"I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question." - Yogi Berra A few years ago in my essay "The Art of the Question", I discussed effective inquiry, … [Read more]
Collaboration
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of a continent, a part of the main... John Donne, English Poet; MEDITATIONS XVII, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, 1624 I usually write about communication skills for the individual. … [Read more]
Leading the Way. The Good Docent Updated
A few years ago I wrote an essay called 'The Good Docent, Reflections on a Year of Touring'. It was based on my experiences as a volunteer architectural and garden tour guide at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. Time moves on and so have … [Read more]
Reading Aloud
Reading aloud is the secret weapon of effective writers. I use it all the time now, both on my fiction and nonfiction pieces, to edit and improve my output. I have a long history with reading aloud. For several years, for a national charity I … [Read more]
The Art of The Question
The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge. Thomas Berger, Novelist When you think about it, the soul of communication is inquiry. Our speaking and writing is mostly asking and answering questions. Sometimes the … [Read more]
The Power of Two
I usually discuss the communication skills of one person. But listening to recent podcasts on educational technology trends by my daughter Mary Jo at EdSurge.com made me think about "the power of two". She typically performs the podcast with a male … [Read more]
The Ultimate Instrument
The human voice is the ultimate instrument for sharing meaning. It's range of expression is vast. It's sensory output is greater than virtually any other sound source. Yet most of us take this marvelous communications tool for granted. The savvy … [Read more]
The Good Docent – Reflections on A Year of Touring
I am a proud docent at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Mainly, I lead hour-long architectural and garden tours of the acclaimed J. Paul Getty Museum and its famous hilltop campus in the Brentwood neighborhood of LA. Other formal docent duties of … [Read more]
The Second Biggest Fear
People fear many things. From acrophobia (heights) to xenophobia (strangers), the list of potential fears is long and varied. Of course, different things scare different people. One person's fearsome spider is another person's pet. Yet when you … [Read more]
The Body Electric – Making Physical Expression Phenomenal
I sing the body electric, The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them, They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them, And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul. From the poem I Sing … [Read more]