New Underground
Last week, I was supposed to release a Podcast about a radio station’s involvement in the death of a local woman who fatally overdosed on water. The Podcast is available finally, and will be placed in the download center for a week. No more will be said of it.
Also last week, I completed one of my first assignments for my public speaking course…which is always fun—people almost being required to listen to me speak for a few minutes. What could be greater but a few moments in the limelight? And though I didn’t let it show, I was nervous as hell. A new college, with new faces, new chances at constructing a reputation—so it’s not like I could afford to screw this up. This was a big opportunity, and I could do one of two things with it: Run it into the ground by saying all of the wrong things and emphasizing all of the wrong ideas, or say all of the right things at the right time, in the right order, with the right tone. There was no denying it’d be an academic success; the question was whether or not it’d have social success. I think it did, even if I added toward the end: “I like to talk.”
It dawned on me this morning why I like to talk so much. The more I talk, the more I learn. I learn a little more about myself, and I gather an understanding of people based on things like reactions. For example, if I say something and a person reacts negatively, it means one of three things: I said it the wrong way, or they didn’t understand what was being said and are having an attack of intelligence, or they didn’t agree with what was being said. If a person reacts positively, it’s usually the opposite of the three (though the middle is sometimes an exception—sometimes, people will react positively, but give you that dumb face look which indicates that everything went right over their heads and they’re just smiling to satisfy you).
Understanding perceptions, beliefs, facts and ideas—it’s a pretty great thing. Now, back to the iPod earphones where Guster is performing a personal concert just for me.
In my past life, I was a tree or something. If not a tree, something that grew old and didn't move very much. I'm pretty convinced of this.