I’ve been a fan of Humans of New York Facebook page for several years. It’s a simple concept: The author posts a picture of a person on their page and includes a quote from the interview. Some of these posts have made me think, some touched my heart and some have made me angry. I’ve always appreciated both the simplicity, and profundity of the concept.
This week, I saw that while the creators of HONY were taking all these pictures over the last 4 years, they were also carrying a video camera! Humans of New York: The Series debuted this week and is the fruit of over 1,400 of those interviews. I thought I’d like the series, but it turns out I was wrong.
I’m only 2 episodes deep and … I am in LOVE!
Humans of New York, The Series, is what happens when a person turns a video camera on, ask the right questions and then allows time and silence to carve into the protective walls we’ve all constructed around ourselves. The series is a testament to the power of what can happen when an individual is invited not only to speak, but to be entirely heard. What so often turns these interviews into works of art is what the creator allows to happen during what many would refer to as, “awkward silence.”
Our society has somehow become conditioned to fill this most sacred of time gaps, often referred to as, “awkward silence,” with distraction. Cellphones, social media and the mindless chatter invoked by both during social situations has actually done more to disconnect us from one another despite our hopes that they would do the exact opposite.
Awkward Silence, My Old Friend
Way back when I was in the College of Education, a professor once told me that there is tremendous value in allowing for, “wait time,” AKA, “awkward silence,” in the classroom. A teacher who asks a student to answer a question, yet who does not provide adequate response time, will not be an effective teacher at all.
Very often, it has been the continued discussion of an incorrect or incomplete response that has lead my classes to the correct answer. All answers are worth waiting for and the folks conducting the interviews for this series understand the fruit that can be produced by not immediately jumping into the silence created when a person is sharing. Authentic learning and revelation are the byproducts of good questions and a teacher who respects what’s happening during the silence.
It is quite a sacred thing to see the interviewees on The Series sometimes tangibly struggle to unpack what they’re really trying to communicate. Authentic humanness, it seems, is often best articulated just beyond what we refer to as, “awkward silence,” and the beauty of that authenticity hangs in the air like a spoken work of art.
Every People Watcher’s Dream!
To me, this series is like people watching where the whole world is muted for a few moments. The object of your fascination suddenly turns, look you in the eyes and proceeds to tell you their story. And then, as quickly as they entered your scene, they meander back off into the landscape.
I have a busy life and a shortish attention span so I was delighted to learn that each episode is only about 20 minutes. The folks I was introduced to in that brief time were refreshingly random and surprisingly candid. There were some people introduced who I knew would be an open book the minute they started talking, but there were several others who surprised me when they invited me into their world.
Watching the show is a lot like meeting people in real life:
There will be kindred sprits who you wish would just keep talking, there will be acquaintances who you’re thankful to have met, and there will be a few characters who you’d really like to fast forward through meeting…Fortunately for us, that third response is now an option while watching the episodes.
HONY’s Secret Sauce
I think the real magic behind this entire concept rests in offering people the opportunity to share their unique story AND to be entirely heard. This magic is manifested through the act of carving out intentional time to highlight one, solitary thread amid such a vast and varied tapestry.
Humans of New York: The Series, reminds us all that every human being is an invaluable thread that makes up the fabric of society. It serves us well in that it helps to rub off a bit of the stranger so we can better see the human underneath. It reveals that we are:
-Common, yet Unique.
-Individualized, yet Intimately Interconnected.
-Fragile, yet Resilient.
-Broken, yet Beautiful.
To each Human featured, I want to offer my sincere gratitude…Thank YOU for being brave enough to let us in; if only for a few moments.
We hear you. We are listening.
CLICK HERE to visit the ,Humans of New York: The Series, Facebook Page
