Friday, February 24, 2006
the poem that each person "lives"
She’s one of my all time heroes. She’s perhaps most well-known as the national security adviser on the TV show "The West Wing”, Anna Deavere.
Smith is also the creator and performer of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/stageonscreen/twilight/index.html ) involving a collage of voices from the riots that exploded following the verdict exonerating police officers who beat Rodney King. Smith interviewed nearly 200 people, looking for a way to represent the event on stage.
She asked a linguist for ways to listen for the story to tell. "I'm looking for the poem that a person has," she says, "so when I'm conducting an interview, I'm waiting for the rest of their language to move out of the way, for this poem to come forward."
The linguist gave Smith three questions:
1. Have you ever come close to death?
2. Have you ever been accused of something you did not do?
3. Do you remember the circumstances of your birth?” She says the exercise "taught her how to listen."
Learn more about the nuances of verbal communication in her book Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines*
(http://www.ebookmall.com/alpha-titles/Talk-to-Me-Smith-Random-cr.htm)
Smith is also the creator and performer of "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/stageonscreen/twilight/index.html ) involving a collage of voices from the riots that exploded following the verdict exonerating police officers who beat Rodney King. Smith interviewed nearly 200 people, looking for a way to represent the event on stage.
She asked a linguist for ways to listen for the story to tell. "I'm looking for the poem that a person has," she says, "so when I'm conducting an interview, I'm waiting for the rest of their language to move out of the way, for this poem to come forward."
The linguist gave Smith three questions:
1. Have you ever come close to death?
2. Have you ever been accused of something you did not do?
3. Do you remember the circumstances of your birth?” She says the exercise "taught her how to listen."
Learn more about the nuances of verbal communication in her book Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines*
(http://www.ebookmall.com/alpha-titles/Talk-to-Me-Smith-Random-cr.htm)
