Monday, August 14, 2006

Monday, August 14

A warm afternoon in West Philly... I begin with Ken, who helped me bring the stations from the studio. This week I am bringing out both listening stations, which will allow me to invite passersby when two other people have already begun to use a station.


Ken and I end up going back and forth with 2-minute turns, talking and listening on some ideas for our relationship, and on how annoyed I am with the police car parked right next to "my" spot- right under a "NO parking at any time" sign.
( and, look ma, sandbags!)


As Ken is leaving, a friend of his from the Temple MBA program comes along with his partner. They try out the station, and commented afterwards on how different it feels from an informal conversation, with its back-and-forth rhythm.


For a while, I get no takers, but people are definately not in as much of a hurry as they seemed to be during the morning hour of the first week's installation. I have a number of friendly interactions with people who express interest in coming back on another day with a colleague or friend. Having the information cards that I printed today seems to help with folks who are curious but not ready to try it.

A young man who seemed curious comes back around and spends two minutes telling me all about himself as if in a personals ad. He is from Turkey, a computer programmer, these are his favorite movies, etc... He seems like a lovely person, but I make sure to mention my boyfriend when it's my turn to talk. Even so, when we are done he asks if I have a boyfriend, and still
suggests that I come over for dinner tonight. I decline, but am excited to have an open invitation to get to know him and hear some traditional Turkish music.

While we were on the station, a few
young punk/anarchist travelers gathered on the library wall. I ask them where they are from, and we have a great conversation about traveling, dumpster-diving, police aggression and militant vegan straight-edge gangs. Eventually, they all decided to try the listening station.

While they all were going at it, my housemate Isaac and his friend Natalie showed up. The first time people were waiting in line to use the listening station!



Isaac noticed that for him, it was easier to listen than to talk for two minutes. We also discussed the various styles of listening- whether to respond with facial expression or not, to maintain complete silence, or to include non-verbal sounds of acknowledgement. I've noticed that I tend to use different listening styles depending on who I am listening to and what they are speaking about.

While Natalie and Issac are using the station, I strike up a conversation with a young woman who is working as a UPenn security guard for this
corner. Her shift started at 5 pm, and she'll be on the job until 3 am. I step away for a minute to take a few pictures, and she starts encouraging other passers-by to try the listening station- great!

She and I take 3 minutes each before Natalie, Isaac and I pack up the stations and signpost for the day.

ps- did you use the listening station today? please post a comment on your experience!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi Zoe,

This is such a fantastic idea! I wish I could get myself to Philly for a day to try it. In this day and age it is a crucial practice for people to listen to each other more -- I am so glad I discovered your work through the seed project list. I hope you keep it up!

Take care & warm regards,
Aurora