The Beauty of Conversation (and Being Nosy)

As I get the wonderful opportunity to write in Susan Bird's blog, I am overwhelmed by the stream of ideas going through my head, not to mention the intimidation of writing in this blog for the first time. I am Laura Kim and recently joined Wf360 as a marketing program coordinator after seeing all the success this company has had with helping large companies and organizations create meaningful conversations. After spending a great deal of time trying to figure out what to blog about, I realized what better than to continue and add to Susan's thoughts on conversation... so here it goes (please bear with me).

Ever find yourself listening in on other people's conversations while on the train, subway, wherever? Fortunately, I get plenty of opportunity to do so. Working in New York City and living on Long Island gives me approximately 15 hours a week to listen in on the lives of mothers and fathers, friends, and colleagues. I am usually listening to my IPOD to ease the pain of commuting but those few times I decide not to, I learn a lot from what I hear.

I learn about how people converse, what they categorize as important, what they think about the daily events occurring in the world, scandals (of course-- apparently there's more news on the Spitzer scandal), etc. Sometimes you just want to tell them to get over it because it's yesterday's news but then you hear people's opinions and that spirals into how they view the world.

I've been told "there's no such thing as a stupid question" and I am starting to think nothing said is ever stupid (well ok, with the exception of a few things I've heard...) I agree with this statement because what seems to be "stupid" actually stirs up more conversation and can lead to intelligent, meaningful ideas. Like I said, I've learned a lot from other people's thoughts and ideas. Who would have ever imagined that the dreadful subway ride after work can teach you lessons and create great conversation? I usually bring up the interesting things I overhear at the dinner table or to my friends on the phone. It may be seemingly insignificant things such as what's new in Britney Spear's life to more substantial matters like the special MTV did on Obama and Hillary speaking with young Iraq Vets, their problems with PTSD, etc... and of course that spirals into further conversation that goes on for hours.

If you think the conversations you overhear are interesting, wait until you hear or read from the best conversationalists. There's a book out called Age of Conversation and it's a compilation of the thoughts of over 100 bloggers. They're even having a huge party to celebrate the book and bring the bloggers togther for the first time. I am actually attending this party myself to check out the unique group that always has something to say.

Trust me, I've heard what Susan has to say and she's only 1 out of the 100+ bloggers in the book. If this is Susan multiplied by 100, you better hold on tight because you're in for one crazy ride.