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Bundle of energy
Written by Nathan on February 5, 2009 at 11:56 pm from A Month of Listening.
Written by Nathan on February 5, 2009 at 11:56 pm from A Month of Listening.
There are few finer ways to spend an hour than with a friend playing soccer and conversing. That was my afternoon with Jeremiah Shaw, today’s interviewee. A whirlwind of ideas and activity, Jeremiah was kind enough to pause for a moment to talk with me, before heading off to an indoor trampoline park and then later a late-night jam session. (Related: what’s a term for a jam session that doesn’t sound so lame?)
Year of Months / A Month of Listening Day 5 from Nathan Clark on Vimeo.
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Genuine taste
Written by Nathan on February 4, 2009 at 11:43 pm from A Month of Listening.
Written by Nathan on February 4, 2009 at 11:43 pm from A Month of Listening.
Today’s interview was with Mark Thompson, executive chef at Two Blondes and a Shrimp and general food genius. Bon appétit!
Year of Months / A Month of Listening Day 4 from Nathan Clark on Vimeo.
Update: Something was weird with the original video, so it’s reposted.
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My better half
Written by Nathan on February 4, 2009 at 6:39 pm from Uncategorized.
Written by Nathan on February 4, 2009 at 6:39 pm from Uncategorized.
Here, finally, is my first interview with my wife, Jenn. The original mic was so terrible that the audio didn’t come out from our original session. Last night we sat down again with a better mic and without further delay, here is the first interview in a Month of Listening.
Year of Months / A Month of Listening Day 1 from Nathan Clark on Vimeo.
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I’ll take a side of awesome with that sandwich
Written by Nathan on February 3, 2009 at 8:56 pm from A Month of Listening.
Written by Nathan on February 3, 2009 at 8:56 pm from A Month of Listening.
The only problem I see with this project (A Month of Listening) is that there are more people I want to interview than days in the month. But on my shortest of short lists was today’s interviewee, Mike Iaccarino, or just “Manager Mike” to most people around Northland. Mike’s a constant fixture at the local Nature’s Table Café, managing and tending not just to the store and its staff, but also to the many regulars that frequent the restaurant. He was one of the reasons I came up with this project, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled that he let me take a few minutes from his afternoon to listen and learn a little bit more about him.
Year of Months / A Month of Listening Day 3 from Nathan Clark on Vimeo.
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What a contrast with last month
Written by Nathan on February 3, 2009 at 4:20 pm from A Month of Listening.
Written by Nathan on February 3, 2009 at 4:20 pm from A Month of Listening.
For all the things running was, is was rarely fun. But sitting down with people and learning about them is genuinely a pleasure. I just finished today’s interview and the experience was fantastic – this should be a great month. (The posting process is still a bit slow – today’s interview will be online tonight.)
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The value of wise counsel
Written by Nathan on February 2, 2009 at 11:58 pm from A Month of Listening.
Written by Nathan on February 2, 2009 at 11:58 pm from A Month of Listening.
After so many painful pitfalls during the Month of Resolve, rooted so often in my ignorance, you would think I would’ve prepared myself well for my second project. But after wrestling with microphones and recorders, and tonight with how to create a video of a single static image, it’s apparent the obvious lessons are eluding me.
Today I sat down with Robert Andrescik, long-time friend, colleague and perhaps of any person I know the most versed in the art of the interview. Over his professional career he’s conducted or arranged interviews with too many major media organizations and prominent public figures to count.
At the risk of exposing my extraordinary novice, I thought it wise to take a few tips from a seasoned veteran. Hopefully his advice, in addition to making me generally a better listener, will also give me a bit more flair for the interviews coming up.
UPDATE: Video’s finally ready.
Year of Months / A Month of Listening Day 2 from Nathan Clark on Vimeo.
Today: Listening to Robert Andrescik, Director of Public Relations for Northland Church, former editor for New Man Magazine and long-time journalist.
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A first day of standbys
Written by Nathan on February 1, 2009 at 11:52 pm from A Month of Listening.
Written by Nathan on February 1, 2009 at 11:52 pm from A Month of Listening.
Today to usher in the month of listening, I sat down with my lovely wife for a short conversation about the project, listening and what she hopes I get out of the month.
But I can’t get the audio into my computer (still), so the first installation is coming. I’ll update when it’s ready.
UPDATE: My audio is imported, but the sound quality is so terrible that it’s hard to even understand me and my wife. This is ironic because I was told to buy a specific recorder, but I didn’t listen and instead got this cheaper version today. Tomorrow I will re-interview my wife, then post the first day’s interview.
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About a Month of Listening
Written by Nathan on January 31, 2009 at 12:05 pm from A Month of Listening.
Written by Nathan on January 31, 2009 at 12:05 pm from A Month of Listening.
With a Month of Resolve behind me, where do I go? Do I try to run three miles faster than Obama? Based on my run today, perhaps I should just aim for being faster than Clinton. I suppose I could move to anaerobic workouts and see how many pushups I can do in month.
But this Year of Months project is about more than physical well-being. It’s about reclaiming life and this month will mark a major life change – the birth of a new baby for my wife and I.
Birth is a wonderful and crazy process, beyond just the biological event. A few blocks from our home is the birthing center where my wife will (hopefully) give birth to a healthy babe in a week or three. She’s met with her midwife every week or two for nine month. Her midwife will bear the responsibility of preparing us for, and guiding Jenn through, delivery. Hers will be the first hands to hold our new child, and a face forever tied to the start of this new life.
But despite her pivotal role in our lives, I know almost nothing about Jenn’s midwife. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized there are many people I interact with, depend on, and in some cases even care a great deal about whom I do not know as well as I ought. There are many reasons for this—time may be an issue, or perhaps the transactional nature of relationships nowadays. From all the reasons I’ve pondered the most striking is that so often I don’t listen to others often enough.
So for the month of February each day I’m going to rectify some small part of my relational dis-functionality. For a few minutes, once a day, I’ll sit down with someone who has impact on my life in some way and interview them. I’ll record the audio, take a photo and post the two together. Hopefully through listening I can better know my neighbors, and maybe relearn what it means to know someone.
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Resolution
Written by Nathan on January 31, 2009 at 10:57 am from A Month of Resolve.
Written by Nathan on January 31, 2009 at 10:57 am from A Month of Resolve.
After 3.1 miles in 30° weather, my first month project is over. There are a lot of things that surprised me about both this month and my culminating effort. I ran under the timer at 28:20 today, which is frankly a terrible time in light of how fast I’ve run the rest of the month. But according to my timer, there’s another story which is sadly only slightly less depressing.
This being my first 5k, I didn’t fully grasp how the race worked. I was in the middle of the pack waiting to start running with my friend, John-Erik whose run most of the month with me. The announcer said “ready, set, go!” And I stood there. For many second. The I ambled forward in a slow walk towards the start line which took even more time. I finally got 100 meters into the first mile after more than a minute, compared to my usual first 100 meters of 20 seconds.
Throughout this month I’ve tried to start fast so I tried to compensate for that lost time and still end my first mile in the 7-minute territory. Sure enough, I ran past the “one mile” sign around 7:20 but that meant that I ran most of the mile in 6:30. I couldn’t keep up my pace and never managed to get a good rhythm. On my timer I finished the last three miles (ignoring the first tenth) in about 27 minutes give or take 5 seconds.
I would’ve liked to have run faster, harder or better. But 31 days after I’ve started, my month of resolve is completed. I don’t think I beat Bush (despite my efforts I can’t find any recorded times from his tenure as president) but despite the steep goal, I stayed at it throughout the month. I plan to continue running – I don’t want to waste this $100 pair of shoes. Besides, in August I’m heading to Brazil to play soccer with kids for a week or two and if I’m not consistent in training there’s no way I’ll survive.
Here’s to a good January, and hopefully an even better February.
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Ending this month with a exercise in extremes
Written by Nathan on January 30, 2009 at 10:23 pm from A Month of Resolve.
Written by Nathan on January 30, 2009 at 10:23 pm from A Month of Resolve.
Today marked my first easy workout. Tomorrow will mark my hardest workout. An exercise in extremes, and hopefully one that leads to a successful end to this first project with the running of my first 5k.
I’m not sure what time I’ll post – owing to an overplanned day, I never managed to pick up my race packet which means that I’ll have to arrive at the race even earlier than I would otherwise. So I’ll be heading from my home around 5:30 which is more frequently a time that I go to sleep than a time I wake up. Couple that with an expected cold morning, and I don’t expect my body to be particularly cooperative.
But whatever drawbacks I’ll have pride, shame and adrenaline pushing me to do well. We’ll find out which circumstances win tomorrow—around the same time you’ll find out what my next month’s project will be. Should be a good day!