Blog #1

Tori Bivens

Through Russo's article "Between Speech and Silence, Reflections on Accountability," she quoted saying, "Through active listening and learning, and striving to shed a teacher and know-it-all feminist persona, I am reminded of how much I do not know and how much I do not understand. (38)"

This is so important because it shows her admitting her fault in speech awareness. It is so easy to be oblivious and ignore the fact that most of us do not actively listen or try to. Even though this is coming from a feminist; it is important to acknowledge that most people, regardless of their political beliefs; could work on actively listening. We think we know what we are talking about. We think based off of our backgrounds or past accomplishments that we are geniuses on multiple topics. However, this could not be farther from the truth. Russo goes on to say how humbled she becomes once she takes a step back and deeply listens first before judging and responding. If people followed her lead more so, then they would see a long term benefit. When people actually listen to each other, it eliminates a lot of unnecessary bickering or miscommunications. This concept is potentially beneficial to all of the students in our current Comm 160 class. One day, we were broken up into groups to discuss controversial topics. This can be a difficult thing to take part in; especially if we don't actively listen to each other. Being able to deeply listen allowed me to hear my group and understand where they were coming from on certain topics. Thanks to this awareness, I know that it will be easier for me to communicate and connect with others if I can actively listen, like Ann Russo is pushing for.