This week we celebrate our 2 month anniversary of Hearing Things with Julie and Brad!

Read on for each of our takes on how things are going!

Julie’s Take

How Has It ONLY Been 2 Months?! 

When the clock clicked over from 6:59 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 10th, 2024, a Zoom link opened and an exchange of ideas began between an extroverted teacher and an introverted librarian…the world’s most unlikely pairing, as you will be hard pressed to find two people who are complete opposites in just about every way imaginable, except for one fundamental similarity – the daily struggle of living with a hearing loss in a hearing world. 

It was during this first meeting that “Hearing Things With Julie and Brad” was officially launched into the stratosphere – in short, in honor of one of Julie’s favorite movies, “A Star was Born!” (All the versions, with special fondness for the Judy Garland rendition). 

I can’t remember a single thing about this first planning meeting – as pivotal as it would prove to be as it moved the needle forward for our development of a video series, blog posts, and creative content – I have no clue what we talked about, how we came up with any ideas, or what next steps we agreed to take. (I’m happy to report that since then, we keep notes of every meeting…). 

We made fast work of it all – considering that we had our first meaningful conversation just 6 days prior at a 4th of July BBQ. 

In the time since, we have gotten to know one another and amid a flurry of discovered commonalities and inexplicable coincidences we have learned one another’s workstyles – which, not surprisingly, are in complete opposition! 

A sampling of how we work: 

DAILY SCHEDULE 

Brad is a morning person, while Julie prefers to work late into the night – this results in Brad seeing emails when he wakes up in the morning and while Julie is stumbling to wake up and greet the day, Brad is firing back responses via text or emails leaving her to wonder how any sane person can have a coherent thought at 6:15 a.m.

IDEA GENERATION 

Julie’s brain works at the speed of a hovering hummingbird – and, similar to the hummingbird, doesn’t remain in place for very long because something else has drawn away her attention span resulting in quickly typed phrases that may or may not make sense and hastily scribbled notes in the now infamous Star Wars Notebook that must never be misplaced. Brad accepts the chaos and has admitted that he knows that if he waits a little longer, Julie will change her mind again or come up with some other insane or harebrained scheme that he will have to navigate. 

Brad’s approach resembles the famous “The Thinker” sculpture. He has the enviable ability to remain still with a quiet mind which allows for deep thoughts and analysis of an idea that he will turn over in his mind studying all angles, possibilities, probabilities, and theories. Then, when he has reached a satisfactory conclusion, will conjure up a book that he read about the topic or conduct in-depth research which then brings the whole process together.  Julie accepts the deliberate and thoughtful pace at which Brad works, and has learned that eventually she will get an answer to the near-daily question she poses with bubbling enthusiasm: “WELL!?!? What do you THINK!?”

WRITING PROCESS 

They both have to write most things down to process them before transferring them to typed up meeting notes and spreadsheets – especially when formulating ideas for blogs and episodes. 

Julie attacks the pages of her notebook with a variety of colored pens (the “good pens”, as she calls them – Pilot G-2 07), writing widely, loopily, and off of the lines of the paper. 

Brad prefers a simple black pen and will scratch out ideas a few lines at a time, neatly, on the lines, pausing between thoughts to contemplate and then return to the page. 

Julie writes and scribbles and doodles in the margins and comes up for air once she has exhausted all of it from her hurried mind.

Brad will return to the notebook several times over the coming days as his brain still works out ideas and thoughts – Julie is already on to the next 10 things that have come into her head. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Julie thrives on noise and music while she works, often texting, dancing, and chatting away while she goes along. 

Brad requires peace and quiet, often on his porch during pleasant weather. 

Needless to say, they do not write their blogs in a shared space. 

(and back to the first person narrative…) 

There is a story of a conversation we had a few weeks ago that makes me laugh when I think of it, that I think perfectly captures our personalities – 

I posed the question to Brad, “Where do you want Hearing Things to ultimately end up? What’s the end goal in your mind?” 

In typical reasonable, thoughtful, and compassionate Brad fashion – he said that he would like the conversation around hearing loss to continue without us having to be a part of it all 

the time. That our resource would be out there to educate others and hopefully be used as a reference. 

My response to the same question: “I want us to be on the Today show!” 

These past two months have flown by and have resulted in production of multiple recorded episodes, a list of 100+ potential topics, dual perspective blog posts, countless book recommendations, heated debates over pop culture phenomenon (Empire vs. Jedi, for example), and a complete nonsense shorthand that makes zero sense to anyone else but us (Boston Fern Time?). 

As we’ve said before, and we will say it over and over again – it shouldn’t work, but it does. 

And it works really, really well – 

Cheers to two months of an unexpected collaboration – and a big thank you to ALL of you for supporting acceptance, advocacy and education each time you view a video, read my blog, and share our work with others!  We appreciate you! 

Brad’s Take

Arguments.

Arguments with Julie are what I like best. 

Arguments with Julie are what I like best though I am afraid of conflict. 

I don’t have a lot of friends. Oh, don’t pity me, I’m as fine with that as I am a nice slice of blueberry pie. It’s a common thing for those of us of the introvert ilk. It takes a lot to make me feel comfortable with someone. It takes a lot for me to open up to someone new. That’s not to say I don’t have compassion for everyone (even the despicable ones). I do. But I don’t see the need to have compassion for only friends. If you meet me but once, you get my compassion. 

But my comfort? A view into the  inner workings of my rambling, my musing, my daydreaming about things fantastical, magical, or etymological mind? That leaves me vulnerable. Too vulnerable by far. That, dear reader, is a long road to travel.

Usually. 

It was damn near instantaneous with Julie.  If I were so inclined to believe in The Fates, The Weird Sisters,  or kismet I’d say it was meant to be. But I’ve worked with technology for too long (closing in on a quarter century) to be anything but analytical. At least at first. But with Julie, there were far too many coincidences, connections, and crap that I simply cannot logic away to not give me pause. She has a running list of the inexplicable. 

I can’t even say it’s the shared experience of hearing loss. I’ve gotten to know some pretty awesome people through my work with HLAA. We share that connection, that vulnerability that inevitably comes with acknowledging a disability. Even a shared one. And we enjoy spending time together as we work to raise awareness of hearing loss. Some are even well on their way to being called “friend”.  

But some mystical cosmic powers are at work within the Hearing Things partnership. 

At times, I will go out of my way, I will make 10x the work for myself, if it avoids a conflict. But with Julie, I had no problem saying the beach is dumb. But with Julie, I kept making my point when Julie said hearing buddies are dumb. We stumbled upon that rare connection that easily survives a disagreement. What’s more, it thrives on it. Because there’s a mutual respect, a mutual trust. And that respect, that trust, means we don’t have to always agree. We’ve talked (and written) about some heavy, painful, tear-jerking stuff. Some of it will one day make an appearance on the show. Some won’t. 

Which brings me, finally, to The Man-huh-tan Project. (Yes, she even puts up with my puns!).I’m so grateful to her for doing this with me. I don’t have the personality to go it alone. I’m more Robin than Batman. (Tim Drake is my favorite) And I’m fine with that. The world Batman. But so too, does it need Robin. 

Buddhism talks about something called Buddha Nature. Or, more poetically, The Indestructible Drop. It’s like the Christian concept of a soul. This drop is in every sentient being. Not just humans. (Anyone who’s ever seen a dog think they were a people wouldn’t be surprised by this!) And after this life all drops return to the same ocean. And how do you separate one drop in the ocean from another? This interconnectedness means Robin is just as important as Batman. (Yes I really did just connect Buddhism with Batman.) 

I wax philosophically to show how much this partnership means to me. I have my strengths and Julie has hers. There is some overlap but we complement one another so well. That’s why, in my humble opinion, the show works so well. I want to share my experience so you, dear reader, can share yours. That’s why, in my not-so-humble opinion, the show is going to go on to help a great deal of people. You know why I think this? Because I’ve already been helped immeasurably by my partnership with Julie. 

In a linear sense, it’s only been two months. In an unexplainable sense, it’s only been a lifetime. 

Time is weird. 

Like The Doctor said, time is a “big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.” And I’m excited to see where the big ball takes Hearing Things with Julie and Brad.

They just keep coming,

Holy connections, Batman!

Strange things are afoot.