The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: communication

  • The Thirty Million Words Initiative

    If I haven’t said it recently (but I’m fairly sure I have), I absolutely love National Public Radio. I learn so much from NPR that I probably would never know otherwise. Case in point: the Thirty Million Words Initiative. One of my all time pet peeves is parents who do not read to or communicate…

  • On Being a Storyteller

    Throughout human history, storytellers have been a very important part of most cultures. Before the written word, they were our only link to our ancestry, our current events, and our life lessons. They provided a sense of continuity and connection. These stories allowed people to expand their worldview, even in times when it was much…

  • Untapped Depths

    Every day we walk or drive past countless numbers of people without communicating with them in any meaningful way. That’s perfectly natural. It would be impossible to get anything done if we stopped to have intense conversations with everyone we encountered. But lately I have been viewing all these strangers with fresh eyes. That’s because…

  • Satisfying Your Man

    Recently a very distant young relative posted this meme on her Facebook page. It made me very sad. Not because I’m pro-Hillary Clinton (which I am), but because of the whole mindset behind this meme. So I asked my relative, “Why was it her responsibility to satisfy him?” All I heard back were some very…

  • The Thing About IQ

    I know a boy who despairs because his IQ isn’t as high as he’d like it to be. He thinks he’s doomed to failure. He thinks he’s stupid. I heard in passing on NPR today (sorry, couldn’t tell you who said it or on which program) that IQ is not as good an indicator of…

  • Incompetence, Thy Name is AT&T

    You know, you’d think I’d have learned after writing How to Give Horrible Customer Service, but no. In an area of 1 million people (Jacksonville, Florida) the administration in its infinite wisdom has chosen to only allow two major competitors for our unlimited internet market: AT&T and Comcast. Comcast service is slow as molasses during…

  • Sabotaged Dreams

    The beauty of getting into a relationship later in life is that your character is already well established, so there should be no confusion as to who you are. The older you are, the more apt you will be to know your goals and dreams, and if you properly articulate them to your partner, you…

  • The Beauty of Words

    The words you choose can be seductive. They expose your wit, your intelligence, your creativity and your charm without you having to come right out and declare that you have those qualities. And it often seems that the most fetching expressions are those that are rarely used. That’s a pity. I love delicious repartee. I…

  • Messages in Bottles

    Last month a German fisherman pulled the world’s oldest known message in a bottle from the Baltic Sea. It was tossed into the water back in 1913, and contained a postcard that included the writer’s home address in Berlin. Due to water damage, the rest of the message is illegible, but work will soon be…

  • Trapped in Seat 19A

    Whenever I have to fly somewhere, I always struggle with what is the proper amount of social interaction with the stranger who is jammed into the seat next to me. I don’t want to be rude and aloof and thus make the trip uncomfortable, but neither do I want to invite a running commentary that…