September 6, 2019 COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

Did you know that only 7% of communication is verbal?? That means 93% of communication is NON-verbal.  I'm talking about --body language--gestures--facial expressions. Sounds crazy but I'm here to tell you it's TRUE. First week back at school--I get some VIRUS--and CANNOT SPEAK AT ALL. Crazy because TALKING is a huge part of my job. No Worries. I worked around it. It was the QUIETEST week of my life. Students REALLY PAID ATTENTION AND HELPED ME. I learned to incorporate other teaching modalities--AND--they in turn --utilized different learning modalities. It was very cool. A WIN-WIN. I digress now. Parents. Now that you know the statistics (they are real) think about them when you talk to your OWN kids. THEY ARE ONLY LISTENING FOR TWO MINUTES. Say what you need to say--QUICKLY--THROW IN A LITTLE BODY LANGUAGE --BE QUIET--or you're just wasting your time. ENOUGH SAID.

Do you like historical fiction? Love stories? Time travel? If you do, then you MUST read Lisa Grunwald's new book Time After Time. Set from 1925-1948 in Grand Central Terminal, Joe Reynolds one of the main characters in the novel, is a leverman for the station.  He is in charge of pulling levers and directing the flow of trains in and out of the station. Nora Lansing is a Manhattan socialite who appears in the station one morning in 1937 dressed in flapper clothing, looking totally out of place. After bumping into Nora in the main terminal, Joe is determined to find out more about her. After searching for her for several months, Joe finally finds her again-- in the exact same spot--but it's  1938  and she's wearing the same flapper outfit. Don't want to say too much more other then Nora's comings and goings have something to do with a solar phenomenon known as the Manhattanhenge (this was real) and Grand Central Terminal.  Grunwald does a great job with the history of the terminal--Biltmore Hotel, Oyster Bar, Whispering Gallery--she really brings this city within a terminal to life. I am a sucker for this kind of book so I really LOVED it. It's about 400 pages or a 4 mile walk that I literally read in 2 days. Couldn't put it down because I had to know what would become of their love.