives: communication

Aug30

hair-apy.

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r

(not me, or my hair stylist, but similar to our interaction)

—

while getting my hair cut

i  had a great conversation

with my stylist

who is 20 something-ish

 while i am at least 20 x 3-ish

we shared our stories

she has not had an easy life

one of four children

raised by a single mother

who always worked hard to provide for them

my stylist also worked hard

got her social work degree

wants to go to grad school

before she practices her craft

lives with her loving and supportive boyfriend

yet understands

because of how she grew up

that you always need

to be able to provide for yourself

no matter what

 she learned to do hair as a back-up skill

to use as needed

but her real gift

was her kindness and the way she interacted

as a listener, without judgment

 in telling her own story

with understanding and honesty

obvious compassion

life wisdom beyond her age

lots of laughter, a few tears, and happy smiles later

i had the benefit of a great haircut and therapy at the same time

she will be brilliant in what she does after grad school

and may not realize that she is already a full practitioner.

 

—

“the kindest people do not just exist —

they choose to soften where circumstance has tried to harden them,

they choose to believe in goodness,

because they have seen firsthand why compassion is so necessary.”

– bianc sparacino

 

—

image credit: google images

Aug11

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

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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.

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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

 

 

 

—

 *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

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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.

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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.
—
“a word after a word after a word is power.”
― margaret atwood
Jan28

tiny grass is dreaming.

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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

 

 

—

photo credit: university animal clinic

Apr26

a different vision.

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(perhaps me casually speaking spanish with a new friend i will meet)

—

looking forward to learning

a bit more of the language before i travel this summer

i think i have a really good base though

i’ve been learning spanish with my pre-k classes for 20 years

so i’m pretty good with

animals, colors, family members, my name, yes and no, and hello and goodbye

plus,  i can burst into songs and dances in spanish as needed.

(i’ll keep this as my wild card)

—

” a different language is a different vision of life.”

-federico fellini

Feb11

this says…

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“this says –  i love my whole family.”

 

—

“writing isn’t letters on paper. it’s communication. it’s memory.”

-isaac marion

Jan17

handwritten.

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“i love handwritten letters. the way the words get jumbled up when the writer’s excited.

the way the words get neat when the writer is trying not to make a mistake.

the way the words get pretty because the writer’s in love.

i love handwritten letters.”

-word porn

 

—

January 17th is National Send a Handwritten Letter Day.

The idea is to save the dying art of letter writing and help the ailing Post Office

by sending a letter(s) to someone you care about.

Who will you surprise with a letter? Saving the world one letter at a time.

Aug3

storytelling.

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not us, but actors with a similar communication style

—

getting together with my friend yesterday to catch up,

with our usual mutual understanding:

“if i’m telling you a story be prepared to have 7 mini conversations and 19 other stories thrown into it.”