The key to the future of the world is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known. Pete Seeger
So what does a folk journalist do? And do you care?
That’s a lesson I learned out there: if you don’t care about your fellow conversant, why carry such a heavy microphone? (Although, yes, flash drive cards have gotten much lighter, I learned at the feet of folks carrying Wollensaks* and other portably massive recording machiens.)
Why stick a mic smack dab into the snoot of every Mr. and Mrs. America? Just to get a story?
Well, yes.
You’ll find them on every block. Spending forty years taking it to the streets of this great entertainment nation — not living in the street, though I’ve interviewed the houseless and as Dylan said, Who aint homeless? — but as a foreign correspondent too, in Athens and Jerusalem, your friendly neighborhood folk journalist has been fired out of newsrooms from New York to San Francisco.
Also from Los Angeles to Santa Monica.
That’s the nature of the business. But you learn some things. A folk journalist gets nothing less than a learner’s permit for life.**
The world opens when you open with a question. Folk journalists are so freewheeling with questions, they can come off more as “suggestions.” They come with low-expectations. You are trying to create a space (ala RAM DASS; more about him later) where a person can feel comfortable to chat.
I’ve learned so much on mic. And off, of course, with the result being slapped, kicked (Ahh, Athens!), chased out of shops, run down streets by cops. All in the service of asking for that story never heard before.
The famous quote by E.M. Forster comes to mind: “Only connect.”
How?
By presenting voices from America. (More about STUDS TERKEL later) One records people professionally for radio, but also, any average woman-on-the-street-travelling-marshmallow-face-painted-every-kid-who-has-a-podcast gets to pop the vox populi by posing questions. Creating a space by invading someone else’s. The rightly timed question can bring a moment to life that might help a fellow find meaning in their own.
One of the beauties of this job is nobody knows where a conversation can lead.
How to make your great big convo begin?
Are you taking notes? Because poet Robert Bly (More on him, etc.) has the answer!
Bly says, “Ask a question. And listen.”
QUESTIONS
As a folk journalist, some approaches I’ll open with:
“What was the best year of your life?”
“How do you handle stress?”
“What is your conception of God?”
“What’s the richest you’ve ever been?”
“What is the most beautiful word in the (fill in) language?”
“What does this line mean: And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. ”
“Do you have a podcast?”
“How do you like your Burning Man experience thus far?”
TIP
Here’s a simple way to start (See Post on “Quick Openers”): “Need any help with that?”
Kind of an easygoing outreach that oft-times returns a response your way and who knows what’s next.
Because after that? (Don’t get nervous now) We’re off and running! And walking and talking and listen…
* http://www.clydesight.com/wollensak_reel_to_reel_tape_recorder/Wollensak_history.html
** A learner’s permit is a state-approved pre-driver’s license issued at 15-16 after proper study behind the wheel