A Little Help from Our Friends

Let’s get one thing clear from the outset of this listening tour: we are amateurs.  Sure, we know how to converse,  how to make travel arrangements, the niceties of bringing a present when visiting others and thanking them for their gift of time.  But in terms of listening well, finding a representative group of strangers willing to hold thoughtful conversations, taking good notes and crafting thoughtful blog posts...it is all new to us.

To make up for our deficit of experience, we've been reading, trying to learn from others who have tried something similar (see the post "Listening to Listeners"), and asking friends for advice. This morning we held a forum at our Church (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City).  We asked the folks who joined us for questions that they’d like to have the answers to and suggestions for our “tour”... then we practiced listening carefully.  Here are a few of the many helpful comments and suggestions:

• How will you get beyond the pleasantries and “Midwestern Nice” level of conversation?

• Be prepared to answer the same questions we will be asking...and more!

• Listen to radio stations as we drive across the US and in Wisconsin. This is a great way to hear what is happening locally and across the radio dial you’ll hear what the “background noise” is in communities.  Even the NPR stations will have very different programming than in the SF Bay Area.

• Be ready to say “yes” if we are invited to a church, event, barbeque.  “What can we bring?”  These invitations are more likely to lead to substantive conversations.

• Learn about the “red pill” (Matrix movie reference).  This is big on YouTube and refers to the anti-liberal reality as compared with the “blue pill” fantasy land of the liberal media. 
   
• Don’t get stuck on the liberal/ conservative or republican/ democratic labels -- these maybe breaking down.  Bernie and Trump both created passion among their supporters...is it more establishment “elite” versus “outsiders?”

There were also some strong opinions shared.  These we wrote down.  They will be a good reference point for the Forum we plan upon our return when we share what we learned.

We can use all of the ideas you have...please add a comment to this post or email me: pdhartzell@gmail.com.

-- Peter