How To Listen

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How To Listen

One of the most important skills we have as human beings is our ability to communicate, and to do so effectively.

However, one could easily argue that - societally speaking - we have not been communicating effectively with one another, or have only been doing so with a select group of people. The events of the past ten days seem like blatant proof of that.

A large part - if not the largest part - of effective communication and the subsequent forward momentum of progress is:

Active Listening.

We - and I’m speaking to the heavily White majority of my readership here - are being asked right now to Actively Listen to our Black peers, friends, family, colleagues, allies, acquaintances, and all Black voices across the country.

So how do we do this? What does this mean? Where to start?

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In Review: "Slave Play"

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In Review: "Slave Play"

Fulfilling another of my promises for the second year of The Glamorous Life Blog, we begin my In Review series with Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris.

[*Quick note about In Review: I’m calling this series “In Review” and not an “actual” review because: I am not a paid theatre critic. I firmly believe that everyone has opinions and a voice and, therefore, has the ability to write a critical analysis if they so choose. However we should distinguish between paid critique and non. “In Review” is merely my take in looking back upon the work I have experienced, which I hope you will find interesting and informative!]

I had put off seeing Slave Play for as long as I could, which was in large part due to the inability of my peers to describe to me anything about the play without “giving it away” and this idea that “it just has to be experienced.”

That sort of vaguery is off-putting to me and, alas, I fell victim to my own stubbornness yet again, putting it off until last weekend. And I really really wish I hadn’t. (Slave Play closes this Sunday 1/19)

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

(And don’t worry, I’m not talking about the Christmas song.)

Sound is a very powerful thing. It surrounds us at all times, and yet how often are we paying specific attention to those sounds?

Sound can be music of course, but it can also be created by a billion other things:

  • Objects (doors closing, printers printing, squeaky floors, keyboard clicks, etc.)

  • People (unintelligible chatter, direct conversation, whispering, yelling, sneezing, etc.)

  • Actions (vehicles on the road, steam from a radiator, glass breaking, etc.)

  • Reactions (fires crackling, the frying of an egg, stomachs digesting food, etc.)

  • And more

And because of this pervasiveness of sound in our lives and its ability to recall in us specific thoughts, images, and emotions, sound is an excellent way to create an environment and to tell a story.

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