FORENSIC

     LISTENING

"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people"
(Woodrow Wilson)

Bonnie Faye  Gibson-Brydon

NOTES TO THE READER

Forensic Listening is the sharing of stories of unique individuals whose mastery of listening proves there is so much more to listening than hearing. Individual skill in actual listening has opened the door to their success. From legal, to medical, to any face to face profession, including interpreting from one language to another, requires open attentiveness to gain information. There is so much more to hearing a word, especially if you consider each profession has its own vernacular and acronyms. One who has experienced a specific job being discussed, has a more extensive understanding and even ability to listen to the subject at hand, than someone from outside their position. I am an ASL interpreter (American Sign Language). As an interpreter, I have had to listen to many of these conversations, including educational, corporate, medical, and legal discussions. My day to day revolves around ‘watching the world listen or not listen’ and has gifted me insight into communication and proficiency in visual and auditory perception.

In listening; words and action are both subjective. One can easily say, “You’re not listening” and receive back the response, “yes, I am listening.”  On top of that, many cultures ‘listen differently’ so how do we get to the place where we personally can actually test our understanding of what we are listening to? As well, are we able to discern any biases we may be holding towards what we are observing. And what happens when one disagrees, how successful do you feel the listening is in that atmosphere?

Because of our established unconscious patterns through life, not only is listening in a different manner incredibly difficult, we often nod our heads in agreement, thinking to ourselves that we are communicating, when actually we are not only not listening, but we actually have no idea what is being communicated. Because language is invisible and because we can’t read each other’s mind we must pull on all the resources around us to understand what is before us.

With Law, there is a specific format of communicating an idea. Any declaration starts with certifying yourself and the reason you are communicating the message at hand. That process is a pattern I have become accustomed to for many years, so let me take a minute to share who I am and why I am writing this manuscript.

I am a listener.  I began my professional career as an ASL interpreter before any cell phone, before any pager, and before any TTY (tele-communications for the Deaf). As a mentor, I watched the masters of interpreting all the time. To my mentees, I pointed out the master’s poise and confidence, and noteworthy to mention, many of these phenomenal interpreters were themselves Deaf. Who is more perfect for a Deaf client struggling to make their point understood, than to have a Deaf interpreter; and most often, the best of this group is the Deaf of Deaf families. One such interpreter, Justin Jackerson, is from seven generations of Deaf parents. Their “eye” catches the precise understanding of the individual before them with ease and such linguistic beauty. They are the masters we watch to improve our skill in interpreting. It is that important.  While we were watching, I started to notice my mentees were listening on different levels. And they are who started me on this journey of noticing listening.  Many times, I noticed how often no one is listening. Fortunately, there are masters of listening, individuals you would never imagine ‘could,’ but they “DID” make a difference, and their stories are worth the read.

This analytical separation of how we receive the information allows for the mastery of noticing, listening differently.  I have categorized listening into four, very specifically different types of listening. Listening is complex. This manuscript comes from the perspective that listening is a choice. There are steps to increase the confidence in what you are noticing, and the awareness of what is not being said as well. These four levels above will validate or offer different perspectives to how skillfully you have listened previously.

Forensic Listening is my thirty year reflective study of four specific and strategic types of listening: Explicit / Implicit / Inferential / Intuitive.  

LISTENING EXPLICITLY. A word. Nothing more. From the minimal recognition of a word.
LISTENING IMPLICITLY. The meaning. Applying understanding (does not guarantee that the understanding is factual).
LISTENING INFERENTIALLY. Leaning on past experiences that validate or disqualify the meaning, information that we have been taught or self-taught. All the information coming from outside ourselves.
LISTENING INTUITIVELY. Opening to the inner voice of rational thinking. All the information coming from the inside of ourselves.

We often listen in default mode. These four levels of listening are a strategic formula for increasing your awareness proficiency. Additionally, these four levels can become a tool as well, for ‘checking in’ to pause for increasing confidence, while reflecting on what you have heard. There are also negative defaults with each listening, meaning we can’t rest with or depend on one skill. To listen really does require us to step back and reflect, opening ourselves to a deeper understanding of the communication, the body language, the history, all reflected into what we observe daily.  We can learn to enhance our own listening skills on every level.

How can we be a compassionate community without understanding how we listen? We all have the ability to listen more effectively. Whether we use that insight or not, reflects how important the issue is at hand. Forensic Listening can make a difference. Yes. This book is for the public at large, because all of us listen. This book is for anyone who incorporates listening into their lives or professions. While it is true that my profession is based on listening - the research behind Forensic Listening has changed me profoundly, both professionally and personally. I learned quickly that I was blessed by my Deaf family, Deaf friends, and Deaf co-workers. I emphasize the “Deaf” in each of the categories, because their ‘listening’ is totally different. ASL is NOT English, this cherished community completely evolved my awareness around the concept of there is more than the simple word in communicating. Additionally this book is for any professional who must listen beyond the explicit default - or we have failed our clients.

From a very early age, I recognized that few people listened. Growing up in the South afforded me two first names. Before I was five years old, I had lived in Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky - and then back to Texas, that’s a pretty solid southern experience. At times I loved having two first names, other times it was a pain to share, my name is Bonnie Faye. In High School, I dropped the Faye. Until, that is, with the traumatic experience of my mom’s early passing, and from that point on, it was the only name I wanted, the name she called out when I was a young child and she wanted me home. Many years later, I still find it hard for people to hear both names as a first name. My first name is Bonnie Faye. Many don’t hear the second part as my first name, rather they turn Faye into a last name. I still have individuals not hear me when I say, “My first name is Bonnie Faye,” and they only type out ‘Bonnie’ and hand the name tag to me as I notice the partial first name. Unless you are from the South, where you would often hear two first names. Unless you have had an experience with trying to explain an abstract concept that is in the unconscious unknowing (they don’t know they don’t know) to the listener, that is, almost impossible to hear anything out of the ordinary. It can be quite remarkable how listening itself is compartmentalized

I have met many others whose names are either mispronounced often, or are given a nick name because no one in the room can say their name accurately. Francesca Miller, an author under a different pen name.  She would have to perform a ritual of saying her name while others could not pause to listen.  A well known actress, Mariska Hargitay, Jane Mansfield’s daughter, whose name is often mispronounced, also has often had to pause those around her to correct how her name is pronounced. Billy Bob Thorton, as well, reported frustration with individuals calling him Billy. His name is Billy Bob. For the three of us, and for many others, getting someone to hear our name is important. People hear what they know. Most first names are one name, and there is just no accepting of two first names. Many times, the listener stumbles over the pronunciation, other times the listener becomes frustrated and stops trying, and sometimes we are simply ignored while no attempt is made to say the name correctly. All children want to be called by their name, including the Deaf Children with sign names.  Those Deaf-family given sign names become as critically important as the spoken name, and for the Deaf child even more important than the spoken name. The signed name is not just a haphazard movement given to the individual, it is a specific chosen sign given by the family or Deaf community. A sign name is respected and acknowledged in the Deaf community. Everyone deserves the right to have their name acknowledged correctly, signed and/or spoken. Unfortunately, hearing individuals often can not “see” the shape of their hand or the actual spacial movement.  It can be really interesting how much we do NOT see with visual information.

There is more to what we don’t know than we realize.

My ability to notice facial expressions came from living in the same community with my Deaf cousin Billy Downing. Himself a noteworthy man that has impressed my life experience as well as several others in the Deaf community. I also was blessed to be mentored by my cousin, Betty Merritt, an ASL agency owner in Dallas. She taught me the basics of being a professional interpreter. She was a CODA, (child of Deaf Adults - her parents were Deaf). Also, in my day to day time with family, my Russian Deaf heart-family - brought together in the early 90’s, Vladimir and Tatiana. I am blessed to call them family. From growing up with Billy, to having the Merritt family in Dallas, to Vlad and Tatiana - my world’s viewpoint expanded and widened. From living in Europe as a child, to my present day focus as a trial interpreter, listening has been an essential tool.

In 1975, two years before my daughter Naomi Ruth was born, I started working as a professional listener - as an ASL sign language interpreter, and I thought I knew a lot (I did not know that I did not know - I was full of myself). At least I was learning with the assistance of the mentors I worked with and through the professional experiences I had. Since those early days, I have grown professionally as the Lou Fant Event Chair, for seven years. My mentoring and training program, Grow Professionally (2015) developed a notional program to honor Deaf Professionals and their struggles to maneuver through the hearing’s world's audistic tendencies.

As a professional interpreter, since 1975, I have strived to understand the message and interpret beyond the simple English word, “dropping the form” as it is defined in our industry. There is more to language than the simple spoken word. Additionally, working in a forensic environment has taught me there is way more to notice than the vernacular before you.

As an interpreter mentor, I watch individuals listen. It comes with my profession, we are trained to listen. (At least we are supposed to be trained to listen, but most programs assume the tools of listening are known and understood). Interpreters are expected to listen, at a level far different from simply hearing. Even then, this does not mean every interpreter has advanced listening skills. And the quality of the interpreter before you, regardless of any language, will range in how effective they are, depending on where they are in their own skilled forensic listening process. These levels of listening are not new. And you don’t have to be an interpreter to use this analysis of listening. Employing each of the Forensic Listening levels represented here, creates a heightened confidence and rapport with those around them. Why? Because listening is compared with caring, those who listen care. Experienced forensic listeners make a huge difference in the perceived message around them, as well as in discoveries and insights.

We will look at four levels of listening:
Explicit                Implicit
Inferential                Intuitive

Understanding how we listen, and considering how we ‘choose’ to not listen, can develop our perspective in relating to various and unique scenarios. When were you taught to listen? As a student? As a parent? As a friend? Each responsibility and intention brings a totally different type of listening to the individuals above.

This Forensic Listening work, now looking back on my research, notes, and early writings, has been birthing itself since around 2002. I started early in my career as a mentor. Previously, even at El Camino, I established a mentoring program. I discovered after working alongside the Deaf, watching an American Sign Language ( ASL) interpreter’s communication techniques, then watching the novice students before me, did I then start to notice specific patterns of categorical listening, as well as “not listening” patterns. And a new awareness was born in my mentoring as well as in my personal life - ‘life changed.’ I started to become conscious of the Forensic Listening levels - and noticed an increased confidence when each level was incorporated into my proactive listening and interpreting. Each day we choose to be proactive or indifferent to listening to life around us. Being proactive in adaptive and enhancing listening takes effort and commitment. This effort is a constant requirement with interpreting, regardless of language.

As a young adult, I was not initially a great listener. I had been known to cause frustration in a conversation, as I love to ask questions. I often fumble “hearing” one thing and the speaker meaning another, and the speaker taking offense with my mis-understanding, all the while leaving me baffled as to what I missed? And yet, even today, I am still growing in my awareness and new insights as to how much we, after choosing a specific opinion, simply discontinue to listen, even me! Isn’t that ironic? How are we listening? Do we notice which phase we are in? With all the training we have at our beck and call, we should be perfect in all our interpretations. However, every individual is different, and as soon as we think we are in the groove, we step into the ‘off’ day that erases that confidence. Having the skill to interpret any situation calls on us to get over ourselves and to be more aware than we have ever before.

Much like the “fly on the wall” concept, I started noticing listening being different for each of the groups before me, while I was mentoring a group of ASL interpreters. We were in an intense training environment, and I was there only to review their language and interpreting techniques (in both languages). And as I was watching their work, four patterns started to emerge. Their work was stellar, however after a few miscues, the message was altered. In trying to ferret out the reason for the detour in the message, we discussed how we were listening, and how we were pulling on past knowledge, noticing internal fears, as well as intuitive hits. From that day forward, I continued to notice this four step forensic listening process. I kept watching and after years of working in two different languages and multiple cultures, and working in a field that is pounded with microaggressions every day, the four patterns of Forensic Listening started to surface in several ways around me.

In my life’s journey to incorporate a different level of listening, Deaf families changed my awareness and taught me to look beyond myself and to peek into this precious Deaf culture - but only after I learned to listen. The culture of the Deaf community was shared with me through my cousin, Billy Downing, himself having an incredible story. Billy is in the Deaf Bowlers Hall of Fame.  He has a gift for bowling. He chose not to go pro because of the lack of communication and the lack of professional interpreters being offered. As a young girl, I could not understand that refusal as he was a gifted bowler. Communication is vital, and he knew he would have nothing but headaches and confusion, so he opted out. There were many Deaf families that left a mark on my soul.  In my early professional years, significant life milestones were shared with Jeff and Sheila. They were both instructors at El Camino. Being the favorite instructor in the center, Jeff Lenham was the Deaf Specialist at the Special Resource Center in El Camino College. His wife Sheila and I became close friends. We shared the experience of working together; having babies at the same time and sharing child care so that both Sheila and I could both continue to work part time. The conversations we would have. I was taught the wisdom of, “it takes community” by Jeff and Sheila. My listening started to evolve.

Looking back over the last thirty five years, I have had one individual that knew me inside and out, my best mentor, counselor, girlfriend of the heart. Amanda Somdal. We met at a conference I was interpreting in December 2000. She was the first one to honestly listen and not offer any word of comparison, judgment, opinion, she just listened, acknowledging what I was saying... and I stopped, noticing it was in fact, the rare moment someone paused to listen, acknowledging - not adding about her experience, not interrupting, just listened. This fresh approach was one of my life’s ahha moments. During one of those moments, I asked, “you are really listening, aren’t you?” Instead of yes, she gave me her understanding of what I just shared. Has anyone reading this book has a “moment” when the world stops - and nothing that was just said mattered - we were on a whole new level of awareness. That was “my Amanda.” A surreal opening began, a new way of understanding real listening. No lecture. No judgment, no answer - just attentiveness. Her listening carried her far. She was a mental health counselor for St John’s hospital in Santa Monica, California and worked her way up to presently, she is now the State Director of Mental Health services in Alabama, office of Deaf Services. That’s correct, she is also Deaf. Amanda hasn’t stopped there, she is an author herself, writing on lateral violence in the Deaf community. With close friends like Amanda, I could not help but learn from her. We shared about our kids, she walked me through a divorce, she held my hand while I was in the hospital, recuperating from a serious surgery and I held her close when a dear friend passed from cancer.

Simply because I knew sign language did not mean I was listening. I had to learn. Especially with walking into a completely different culture and a linguistically visual language, ASL. I had to learn how to listen in a totally different way. As a mentor for many years, I had to figure out how to bridge the learning. As a matter of fact, when I watched novice interpreters, and realized they were not even ‘listening’ to concepts and stuck in the explicit word, I started to investigate this nagging question. If they are hearing the word, but their hands are saying something totally different, why? What are they listening to? I watched interpreters interpret a medical appointment for my Russian heart-family. We were both listening to the doctor, the same message, but the interpreter's message, on the hands before me, was not what the doctor was saying. I almost had to repeat everything in ASL for the message to be understood. Remember, ASL is not English - all I saw before me were ‘English’ signs that made no conceptual sense to this ASL user. What was this interpreter listening to? Why was it difficult to leave the English behind, and stay in ASL? That afternoon left me asking lots of questions. As I watched closer, I found default patterns and levels of analysis that allowed insight “if” choosing to listen. It was a whole different experience. I took that experience and shared it with my mentees.  How do we step out of English and into ASL? Definitely not by stepping into English first.

Forensic Listening slowly started to surface, simply the awareness of levels in listening started to be more pronounced. I started researching levels of listening, and initially didn’t find much research. I knew about ‘eye contact’ - however I knew there was something about listening differently. I was starting to listen on a unique meaningful level that included comprehension in a whole new meaningful way.

Listening during the Pandemic.        

March 2020 is when the pandemic hit during my MetaCognitive Analysis training at the Cerritos library, March was also the first class. We had Deaf presenters, a CODA (child of Deaf adult) presenter.  We were training a group of ASL (American Sign Language) interpreters when one of them came down with Covid-19. We all instantly went into remote mode along with the world around us. Closures - Chaos - Confusion - Zoom. Where we had never met/trained on the internet before, now the internet was acceptable and the world’s experience became a learning curve involving tolerance and patience. A whole new listening and learning prevailed.

As a mentor, I began to look at this question of listening, and inquired as to how interpreters listen and started mentoring a group of interpreters, so that we could have conversations about the skill of listening. As I was working with these mentoring groups, the four levels of Forensic Listening started to be birthed. I began to realize the four levels and the consciousness behind each level was new. Forensic Listening, like any reflections and observation, grew with time. Forensic Listening awareness requires honest reflection in how one listens. We can step into the possibilities of expanding our awareness to understand so much more than the trap of the mere words spoken. New cultures. New perspectives. Willingness to explore. This is but one book on listening, and stepping out of our own paradigms; allowing new insights in perception, allows for a fresh perspective.

Thank you for taking this listening journey with me. We start by simply noting how you are listening presently and learning how each level of listening contains discrete perspectives. How confident are you in your own listening? Can you articulate levels of awareness? We will explore new ideas and reflect on the benefits and the red flags when depending on only one level - regardless of the level. Forensic Listening is not ranking explicit over intuitive, or inferential over implicit. Each level brings its own unique insight. Within this listening perspective, you too, may have felt there was more to listening than simply hearing the word being spoken. YES. True. Step into new insights. I believe in the community’s ability to hear the message, we each have a shared responsibility to share in comprehending each other. I am ready to listen to what you have learned, as well.

WELCOME  to  FORENSIC  LISTENING!!!

FORENSIC LISTENING

“I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So, if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.” – Larry King, CNN

I smile, even now, as I ask you, the reader, do you have a default mode of not really listening? Many of us lack the desire to extend the effort. Many of us are so busy, we don’t have time. Have we as a society moved into a systematic, purposeful way of understanding the communication before us? Or not? Even in the struggles with society, the longing to be ‘heard’ is an ongoing desire for many communities. What tools do we have to check in with our listening? Have you reflected on how you listen? Many professions assume each of us are ‘listeners’ yet are we? The busier we become, the harder it is to even pause and look into the eyes of the individual before you. I know in my own experience, as I age, I need more eye contact than ever before. “If you are talking to me, but don’t have my attention, how can you be sure I heard you.”  In my home that sentence is repeated more often now than ever before.

Working as an interpreter, in the courts, in the hospitals, and the corporate arena, and VRS (Video Relay Services, interpreting phone call conversations), I have the authorized “fly on the wall” opportunity of attentive listening. I have been privileged and blessed to watch communication from a unique angle, learning a variety of perspectives. I have been pleased and touched by the kindness of our communities. And I have been dismayed as well. When you are watching life from this vantage point - you see a bit of the dark side of personalities, right in front of your eyes. In the interpreting world that I work in, it is called Audism. The slight microaggressions of subtle attacks that add up through each day's struggle to get by.

When we allow for differences in our perspective, we are open to listen differently. Join me as I share the 4 distinct types of listening. Understanding the concept of stepping outside of hearing the word, and practising inquiry rather than reaction, is a feat harder to do than imagined.

Stepping back and being willing to listen differently requires the insight that there is “more than this” concept of expansion. Choosing to listen differently requires a lot more mental attentiveness, willingness and patience from both sides. When opening up to a new ideal, it is not a spontaneous understanding and experience. It’s new, but not known. Allowing ourselves time to percolate the newly presented information - not choosing sides, just listening - requires a lot more conscious listening.

Have you ever listened to nature?  The rush of a creek becoming a river. Or, the sound like a cannon booming when a mature tree is cut down. Or, the sound of a thunderstorm as the rain pelts the roof. Listening to the birds around you, detecting more than one species is singing. The pounding of the ocean waves against the surf. Listening is so much more than the words around us. What do we notice? What are we taking in? Facts or colors, depth of color or sense of touch with the breeze brushing by?

What if we treated listening as a science? What if educated language acquisition were more than the hearing of the word before you? What if listening applied four levels of dissected awareness: hearing the basic word, open to new perspective, meaning outside the box, my own education and experiences validate, and pausing to check within… the process for increasing confidence, knowing what was heard (or seen) and the meaning understood, with verified facts?

I was sharing Forensic Listening at a dinner party. Years ago prior to our son Cole marrying Ashley Harris, we were meeting her family for the first time.  Dr. Mark Harris, a chiropractor in Orlando Florida, and his wife Beth were visiting in California. During dinner, I was sharing my reflections on listening - there is more to listening than the explicit word alone. Dr. Harris started nodding and reflected on his practice, and how he attends to his patients. He shared, “I understand what you are talking about. I, too, have to be observant in listening to what my patients are saying, and then from previous appointments and tests, intuitively figuring out what they mean.” I jumped with excitement. “You understand what I mean.” He continued, “You appreciate there are levels to the process of communication, and listening is more than just hearing the word.” To hear a professional speak of listening is rare. His ability to acknowledge his patients in a more profound manner impressed me. He listened to his patient’s words, that process of hearing the explicit word, then stepped into the implicit meaning of the patient’s experience and explanation of symptom, remembering his own learning and experiences as a doctor, and pulling from his intuitive understanding, he actually did walk through the listening process. He validated the four levels of Forensic Listening. I believe most doctors do listen in a like manner - until they stop listening. Each of us as individuals have decided how much we choose to listen. That is the first hurdle. Do we care to listen beyond the explicit word?  Dr. Harris practised listening to the story expressed (explicit), to the analysis of the symptom beyond the words (implicit), to the acknowledgement of learning from past experiences for ‘checks and balances’ (inferential) , and the willingness to trust his skill and wisdom (intuitive) is the beginning of really listening to what is being shared. All attributing to our willingness to listen on a whole new level. Acceptance in the fact that there are specific practises in listening helps us get out of our comfort zone and stretch into more awareness of our own defaults and into the new confidence from listening strategically. As communicators, we can be fixed in our patterns as practised, regardless whether it is verbal or visual. Do we find ourselves in our own process frustrated with the lack of listening around us? Are we conscious of how others listen differently? Have you ever discussed listening, or declared someone is not listening? I have. I bet you have too.

What would occur if we did an investigative study analysis into our own listening skills. What would we discover? The main framework of Forensic Listening is hearing is positively not listening. Simply to hear, and stop there eliminates any type of listening. Listening occurs when effort happens as well as caring. Learning to listen beyond the word especially when dealing with a different culture. Learning from previous educational environments as well as the hard knock experiences that we encounter through life. All of that produces a strong inner voice (not compared to the Monkey mind) learning to allow our intuitive voice to surface. Each process is significant in itself.  Forensic Listening recognises four specific approaches in the manner we listen and receive information. It also recognises defaults, the unconscious bias touchstone to one style of listening.

In the ongoing pandemic, during 2021, I was hit with the most disturbing news. I could not sleep. I could not function in daily life, my thoughts, my own  personal thoughts were destroying me. Several traumatic events happened close together, and I had the rug pulled out from under me. At night all I could do was cry, but that was in a closet. I don’t cry in front of others, but if you are watching or caring, you would have seen the stress. I aged several years in one year.  I was not sleeping.  I even told my husband, “we need to find counseling or I am done and you are going to find the counselor.” I was done actually and only my grandchildren were keeping me sane. I was ready to quit everything and close the world out. It was severe.

Meeting Lori for the first time did not change everything, but immediately I liked her. We met weekly to begin with because frankly I was a mess! I was crushed by the community, I was slandered by a colleague who used to be a friend, I lost the love of a dear friend, I learned devastating family news. That was just the beginning. National events clawed their way into closing communication to friends. It was overwhelming and Lori was my lifebuoy, I was sinking and I hurt and in the beginning under her tutelage I cried. Then we really started to focus on my own listening and it began with the thought in my own head. This was a rough challenge. We are so accustomed with our own “story” that we rarely are even called to “step out of the box” - it takes getting uncomfortable first.  I struggled.  I am an Agape Spiritual Practitioner graduated in 2005, and I know how to assist in healing of others. I traveled and presented across the country in regards to how we are listening. I kept telling myself, I KNOW the tools for releasing the pain and accusations but when it came to me personally, my STORY wounded my soul and it took a lot of effort in stepping away from the pain as silly as that sounds.

Mindfulness has a lot of connotations even connected to the word itself.  Actually mindfulness is intense noticing. Getting outside of ourselves and any mental situation, and ‘notice.’ One of the tools Lori shared (more than once, I can be stubborn) in listening to myself actually made a difference in my life, so I am going to share this individual with you. Tara Brah works with individuals to listen to the actual words in their head - she gets into the explicit words we are telling ourselves. In Washington DC, Tara Brah founded Radical Compassion Institute. She created a 40 day ‘check-in’ and practised to calm the monkey mind within. She and Jack Kornfield, a renowned American author who I have appreciated for a long time, share techniques in taking in what’s happening around us with receptive and kind awareness. Notice, simple observant in a new way - which becomes an educated and practise way, different from our previous practised norms. When we purposely bring mindfulness to listen to even our own thoughts, life can take on a new perspective and internal healing. As Tara shared, “offering our attention is the deepest expression of love. Whether it’s listening to how we talk to ourselves, or with colleagues at work, with our boss, our students, our children, or our partner, listening enables us to respond to life circumstances from a deeper level of intelligence and resourcefulness.” Together, their lessons open our own listening to ourselves first. When I first came across their free session, I was “done that” and then I listened. I failed every test. I had to laugh at myself and my own ego as their message showed me how little I was actually listening to my own critical analysis of what was going on in my own imagined world.

With Lori’s help I began to open up and start the process. My husband and I have been working with Lori for six years now. I am in a much better place of listening. Can you imagine if you had a magnifying glass on yourself, checking in with the skill and level of listening? I put that magnifying glass down for a while and learned to step outside. Along with Lori, there were other masters to learn from, and Sue Stuart-Smith validated my love of the garden and how unique listening and working in the garden can be. I am a gardener of flowers and shrubs. I love color. Dr. Sue Stuart-Smith is another professional that has validated getting outside of ourselves and our homes and into any dirt around us, a profound shift occurs.

PREPARING TO LISTEN

No matter where we are in life’s process, the first and most important step - is to PAUSE. Sometimes, no matter if we are frantically creating and writing - pause always opens to more insight and possibilities. Pause to breathe! When we are healing from any traumatic experience, including injuries to the body and soul, pause is critical. The red flag to pausing is, “careful to not become critical.” When your body, for any reason, is stuck and you are prevented from any type of movement - STOP and listen to what you are saying to yourself first. Simply, notice. Check-in to see where you are in acceptance, or in any type of criticism, including blame. Check in to see when you are not breathing, holding onto the pain. Any mental attitude will affect your healing process, both positively or adversely - we choose within our decisions. Notice without criticism, without judgment, without conditional change. Simply Notice. The shift evolves in the deepest part of our character.

To agree to disagree. Is it really possible to change others' minds? For after all, aren’t we really trying to persuade our side of the argument, isn’t that that the purpose? That is, unless we are listening with our values and the individual before us is as important as the point at hand. How do we listen when we are willing to step into the “both/and instead of either or. How do we listen when we disagree? With open-mindedness? Or with defensiveness?

The unsaid. You have undoubtedly had moments of awareness, when you knew that you knew something, and no one had to map it out for you. Have you ever walked into a room where two people are angry with each other? Or even into a room where two individuals really do like each other and have that spark of energy, and you feel like you want to leave just to give privacy.  There are a lot of different examples of the unsaid. A beautiful sunset.  A loved one's smile and bright eyes is more inviting than rejecting.  Reflection on the message before you is critical. Practice in reflections develops the talent of peaceful release of expectations. It also allows for other ‘messages’ to be understood instead of old practises that no longer serve you well.

Give yourself permission to pause. Isn’t it crazy that we even have to give ourselves permission to pause.. It’s true. Think about it, how often do you allow yourself time to do absolutely nothing for a few moments each day to reflect. TIME OUT. Too often we see the commercial in our head of the ideal in bringing home the bacon, getting the kids to practice, cooking dinner, and the house is in perfect order. With that picture, we lose what is important right in front of us. Perfect order is not my home. My home is not messy, however we always have an active home ‘project’ visible, and my “to-do” list mounts. Additionally, I have learned that if I split my attention to several projects, none of them get my full attention. And to give my best to a project, means I stop everything around me. When we do give ourselves time to reflect on our values and ‘priceless’ in our lives, we are open to insight.

Rapid reflection can quickly become judgmental. Reflection requires pause. We cannot understand new ideas if we are not first in touch with the values in listening. When we listen from these four levels, we open ourselves to the, “There is More Than This” awareness. It is our choice. Our decision. As we move forward when acceptance and openness, our thoughts are first simply noticed. Meaning, change requires understanding a starting point so that any process can be measured. You may be reading this at the end of a journey, and you are reflecting as you close the door to that personal chapter and move into the next. You may be reading this at the beginning of a new process, and you want to incorporate these four levels into your study and comprehension of the matter. These four levels are for both reflection and the creative movement forward. These four levels are the “homework” to pay attention to in any analytical process. Reflection, in any season of experience, or on any emotional level is powerful. Opening up to reflecting on these four levels also opens up to transcending to a new awareness being understood.

One of the greatest tools all of us can easily access, is acceptance. Additionally, accepting right where we are at this moment, is incredibly hard and seemingly impossible for some - and that is where the acceptance starts. Being willing to say OUCH, without rushing the healing. Sometimes, we can trust to look and as hard as it is, “step into the pain”. Stepping into reaffirming and counter affirmations help, however feeble, if we are not willing to stop and address the initial ache, life’s PAIN calls out for us to stop. It’s OK to notice and “not be ready”, and need simply time to clear up the ‘fog in the brain’ before change occurs. YES. And be gracious and kind to yourself in this phase. Some of us are emotionally hurting and don’t feel listened to and appreciate there is more than hearing the explicit word. Some of us are at the prime and opening up to “there is more than this” creativity. Ready now for that creative aha and shift in paradigm.

HOW we listen and plug into our own insight and wisdom, is being required more than ever before. Accountability. May it be the “egg on our face” that gets us to pay attention. We have never been more defensive as workshops and seminars are presenting the concept of racism, and we are so busy saying, “THAT’s NOT ME” that we forget to listen and learn about microaggressive instances that validate it might be ‘me’ after all. Do we notice when we are practicing old patterns? Or is that impossible? As mentioned previously, the podcast, Hidden Brain, has a wonderful segment that suggests we really can not see our faults, and thus can’t listen to any reflective or critical analysis. Or can we? There are tools, as Hidden Brain shares with each episode. Forensic Listening is such a tool.

Today we hear a lot about explicit compared to implicit; with explicit being conscious and Implicit being unconscious. While it is true that explicit denotes the representation of the word itself, the meaning or ‘message’ most often is found under the surface of what is being said. The sentence, “I feel fine” carries way more meaning than ``I feel superior.” I have heard “I feel fine” to mean, leave me alone. Context is one valuable construct in discovering the implicit meaning. And that is just the beginning of awareness with these four levels.

We must make a conscious choice to listen. Failing to discern the message being shared, defaults to rationalized blame or justification. First and foremost, If we don’t care, we won’t listen. Default listening is only hearing the explicit word. The retort, “This is how I was raised or trained” is fossilized justifications to limited growth of character. And OK.. Yet, there is a more complete message before us, and comprehension of that message requires something from each of us. Comprehension occurs on multiple levels, not one. Honoring the perspectives, and the experience of the individual before is a start. When we are attentive, we can listen forensically, and thus grasp so much more of the full message. Each forensic level offers value in how we attend to the information before us.

This Forensic Listening process is a methodical examination of the four, uniquely different channels in how we receive and use information. Listening to the explicit only initiates the process. Simply, the Word. Yet, explicit listening, as a default, dismisses the very ideas being shared, unless the listener is willing to proactively listen. Using this inquiry approach, forensic listening draws on implicit listening, inferential listening, intuitive listening as well as explicit. Developing confidence in our understanding of the message beyond the explicit word requires opening up to the message and hearing what is being shared. The four levels of listening: Explicit, Implicit, Inferential, and Intuitive allow for that to occur. All patterns of listening bring you closer to the message before you. Explicit is devoid of meaning, as there are several meanings to the words we use, however we need to start with the simple - can’t be missed word. Implicit pushes back from the explicit, to dive into the intended meaning. Inferential listening is gleaning information from outside of ourselves - our learning both in the classroom and life. While intuitive is fully internal messages, implicit deals with internal understanding of the message before us. Two external sources of listening: Explicit and Inferential. Two internal sources of listening: Implicit and Intuitive. The four levels balanced together, allow us to step outside of ourselves, and step into understanding each other, and the community in a different manner. Each level will be explained in detail throughout this book.

We are a diverse community, and listening is vital to our quality of life. Listening is so much more than hearing words. Are we listening to the facial expressions before us? Are we listening consciously or unconsciously? Are we taking the time to pause and ask ourselves that question? Nature has a lot to share with us. Are we listening? Societal messages. Empowerment messages. Are we paying attention to shifts around us? Are we paying attention to the voice within us?

Let me start with basic listening.

We all hear the explicit, the Word. However, do we listen? What are the tools we use proactively to enhance our listening awareness? Do we have confidence in verifying what we heard? For this book, I have been researching 4 different levels of listening:
        (1)Explicit: simply the word.
        (2)Implicit: the meaning behind the word.
        (3)Inferential: experiences or training from the outside world. (School or Street)  
        (4)Intuitive: listening to the ‘internal’ messages we maintain consciously or unconsciously.

My desire is that these four levels of Forensic Listening can open new avenues of awareness in comprehension and new perspectives, as well as empathetic relating to each other with confidence. We can learn to listen beyond our own limiting contemplations. We need to pause and listen to different perspectives and experiences. Let me show you how to receive this information without taking people's opinions personally.

What is Forensic Listening?

“Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable — and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That's how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities.” – Peter Nulty, Fortune Magazine

Listening is not black or white, it is a spectrum of intentions. What we believe is being discussed shades how we hear the terms/words before us, and the result of what we hear is often in alignment with our own values, rather than the reality of what is being expressed.While both communicators are saying, “know what I mean” and nodding “yes” both have a totally different message in their mind’s eye. We call this listening, only on a superficial level. Often there are more assumptions than comprehension of the other’s point of view.

The default of simply hearing a word is not “listening.” The assumption “I hear, I listen, I understand” is completely false. We can break that maxim down more with the assumption, “I hear, therefore I listen” which can be disproved even more often than the prior sentence. We often are not listening nor understanding beyond the explicit words, because we are not in a state of inquiry. We are subconsciously shut off, often not attentive even with all the voices around us inviting us to hear their shared message. Noticing the environment, the individuals, the spirit of the moment all add to listening.

How do we listen? Do we listen? Can we listen differently? Do you personally listen differently to different subjects?? What is your favorite discussion? Do you listen to individuals that share the same ideology? Or is there an opportunity for you to share your wisdom? EACH question above brings a different type of listening skill to the table of communication. Technology has changed in our lifetime, so has culture and experiences. Forensic Listening is a process that will advance our awareness; improve our communication skills completely, and widen our perception. And it all begins with inquiry.

With Forensic Listening, we start with utilizing inquiry. We have the ability to understand more than old patterns established, and are empowered to release old patterns, dismissing growth. To develop the practice of listening, we must ASK. We must ask ourselves first what is being said, and then inquire as to what message is being shared.

We unconsciously listen simultaneously on four specific levels. Information comes into our awareness all the time, even if we are not consciously registering the process. Our senses play a huge part in our awareness and perspective. From collateral voices and mechanical noises around us, several factors contribute to our personal knowledge and ability to grasp what is being said. However we don't operate from these four levels consciously without astute consideration of each level. Awareness is easy, unfortunately most of us default to explicit, ignoring our biases and old patterns of listening. Let’s learn how to open up to subtle messages and learn four levels of forensic listening to assist in building our awareness of the message before us.

How do we listen? The key to any interpretation is to first “comprehend the message. ”How do you determine the main idea? #1(Explicit) What is the Subject/Object? Grammar is different in every language. What is the message? #2(Implicit) Every culture has a different perspective and value #3(Inferential). Adding cultural sensitivity to what is being communicated #4(Intuitive). Each listening level will be defined and reviewed.

Forensic Listening empowers and opens new levels to apply how you know what you know. Inquiry is where we start. Before any change, we must step into the question first. “Noticing in inquiry.” Be enthusiastic in asking new questions. Be willing to notice your own thoughts and inquire if there might be a unique perspective other than what you first considered. Reach out to study groups that help you expand your own awareness.

Forensic Listening steps into a cognitive process that allows you to realize there is so much more happening around you that you may never have perceived before - including confidence in your listening - and maybe small hints of, “there is more than this,” suddenly reveals possibilities and new perspectives.  Forensic Listening is simply allowing and opening a new avenue of awareness that will serve you well.  Remember, hearing is not listening.

Detrimental to our noticing the message, words can be limiting. Listening is so much more complex than the hearing of the words being expressed. More complicated than assumptions, what we hear in an individual's declarations are often NOT the meaning of what is being intended. Oftentimes, when the listener becomes overwhelmed, the tendency is to shift into critical / negative resistance to listening. We are not able to learn a new idea easily in this defensive default. Rather, we cling to “CAN’T” and stop trying.

There have been ongoing discussions of “Active Listening” for quite some time now. Among most adults, there is an awareness that communication can be elusive as there are more than one meaning to many words. Multiple meanings and voice intonations, body mannerisms and past history, all create the message in the mind of the listener. HOW we listen is critical to the message. levels of listening taught here, we err in our understanding of what is being communicated.

HEARING is not LISTENING

It is easy to remember instances from our own experiences of “that is not what I meant.” Take time to figure out what the message means before you. Applying the following tools and techniques of Forensic Listening, not defaulting to the words spoken, nor the preference of what we ourselves want to add to the message to be, will open new avenues of awareness. Do we make a positive impact, or do we produce more microaggressions?

What does it mean to be called an ally in today's professional environment? It means to listen in a manner that is different from our own norm. Are we willing to assess our own biases?

Listening can be perplexing. There is so much more to hearing than the word being articulated at the moment. When the discussion of listening comes up, most of the time it is about the act of not listening. We often ‘hear the word’ however it can take additional mental effort to understand the intent of the word. We each have our own individual experiences. Most professions and many families have their own vernacular. In my 45 years as a professional interpreter, the variety of vernacular in each of the professions I have been asked to interpret has ‘tweaked’ my listening.

How is your reflective skill? Many of us overanalyze our thoughts, while others ponder with a measured expectation. There can be a tendency to be stuck in the “story” of our perceptions. What would happen if we were willing to step away from old theories and try a new way of listening?

We often note how ‘small’ our world is and when the energy of insight moves to several individuals, many of us hear the same message, however in our own unique way. I’m here to encourage you, as you too, develop your forensic listening skills.You can develop listening skills.

How do we step out of our biases and preferences and step into honest reflection? Reflection is the process of noticing without blame, without criticism or condition. No blame of “they won’t let me,” or even the ‘dismissing’ of Self as not worthy. Reflection contains no criticism of Self, nor criticism of others. Stepping out of old patterns of listening allows insight to grow. New insights take patience and willingness. Step into this unique approach within Forensic Listening.

You can discover how your biases may stop you from listening. You can also discover new ways of comprehending the speaker before you.

When we understand and recognize there are layers of understanding around the explicit words and how our experiences shape how and what we hear, our conscious decisions are more accountable. When we allow all intuitive reactions to be included, then we start to step into Forensic Listening. Listening simply requires checking in - it's not a mystery.

Have you ever had the fortune of someone inadvertently “opening the door” for you? Whether it is opening a door for employment, or opening the door to a new friend.  Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera and legal interpreter coordinator Astrid Hagan did that for me.  I had worked in the court system since the late 1990’s, however working with a District Attorney was a completely different experience.  Not only does she have a remarkable listening capacity to everything in front of her, she intuitively knows the law and practices it faithfully.. Her track record validates her  expertise, and the families she has represented have shared accolades to the triumph of their trials, to Janine. I know. I was there.

To introduce you to Janine, she was given special recognition for her success and work within the D.A.’s office. This is what one of her colleagues mentioned:

 
“Heart of a Warrior” ‘She may bend but she never breaks. She may get knocked down, but she always gets back up. She may feel pain that most cannot handle, but she never runs from it. She has been tested and she has been broken. She has stared fear and failure in the face. She has the battle wounds and scars to prove it. And yet, despite it all - she never gives up. Instead she continues to remain resilient, brave, determined, courageous, and strong. She shines bright in the midst of darkness and she stands tall in the ace of adversity. She has the strength of a fighter and the heart of a warrior - and she is you.’

Around 2012, Astrid Hagan, a college colleague introduced me to Janine Madera, Deputy District Attorney for Orange County Court System. A Deaf Prosecutor who listened in a more profound way than I ever experienced. Working with Janine Madera, brought me a completely new opportunity to see behind the scenes. Each experience interpreting for her, opened my awareness of what level of listening we are ‘choosing’ to incorporate. From meetings with other attorneys, to meeting with the officers, to finally arriving at trial. Throughout the day Janine had to strategically listen to what they were sharing as well as holding on to her question at hand. Her thoroughness was more profound than anyone I had worked with in my legal history. Janine’s adroit skill in listening actively on every level impressed me. Most of us listen at one level at a time. She was able to take what was being said, understanding what was missing from the information, knowing the background facts, studying the evidence, and revealing the facts no one else found or thought of. Her process in prosecutorial matters and trial presentation was more organized,  profound, insightful and eye-opening from the way she listened, through her eyes. I had been interpreting in legal situations for many years, ether trials came across as argumentative, disorganized, and or a profound trial process that caused me to take notice. Even then, she was way ahead of others. I had already started taking notes on the different levels of listening, at this time my writings were more focused on noticing the listening, as I was refinding the four levels. I watched as legal professionals listened or bluntly did not listen to Janine. I watched her maneuver around the doubts around her. I listened as she became highly regarded in her work. She was winning her cases, and dealing with blatant aggression at the same time. I will share some of her cases later in the book to exemplify her mastery in the listening process. Janine also introduced me to a new world of law. While I had worked in the courtroom, I had never been behind the scenes of the District Attorney’s office. I met an amazing team that works with Janine. The District Attorney’s office cares for the people. I had not realized how much work the District Attorney’s office does for the public. I met individuals that cared for the community way more than any marketing shared. The profound work that takes place for the ‘people’ is often overlooked. For years all I heard was how uncaring the attorneys were. Here I met an entire department committed to the integrity of the law and the society at large.

The trial team experience increased. During the pandemic, do you remember having to wear the masks? It was a horrible moment for Janine, because she can’t read lips covered by masks. Janine uses her skill at reading lips and watching interpreters, she requires both. She has an uncanny ability to read lips and she has an interpreter team with her at all times.  I have had the unique opportunity of interpreting for Janine while wearing unique masks with clear windows, so she could see our lips. We had worked together previously, I was Astrid’s team during trials in years past - however, I might have covered only one or two trials throughout the year. During the pandemic and the following year, the chaos and the backup created, opened the door to working together more often. Due to the pandemic, in 2021 Janine had seven “back to back” trials - unheard of prior to the pandemic. And then other opportunities kept opening up for us to work together. Restorative laughter and The Happy Hour celebrations were the best - but I digress. Janine’s story will continue throughout the book, and I begin here by saying how grateful I am for this amazing enterprising, take-charge woman. I am amazed at how forgiving she is at the many microaggressions society forces upon her. She has faced mockery, doubts and judgment from legal colleagues as well as from individuals that don’t know her. My team and I often have to interpret the blatant intentional slurs, and thus, witness to the ridiculous insults. Janine is the most resilient woman I have ever met, and in my line of work, I meet amazing individuals all the time. After a series of tough interactions, she pulled within and powered through and validated her work beyond their expectations or biases. I witnessed her grace above the doubts. I would have verbally gotten myself in trouble, good thing I have no voice when interpreting. The attorneys have their work to do, she knew was going to be working with these people for the next twenty years and she was ready, even in this disparaging environment. I watched her turn a team with her humor and wit, from a bitter, back-biting proceeding, into a collaborative process of professional cooperation and synergy. She never plays games, she is always direct and forthright (and funny) with every opposing counsel she was teamed with. I am forever thankful for that personal lesson of wisdom in tolerance, it made a lasting impression for me to practise.

Throughout this book I will be sharing more stories of both Janine Madera and Jonathan Cherney and how they practiced listening in the world of Forensic Listening.  Both of these professionals work in law enforcement, though different focuses.  Janine focuses on the law and protecting the community, and persecuting those that harmed innocent victims. You will hear from other judges that worked with Janine, and learn of a few of her cases. There is a saying, you only have so many trials in you.  As a prosecutor, you see the worst of the worst.  Janine always protected her interpreters from seeing or hearing the worst from the crime scenes, although she was always in the thick of it, never shrinking back. Her reputation of wisdom and insight precedes her, as she makes her way through a scene and eventually into trial. Janine always says, look at the evidence, it tells a story. And she finds that story.  Jonathan Cherney, is a reconstructionist who depends on the science to validate accountability and what actually happened. He, too, has an eye and an intuitive knowing that surprised many of the newer officers he worked with. Both Janine and Jonathan listen with a forensic ear - knowing there is more to the facts than what is apparent before us. They are gifted with unpacking the evidence.

Another individual we are going to discuss throughout this listening reflection, is the remarkable Jonathan Cherney. During a trial for vehicular homicide, I met Jonathan -  his ‘physics’ reporting of the accident. He validated yet another scientific listening outside of the box. Jonathan Cherney and I were working at the Newport court.  I met him briefly earlier that morning as he was Janine Madera’s Investigation Officer. Jonathan is a renowned auto accident reconstructionist, a police officer with the Irvine police department, who specializes in traffic accident reconstruction, was speaking to one of the attorneys who hired him. “I am reading over your report, and this one section concerns me.  We don’t agree with this analysis and would like you to change a few pointers.”  “I can’t do that,” Jonathan said, “With physics, what you want me to say is impossible with the information we have at hand.”  The attorney became more irrational and started to ‘whisper-yell’ “That is not what you told us in the deposition, that is not what we want you to represent.”  Jonathan said. “I know what I reported, and I know what you said, and I know my report is factual.”  I’m a Forensic Listener. The attorney, miffed, spun around and returned to the courtroom.  “Can’t bully me, " Jonathan said to himself grinning, thinking to himself, "I'm a Forensic Listener.” I listen beyond the word, I notice when someone tries to tell me what to think or say. Jonathan waited. Later, one of the paralegals walked up and told him he could leave, he wouldn’t be testifying. Jonathan left with a smile.   The trial, in the 402 motions phase, had just started.  And as per usual, we were busy, there was no down-time to visit. As we were “visiting” this courthouse for this special trial, we did not have an office to retreat to.  We headed straight to the conference room.   And as this location was a small courthouse, the conference room was also used as a storage room. Alongside one full wall were several boxes piled high. As this room was a cramped room full of officers who were talking about one specific individual - I had no idea who they were discussing, but I could not miss their conversation as all of us were rather close. One started by asking the other officers in the room, “Did you see the blood hound”? That caught my attention. Then one by one, each officer added to the intrigue. They were talking about their mentorship training with ‘him’ and how he upleveled their game. Just as the officers above were exclaiming about this mysterious detective's intuitive ability, another officer started laughing, “Man we combed this house completely.  Many of us searched it thoroughly and could not find the evidence we were looking for. We called “the expert” in and in 30 minutes he found the evidence, like he knew all along where it was, and he had just entered the home for the first time. As they were laughing amongst themselves, Jonathan walked into the room, and the officers could not stand up fast enough.  I was so amazed. When he walked in, they were quick to jump up and acknowledge him. I had met him earlier that morning, however he was not yet in the room when the officers were chatting. Side note: I find the greatest compliment is when one hears someone else telling others the reasons you are special to them, that is an authentic complement. The officers were complimenting Jonathan even when he wasn’t around. As an author, I always love to listen to a good story, and this group of officers held me at attention.  Jonathan is the investigating officer that was assisting Janine Madera in her vehicular murder trial. I was just introduced to him earlier that morning. He was not an imposing figure, rather like a bantamweight, with physical toughness. You don’t mess with him, not because of his size, but more because of his confidence. He held the respect of the officers he worked with, as if he were a giant of a man. I was fascinated. I later learned he could actually out eat many of his younger officers. I held my questions until the end of the day. As we were all walking out to our cars, I stopped Jonathan and shared my experience earlier during lunch. He was so humble and funny, I knew I had to share his story with you.

After our interviewing together for over a year and getting to know each other, Jonathan, after retiring, had a trial where he was hired to investigate a vehicular homicide. He received the information from the attorneys IO (investigating officer) and started working on the physics of the evidence, where he found some interesting facts that were held back from the information shared with him. In his analysis he discovered a change in the discovery (evidence). As he continued to research the accident, he became aware of facts and scientific information that was not favorable to the side he was testifying for. Of course, before he stood in the witness stand, he shared the information. Quite understandably upsetting, he had to tell the attorney that hired him, he could not stipulate to the position the attorney desired. And quite understandably, the attorney, upset with the news, on the day of the trial, started to fume and argue with Jonthan than that he was wrong and had to redo his analysis, right this minute. Jonathan was not threatened and held his ground. The attorney started flaying words at Jonathan, telling Jonathan he misunderstood the facts and demanded Jonathan fix his ‘faulty facts’ of the case to his specifications. Jonathan stood up and looked the attorney in the face and said, “Don’t tell me I misunderstood the facts of the case, I am a Forensic Listener and I know the physics behind this accident like I know my name.” The red-faced attorney couldn’t think of how to respond, stared, turned around in anger, and walked back into the courtroom without Jonathan. Jonathan never testified that day or any day for that specific trial. When Jonathan called me to tell me of his use of “forensic listening” I actually physically jumped for joy, laughing and enjoying Jonathan’s victory in standing on his principles. Jonathan understood my four levels of listening and how it improved his understanding of how even he listened.

Personally and professionally, we recognized that as we were in a “New Norm'' since the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. We have considerable information before us. As we step into the wisdom of each of the four listening levels, our community skills start to develop and improve. In addition to Explicit, learning to draw upon Implicit, Inferential and Intuitive listening is critical to a comprehensive communication. The 4th level, Intuitive listening, is the quietest form of listening, and is nonetheless critical to the process as well, we must lean in and learn all four levels. For when we don’t accept the responsibility of the full message, the confidence in what is being shared, becomes easier to dismiss as irrelevant.

Let’s explore the benefits each forensic level offers as well as note the pitfalls when defaulting to one level alone. A listener must encompass all four forensic levels to effectively incorporate listening to the message before them. One level is not more significant than the other, there is benefit in the distinctive meaning and equally to the global awareness. Let us learn to be open to all the four levels of listening before us.

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THE INITIAL APPROACH

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EXPLICIT LISTENING                                They don’t know that they don't know

“To say that a person feels listened to means a lot more than just their ideas getting heard. It's a sign of respect. It makes people feel valued.” –      Deborah Tannen, Georgetown University

 I chose this picture because everyone thinks explicit is a clear message. Clear to who? The one speaking who holds the original meaning? Or the explicit listener, who is listening with their intended meaning? The message is NOT clear, it is simply the default of past listening which took us often down the wrong path. This wall is complete, missing is the story behind or the history.

• Explicit listening is the hearing of the word only. Explicit listening is the least accurate and least caring level. Yet, it is the natural default of listening, especially in a busy society. The WORD. What a conundrum. This is not to be judged as good or bad, just the fact of the first initial stage in listening. There are positive rewards to listening to the explicit, as well as there are negative conclusions when only depending on the word itself. The English language is one of the hardest languages to learn as every word can have several meanings, which is true of many languages. And yes, with language acquisition, we must start with the explicit. Each language carries its own beautiful syntax, and cultural ambiance beyond the explicit. Regardless, in this explicit mode the listener ignores the deeper meaning and focuses on the word. Very sterile and often, without checking in for the deeper meaning, allows for misunderstandings to occur. The word or incident happened - is only the beginning level. No effort in determining the message. No effort is what is known as ‘expansion’ in the interpreting world.

Explicit: the Word. Explicit information is clearly stated - the word chosen. For example, the phrase “it was a dark and stormy night,” uses explicit information to give a mental understanding that the sun wasn’t shining. Explicit is simply the word, not the meaning of the word, rather just the word. In regards to the brain, when we are in this explicit mode, no ‘active’ dissecting and analyzing of the message occurs, there is little sharing between neurons. Our brain is quiet and very little “LIGHT” goes from neuron synapse to neuron synapse.

With explicit listening, there is no room for consideration or inquiry, this explicit level is simply ‘hearing’ the word. Explicit is often described as the “in your face” nothing to be imagined. True, except for the meaning behind the word is often omitted. When a second language is introduced at the explicit level, the sterile understanding does not allow for the rich cultural implications.

This entry level of explicit listening is the most frustrating for both the individual with the message, and the listener receiving the message. When working as an interpreter at this level we tend to listen to the explicit word only, the problem being, the word is void of concept. All symbolic representation is missing. And each individual’s understanding of that exact word changes with each and every speaker/listener. What the interpreter puts out in translation is called “glossing” (not a positive acknowledgement) - is when an interpreter simply throws a sign or word into the mix without explanation or context relativity. Most of the time, the translation falls flat.

Explicit listening can also trip us up. When I am mentoring, the main focus for me is "How are you listening?” Previously I had worked with Adam, an ASL student from Gallaudet. (Gallaudet is the only university centered around the Deaf community with all the classes and extra curriculum in ASL. In 1988, the students of the university led a protest resulting in the university’s first Deaf president, I. King Jordon^[1].) Upon a visit home from his studies, Adam brought a video he wanted us to ‘unpack’ and discuss the interpretation. As we were working together, it was strongly evident, his novice ear was still “stuck in English.”  Again, one very important fact is ASL is NOT English. He had indeed improved since his first semester at Gallaudet, his signs were much clearer, however the message on his hands was all English. And the message he presented was not the message the speaker on the videotape was asking. I switched places with him and started interpreting. Interpreting consecutively allowed me to fully understand the flow of information, the question at hand, and whose perspective was the information coming from. Adam, my mentee, was blown away at how different our two forms of interpreting were. And again we moved into implicit listening to hear ‘differently.’ “What does it mean, Adam?” I would ask. What situation are we in? What is the preferred outcome? As listeners, we get so lost in hearing the ‘word’ we have unconsciously blocked the message. We are so rushed to respond we hardly think about our response much less the message before us. We can call it English, or any other language, or we can simply call hearing the word explicit for now.

Explicit listening can be dangerous in business, especially in customer service. In business, jetting through the call only allows for explicit levels of limited listening. The rush to “take care” of the call, not the concern - and not taking the time to listen to the customer, creates confusion. Not only in business, our own families can often listen in this explicit manner. We too often talk ‘at’ each other instead of with each other. When allusive listening occurs the underlying meaning is ignored.

The term explicit itself does not carry a negative connotation within its meaning. However, explicit is often used when the individual speaking gives the idea of, unwanted, “can’t be missed” or “– “in your face” – not by choice, information. Examples of using the word “Explicit” include “concerns over explicit sex.” Another example on the radio, someone was discussing a strong push against “explicit violence.” The word is used often now. The red flag here, one person’s understanding of ‘explicit’ is suddenly dependent on that specific individual’s understanding, as there are infinite other possibilities and perceptions which could be applied.

Explicit Listening, specifically in the interpreting profession, is hearing the word and interpreting word for word which unfortunately loses all conceptual accuracy, spatial referencing, and eludes the message. Unfortunately, this is where many interpreters begin, and unless they are actively in ‘Deliberate Practice’ - outside of the hotseat - to improve their cognitive awareness skills. Too many times there is a tendency to use immediate experience as the method for improvement. However, poor results occur in skill development, when we are doing our practise at each recital, thus being an ineffective production.

There is no decision making in explicit listening. Only the default (hearing/seeing) listening to the specific word, and the personal individual meaning. For example, with ASL, only when we step back, and notice the hidden eye glance, the ‘implicit’ bend of an eyebrow, suddenly the different listening levels make sense.

For Janine Madera, listening explicitly became important at an early age.  At a very early age, Janine’s mother, without consciously understanding what to do to help her daughter, practised a specifically explicit ‘catching’ of the word through lip-reading.  Now may I take a moment to clarify something about learning to read lips. It’s impossible. There are a rare few that can actually lip read as Janine. Linguistic research shows lip-reading (speechreading) in English is challenging because only 30-40% of speech sounds are visually distinct, relying heavily on context, language knowledge, facial cues, and residual hearing. Her mother realized that Janine was losing her hearing. She literally forced Janine to sit in front of the TV every single day and read the lips of the individuals speaking, and then she would have to tell her mother what was being said, adding the skill of implicit context information.  After forced, daily viewings, something clicked. She started to notice similarities. Initially she was often wrong and not able to decipher what was being said, because the individual was mumbling, or speaking with their back to the screen. Or more often than not, more than one individual was speaking, so Janine had to watch and figure out who the main character was and follow their speech.  It was not an easy undertaking. Janine’s mom was relentless, she was not going to have Janine struggle as a deaf individual. Unfortunately, that struggle was never mitigated. Janine from the point of completely losing all of her hearing, met with many obstacles that would have caused many to quit, mostly the lack of accommodations or ignorant misunderstanding of the struggle to validate she can do any job before her, she is capable, and interpreters allow Janine the opportunity to prove she is one of the best attorneys in the state of California. Janine’s mom didn’t stop there, she wisely had Janine add the “implicit” understanding of what she was watching.  We will learn more regarding implicit listening in the very next chapter.  

Jonathan Cherney’s listening in a profound manner happened naturally. Jonathan always thought the world thought the way he thought. I promise you, we don’t. He listens to everything around him. Jonathan’s parents were themselves scientists. His mother graduated from the University of Cincinnati, and as herself a profound listener became a scientific Director of Pharmaceuticals. His father was a chemical engineer who was awarded five patents. As Jonathan grew older, the  father’s love for math and expectation that Jonathan follow in his steps was a constant vexation as Jonathan held no love interest for math. That is until he discovered physics and accident reconstruction. The process of analytical thinking and Jonathan’s own propensity to realize “there is something more here” allowed professionals around him to take notice. When Jonathan was called to a homicide, he quickly told the first responders, “Tell me what you don’t know, don’t tell me what you know.” To quickly step into the process of investigation and reconstruction, Jonathan quickly realized, don’t go with assumptions. If anything he learned to listen to the discussions around him distinctively; everything was a clue.

Both Janine’s, forced to watch the television to practice understanding what she saw, the explicit word, and Jonathan’s exposure to his parents’ vernacular and consciousness of science and math are both positive uses of the explicit listening level (which neither of the two relished or appreciated the process). We will have other stories of both Janine Madera and Jonathan Cherney and their mastery at listening on each of the four levels. These two professionals continue to listen in a more profound manner. Not only are they highly gifted in intelligence, but they also use their mental strength and avant-garde listening to succeed above and beyond their colleagues. With Jonathan, the officers commenting on his prowess perked my interest, with Janine, having first hand experience of her competence and finesse in her trials.

The Beauty of Explicit listening   

In the early 2000’s Dr. Jeff Weigan, approached me after a musical event at Agape International Spiritual Center, in Culver City, California. Agape was known for their musical productions under the leadership of Ricky Byars Beckwith.  Ricky was also known for allowing interpreters at all her events. Jeff Wiegand attended one of these events and for the first time he witnessed song productions being interpreted. Dr. Jeff was riveted by the devotional ASL signing of Dr. Ricky Byars^[2] at Agape International Spiritual Center. Dr. Jeff Wiegand fell in love with what he learned to be a “signed song.” He fell in love with the symbiotic nature of ASL and music. There were three interpreters for that production, and he wanted to know more. He asked if he could chat with me for a moment, and he inquired about the beauty of what he saw. We met again the following weeks, each week with a different ASL interpreter or Deaf interpreter signing the songs. One of Jeff’s favorites was Terrylene Sacchetti, herself a renowned actress. Jeff was welcomed into the Deaf circle and he marveled at his reception whenever he would show up. Jeff felt loved. He was enthralled with the magic of American Sign Language interpreting songs.  He asked if he could take us to lunch to learn more.  While we were not available, Dr. Jeff insisted we meet at a later time; he was curious and wanted to learn more about this art.  What we didn’t know at the time was that Dr. Jeff Wiegand was the son of a prominent official family in Ontario, Canada. The Wiegand family foundation primarily focused on advancing the arts, education, aiding people with disabilities, and human services for children and youth. They are known for supporting cultural and academic initiatives, such as the Wiegand Memorial Foundation Lecture^[3] at the Jackman Humanities Institute (University of Toronto). While its main activities are centered in Canada, it also conducts some charitable giving within the United States, which is how their foundation sponsors (a few years after we met) a documentary in Southern California, on the beauty of ASL music interpretation. Much later, during one of our times together sharing a cup of coffee, Jeff asked about creating a video of signed songs. And that is what we did.  The video showed Deaf artists innovative interpreting of songs.  An interpreter herself, Ms. Kate Nelson opened up her beautiful estate in Winnetka for the documentary. This allowed for staircase filming, and outdoor terraces.   Brink Brydon^[4] stepped in with his “visual” explicit listening and improved the physical lightning aspects. Tina Murphy, our videographer (and team) stepped in with her visual listening expertise and a film was created. We created a video, and shared the video with each of the individuals that came to perform. It was a simple production, but a beautiful memory of someone who came to understand the visual beauty of ASL and wanted to share what he discovered. Jeff didn’t understand the ASL signs specifically, but he totally explicitly saw the artistry in the compelling movement in the ASL before him. He didn’t hold any implicit meaning in the signs, including his held no intuitive understanding except the "touching of his soul” with the beauty of ASL interpreted music, which moved him emotionally. He held no experience in the teachings of ASL and with no understanding of the language, but the initial explicit sharing moved him to his core.

In explicit listening, there is music, and there is stepping into Nature for a different type of explicit listening for we can even listen to the trees before us. When scientists or botanists start to listen, they have to move away from established thought, which is critical for any methodical listening.

In the professional career of Suzanne Simard, listened differently as a forest ecologist, she met with serious backbiting and mocking as she tried to take a stand for the trees in our forests. In her book where she could have focused on the explicit perils and bitterness in fighting against the corporate grain, she instead stuck with listening to the forest. She fought hard to move out of the explicit norm. In her book, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, Suzanne writes, “I had learned so much more by listening instead of imposing my will and demanding answers” (p285). As a society, we lately have been listening, yet rejecting in defensiveness the message before us, we continue to impose our will on the conversation. Or as the discussion continues, the resolution becomes the focus, when the answer is possibly not the point of the listening, and then there is the refuting of the message, editing and changing the concept to fit what we know (or desire) the truth to be. Often we are too involved to pull back from the explicit emotions, blocking any effective listening. With the defensive 3 ‘R's, (Rejecting/Resolving/Refuting), can society listen?

****

The RED FLAG or default bias of ‘Explicit’ is that most Americans come from a single-source language in their daily experience, and are tied to ideas and concepts within their own paradigms. They don’t inherently have the skills to look outside of their experiences. However, when individuals are fortunate to have multiple languages in their early years, microaggressions of misunderstanding other individuals are less likely to occur. The multi-language listener recognises the intended messages and meanings in various languages are beyond the word. Individuals that don’t have this exposure from a young age tend to get stuck in lacking comprehension with this explicit limited level of forensic listening. This limited exposure to other languages, notices the listener falls into the category of, [they] “don’t know that they don’t know.” And the competent message is lost.

So, how do we gain listening skills?  How do we move from explicit listening into the awareness of the message through implicit listening. How do we start the transition if “I already know” into INQUIRY where we can start to ask questions.

APPENDIX A (WORKSHEET FOR EXPLICIT)

****************************************************************************** GETTING TO THE OBJECTIVE GOAL OF THE MESSAGE ******************************************************************************

 IMPLICIT LISTENING                                                 They know that they don’t know

“It is good to see the goodness in everyone.  They often rise to that goodness” - Mandela

I chose this picture in comparison with the first picture as the information filled in the blanks. What is the story of this wall? Once started in brick. Then the stone comes in. Was the brick falling down??? Did they run out of supplies? Here we start asking the questions.

• Implicit listening: the meaning beyond the word. Implicit language acquisition is where language comprehension happens around you - more than the sound of the word. The environment of the message and what occurs when a certain explicit message is shared assists in the cognitive understanding. This indirect level of learning the meaning of the message occurs within every home and household. Every environment is unique. Regardless of a family having one language at home or a home with multiple languages used efficiently, there is conversation and listening. As such, implicit listening is the pause and redolent understanding of the explicit words before you. The unsaid message of implicit listening starts with inquiry. Inquiry simply being the question you mentally apply when deciphering the message. Many of us do this unconsciously. Checking in, taking time, with no rush establishes implicit rapport. Reflecting on various meanings that can be understood from the words shared, the intent, the context, and “hearing” the message beyond the simple words, allows for the understanding of the message. Implicit listening draws on the visual as well as incorporates the five senses. This expanded pause to understand, allows time for each listener to be “in the moment.” In implicit listening, we can share humor and laugh at hidden meanings, or “understood’ meanings.

This forensic level of implicit listening is when decision-making begins. Beyond the default of the word, implicit listening is a totally different level of awareness. In this change from unconsciousness default explicit listening to become an active participant in the listening, mental decisions about the structure of the message surface. Some call it “reading between the lines” is our path to implicit listening.

How do you know you are being intimidated? Do they ‘say’, “I am not in your best interest”? Or is there an internal alarm, and mental overwhelm? It’s not explicitly defined, however you have no doubt in the tension of the moment.

Implicit listening has so many different levels it is mind boggling. Immediately, implicitly, we come face to face with our own biases, without even being aware. As implicit listening is the level where questions begin (i.e.) what is the Main Point? Where on the timeline? An affirmative statement? A question? A comparative expansion, (this/not this?) It is also where one steps into an active awareness and accountability of the message.

There is another technique that I use within my mentoring. For a quick moment, I was assisting a financial advisor that held boardroom financial seminars.  It was my job to bring in the stragglers that were having a hard time with the new information and procedures in investing. One attendee was having a really hard time following the process and started to take it out on herself. The presenter and I looked at each other and that was my clue to help.  During the next break, she and I stepped outside into the garden and discussed her listening. “I can’t listen if I don’t understand,” she pouted. And if I don’t understand, this was a waste of time.”  I responded with, “What would you say if I showed you a way to stop and actually relax during the lectures? I promise, you will think it is magic. Let’s go into the next lecture together, and NO notetaking.  Just sit, listen and let the information wash over you. Just listen without defining, or analysing - just listen, no stress. I call it, let the info “wash” over you.  She nodded and said she would try, but did not hold out hope. We went into the room together and sat together, ready for the lecture to continue. The lecture began, and I whispered, breathe and JUST LISTEN, don’t do anything else.  After the short lecture was done, we stepped into our pods for team discussions. She looked at me and said, “I actually have a question to ask the group.” And she did, she participated without angst or defensive negativity towards herself, instead she was smiling.  Did she understand everything there was in that lecture, NO, but a window of understanding opened, without the stress, and she heard something that connected to her understanding and she knew what she did not know, and while listening, the inquiry to learn more, came to her awareness. It was a strong victory for me. I loved her smile.  Even today, when working with new certified interpreters, I discuss allowing the message to “wash over” them, to notice and allow.

Along my journey of interpreting assignments, without me giving you the answer first, I would like to take you with me in my thought process and recognition during a previous assignment. When I am not interpreting in trial, one of my responsibilities is to interpret phone calls. Recently while I was interpreting a phone call for a male caller, I noticed that he reminded me of a dear indigenous friend. I noticed the dream catchers on the wall, much like our family’s treasure. I was watching him, while we were sitting on hold, I noticed the shirt the gentleman was wearing was from a PowWow, and I noticed the culture of the gentleman before me. Two strangers on hold, waiting for an answer, sitting in silence. Finally we were directed to a message center. When the phone’s message began, before picking up my hands to interpret, I heard, “Today, 10/12, is a holiday. No one is in the office.” In that moment, the “message” could have been interpreted in many ways. The immediate name sign for that specific early October holiday is under change. I had a choice, the old term or the new term? For me, was there a decision of respect to be made here? I choose to sign “Indigenous Day” rather than Columbus Day. Not a big deal, rather this example is to emphasize the intensity of mental preparation and cultural interaction in matching the message equivalence. And with my interpretation, I did notice his smile. Was it because I took the time to ‘notice’ him? Maybe so.

This forensic listening awareness in the layers of communication beyond the explicit word, is for the community as well. Notice how to listen differently than professions that don’t require listening – however, my philosophy is everyone is required to be a Forensic Listener. Even a plumber. After retiring from the Army, my father was a plumber of sorts. He used to repair washing machines and dryers. He used to share about how he had to listen differently. He was always listening for clues, asking for noise and exact examples.

Many professions require intensive listening. Court Reporters have to listen differently for example – an altogether different listening. Parents listen differently when listening to their children. Doctors listen differently, unless they are stuck in default explicit listening. Nevertheless, simply being in a listening profession, doesn’t mean one is actually listening. The requirement that we step into listening is front and center of the awareness there is more than the spoken word, more than explicit listening.

Our word choice is our reflection. Many of us are trained to use specific vernacular, for example, to listen to students graduating from a specific program. Though they may vary in sentence structure and theme, their colloquial speech is highly reflective of the major studied. Which also moves the listener into inferential development. The next level of Forensic Listening.

Accompanying cultural sharing of any information, the richness of storytelling is a powerful tool of understanding experiences. I learned to be a storyteller through watching my Deaf cousin Billy and working in the rich-culture Deaf community today.  Just because I gained a skill, does not mean my stories came anywhere close to my cousin’s ability or any of the Deaf Community. ASL is their language, they eat and breathe and live ASL daily, I only step into the moment, and then step out. I am hearing, I will never be Deaf. To shower acknowledgement on the Deaf Communities storytelling, allowing us to have a peak into their expertise, is to be honored. Hearing students or even hearing interpreters do NOT come close to the eloquence and expertise of the Deaf community, but I can continue to learn. There are weekly and monthly events where the Deaf congregate to share stories and just to fellowship. The one safe place where everyone communicates in ASL. The Deaf videos are an amazing way to test and confirm inferential listening. Beyond inferential listening, the benefit of Deaf videos allows for the culture and the sheer joy of watching the experts share their stories.

One such expert storyteller is the one and only highly esteemed comedian, Ms. Cassie Simmons. Ms. Simmons has the most amazing ability to make us laugh and reflect on how crazy it is for a Deaf individual in a hearing world. In the Deaf community, facial expressions are valued as priceless and beats any voice. We are hearing individuals tend to ‘hear’ more than listen. In this visible world of communication and listening, we must start with facial expressions.  Ms. Simmons has more expression than humanly possible and I am teasing, slightly. Her profound facial expression is the exact message, can’t be missed. And she is funny, down to earth funny. She is one of the most popular ASL storytellers in the Deaf Community. Ms. Simmons, in one of her most popular stories, shares her experience going to a grassroot, home-style, authentic revival. Now, listening to her story, I had to pull from my young experiences. (This remembrance works with inferentially listening as well as implicitly listening. As a young child I went to several summer revivals, held under large tents, or in small rural churches. My parents were strong Southern Baptists.  My mother, in particular, loved the old-time revivals. Revivals are not quiet. Depending on which revival you attended opened the door to a lot of new experiences. With that first-hand knowledge (implicit listening), I watched Ms. Cassie Simmons share her visual terrifying experience^[5]. How many of you have personally experienced revivals? Her story as a young Deaf girl, only able to visually watch the clues around her, to see what was before her, was in fact horrifying for a little girl watching individuals being taken out, who had no clue where she was or what was going on.  Dragged to the event by extended family, Cassie’s Aunt decided to bring Cassie and her sisters to a revival for healing (again a huge error in thinking anything needed to be fixed). Now Cassie saw a lot of individuals receive “the anointing of the LORD” and when they fainted in the moment, she specifically saw something different.  As a young Deaf child, she saw the pastor touch someone, and the next moment they were being carried out by several men. If you have experienced a revival personally or you have seen the old revivals in movies, you basically know these individuals will wake up – why would this sweet child infer that knowledge? She just knew they were in fact dead (they were not). She ‘knew’ they were being carried out to be buried. The young child was so freaked out, as no one took the time to explain what was going on, that when the pastor came to "anoint" her, she did not hold back, this very young Deaf child furiously started to save herself by flinging and fighting and punching the pastor hard, and anyone else around her. Can you see the visual of her striking out? Her embarrassed Aunt had to remove her from the front while her sisters roared in laughter from the back of the room. This video is hilarious and should you as well have experiences of attending a revival, you can totally draw from “insider” memories. Placing your personal experiences into this story allows for the inferential listening to recognise layers of the story, beyond the explicit and expanding the implicit hilarity of the moment.

Robyn Dean, a researcher at Rochester Institute (RIT) in New York wrote in her essay, Are Two Brains Better Than One? The Center for the Study of Ethical Development (CSED; n.d.) explains the DIT’s design rationale: A common assumption in the field of morality, and one with which we disagree, is that reliable information about the inner processes that underlie moral behavior is obtained only by interviewing subjects. Contrary to assuming that interviewing presents a clear window into the moral mind, researchers in cognitive science and social cognition contend that self-reported explanations of one’s own cognitive process have severe limitations. There is now a greater appreciation for the importance of implicit processes and tacit knowledge on human decision making, outside the awareness of the subject and beyond his or her ability to verbally articulate them.

RED FLAG: We can bring in our own unrelated lessons and meaning with implicit listening if we are not careful. Counselors listen from all four levels of listening and implicit is the very center of where they listen. What do I mean? Reflection and awareness are critical here, or we bring our message instead of the intended message. Be careful not to add to the message, to judge the message or have a knee-jerk reaction to the message. Here is where the message is to simply wash over the consciousness, allowing for new insight (if needed).

If we can't even listen to ourselves honestly, how can we then listen to others? We all listen with specific values which create unconscious biases. We are human, not computers. Which means we must work proactively to listen and notice the message before us. And when these values are corporate gain, there are huge hurdles to scale. Recognizing a partner’s thoughts and feelings, is a way they ‘feel’ listened to, takes insight. These four levels of listening do offer an open door to insight into listening and noticing in a brand new way.

“LIFE AND BUSINESS ARE RATHER SIMPLE, AFTER ALL - TO MAKE A SUCCESS OF EITHER, YOU’VE GOT TO HANG ON TO THE KNACK OF PUTTING YOURSELF IN THE OTHER PERSON’S PLACE”                                                                                                            WILLIAM WRIGLEY, JR.

APPENDIX B (WORKSHEET FOR IMPLICIT)

*****************************************************************************EXPERIENCES - EDUCATION - SHARED MEMORIES
******************************************************************************

INFERENTIAL LISTENING                                        They Know that they Know.

I used this photograph to represent Inferential Listening. Don’t be fooled and think inferential listening is for the educated only. There is just as much education to be found on the streets as there is in the classroom. The learning from outside of ourselves.

• Inferential Listening: (external) Experiences & lessons around the word.

Listening inferentially is watching, hearing, observing anything from outside of  your own mind. The key here is “OUTSIDE” of yourself. Meaning, from school, to the street. Any information that comes to you from outside of yourself, is inferential. If you want to validate your confidence, this is where you start listening differently. Inferential Listening is from all the experiences you have encountered, and or place yourself ‘to’ encounter. From our early childhood lessons, to the adult experiences that we often call “between the lines” communication. If you need to fact-check, you begin here with inferential listening. Basically you take yourself out of the equation. You start with objective reasoning, leaving your opinion of the listening. This is a new term for many individuals. Inferential listening which means to simply notice any and all ‘information’ which you acquire through all of your senses and experiences “outside of yourself.” This educated, experiential learning is not only from classroom lessons or book learning, but life itself. Life’s enlightenment can be the greatest teacher. Don’t dismiss what you have learned either from learning outside the classroom. Analysis happens with each book read, with each movie watched, with each conversation we have with a friend. Learning is occurring every moment. When we directly participate with that experience, we are taking in information inferentially, regardless of doing what we are trying to do the right way or the wrong way. We are still learning, noticing, and listening inferentially. As a matter of fact, many of us know mistakes teach us as well. With inferential listening, we have book learning and experiential learning. The learning that we acquire ‘outside of ourselves’. All of us have experiences, from learning in the classroom, to remembering an experience throughout our lifetime. This Forensic Inferential Listening is where we have shared experiences. Drawing upon past lessons and experiences opens our memories, and allows for expansion beyond the explicit word. Repetition is key here. Pausing and reflecting is just as important. There are many situations where one must totally pause to listen.

Learning new ideas is built on repetition. The new information being listened to may be more sophisticated each time, often increasing the knowledge previously learned, being detailed, and structured differently. And as this new inferential listening is referred to and utilized for understanding the situation at hand is gained outside of the implicit meaning of the words.

This inferential listening builds your confidence. Have you ever listened to someone pontificating “facts” and while they ramble on you begin to realize they really do not know what they are talking about - no matter the degree of expounding their knowledge.  That is inferential listening and realizing the lack in their wisdom can be daunting. The listener must pull back from their own learning and experiences, realizing the one who is talking is basically spouting more opinions than facts. This type of listening leans in on the facts. And this inferential listening.

As a nation, I feel like we have left that inferential listening skill behind. With technology of today, we can find the truth in the matter, but we have become passive in our listening and start repeating erroneous information. Everyone has their right to choose what they want to listen to and believe, but if we simply start to repeat and regurgitate edicts around them, we have stopped listening to our past teachings. Are we asking to be told the truth, many call this ‘spoon-fed’, or are we taking the time to research in areas that are not our typical ‘go-to’ source for information. Often, it becomes crucial for us to listen to other perspectives without judgement. When we step away from the patterns that limit us - inferential listening can be the tool that opens new doors of opportunity in learning.

Stepping away from listening to law, attentiveness is crucial to all professions. Listening differently is often taught in the world of music and dance. In the musical world, Roger Kamien is a retired professor emeritus of musicology with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He is the author of Music:An Appreciation, widely used as a textbook in several universities and colleges on the basics of music. I was introduced to Professor Kamien’s work by Professor Hurd, Dr. James Hurd. An amazing listener himself.  Dr. Hurd was also a much beloved music professor, however, at El Camino College, in Torrance, California. He entertained his students for fifty years, himself a renowned organist. His wit, humor and his love of how to feel into the music and hear it distinctly. We were urged to listen from a different place. Dr. Kamien touched our world's education, Dr. James Hurd touched the hearts of many around him. Both men touched the souls of a great number of students in teaching us how to “listen outside the box.” Dr. James spoke of Dr. Kamien’s philosophy of listening first before touching any instrument.  Kamien himself is an acclaimed author and professor of music, he instructed his students to first hold back, listen to music prior to learning to play the piece at hand. He enhanced the ear, and the mind so that the melody could be appreciated. He taught the tone and timbre, the dynamics and pitch all contributing to the message of the song before you. He understood that listening was the most important part of production. And only with daily practice could music touch each of the listening levels, explicit (the simple sound)/implicit (the message)/inferential (the daily exposure and practice)/intuitive (the soul of the music). The positive byproduct of inferential listening is the ingrained confidence which comes from the historical understanding of a specific piece of music (or any information or project) prior to performing the masterpiece.

And again stepping away from music, there is a specific type of listening in education that has really surprised me. Our education system went through a huge evolution with the decision to focus on grade scores, rather than to train or teach the whole child. Monitoring the grade scores gave way to statistically heeding numerical information rather than the evolution of learning in the child. There is an interesting quote in the new documentary, The Interaction Cowboy.^[6] Fred Koschmann documented his father, Tim Koschmann’s life’s work studying instruction and effective communication and interaction in instruction. This documentary assists in understanding what the educational world was doing around the time that Deaf Education was changed forever for the worse (in this writer's opinion - any time we take away the rights of any culture - we have decimated opportunities of growth and development.) And no one listened.

What happened one hundred years ago? To step back for a moment to explain some background information. Ethnomethodology is the study to discover and answer that exact question. The sociological study of the rules and rituals underlying ordinary social activities and interaction. Education policy went through a total about face change of directions, and I was about to learn why. I was invited to a screening of Ethnomethodology. The producer that invited me wanted to see if his research could assist or relate in any way with the writing of this Forensic Listening work. None of us knew that both of our worlds, the hearing educational world, and the Deaf educational world experienced the same demise in educational instruction.

Listening to the whole or segment, was the revelation of “The Interaction Cowboy” a documentary on a specific individual that studied the theory of instruction and the destruction of teaching the child. Timothy D. Koshmann, PhD, earned the Outstanding Scholar Award in 2010. His work has encouraged corporations, medical institutions, and the government to reevaluate the instruction process and how we listen to our evaluations. He calls himself an “Intellectual Vagabond" and even ran for school board to share and demonstrate what education should be. He studied social sciences, philosophy, psychology, specifically behaviorism relating to listening and then learning. However, he as well received the same noon verbal behavior as the renowned John Dewey. Alan Zemel, a colleague of Timothy Koshmann, also known for his own research on interaction and learning. He greatly appreciates the work of Timothy and notes this observation. “Just because you know or see something doesn’t mean the world is going to pay attention.” At times it feels like the world is not listening.

Experiences around inferential listening and learnng, educational changes were not only happening in the Universities, Deaf education also changed forever with the 1880 Milan Congress. Changes were underfoot throughout the nation. This watershed event favored oralism (speech) over sign language.  This conference’s decisions were never with the agreement of the Deaf community, rather dismissal of Deaf teachers and a suppression of sign language to promote English (moving from a visual understanding to an ineffective invisible liner communication) took over the standard practises.The language that allowed for ‘listening’ was banned and effectively cut the efficiency of educating the Deaf child.  

Since 1880, the Deaf community has fought to increase awareness that ASL is NOT English, and one opinion is that Deaf children should be allowed the use of their visual language in education. In 1975, modern legislation like the Education of the Deaf Act (EDA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the 1990s promoted access, services, and appropriate language access for Deaf children across the country.

We often believe we are listening, while we are not. A societal shift in listening happened in March 1988. The Deaf President Now^[7] protests happened at Gallaudet University, where Deaf students and allys successfully protested the selection protesting the selection of a hearing president of the university. The board did not listen. There was a push for many months before the final decision for a Deaf President. When the students learned their wishes were yet again ignored, not listened to, they took matters into their own hands. This historic week-long event was a major civil rights moment for the Deaf community, resulting in demands for a Deaf President being met, as with I. King Jordan became the first Deaf President, March 13, 1988 and paved the way for equal rights for Deaf students.

Opening your awareness of listening differently, a great book to read from the perspective of a Deaf teacher in the elementary school system is The Butterfly Cage, written by Rachl Zemach.  Her book is a memoir that delves into the conflicting methods of educating Deaf children from a first-hand perspective. She discusses how the ‘hearing world’ listens differently than her Deaf students. Are we listening to the studies around us?  Are we listening to more than one idea? Are we stuck in test scores, or listening to the student in how they perceive the world and take in information?

Remote work and listening with the eyes

There is a type of interpreting that we have started to incorporate way more than previously. The use of “remote” work did not start with the 2020 pandemic, however the pandemic did open the awareness of the incredible amount of efficiency coming out of the remote environment (all outside of ourselves - thus inferential listening). A wider collection of insight happens when we incorporate diversity in our work, being able to reach out and hear other’s insight improves any process or idea. Or can also prove there is a lot to learn.  We must improve our infertile listening because there are a lot of self-appointed pontificators who only have their opinion to share, not the whole of the community at hand. That is not the efficiency that I am referring to. First, as we start to build our inferential listening, we build a better awareness of individuals who tend to expound their knowledge, and you gain the ability to ‘notice’ either, “They don’t know they don’t know.” or they are purposely sharing incorrect information. We can build our confidence, we can build our awareness if we are open to change. That is a question that has to be answered first if there is a desire to listen more effectively, or when we are resistant to change, ‘what is the resistance about?’

Another type of inferential listening is the recognition of body language. The Deaf do this naturally as they have to depend on vision, not words. Hearing people have no idea of how detailed visual details may be. “Deaf Eyes” is an idiom, that means the Deaf community sees everything, while we (the hearing community) are too busy only depending on our ears, and not paying attention to the visual clues around us. Mentalists are known for reading minds - or do they? They are talented with their seamless picking up on visual hints that the common person has no awareness of. For example, when we start to think of past memories, our eyes twitch quickly to the upper right. We actually do “see” more information than we access in sound awareness, however unless trained, we never “notice” the subtle clues - that is unless you are Deaf.

The topic of “Deaf Eyes” kept coming up during a Civil trial my agency was retained to cover coordinating interpreting services for their civil rights trial. Pula Legal Interpreting, the agency I have owned since 1997, was called upon to coordinate interpreters for the McHaar v. FedEx case in San Jose. Honorable Lori Pegg, a judge with the Santa Clara County Superior Court, presided over the trial where a Deaf employee won a significant disability discrimination award. One persistent theme that continued to surface was Deaf Eyes. This phrase typically refers to the history, society, and communication from a Deaf cultural viewpoint, revealing aspects often missed by hearing people, like nuances in body language or peripheral awareness. Several of the opposing litigators complained that there was communication occurring in the courtroom between myself and the Deaf witness. First and foremost, the author of this book is not Deaf, nor ever will be. Deaf, with the capital “D” denoting culturally ‘brought up’ as an individual that has a clinical diagnosis of limited decimal acuity. I was brought up hearing. I would love to say I have “Deaf Eyes” capability but I don’t, simply because I am not Deaf. ASL is a visual linguistic modality. Unless you are Deaf, you can not comprehend all of the intricate movements of visual language. I am hearing, and my mother and father were not Deaf. I do not hold the same degree of expert understanding of each of the modalities, even with my legal certification. As hearing individuals we fail to appreciate the complexities of ASL. Often hearing individuals try to ‘paste english on the hands’ while ignoring ASL is a recognized language, again ASL IS NOT ENGLISH. A common misconception.

Another wonderful moment of listening profoundly came from the Honorable Judge Pegg, herself. During a trial, with witnesses, there is a very specific process in hiring an interpreter for a client that needs an interpreter. In Court, the Deaf witness has a legally certified Deaf interpreter as well as the hearing interpreter. And most importantly, neither of those interpreters can come from the proceeding interpreting team. The harsh fact is all of this takes time. At one moment, during the witnesses testimony, one of the attorneys objected and complained because it is factually time consuming. The judge was incredibly attentive the entire trial, and at this moment she said, “I have researched and studied this process, and I have learned it is in fact Best Practices.”  I wanted to jump up and sing hallelujah, I did not. But had you looked at me, I had the biggest smile on my face. Judge Lori Pegg listened differently.  I was so impressed with her wisdom in checking things out and then following the best practice model of efficiency.

The difference between the Deaf and the hearing cultures are as different as any other country, like Japanese is not English. Why is it hard to conceive that ASL is a unique visual language, recognized in itself as an official language? Why do we as a hearing society think we can ‘mouth’ english words, and because we deem it so, actually believe communication is occurring - which is the farthest thing from the truth. Lip Reading is the hearing community’s biggest ruse. Lip reading is often seen as a tool for the Deaf individual, when it is more of a ‘closed door’ to communication. Only 30% of the words are visible. While there are expert lip readers out there, Janine Madera being one of the best, reading lips is typically not an effective process for communication.

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There is a RED-FLAG with inferential information: “Fossilization” occurs when the student has failed to allow their language to be fluid and placid. This fossilization comes when the student goes back to their teacher's comment, rather than reflecting on what concept is before them. There is no application of the different types of words that match the situation. This is harmful when an interpreter replies without considering other meanings or applications. Our language has synonyms and in ASL there are a variety of expansions. However, when a student recites, “my teacher showed us this way” especially in our field, several interpreters will start a sentence with, “We learned in our IEP (Interpreter Training Program) a certain technique of some certain grammatical aspect. The immediate problem is we dismiss the message in front of us. We dismiss the application of the meaning and intention. When the attitude is, “I learned it “this way” the listening is denied. With this declaration, linguistic application of the concept at hand is often lost, preventing cognitive awareness of the various options in any language. I have come to learn there is never ONE way in conveying an idea. This fossilization is called ”Inferential Default.” Typically, this listener is not listening to the concept of the message and has reverted back to explicit listening - hearing the word void of context and meaning. When hearing a student reflect that they learned it differently, we can step into inquiry and ask ourselves what part of the message we are ignoring. With practice we can open up to the new inferential listening and recognize alternative choices and expand to new ideas.

A visual of becoming fossilized in our learning was explained to me by Irene Robles, Faculty and Department Humanities and Social Services co-chair title from Mt. Sac. Community College. Irene has taken on the challenge of developing a  mentoring program. She explained to me, the student who sees one sign always representing one word is ‘stuck’ mentally. The ‘picture’ in their mind can’t incorporate or apply to anything outside of that one sign, a dangerous position for any listener to be in, especially if they are an interpreter. Each of us can sound like the student who can’t get beyond the rational, their excuse for not being able to stretch, grow and apply, “My teacher taught me….”  Why are we so fast to ‘arrive’ and not expand into the situation at hand. Regardless of interpreting, listening can be tricky, and if we are ‘stuck’ in our listening, the consequence could be frustrating. With comprehension there is a “more than this” aspect to the understanding of words and concepts. If inferential listeners have learned flexibility in how they receive and apply the language before us...if we can catch that concept, we can begin to notice more around us, or around the message. We notice the richness and the depth of the message before us. However, “by the book” can limit the conscious recognition of a wider choice of applicable details. The ‘book’ is great until we follow the explicit listening, getting stuck in the word so closely that proactive listening and involvement with the other levels of comprehension is restricted.

The second RED FLAG: Intelligence is wonderful, until you look down your nose at the individual before you for not knowing what you know. That pontificated superiority has severed many friendships. Don’t become the all-knowing seer without listening to the sharing souls beside you. Additionally, not being able to step into application of the lessons before us, becoming stuck in the learning and unable to expand beyond the book-learning, is classified as “fossilization.” Noticing it is the answer to stepping out of that comfort zone. Watching ourselves reveals so much, when we are listening.

Into the Garden to Lose My Mind and Find My Soul 

Looking outward, discovering what is outside of yourself.  The garden is but one example. Finding a park, finding a patch of mud, finding tree stumps and seeing the art and beauty of the root system.  Inferential is taking what is outside of ourselves, our experiences and our education whether it is in the classroom or on the street of hard knocks. What occurs outside of ourselves, we have to be careful of how we internalize those external experiences.

When someone criticizes or tells you that  you are not good enough. That is their story about you, not your story about you.  How many amazing leaders have we met who have been beaten down numerous times and told they were either not smart enough, talented enough, or able to achieve the dream desired? That is their idea - no where does it say in the stars that they have any authority in their opinion. I am amazed at how opinions are shared as factual statements. We have to learn to listen and allow them their opinion, and know the truth for ourselves.

Even then don’t shy away from the healing that inferential listening can bring.

And into the garden I go to lose my mind and find my soul. There is a popular saying that is often attributed to Roosevelt or John Muir. Neither of which are the authors of this modern day saying. Nonetheless, the truth is they both would have nodded yes, which is why it is probably attributed to both men.

There is a truth about the healing of nature.  Listening to the ocean, swimming in the ocean, bouncing with the movement of the waves.  Walking an intense hike. Digging your hands into the soil to toil care for gardens.  I am a flower gardener, I love the color.  Actually, I have four different gardens. A fruit orchard of three different trees, peach, plum and nectarine. And below the fruit trees are succulents and ferns. The back garden has four small trees and an Ivy wall. The side garden is a full yard, with a sitting bench, hedges and three more trees and dozens of flowers. And my front yard is a butterfly oasis and palmeria trees. It’s intense to care for, even with a gardener there is a lot of work that needs to be done and that responsibility falls to myself and Brink my husband.  There will be times when we are both working in the garden and don’t see each other unless we bump into each. To watch the gardens evolve and the beauty of the flowers, lights and the various themes and arrangements provides me with an opportunity to listen differently.

I watch the seasons.  Even in California, we have seasons. Subtle seasons for sure but our plants go through the same seasonal metamorphosis. I sit in my garden all the time and listen. Does a plant need feeding?  Does a plant need to be moved to a sunnier, or shadier place in the garden.  Is there a path that needs to be cleared? So many questions, and no answers until I get quiet. Have you ever sat in a garden for 5 minutes? Sounds like such an easy task, but try it. Sit quietly, and if possible near nature of some sort. If confined to bed, bring in a plant that does not interfere with your needed environment. If outside, find a bench or chair or even sit on the grass. The more green around you the better. Set the alarm. It is amazing how long five minutes is really.

I would not say I am a master gardener, but I love digging in the soil and the soil rewards my efforts. I love trimming and pruning and feeding and noticing when the plants talk to me, in their own way. I see when a plant is weak. I see when it is thirsty. I notice when a plant becomes leggy, I notice when the plant becomes too wild. I notice the weeds that need to be pulled, a wild growth of unexpected weeds. An ivy wall is lovely, but still needs attention. I don’t tend to all the yards every time I step outside to be in the garden. I see what needs to be done, and what needs critical attention first. I always pause and become familiar with the garden and that does not happen with a two-minute walk in the garden and out the garden.  We must pause. The garden does talk to us. And the animal world tolerates us while tending to their own sustenance. It’s lovely listening to the birds, watching the hummingbird chase the other hummingbirds away from his territory. Watching the lizards keep the ants away. The critters from the Marsh make their presence known as well. Even our neighborhood hawk has her early more call. All adding to the joy of nature.

I have learned to listen to Mother Nature, and the wordless listening that is incorporated from ‘noticing’ again listening differently. Listening to the quiet is intuitively listening. I am partial to the next individual I share with you the reader. Working in the garden quiets my soul. I was blessed with a garden when we moved to our present home. The back garden wall, and the side garden were in need of loving. I started and failed, meaning many plants that I purchased, ended up wilting away or drying up. I had to learn about the sun, and soil. It took me more than two years to bring constant color into the garden with choice indigenous and water conserving plants. I work hard in my garden, and just like Sue’s patrons below. When one takes time, more than one day, more than one hour - and starts to learn what ‘time in the garden’ means. Then the listening shift evolves. We start to see what needs trimming. We start to see how trimming and pruning are essential to the health of a plant. And thus when a harsh “pruning” in my life occurs, I sit in my garden and remember healing and growth comes with pruning. A totally different type of listening. There is an awareness of companion plants, and ‘working together’ not having to struggle alone, even for plants.

I allow the external experiences to build me from the outside in. There is something so rewarding and to be freed from egoic encounters, nature has a way of feeding the soul. My father passed away too soon. I lost my mother many years before that. Now with both parents gone, I buried my grief into the garden. There were many tears that flowed in the soil or my sleeve. When all my children moved away from home at the same time, all perfect professional opportunities, but only not in California, I brought the loneliness and the heartache of missing them to the soil. The heart ache of missing them was only comforted from being in the garden.

Inferential listening builds our confidence. Experiences, both from the outside world and the world around us are significant in that each moment’s experience builds us as an individual. When we notice the separate gifts in the different levels of listening our observations become validated.

Intuitive listening happens in the quiet. Oftentimes we do not allow the time to pause. Oftentimes we are too busy listening to the chatter around us, and not taking time out to notice nature around us. Healing takes time. No matter what we have been wounded, regardless of experiencing physical, emotional, spiritual trauma, it takes time to heal. My husband has had two significant surgeries, each time it took at least a year before his body felt ‘normal.’ The same is true for any type of devastation; mental, physical, emotional, spiritual. We must take the time to turn off the explicit (the incident), the implicit (searching for the why). Turn off the comparisons of ‘should’ and at this time of hearing, dismiss any type of blame. Accountability is mandatory, as well is the healing. Healing often happens when we gift ourselves with quietness, and step out of the ‘busy’.

Sue Stuart-Smith is a prominent psychiatrist and gardener. She earned her BA from Cambridge University before qualifying as a doctor. She and her husband founded the Barn Garden in Hertfordshire.^[8] She writes in her book, THE Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature. Where we usually see three or five, she has nineteen professionals shouting praise for her wisdom to step into the garden, and “get your hands into the soil.” She writes of the healing of nature and the gardens, each individual receives an internal, personal ‘touch’ of healing. “Grief is isolating and is no less so when it is a shared experience. A loss that devastates a family generates a need to lean on one another, but at the same time everyone is bereft, everyone is in a state of collapse. There is an impulse to protect one another from too much raw emotion, and it can be easier to let feelings surface away from people. Trees, water, stones, and sky may be impervious to human emotion, but they don’t reject us either. Nature is unperturbed by our feelings, and because there is no contagion, we can experience a kind of consolation that helps assuage the loneliness of loss”(pg 5,6).  I have found this true in my own life. There is healing in Nature. We have a flower garden around my home, and each side of the home has its own “garden theme.” Dr. Sue shares about several penitentiaries having Horticulture therapists. “Trauma is an intensely isolating experience. While other forms of relationships may feel too threatening at the start, nature can help alleviate the disconnect state”(pg.83). The city environment has found its healing in many community gardens. Neighbors meeting each other for the first time in shared gardens. Going to the mountains and listening to the trees. Finding a meadow and listening to the birds. Listening and watching Mother Nature with our own slowing down to hear the grass grow allows for intuitive listening (pg. 19). For our wounded warriors, to community workers, for our children, to even those we hold in honor. Freud took great pleasure in sharing news and actual flowers to the women he admired (pg.203 - 231). Learning how to quieten the mind and listen to the seasons, each one with its own story. Listening to the growth patterns. Listening beyond words is more healing than we appreciate - and in gardening, also a physical caring for the body as well.

I have learned the importance of listening to a garden. And I can’t listen until I have stared and allowed time to show me what is occurring in the garden. My husband placed a bench under a Japanese Maple between two massive palm trees. I get to watch the hummingbirds fight over territory. I get to watch lizards scurry from one hiding place to another. And then I start to hear the garden. I notice little trimmings, and I notice large pruning jobs waiting for my attention. Another byproduct of working in the garden, I get to know my neighbors. Whenever I am in my side garden, the neighbors stop to chat. I have come to appreciate the diversity in our small community. And the community has shared, “they have come to appreciate the variety of plants and colors being shared from this garden.” More than once I have found a hiding place in one of my gardens and processed grief in that quiet recluse. When I am inside my home, I am blessed to have a “garden window” that opens up to my garden and the stubborn marsh, Mother Nature’s validation in the power of the garden. Being committed to a garden becomes personal. Tending to a wounded or ill plant brings out the healer in us. Gardening is not always easy, but the rewards are what has benefited many of Dr. Sue's clients. “A garden gives you a protected physical space, which helps increase your sense of mental space, and it gives you quiet, so you can hear your own thoughts. The more you immerse yourself in [listening] with your hands, the more free you are to internally [intuitively] sort things out and work them through (pg 13).

APPENDIX C (WORKSHEET FOR INFERENTIAL)

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THE QUIET REFLECTION

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INTUITIVE LISTENING                                        They don’t know that they know

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." — Jimi Hendrix

I chose this wall as it is below Mother Earth. So much information lies below the surface of the three previous listening levels. What is that quiet voice that has no face? What is that nudge there is more than this, what? The learning from within.

• Intuitive Listening: (internal) personal awareness and meaning behind the Word

 Intuitive is learning to listen to your quiet voice, your own internal voice. Each of us talk to ourselves and are aware of the environment, as well as thoughts within. Additionally, there is a lot happening around us that is more energy-based than visible. Intuitive science is the art of seeing what we can not see, and trusting that we know. The biggest caveat for intuitive listening is, if you ignore it, the ‘voice’ will get quieter (even if that voice is in our own mind). However if we listen, the voice becomes more prominent.

We are a changed people. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, the George Floyd incident ignited Black Lives Matter. The political divide has created chasms in our family and friends. We have been forced to make decisions that we are not comfortable with, and have been asked to look at our own biases and indiscretions. And so much more, like having to choose sides. Not that we all agree, or feel especially confident in society at the present time, however we can say with certainty that life has indeed changed. Our entire world is different. How do we determine our balance, our conclusions or pronouncements? Why is being so angry acceptable? We have temporarily lost the ability to empathize or have we.

Heidi Sawyer, in her book, Highly Intuitive People, writes, “the mistake is trying to make the intuition process tangible - to control it, to see it as some kind of enemy to be contained, locked down, broken up into explainable bits - rather than seeing it as a connection to a poetic beauty, process and clear insight” (p. 106)

Another very specific example of intuitive listening came from Malcolm Gladwell.  An intuitive author, Malcolm discusses the “Mind’s Eye.” He discusses adaptive unconsciousness, [intuition] in his book, BLINK: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.  In the beginning of his book he shares “Making very sophisticated decisions on the spur of the moment, without the benefit of any kind of script or plot, requires Intuition'' When we talk about analytic versus intuitive decision making, neither is good or bad. What is bad is if you use either of them in inappropriate circumstances. Gladwell shares a story where the Getty museum was requesting authentication of a sculpture. Georgios Donta, head of the Archeological Society in Athens and Angelos Delivorrias, director of the Benaki Museum in Athens, both felt a wave of “intuitive repulsion.” They knew they were looking at a fake without being able to say why. The book is a fascinating read. He even brings the understanding of intuition to listening. Gladwell states, When our powers of rapid cognition go awry, [conscious bias] can go awry for a very specific and consistent set of reasons, and those reasons can be identified and understood. It is possible to learn when to listen to that powerful onboard computer [intuition] and when to be wary of it.” (pg11,15)  Our snap judgments and first impressions can be educated and controlled. He also acknowledges psychologist Keith Payne’s and his unique study of decision making. “When we make a split-second decision, Payne says, we are really vulnerable to being guided by our own stereotypes and prejudices, even ones we may not necessarily endorse or believe” (pg 233) 

Intuitive listening is crucial. Prior to snap decisions, slow down. We can analyze what is before us by looking at the four Forensic levels and checking in to see if possible to pause, especially when through the practice of listening to our unconscious, we benefit from the analysis before knee-jerk decisions. The learning from every level of listening, from outer resources of even explicit and inferential and to resources within; implicit and intuitive. This fourth forensic level of Intuitive Listening, the “onboard computer” as Malcolm calls it, can be one of the hardest types of listening to trust and yet, one of the most important. Some of us have problems trusting our inner voice. Yet, we MUST learn to trust in our quiet inner voice, for when we ignore it, the voice becomes silent.

We must explore, investigate and learn to trust our intuition. There is no more powerful level of personal listening. And when we incorporate the three levels of Implicit, Inferential and Intuitive listening, our confidence in the message before us becomes self-assured.

Do you remember the story of the Columbus or Indigenous Day interpretation? And noticing some important information? From this situation, can you tell me what was explicit? What was implicit? What was inferential? What was intuitive? Practise your symbolic and visual listening to VISUALIZE the situation. By the date given, October, which National holiday were we referring to, explicit listening. The awareness of appearances, compared to my dear friend, was inferential regarding his features. Noticing the dark, sharp features of the caller, allow for an unspoken rapport, intuitive listening. Even if it was a “3-minute rapport.” Never underestimate rapport. Rapport allows for appreciation of language, choosing to use specific signs that I believe he would appreciate, implicit. In addition, to the caller's features, was the shirt he was wearing. This ‘notice on the phone’ led to an inferential relationship between my past experiences of pow wows, and the gentleman before me. We were waiting for the phone to answer, and all of this listening happened in less than a 2 minute time-span. The Federal office was closed, due to the holiday. An implicit decision was to be made. (which sign choices will I use??) The intuitive awareness that the client before me would be more appreciative of the signs I provided. As even the signs we use, show respect. I was aware of the changes and history of “Columbus Day”. Early October is the time we celebrate this holiday. How did I interpret the holiday? I did not stay with the old Columbus Day sign, rather, I used the sign “Indigenous holiday” honoring the native community and the gentleman before me.

Interpreters are required to do this same type of analysis every single conversation interpreted. You can imagine the mental fatigue interpreters experience after a long day of listening. You must also imagine the sheer frustration of the Deaf individual when that respect of the concept is ignored, and the explicit stays without the implicit concept and meaning. The message becomes muddy at best.

As a legal interpreter, I work alongside a lot of police officers, whether it is in the courts or in custody or at the corrections centers. Remember Officer Jonathan Cherney? He worked as a Specialist in Accident Reconstructions. He is very well known through the Orange County forces as he could walk into a crime scene and find things no one else could. One such incident, another Officer came up to him and told him they had scanned the entire area and there were no bullets. Officer Cherney had reports of shots being heard - so he knew they were not searching as well as he would have searched. “What bet would you give me if I told you I can find the bullets in 30 minutes.” The young Officer laughed and said, “You are ON. LUNCH it is.” Jonathan told me later that he had wished he had mentioned tickets to an event. He knew intuitively there were bullets. He would find them. And he did. Less than thirty minutes later, he called the young officer over to some of the buildings. “Look at this''....and he showed him some skid marks...not from a car, but from a bullet. He followed the direction of the scratch in the street… and found not one bullet but two. One was under a bush and had embedded itself into the ground, the other had slipped just under the window sill, barely visible, nevertheless they saw the hole, dug a little deeper and found the second bullet.

The two of us specifically discussed the Forensic Listening - Intuitive level. Officer Cherney shared he learned to listen to his intuition a long time ago, and thus gained the nickname, ‘BloodHound.’ fitting for this Officer. As we were sharing stories together, we talked for the longest time about various intuitive listening hits. “You know, he shared, “the Great Officers are the ones that listen to their intuition. People are telling you falsehoods all the time, to throw you off the trail. You Listen, even to the non-truths, because when you get quiet you begin to notice something that you know without being told.

        

How often have you heard, “Oh man, I thought about that earlier,” typically meaning the nudge was ignored. For interpreters, listening intuitively usually enhances the voiced interpretation and the additional expressive tone. No one enjoys listening to a monotone interpretation, the quality of the interpretation is enhanced when we listen to our own awareness.

Timing. Often, we label intuitiveness as a negative aspect when emotions are triggered. Yet, intuition can be learned and can be valuable when understood. Intuitive listening can save you from noticing anthropologically that any immediate moment may not be the best time - to push a point, rather noticing when being quiet is the best option..

When we are intuitively attuned with the messages around us, and all that is occurring beyond the words, the comprehension takes on a more meaningful experience.

There are a myriad types of listening, from the spoken voice, from the hands of a Deaf individual, even to the nature around us. Nature shares messages with us. If anyone has worked in a garden, they would say the garden speaks to them, do we listen? Intuitively we can sit in a garden and receive healing by listening - a quiet wordless listening.

In THE Well-Gardened MIND: The Restorative Power of Nature, Sue Stuart-Smith continues this theme of listening to nature. There is a distinct difference of calm when we move into a quiet garden. Nature offers herself as a repose, if you notice. She shares an experience of one of her mental health patients, after many years of failed attempts at therapy. As her garden’s client, Francis had come to the end of his motivation for any therapy after several hospitalisations, medical treatments and cognitive therapy, he still could not walk down the street without fighting anxiety and paranoid thinking. Francis battled daily with city noise and concrete buildings until a friend told him of work at a nearby garden. Initially he found the work to be physically exhausting, but gradually he started to notice the garden. It was like he discovered a new way of listening. Nature was speaking and he was able to comprehend on a new level. “He began to tune in to “how each day [the garden] is subtly different from another day” (Pg 101-103).

Compassionate Listening is the listening with our soul, if you will. How do we register with the emotions around us? Of course there is the loud anger and the loud laughter and cheering. What do we do with the subtle clues around us? Even the quiet environment can send thunderous messages, as we expand our awareness around us. Trusting how to communicate emotional concerns without judgment? For the novice listener, this intuitive listening takes time to process. Allowing the time it takes to integrate new learning and skill development builds a stronger foundation of awareness. For more often the ascertaining occurs in the pause.

As mentioned above, in Heidi Sawyer’s, Highly Intuitive People, she writes, empathy then operates at a different level - it’s no longer based on releasing someone else’s anguish, it becomes about noticing someone else’s anguish enough for them to feel safe enough to release it for themselves. This is the core of what Sawyer calls “observing without absorbing” (p.172)

There is so much more to Intuitive Listening, than the quiet voice within. As there is with each of the above listening levels. Step into this practice deliberately. Intuitive Listening alerts professional listeners to the use of a variety of grassroot expansions, clarifying the message, incorporating each level of listening simultaneously.

We are already listening. There is a saying, “we wear many hats” meaning each hat represents a part of your life that carries responsibility. From focusing on ourselves, to our Self-care, to enhancing our education advancement, to our family’s concern at home, school, and or their employment. We are already listening. Intuitive listening occurs when a parent is listening to their child Listening from the young-to-old child’s perspective, rather than their own. Listening from the history of patterns. Hearing new terms from different generations, hearing new vernacular at new employment. There is so much information occurring around us. It can be overwhelming, again causing us to retreat to the default of old practices.

Today's society is being called upon to listen intuitively. We can be proactive in our approach to move out from the punitive bemoaning of blame simply because “because they are not like me.” We are called to step out of our smaller selves and open to a more extensive and powerful mode of listening to those around us and outside of our own paradigm. The results of our mocking and belittling each other has only led to a tension that is felt nationwide. Every single one of us has a role to play in how we listen to each other. Cultures enhance understanding, and each new perspective stretches us into new awarenesses.

Moving into Forensic Listening:  Janine Madera

Janine Madera, a master at listening on each of the four levels, put her name in the running for Judge, 01/01/2026. She sent this message to her supporters.

For more than 26 years, my commitment to public service has been central to my professional life. That commitment has extended beyond the courtroom through years of volunteer work with nonprofit organizations, children and schools in our community – work that continues today. With that foundation, it is with both pride in the work I have done and excitement for the work I hope to continue that I announce my candidacy for Judge of the Superior Court of Orange County.

An independent and fair judiciary has never been more essential to public trust in our justice system. It requires judges who listen carefully and impartially to all sides, apply the law faithfully, and base their decisions on a thoughtful and principled assessment of the facts — while remaining grounded in an understanding of the real-world consequences those decisions have on individuals, families, businesses and the community. The breadth of my professional experience, combined with the personal challenges I have overcome, has given me a deeply informed and valuable perspective. Living and working with deafness has made me resilient and an especially keen listener. It has sharpened my preparation, focus, and attentiveness — qualities that guide how I engage with colleagues, litigants, and the community, and that I would bring with intention to the bench so that every person feels heard.

This decision is not only professional, but deeply personal. This month marks nineteen years since I lost my father, who was immensely proud of my career and excited for where it would lead, but sadly succumbed to cancer just before my first felony trial. While he did not witness the work that followed, I know there is no one who would encourage me more to seek this role. With the recent passing of my mother — a public school teacher who devoted decades to serving students from lower-resource communities — I am reminded how deeply public service matters. Their lives reinforced for me not only that service to our community is an honor and a responsibility, but also that time is precious and I should act accordingly.

After graduating with honors from UC Berkeley Law, I spent nearly five years handling complex civil matters at Latham & Watkins LLP. While there, I started and managed the firm’s pro bono clinic at a local domestic violence crisis center, providing free legal assistance to families fleeing violence. That experience reinforced early on that meaningful legal work includes not only excellence in advocacy, but a responsibility to serve those most in need.

For over two decades, I have served the people of Orange County as a prosecutor, handling some of the most serious and complex cases in our system, including homicides, violent gang crimes, and other high-stakes matters. Over the course of my career, I have conducted 85 trials, including 24 murder trials. Equally important, I have mentored and supervised many of my colleagues, helping to ensure that they uphold the highest legal and ethical standards in the pursuit of justice.

I look forward to sharing more about my background, values, and vision as my campaign unfolds. I would be honored to earn your trust and humbled to earn your vote as I seek the opportunity to serve as a judge—bringing experience, fairness, empathy, and a deep commitment to justice.

Thank you for your time and consideration. If you would like to learn more about my candidacy, I welcome the opportunity to connect at Madera4Judge@gmail.com

Janine officially entered the race.

I responded: Janine is one of the most effective and successful deputy district attorneys in the Orange County Superior Court.  Janine is an amazing professional and the State of California needs her wisdom and insight to attend to more than the spoken word. Not only is she a remarkable listening capacity to everything in front of her, she intuitively knows the law and practices it faithfully.. Her track record validates her  expertise, and the families she has represented have shared accolades to the triumph of their trials, to Janine. I know. I was there.

How do we listen as a society?  How do we listen individually? Are we listening from our own biases or from open perspectives? During a trial’s voir dire, the choosing of the jury, individuals are asked to take note of their own biases, but then to set them aside to give each attorney a fair chance to give their case. Jurors are asked to listen from a fresh perspective of listening and analysis of both sides in a fair and equal manner. Opinions are dangerous, especially in a trial. Learning to listen to only the facts can be a challenge.

We are in a community. In America individualism has been the societal focus, however we can step away from blaming and critical acquisitions and listen from the comaraderie point of view.

Human Connection and Mortality

“No man is an island… each man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”  
                                                                                 John Donne

There is another type of intuitive listening, the touching of one’s soul. Metaphysically bells symbolize awakening consciousness, divine connection, and purification, with their sound acting as a spiritual alarm to shift focus. Bells, for me bells both large and small carry a unique powerful message, each time I listen to a bell, I check in with the purpose. Even if the chimes and bells are in celebration, I take a moment to notice the purpose behind.  The sound of a bell is a powerful sound with vibration that signifies a shift in consciousness. Ringing from the mundane to the sacred, the bell rings in communicating a specific message. Can we listen to bells differently?

My own unique experiences with bells started at a young age. I lived in Germany, and as a family we were often traveling in the back country. At that time, many years ago, the rural farmers' wagons had bells on them. Bells were on the oxen, bells were on the buggies, bells on the doors as early door bells. We learned to listen to the different types of bells, each carrying their own message. Another unique way I learned to use bells was with my first born Naomi Ruth. Before she learned to walk and run, she loved to crawl or roll and was never in the spot I left her. One morning took me over thirty minutes to find her as she was always content, right where she was. I eventually found her under the piano. To make sure that didn’t happen, I tied bells to her small shoes. Another day, a friend came over, and could not figure out what the small bells were. I walked over and picked up Naomi Ruth, and showed her my simple invention to know where Naomi always was. Bells have always been significant, and I have those shoes to this day and the small bells are still attached to her adorable white baby shoes. I am a sentimentalist.

Listening becomes profoundly different in the world of disabilities. The research into accommodations is a benefit overlooked, simply because we are not listening differently. When everyday life changes with a stroke or accident, or the loss of a voice or the loss of being able to walk, the resources and technologies in accommodations become noteworthy. Even more significantly, a simple bell became a call for assistance when my father lost his voice. My father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and anyone who has experienced any type of neurodegenerative disorder knows how this loss of function changes everything for the individual and the family around them. From eating with new accommodating silverware, to the research and tech involved with mobility and access, for many years we depended on the research for daily living accommodations. For my family, a simple bell became a God-send. When my father needed help in any manner, we would first let him do whatever he was capable of, and then when he came to needing assistance, he would ring a bell. We had bells all over the house, he did not have to carry a bell around his neck. We even turned “the bells” into fun as we shopped for unique, comedic, artistic bells wherever we were. The bells became symbolic on a whole new level, at his memorial, everyone was given a small bronze bell, and the pastor read the passage, For Whom the Bell Tolls. And closing the memorial, we all rang our individual bells, passed out as they walked in. There was not a dry eye in the house. After his passing I have three of his bells throughout my home, in case of emergencies. Each of his grandkids were given one of his favorite bells, for over the limited time that we had him with us, we acquired a unique variety of bells, all with loving memories. My Dad taught me to listen differently. I listened to him differently as we talked about the last days, he taught me to listen and say nothing - just listen. He taught me to listen reassuringly so he knew I understood. He taught me to listen with my eyes, and he taught me how to listen for the bells.

One very significant and palpitating response with bells ringing that pounds on the heart of every listener, is the ringing of the “cancer free bell” ringing the cancer survivor bell is a powerful, symbolic ritual marking the end of chemotherapy or radiation, signifying victory over treatment, and celebrating a new chapter of hope and survivorship, often with family, friends, and hospital staff present as the patient rings a brass bell three times to declare, "My treatment's done.". This tradition, inspired by the Navy, provides emotional closure and a sense of accomplishment for patients, fostering strength and a new beginning.  That moment, that joy, that end of the road teamwork. The sound of victory, the sound of celebration.  My neighbor, Sharon Wheatherspoon rang that bell.^[9] I didn’t know I had cancer - I went to a regular check up and the doctor found this horror in my body.  So the journey began, I started going to the doctor for chemo and radiation treatments. I had to stop working while I was under the doctor's care.  I allowed the doctor to work through me. I didn’t know what to expect - I was just following their orders.  And then after the treatments, the honor was ringing the bell. She describes her experience of ‘ringing the bell’ as “learned resilience, an overjoyed excitement and relief. Overwhelmed because I had accomplished what the doctors told me I had to do.  A joy to celebrate one with the LORD, and then with the nurses and with my family.  I felt only gratitude that I went through the process and it was a joy to know  I had ACCOMPLISHED this journey. It was not that the cancer was gone -  with grace and style and now the ringing of the bell was to give me honor for my determination and hard work. Even the nurses were there supporting me. The team that was with me while I rang that bell were my soul family -  they never grew discouraged. With each new discovery of cancer elsewhere, they kept reminding me I could do this - and we were a team fighting this illness. I listened to them like I had never listened to anyone before.

If we could “listen differently” what would it look like? Stepping into reflection is a powerful way to build your intuition. Learning how to notice the difference between ego and humbleness

As mentioned earlier, Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield offer an amazing mindfulness practice on recognizing the difference between listening intuitively to our ego and/or self wisdom. Their programs assist in opening up to mental clarity and allows the listener to acknowledge their own thoughts, versus programmed/practised listening. Sounds crazy, but as humans we tend to listen to fear or the negative voice a lot more often than rational perspectives. Tara and Jack have several online lessons that assist in embodying the ‘laughter of the wise.’ Their training on setting an aspiration and intention for the long-term ‘practise’ - yep practise for nothing happens simply because we want to sustain mental happiness, we have to practise and notice when we fall into old thought processes and knee-jerk reactions. There is something we can actively change in our auditory listening - we can move into visual listening.

RED FLAG: Intuition is wonderful, until we become the “counselor who knows it all”, or we become absorbed with what we know versus what is being shared before us. Then we have lost the ability to hear beyond our own ego, much less listen. Additionally, listening from this intuitive level is only a part of the total equation. We are not to exclude any of the explicit, implicit, inferential or cultural insights from outside of ourselves. When we depend too much on our personal internal representations and don’t check in with the external realities and understanding of the individuals around us, we become unaware and our advice becomes self serving, and irrelevant.                        

 It’s time to step into Forensic Listening.

APPENDIX D (WORKSHEET FOR INTUITIVE)

In closing : YOU GOT THIS - The Basics

The World of Listening: What we already knew

We have all heard many discuss the agreements about listening, such as we can’t be listening if we are thinking of what to say next. Actually we should have no idea about what we are going to say until after we have heard everything. Pausing our thoughts and honestly listening, assists US in knowing what the individual in front of us has to say. There is so much more to it than simply pausing. Reflect on what was said and only then consider what to say. Why are we in such a hurry to develop and decide what we are going to say as we are listening? Don’t skip over how busy we are. Do we allow our ‘to-do list’ stop us from attentively listening? What are our justifications? Let’s check on some agreements around listening.

Let’s start with basic and immediate tools to enhance your listening:

#1 PAUSE

Incorporating a four second breathe in, pause, release breathe allows for the ease of listening, really listening. The amazing thing about the delayed response is that those listening to you think your pausing is wiser than any quick retort. Do we ALLOW ourselves that moment to breathe?

Listening attentively, when the topic is important, requires both the sharer and the listener to be interactive and focused on each other. Understanding the timing of communication is also opening up to the intuitive level of listening.

#2 EYE CONTACT - Catch my Attention

Personally as I have grown older, I appreciate the eye contact customer service gives. I notice when the grocery store cashier looks at me. I notice when they don’t. I tend to understand way more when the cashier is looking at me. Looking at me catches my attention and I am honed to listen.

Working with the Deaf community has given me such a huge appreciation for this prolonged eye contact. I am spoiled with the direct attention during conversations when my other ‘non-Deaf’ family try to carry on conversation while in the process of doing something else; I have to stop and explain, “If I wasn’t looking at you, I didn’t hear you.” I have had to say many times, with family dinners often and the busy bustle of preparation and constant activity that don't tell me any important information while I am hosting and preparing a dinner, or setting the table. When we are busy, we are focused on that duty before us. Our listening will be limited to the explicit focus only on the words as the preoccupation with the activity before us does not allow for comprehension or remembering.

Visual listening can be challenging. In ASL, for example, catching the attention of whomever you want to speak with can be as easy as leaning in or saying their name. Learn to appreciate the individual before you, are they visual? Are they auditory? Are they kinesthetic? This astuteness will give you a clue about their practice of paying attention. The point about learning something new is having the audience’s attention after all, isn’t it? That awareness of listening moves into a more inferential and intuitive type of listening. Catching someone’s attention can be also challenging. Distance can be an enemy of eye contact. I remember, in the early 90’s, my Deaf cousin Billy Downing, came to visit me when the Deaf Olympics were in Los Angeles. As I was one of the staff interpreters, he was able to attend many of the events as a media reporter. Needless to say, there was a huge crowd. After a long day of events and managing the environment, we all merged upon the same Westwood, Ca. restaurant. It was almost too much. Just as Billy told me he was going outside to get air, our group’s name was called. Our group started to move forward into the sitting area and I had to make a quick decision. Do I run after Billy, being Deaf, he could not hear me call after him, and he was not facing me as he was heading out. The group continued to move the opposite direction and as I was working with a new crew that I had just met, I couldn’t remember their names to call out. I felt split in half. Understand, I am a rather small individual at 4’ 11’, not having the stature to be seen. So up went my arms as there were Deaf olympians and staff around me. H-E-L-P I signed and pointed to my cousin. Someone saw me. HELP, I fingered spelled twice and a Deaf gentleman caught my eye, and let me know he had seen me. He pointed at Billy and I signed YES. At the same time, I kept looking back toward our party. They had moved forward, one looked back and saw my H-E-L-P. He started laughing and signed to another of the group to hold for me. I LOVE ASL. Not one word screamed above the noise of the restaurant, and yet the waves of visual ‘listening’ helped me to catch my cousin and catch up with our team being shown to our table. To my left the team was waiting for me, to my right, the community was helping me turn Billy around. It was a great moment of community working together.         

Listening happens on many levels. It does not have to be audible. Misunderstandings can be the enemy of communication, unless there is a strategy to have the message understood.And if distance is one of the factors, and you are several feet from each other, eye contact becomes even more critical.

Facial expressions are critical. And it is amazing how many people don’t recognize facial expressions or that they are themselves communicating via facial expressions. Amanda often asked me why didn’t hearing people feel themselves roll their eyes?? Both of us often discussed why the “hearing world” did not notice, take the time to notice, or understand what the expression before them meant.” And then again, when we are working with professional interpreters that use their gift in expression, we instantly see an improvement in the quality of the message.

Not only in the spoken language profession. Look at the acting profession. Look at the genius actor, Meryl Streep. Her non-verbal expressions, movement of the shoulder, change in head position, and even change in intonation is the masterpiece of expression with her eye gaze. Many very talented professionals have the expression Meryl brings to her work. She allows us to listen emotionally. She invites us to listen to the heart of the character she is representing.

Actors are required to listen differently. They listen to the intent, the environment of the era they are working with. Vladimir and Tatiana had been together weekly, for quite a few years. They changed my ASL listening profoundly. Both were professional Deaf Russian Shakespearian actors, and had a long career of acting in Russia, prior to coming to America. Although proficient in three languages, they can survive without mastering the English language, as they live in a Russian community. They believe that their stage work, and the bright lights night after night has caused them to develop Muscular Degeneration, they have lost a major portion of their sight, which is why I read their mail for them weekly. Thus any time I am reading their mail, or interpreting sensitive situations, English phrases come up and they tilt their head, causing me to pause, and reflect on what I just said, and then changing my listening to be more Deaf aware and linguistically matching the need at hand.

I try to listen differently today, with new eyes, as I have four black children under my maternal wings. I am determined to listen differently, not as in blame but as in understanding the vast experiences.

LISTENING, many of us complain because whoever is in front of us is not listening. Now we have the tools to understand how they are not listening as well as tools to start listening with intent. Let’s start with the easy challenge, with those that are already listening.  Discuss the four different levels - know each of the levels have a variety of branches and degrees, strengths and weaknesses (red flags).  

For example within the intuitive level there is the compassionate listening, definitely listening beyond the explicit word. When we step outside ourselves. When we listen to something different without expectations, and just experience. That is when we evolve into a greater listener. When we are able to take the word, push it back and notice the history and correlation, and take in the greater message - then we are listening. When we can be with someone without offering opinions or advice, even if just for the moment, we can become effective listeners.

FORENSIC LISTENING

The four initial levels of listening

 
 

The impact of Explicit on the three levels of the message: DEFAULT, the word. 

When we start to apply the message (implicit) and pull on the references we have learned from the past, and include our own intuitive insights - then listening can occur.

As interpreters, we can only appreciate the second language as we take time
to study and reflect on the language before us. When we don’t stop to acknowledge the message, we can’t infer or intuit. We are in default.

Additionally, when we don’t step back objectively, we can’t move past our own imposed limitations.

However when we do PAUSE, and reflect and apply each level - master Forensic Listening occurs. There is so much more behind the words, around the words, history before the words for anything to ever mean the explicit vernacular uttered. We are responsible to honor and appreciate simply how much there is to do with listening.

This orientation to listening is a reminder for specifically listening to the individual before you. These tools are common practice in any situation, and have been shared. The above graphs depict a check-list if you will, to how you, yourself can measure your own skill in listening. Then following here in Appendix A, I speak directly to professionals who use the skill of listening in their profession.

Appendix E : PROFESSIONALLY INTERPRETING

QUESTION. Is there anything more biased than
the hearing community making decisions for the Deaf world?
Especially when they know nothing of sign language or Deaf culture.

****************************************************************************** WORKING IN THE PROFESSION OF LISTENING

******************************************************************************

I believe Forensic Listening starts with awareness in noticing everything around you, in addition to noticing everything about the individual before you. Have you ever experienced a customer service agent that only wanted to offer solutions (by reading the book before them), but never pausing simply to listen to the problem? Oftentimes, while I was interpreting for a Deaf client, during a tech-assistance call, the agent on the phone gave their advice to a situation that was not even being discussed. One such call, I actually had to step out of my role, and ask the customer service agent if she was in fact listening to anything mentioned - because everything she was saying had nothing to do with why the call was made. Are we so busy, or tuned out? I told (interpreted) the client, the customer service was off point, not the caller. The Deaf client asked what was interpreted - due to the strange answer. And signing slowly I again interpreted what the customer was requesting, and the customer service agent, following her script, not listening, continued to ‘change the subject of the conversation.’ My Deaf customer asked for the agent to stop one moment. She did, and then the Deaf customer asked, “please tell me what I just told you. What in fact is my problem?” We both waited. The agent could not, she simply was following her company’s script that made no sense in the situation. When the Deaf client realized what was occurring, she asked, why are you not able to just let go of the paper in front of you, and listen. There was a long pause. She apologized and took a deep breath. “I will listen,” she sighed. And we started from the beginning. At the conclusion of the call, the caller and the service agent were smiling. The pause to listen actually opened the door to resolving the reason for the call initially. The Deaf client totally amazed me at how effectively she taught the other individual on the phone to stop thinking and listen. It was a great experience.

When we include the process of understanding, we too have more to offer to a variety of frustrations and experiences. A whole new world of discerning is before you. But wait, it requires something. It requires you to stop. Stop thinking, and just listen - with nothing else going on inside your head.

Interpreters of any language are amazing. We are asked to step out of one culture, and into another, and back into the original culture - all within seconds. We are asked to make decisions in a flash, not to over-power the situation as we are not the focus. This amazing task of interpreting, true to the message, can be an arduous task. Fluency requires being actively involved with the community that we serve.  For me, that is the Deaf community. How can we say we are masters, yet we don’t offer pro bono services like read mail, or assist where needed. The opportunities are vast. Any interpreter that “arrives in skill” and stops interacting with the Deaf will become stale in their professional work. That practice of giving back to the community is equally the same with any language that the interpreter has chosen. Volunteering, providing pro bono services, joining in community activities of your chosen language is vital as deliberate listening is “stepping into the heart” of the language.

We are to interpret the communication, as the message is always at the heart of the interaction. I often call the message the “third client.” Truthfully, I feel the message is the authentic client, with the additional clients, striving to understand the desired communication before them. Unfortunately, as novice interpreters, we tend to only listen in explicit. We are often still lost in the word for word translation. Simply, interpreting simultaneously at a doctor’s appointment, proves that very point. Many novice interpreters don’t have the confidence to pause for clarification, they just paste the English on their hands. What the interpreter is neglecting to tell the doctor, or interview, or ‘hearing person’ is that they really don’t know ASL, and the message is skewed. And the doctor, interviewer, or ‘hearing person’ is not getting a true representation of the Deaf individual before them.

Vladimir Sokolov, my Russian family is a Deaf Stage Manager and actor, now retired in his late 80’s, has often told me stories about his interpreting experiences. He would watch the interpreter, and then ask the doctor a question. If the question was off the point, and totally missed what he asked - he knew the appointment was a wash, the interpreter had no idea what he shared about symptoms, and he holds no confidence in what she interpreted as to what the doctor said.” Why is it that we are unaware of who we are sending to assignments? Why is it acceptable to send out a novice interpreter that knows nothing of medicine? Would you want that type of medical appointment, I would NOT. And you might ask, “why don’t they speak up”? The ‘they’ that experience this type of disregard for communication, they do speak up. Vladimir has again and again - for years. Sometimes he is listened to - most often he is not listened to.

This process of Forensic Listening is far more than visualizing, it is also far more than direct v. implied listening.

Forensic Listening is a tool for ‘checking in’ with our own analysis. Checking in to see if we are listening to the message, or defaulting to the word. As I mentioned earlier, as we learn a new language, we are in explicit learning - and we need explicit listening to move out of one language and into another. Have you heard this maxim? “You have learned in school, now come learn the real language in the community?” That is the same with any new skill. In the classroom, the environment is sterile - go into the community and there is a wide variety of implicit learning beyond the inferential learning, information only gained through experience.

Before working internally with Janine Madera in the DA’s office,  I had been in the legal interpreting field for twenty-five years. Beyond my extensive court work, I was also a certified master mentor. I mentored professional interpreters that wanted to kick their skills to a higher level. My focus is “MetaCognitive Analysis” where we study ASL techniques, as ASL is NOT English. Whether interpreting in court for a variety of situations, or interpreting phone calls - each situation carries equal significance. Training interpreters in Forensic Listening has assisted professionals in how they are listening in each environment from a medical assignment, compared to military/government work. In addition to interpreters, I have spent time with pastors to enhance their intuitive listening. AND with the development of Think Tank Tuesdays’ | Honoring the Deaf Professional, I have enjoyed personally learning to enhance even my own ‘compassionate listening’ skills.

Today there is a calling to be more acutely aware of the various races and cultures around us. There is a term, explicit paradigms, which basically means the life-story we choose to believe, regardless of the complete message available. Are we fearful? Or have we just not considered there is more to every message before us. Can we allow others' messages to be shared without feeling threatened? Additionally, reflection is a huge part of this listening process. In reflection, remember there is no judgment, no criticism, and no conditional (if then). Nothing punitive. That being said, it is critically important to know what we don’t know. Not so that we can judge ourselves, rather to know there is a game plan of action to listen differently. This is where we are starting. Simply learning a new awareness of levels or the lack thereof in communication.

Each of these Forensic Levels of listening assist in my professional work and conference presentations. May I introduce you to my world. I have earned my living by listening for over forty-five years. As a professional ASL interpreter I presently work in court with an amazing team. Two of the most amazing women. My team interpreter, Astrid and Janine Madera. Janine is highly recognized as a proficient prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney’s office and was spotlighted in the Orange County Register, well worth reading. She is a Deaf Prosecutor, in the Orange County Superior Courts. When I joined the team, Janine, at that time, was working in the Gang unit. This experience caused me a moment of angst. And then I realized I was trying to fit the new communication into my training, instead of relaxing and taking in the new environment and its special vernacular.

 This new experience started honing my listening skills at a whole new level. I was forced to a new level listening, as almost every word the attorneys, the defendants and their family said, carried a special meaning. Explicit listening (listening to the word spoken) would have led me down the wrong path. I found myself “turned around” and felt my ears were “squinting” to hear and catch each of the meanings. The fresh awareness that there was conversation happening all around me I was not able to ‘hear’ became a new education.

While teaching this workshop in Alabama, a pastor who attended my workshop, asked if I would teach Forensic Listening to Pastors. Absolutely. These four levels of Forensic Listening are good for all professions, especially those in any profession that must listen as a part of their work. This includes administrative staff; there is always a need for the administration to listen differently. “Putting out Fires” requires active listening versus panicked knee-jerk reactions. The pastors mentioned they often pushed aside their intuitive listening to stay in the business of the church. What I taught them was how to step into all four of the listening levels - one is never sufficient in and of itself.

As interpreters, we can become complacent in our understanding of how LISTENING works, because we listen as a profession everyday. The problem is we fall into default listening, and our work becomes ineffective. With practice and reflection, we are able to incorporate these four forensic levels of listening. Our job is to “notice” “step-back,” “remember” & “trust.” Forensic Listening develops the interpreter’s awareness and confidence to step into the message rather than stepping into the explicit word for word ‘signing’ that novice interpreters tend to default to. Remember the term fossilization?

One of the agencies I work with often sends messages to their interpreters to help in any interpreting situation. I LOVE these visual short-segments as they often hit upon everything but explicit. I love this last one, they brought in the implicit body leans. Remember in the Deaf community, every movement means something - EVERY movement. For example the Deaf Mentors shared: “BODY LEAN” Lean toward the Deaf customer when the technical issue is on their end, such as an issue with the quality of the connection. Lean back when the issue is on the phone side. Using space can help communicate where the problem is. That example could not be more implicit - I was so excited this agency was sharing this wisdom.

There are infinite possibilities in Forensic Listening. I have learned to be patient while I continue to study, research and practice these four levels of listening, even after writing this Forensic Listening. In the interpreting world, as a professional mentor, I started this listening research intensely. There is indeed more to communication than “hearing the word.” And yet, continuing to reflect, “how do I articulate my own awareness in defining these four levels of conscious listening? I knew the four levels existed yet articulating my awareness was still a mystery for me. So our group discussion began - and this amazing journey into Forensic Listening began. Interestingly, the more I interview, the more I watch others attend to listening, the more I realize there is so much more depth to listening.

As ASL interpreters, our entire occupation depends on how we continue to listen. Forensic Listening is a process of noticing and accessing the message. Language evolves. Today we are hearing far more social-justice terminology in the message before us. Each culture has its own way of communicating, including ASL. If we are listening with an “English ear,” we fail to listen. When forensic listening is practiced with Deaf clients, this evaluative process gives us the insight for which linguistic tools and which ASL interpreting techniques to use beyond the spoken word, allowing for the full message to be shared.

We are so blessed to have the internet and the saving of amazing Deaf ASL stories.  Ms Cassie Simmons offers a library where you can watch and learn amazing facial expressions, watching the grassroot ASL shine in each of her stories. In a story like Cassie’s – voicing terminology that is applicable to the background, and the multiple layers of information is critical. Interpreters learn to draw from their own schema or their own ‘fund of information’– again leaving the default of explicit and move into Inferential Listening. Inferential listening pulls from experiences and education. All the exposure coming to us from the ‘outside’.

One of many linguistic tools ASL incorporates is the use of ‘expansions.’ Occasionally, there is a lack of self-permission, to step out of the English structure, and step totally into ASL structure. The use of ‘expansions’ incorporates implicit, inferior, and intuitive listening skills. An interpreter does not lean on one type of forensic listing at a time. Yes, it is true, with implicit listening, a professional interpreter has to “step out of everyday conversation, and step into professional listening, allowing the assignment’s message to be present in our interpretation. Where do the ‘eyes’ place the subject? ...the object? Implicit listening is where the individual interpreter asks, “What’s the point?” At the same time, the more proficient listener draws on their own inferential experiences to reflect the more subtle points, and having learned about any situation allows the intuition to be confident in the work at hand.

Forensic listening is not to listen one level at a time, but to proactively incorporate all four levels of listening simultaneously, with inquiry focusing on conscious listening.

Forensic Listening requires you, as a native speaker of one language, to think and listen differently to a completely different language. If you immerse yourself in only one environment everyday, how are you to understand “outside the box”? It would be impossible. Do we understand what it is like to walk in the shoes of the community we are serving, if we are not already walking in that community?

Knowing that interacting in the community is the only way to be fluent, interpreters need to take time to reach out and volunteer. Get to know the Deaf Community, or Spanish Deaf, or Asian Deaf, or our Black Deaf, each and every one is unique. Inferential listening is a powerful tool when it is combined with more than simple book learning. Education is imperative; personal experience is even more imperative. Both experiences enrich our inferential listening.

Three articles that I believe are imperative to any interpreter’s work:

1. Getting to the Core of Role: Defining Interpreter's Role Space 
   The Ally. This research discusses how an interpreter affects the assignment by simply showing up? The three areas of focus are: Interaction Management (complexity of message), Alignment (cultural mediation), and Presentation of Self (community norms). Discovering how our decisions factor into the ethical success of the interpreted interaction, is critical in professional work.
   
2. Shelly Lawrence: Expansion Techniques in ASL
   ASL Techniques. This article discusses American Sign Language (ASL), recognized as an authentic language, and the practices that Deaf users of ASL typically employ while they are communicating. This article shares seven specific techniques that the Deaf ASL individual uses to enhance their message. Thus the knowledgeable interpreter mentally steps away from explicit interpreting (forensic listening) and moves into the remaining three levels of listening for a more comprehensive message.
   
3. Dc-s: The Demand Control Schema
   Understanding our controls. Robin Dean and her colleague's research has changed our field from a sterile non-rapport distaste, to considering how our presence and attitude affect the message and the Deaf Consumer. From recognizing the demands that are made upon us (environmental, interpersonal, paralinguistic, interpersonal), each of these demands, and the ability to see how they fall into the four categories, give us a breath between our work and our own judgments. Understanding the demands, allows us to check in with our power/ rather controls.

I believe in our work. I believe in forensic listening as much as I honor and practice my daily work using the above articles’ theory of analysis. I believe in recognizing where we are listening. I believe in the Role-Space theory, we impact any situation, even while in the process of providing the message. I believe our decisions are critically important and need reflective analysis. Our goal is complete autonomy for the client. They understand their responsibilities and decision consequences.

Recently, when I was in a DC-S breakout group, we offered a control, using the dc-s method, and the interpreter said, I didn’t think I had permission to step outside the explicit (forensic listening).

YES. We do have permission to get the message across, even if it is to the hearing client, that ASL is not English and culturally, this concept might take a moment to sink in. Why are we afraid to step outside the box, especially if we hear something and notice the other individual in the room is not on the same page. Why are we so transfixed in the formula, “It must imitate this way”? Why not just check-in? Because there are so many ramifications. And that is what we forget? There are indeed other perspectives in the room, why are we able to share our insights? Such as the message is not being understood by the hearing individual in the room. Again we have short-changed the Deaf client/professional.

I also know there are different philosophies that restrict the interaction of the interpreter with the client. Previously having noticed the disconnect, I inquired into why the message wasn’t addressed. Some interpreters declared that they can interpret only in the explicit word; it is up to the client to figure out the message. It was not their responsibility to provide the message. What then is interpreting?? This attitude of disregard for the responsibility of the message is the most atrocious act for me. For those not familiar with interpreting, what it means to interpret is to give the message, not to stay in the explicit word of the source language. Professional interpreters move intuitively into the target language, allowing both parties to understand each other and what they want to communicate. Explicit interpreting is to visually “throw words” before the client, making it the client’s responsibility to catch the message. My family has been personally stung by this philosophy. This was one of the main reasons I started researching listening and came up with the four levels of Forensic Listening. It is imperative that interpreters understand their role and responsibility of interpreting as they enter the lives of numerous Deaf families.

Specifically for interpreters, I believe this Forensic Listening work has something to offer listeners of all languages, so I include this additional section because there are red flags striking the alarm that many interpreting situations where people are not being understood - and even as interpreters we really can improve our listening.

• Explicit listening is the hearing of the word only. Explicit listening is the least accurate and least caring level. Yet it is the natural default of listening, especially in a busy society. The English language is one of the hardest languages to learn, as each word can have several meanings. In this explicit mode the listener ignores the meaning and just repeats the word. This repetition of the word is sterile and without checking in, misunderstandings can occur. This can be compared to everyday conversation where we often talk AT each other instead of TO each other. When that type of listening is occurring we call it explicit, which is crazy because explicit means default, not necessarily ‘clear’. Often this term “explicit” means the graphic message or article or song that can't be missed. This leaves no room for determining the message.
  
  RED FLAG: Most interpreters that come from a single language upbringing, are tied to ideas and concepts within their paradigms. They don’t have the skills to look outside of themselves. When we are fortunate to have multiple languages in our youngest years, messages and meanings in various languages enrich our awareness. Those that don’t have this exposure from a young age tend to interpret from this explicit level. The problem is, these interpreters “don’t know that they don’t know.” And the message is lost.
  
  The novice interpreter’s tendency to stay in explicit interpretation does not provide an effective message and we can’t enhance our efficacy unless we are naturally aware of how we are listening. That is where Forensic Listening comes in.
  
• Implicit listening is the awareness of the various meanings that can be understood from the words shared, the intent, context, and “hearing the message” beyond the simple words.

RED FLAG: Here the interpreter needs to remain neutral. Often, when we are advocating for our client, we can stray from the message. Having a heart for the client here can actually deter the message the client holds.

• Inferential listening means to simply notice that which you know through all of your experiences. This educated, experiential learning is not only from classroom lessons or book learning. Life, itself, can be the greatest teacher. Don’t dismiss what you have learned from books, mistakes, and memories. Inferential information is extremely important to the confidence (I know that I know) Inferential Listening is the experience of the language outside of the classroom. I am amazed at how many interpreters do not interact with the Deaf Community. How can we be fluent if we are not immersed in the community of choice?
  
  RED FLAG: Fossilization (Gallaudet, 2018) occurs when a student stops the experienced interpreter and says “our teacher taught us…” When we can’t apply the new techniques to past learning, our awareness becomes fossilized..
  
• Intuitive is learning to listen to your quiet voice, your own internal voice. Each of us talk to ourselves and are aware of the environment, as well as thoughts within. Additionally, there is a lot happening around us that is more energy-based than visible. Intuitive science is the art of seeing what we can not see, and trusting that we know.

RED FLAG: If we have a mental-hit there is “more meaning than the word here” SHARE the information. Too often we keep our thoughts to ourselves. The Deaf “see” your facial expression more than you do. They can often read your face and body expressions without knowing what you know - SHARE.

 As interpreters, while cognitively switching from one source language to another target language, to interpret that second language requires accountability to the message being understood. For ASL interpreters, honoring the two cultural processes of both the hearing and the Deaf client before you is mandatory. There must be an ultra awareness of how both clients are understanding the message being discussed. This entire process requires way more than hearing the explicit word and signing the simple matching English word. The default comes when we ‘hear’ the word and sign the word. Though we have been educated and trained and immersed during the education process of another language, many still default to their word instead of the message.

Early on, when I began discussing this work, and started to interview interpreters, asking them to clarify their listening skills, I discovered many of us can’t articulate a process analysis. I am right there with you. As the author of this work, you would think I could elaborate eloquently - leaving you with new insights. Not so much. And I have learned to laugh through the process. Humor is the main tool I use to keep us in the process. So we started creating questions (inquiry) in our process of listening to separate the message into bitable fragments of information to digest and interpret.

For me, one more observation was made. If I could scream one meta message, it would be, “Do not be afraid of making mistakes.” Remember, during our ‘time-out’ moments of learning, we are not sitting in the professional hot seat rather, we are in deliberate practice – the learning mode. The anticipation and the desire to learn something new plays a part in retention. Listening as well to the internal intuitive voice, the fourth of the listening levels helps to ground confidence in the information and the ability to rephrase or share the information.

We must step into inner reflection and mentally check in with how we are listening. With the combination of our eyes, our minds, our five senses and our intuition - this is the deepest level of listening. Careful consideration and understanding in that with the parroting of words – it is an incredible task to convey the message. Being aware of all four of the levels while listening, aids in the success of understanding the full message being shared.

When we understand how our brain receives information, we are more prepared to step out of ourselves and provide the message between our two clients. For that reason, I often talk about the message as our ‘third client.’ As interpreters we must honor and respect the message being discussed and remember the tools to get the message accurately represented.

Forensic Listening is one of the many diagnostic tools to assist in full message development.

One master of listening, and I believe in a Forensic Listening way. Wink, view YouTube’s WINK “Deliberate Practice” and you will be able to observe a master interpreter as well as gain a better idea of the effectiveness of “time-out” to study and improve on skills. Reflection and Review can not be completed in the professionally paid “Hot -Seat” assignment. Taking time to hone our skills in listening is imperative.

This Forensic Listening is itself the pathway to discovering and intuitively giving yourself permission to step into the new use of expansions and a variety of ASL techniques that enrich the meaning of the message. Through inquiry, ASL expansions and other ASL techniques you will begin to look more authentic in your use of the language.

As Forensic Listeners, we give ourselves the permission and opportunity to first pause, reflect, then inquire, and apply the tools each forensic level offers the complete message.

May we listen.  We have the future before us. Will AI take over our listening, and move in a direction retrograde to the wisdom of the philosophers before us. There is a moment when a new revelation occurs in each of us, and that usually happens when we are listening.

May our mantra be, notice everything around you. Be willing to separate out what you hear and step into Forensic Listening.

Acknowledgements: Deaf Eyes..
ASL is not ENGLISH

The Deaf Community, for without you I would have never learned to listen. Amanda Somdal, Jeff & Sheila Lenham, Guy & Barbie Gomez, Mark Apodaca, Roy & Diana Tupua, Irene Robles, Fred, and everyone of the Deaf Professionals that joined us during our Think Tank Tuesdays. You taught me, there is a phenomenal aspect to “Deaf Eyes” - may they be respected and honored. Gina, you joined us at the perfect time..

Amanda Somdal “My Amanda” You could be writing this book. Several of the professionals in this Southern California area also call you, “My Amanda.” You are loved by many. I learned that fact when you were our treasured Deaf Professional visiting Think Tank Tuesdays. You are the friend, the teacher, the mentor, the counselor simply because of how you listen. I have had the joy of watching you for over thirty years, and have learned from you. The wisdom you shared with me was never dismissive or snobbish, never having to prove yourself better than me. You let me swing from ignorance, to over sensitively absorbing the content of the message, and then swinging back into assimilating the balance of the moment. You often reeled me in, lol. You accepted where I was in the process of learning and listening, and held on to who I was becoming - whew. That is a friend. You are a breath of fresh air. You taught me from the heart, and brought me into a beautiful community; the professional community of behavioral health and Deaf services. You spot contradictions and work with them. You taught me how to understand Deaf Eyes and how to learn from the Deaf Eyes perspective.

Billy Downing. My darling cousin.Thank you for being my Deaf family experience. In Germany, both Army BRATS, we “played Army” crawling in the dirt and enjoying our time together. You were the younger cousin that kept growing taller than me... I have learned so much from you. As a young adult, You were recognized as a very gifted bowler, and earned the Honor of being in the Deaf Hall of Fame. When asked to go professional, you said “no.” I was astounded you would deny this honored opportunity, until you signed, “where communication - where ASL??” I understood. The community you loved was where you were going to reside. I learned so much from you from our youth, even to our later years in life, when both our fathers passed on. At my Dad’s viewing, you taught me grace and loving kindness during a tough and busy time. I watched you sharing with the family like there were no barriers. I watched you be patient with me as I was torn between being with you and the event responsibilities. From across the room, you encouraged me with I-L-Y and your smile. Then a short time later, I saw you at your own father’s viewing, and you approached, checked in with, and spent time with most everyone in the room. You are so gracious and gentle. I watched you as an amazing single father, raising your beautiful daughter. Our home experiences - even working together during the Deaf Olympics here in Los Angeles, endeared me to you. I cherish my growing old with you my dear Billy. The profound gratitude I have for the opportunity the two of us had growing up together is immeasurable. Our Downing Dads, being best friends as well as brothers, taught us about staying tight with family. Their love for each other gave us the chance to grow up together. You taught me to ‘watch’ everything around me, “wise eyes.” “Deaf Eyes”

Vladimir Sokolov and Tatiana Silantieva. (My HEART Family)  The experience of growing up in Germany in my childhood, and working in South Africa, as an adult, taught me the fact that Americans think differently than Europeans, or anywhere else in the world. Then in 1992, the two of you enhanced that reality, and allowed me to fumble forward in learning the absolute truth of that statement. Walking with you on this life journey has opened a heart-ache and disappointment on top of amazed appreciation in how the two of you stepped over the ignorance and biases of Hollywood. We have walked this journey of life facing home, medical, automotive, community and family challenges. On top of only speaking and reading Russian and being fluent in ASL - once again recognizing, ASL is not English, you forced me to step out of the norm of the hearing world, and intimately into the Deaf Community. I discovered how much my Deaf friends, and Deaf community tolerated and dealt with all that I did not know. I look back and shake my head. I think I am still shaking my head (at me - we have to keep laughing, don’t we)..
After years of professional interpreting, you took my talents to a higher level of awareness and skill. In the mid 90’s I started working in the LA court system. What many don't know is that you were my invisible “Deaf family” that your life experiences included me since the beginning days of my legal work in Los Angeles. Vlad and Tatian, when everyone criticized my work, you were the two that validated and honed my ASL when it was at its worst. Once in a while, both of you would go to the court to watch me interpret. More often Tatiana went with me as a DI (Deaf Interpreter) while we worked together in the community, all the while honing my communication. Wherever we went,  she loved watching me and we would discuss clarity of language. Vlad and Tatiana were ALWAYS direct with me as to what I needed to improve, but they never judged me. (The interpreting profession needs to learn that). You have taught me to watch and listen differently. I will always feel there is so much more to learn from you. From this shift in ASL awareness, (even after playing as a young child with my Deaf cousin, Billy)  I am in deep gratitude for being introduced to the Deaf Russian culture, along with the Deaf Armenian and Romanian Deaf community. I appreciate this experience of Forensic Listening practiced in a whole new way. You two specifically have showered me with such love and appreciation and RUSSIAN FOOD.... I hope one day we are able to write YOUR own story. From your aristocratic upbringing, to losing grandfathers to the revolution, to both being very renowned Deaf actors in Russia, to losing your eyesight as a Deaf performer, thus the medical emergency bringing you to America. And, from here, your life blossomed into three different stories. Vladimir, you are a craftsman, and have elevated everyone that has worked with you. And if that wasn’t rich enough, Tatiana's father was a famous Russian composer, world renowned (common word for the two of you.) and her sisters are both renowned artists themselves following in the family’s musical footsteps. Tatiana, you brought Europe back to me, a part of my childhood. Your delicious Russian cuisine graced my palette each time I crossed your threshold. And Vladimir, I will toast you with the finest glass of wine any day you desire. спасибо.

Andrew Cohen, Thank you for opening up the DeafBlind world to me. Thank you for the most amazing website developer and for giving me this space to write. I wanted to share this Forensic Listening and you opened this opportunity. Without you, I would still be thinking about the concept, rather than actually writing the book. How does one share the gratitude and the appreciation that goes beyond profound. We laugh. You wait for me to show up, and you are always wise in your advice. I have a HUGE smile always ready for you. You have opened my eyes to skill and artistry and made me shine as a professional. And as many gifted individuals do, you have blessed MANY of us in just the same way - that’s simply YOU.

My Mentees - YOU taught me.
Adam, Dana, Ezekiel, Desire’, Kim, Tabatha, Gregorio, Nancy, Carol, Renea, Krishna, our program, Honoring the Deaf Professional, would not be here if it were not for each of you. You feed me with such passion for the field. And the MetaCognitive Analysis Groups from 2014 - 2021, you allowed me to stumble over my words and ideas, until they made sense. Here is where Forensic Listening emerged. Gregorio, you have taught  me so much.  A mentor always learns along with the mentee. Thank you to each of you, for trusting me with your heart and soul. To the mentees that have been with me for several years now - such DEEP and profound gratitude that you have grown WITH me and alongside me. To the mentees that have joined us anew, thank you for keeping me young. I have learned so much from you. Each of YOU have taught me to listen from new perspectives, endless in learning opportunities.

Janine Madera^[10] We met in court in 2002. There was a new attorney in town. I showed up to interpret, and we worked hard. You won my dedication that first day. Janine, you were one of TOP attorneys and recognized for your work with the gang unit. You were eventually promoted to homicide, where your aptitude was again impressive. After Astrid became your designated interpreter, and after that initial trial at the West Court, I interpreted with the two of you occasionally, until the world changed. How does one read another's lips, while they are wearing a mask?  While we had worked together occasionally, 2020 brought us together with a whole new set of challenges. She had seven trials between 2020-2021, with more than one trial lasting longer than a month. It was intense - all while wearing specialized masks so Janine could see our lips. What a Pandemic year or two.   Astrid's ‘DA’ family grew as friends as each of us worked together to tackle CRAZY obstacles. Janine, the first Deaf Prosecutor for Orange County, California, Hollywood must take notice. Janine is the most REAL, brilliant, organized, empathetic, caring attorney I have ever met. I can say that after leaving my work with you. As my own professional agency grew, the new attorneys I have worked with have not had the finesse and awareness you carry. Most individuals with her level of intelligence and wisdom carry an air of promptness and non-approachability, not Janine. Her humor, her noticing everything around her, and her wit allow us all to feel and laugh, working together for a common goal.She both allow me to stumble forward and show my strengths. My legal learning curve was huge (community and legal interpreters are extremely different - and now we were in the judges quarters). Janine never complained, rather, she made me feel welcome. When I pondered why/what/how, she was the most gracious educator. When I noticed attitudes simmering to the boiling point, you gave them grace, and calmed many situations. Legal work is tough, a lot more happening behind the scenes than one would realize. Listening is critical and Janine is a master at listening to more than the words at the moment. I have learned from her. I have seen, where there had been a moment to acknowledge her, and it did not happen. She simply moved graciously to the next item in front of her. She can be profound. Her humor cracks me up, and keeps your team smiling. I watch her ‘listening.’ Her insight, both professionally and personally, has touched my soul. She has a profound understanding of individuals and caring for the community at large. She is trustworthy, authentic, and a trial lawyer that never forgets the community she is serving.

Astrid Hagan, often the discreet support in the background. Your quiet smile also gives subtle assurance, and as the ears for Janine I am blessed by your fortitude in the message being clear and precise. I am thankful for this opportunity to work with you and laugh with you. You keep us girls celebrating. You rock.  Thank you for inviting me into your family.

Brenda Terry, my Spiritual sister. As interpreters, we met at Agape, then after we left, we continued working, growing and sharing. You have shared insights with me that are deeply personal, allowing for my enlightenment on the Black community’s struggles, victories and biting experiences. And you continue to RISE. I see and hear how the interpreters in our community and the Deaf partners admire and respect the work you are providing in the profession of ASL mentoring. Your wisdom has guided many Deaf and hearing interpreters to believe in and to listen to themselves authentically, checking in - always comfortable in ‘checking in’.

APPRECIATION TO THE LISTENERS!  Each of you continues to influence beyond your awareness. I watched/listened to your actions more than your words. Isn’t that what we always do? Listen to the action, a lot more than the words. I appreciate your love and total acceptance. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & APPRECIATIONS
Appreciation to the Katten Law Firm, your assistant in the copyright legal process for Forensic Listening taught me the importance of critically listening to the law of publishing. Thank you Scott Cutrow, I totally appreciate your amazing patience and assistance in the process of copyrighting this Forensic Listening manuscript.

• Lee Rene^[11], my mentor, my inspiration. You taught me how to share my listening ideas. A “jazz loving” acclaimed author yourself, you are the reason this book was published. You gave me the confidence to start - not to be perfect - just start. I love our conversations and ideas of organization.You have upleveled my work, from desire, to writing, to editing --- never ending editing. We have worked countless days together - writing and creating and laughing with each day's new insights. Your humor blesses me. We came together through our beloved family. Our choice meeting was just the first of many conversations. You are Hollywood to the max. Writing with you, laughing with you, and learning with you - and yes, always LISTENING. Books: Just Deserts;  Mitzi of the Ritz;  The New Orleans Hothouse; Death on Crimson Sails; The Boston Embalming Girls.
  
• Brian S. McDermott, Who I know professionally as a bailiff, yet shared his talents as an excellent beta-reader and editor. Your comments opened my imagination and allowed me to improve on the first draft in what I was trying to share. Your graciousness was palpable. You have really made a huge impact on the evolution of this book.
  
• Billy & Rosa Downing, You have opened my eyes to the Latina experience. - I love the Culture, Language and Food you have taught us to love. I love and adore you(s) deeply. Wink. You have shared the profound love that only the LatinX community can give.
  
• Barbara Ulrich, my sister. Thank you for the additional research and sharings regarding the gift of listening to a new culture, your own professional work as a listener to others and their heart’s desire, is profound. I appreciate your wisdom with your students and educational programs. Even within our family, you were always the historian and I marveled at your knowledge of our family history. Keep writing, your compositions captivate me.
• Brink Brydon, You are my foundation. I LOVE you so dearly. You always know what I need before I do. This book would not have been possible without your releasing me from all obligations other than the dishes and this book. Laughing. You even did the dishes. You have been by my side and even assisted in the creation of this book. Your insight has taught me to listen above the explicit and to move into intuitive and reflective listening. That is where we live, and I wouldn’t want to be here with anyone else.
  

Unsung Heroes

GRATITUDE. Thank you for the hours of reflection and introspective work. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts, as you LISTENED. Your words of encouragement were the healing salve I needed to move forward. Thank you for joining my team, I could not have done any of this Forensic Listening and Think Tank Tuesdays without all of you. Gregorio and Nancy, and Carol you made TTT a reality... You three have been with me the whole way.

Andrew Cohen
Jermaine Cornish
Gregorio Nietz
Nancy Hammond
Carol Smith
Gina Kitts

Patrick Hinley
Billie Dawn Lyn
Amy Weeks
Sherri HIll
Brian S. McDermott
Brenda Pluntz
Malakia Adunne

Desir​​ée Kirst
Rachel & Todd Rosser
Josiah & Noel Gibson
Cole & Ash Brydon
Naomi & Matt Wendt
Francesca Miller

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Babitsky, esp. & James J. Mangraviti, Jr. Esq., How To Become a Dangerous Expert Witness: Advanced Techniques and Strategies. (2005). SEAK, Inc. Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Cockely, Dennis. Interpretation: A Sociolinguistic Model. (1992). Linstok Press. Burtonsville, MD.

Dean, Robyn K. & Pollard, Robert. Dc-s: The Demand Control Schema: Interpreting as a Practice Profession. (2013). CreateSpace Independent Publishing. North Charleston, SC.

Dweck, Carol. Mindset: THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS. (2008) Ballantine Books. NewYork, New York.

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Garretson, Mervin D. eyes, hands, voices: Communication Issues Among Deaf People. A Deaf American Monograph. (1990). NAD Publishing. Silver Spring, MD.

Gile, Daniel. Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training. (2009). John Benjamins Publishing Company. Philadelphia, PA.

Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: the power of thinking without thinking. (2005). Little, Brown and Company. New York, Boston.

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Hemfelt, Robert, & Minirth, Frank, & Meier, Paul. We Are Driven: The Compulsive Behaviors America Applauds. (1991). Thomas Nelson Publishers. Nashville, TN. 

Holcomb, Thomas K. & Smith, David,H. DEAF EYES ON INTERPRETING. (2020). Gallaudet University Press. Washington, DC.

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Llewellyn-Jones, Peter & Lee, Robert. Redefining the Role of the Community Interpreter: The concept of role-space. (2014). SLI Press. Lincoln, United Kingdom.

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Mindess, Anna. Reading Between the Signs: Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters. (2014, 2006) Intercultural Press. Boston, MA.

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SPECIAL RECOGNITION:

HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST. Shankar Vedantam, an American journalist, and social scientist, reveals unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, biases that shape choices, and triggers that direct the course of relationships. Shankar’s podcast has opened up the world of research for me. I have, through his podcast, discovered many of the researchers that have assisted me in my own articulation of the amazing skill of Forensic Listening.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF TIME.  When I started writing notes for this book, I was using a dictionary and thesaurus (actual books). Now when I want a different word, I speak into my phone and several platforms are ready with the information needed. Last night, I went to Janine and Cyril's New Years Eve party, and Janine was wearing a new pair of glasses. I tried them on, and I could see the conversation of the people before me. Janine had greater access... She works in a hearing world, and now she can compete in a mostly hearing environment. Technology. I would love to be able to imagine what is before us. For now I am left with comparing the writing tools and how they have changed. May I keep listening to the new technology before - may my grandchildren, and great-grandchildren keep me up to date.

REFERENCES : PHOTOS / ILLUSTRATIONS / MEMES
Except for my personal work, photos and illustrations are from iStock. Getty Images.
See below for the artist's name and location of artwork.

1st Picture: ViktorCap, Forensic specialist in protective suit taking photos stock photo,
 
iStock, April 23, 2021, https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/forensic-specialist-in-protective-suit-taking-photos-gm1024531396-274899421?clarity=false.

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2nd Picture monkeybusinessimages, Millennial Black businesswoman listening to colleagues at a corporate business meeting

iStock, October 14, 2021
Millennial Black Businesswoman Listening To Colleagues At A Corporate Business Meeting Close Up Stock Photo - Download Image Now - iStock (istockphoto.com)

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3rd Picture artbesouro, Set of puzzled and surprised office people. Problem solving and discussion. Vector flat illustration

iStock, Stock illustration ID:1192227534 Upload date:December 06, 2019
Set Of Puzzled People Vector Stock Illustration - Download Image Now - iStock (istockphoto.com)

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4th Picture. Memme Created by Bonnie Faye


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5th Picture Emmeci74. Ancient stone exterior wall with an inset of red bricks
 
iStock, October 15 2021
Ancient Stone And Brick Wall Stock Photo - Download Image Now - iStock (istockphoto.com)

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6th Picture. luoman Library 

iStock, October 15, 2021
Library Stock Photo - Download Image Now - iStock (istockphoto.com)

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7th Picture. Aliaksandr Antanovich Stone brick yellow orange wall along asphalt street and chamomile camomile field above and blue sky near Dingli Cliffs, Malta

iStock October 15, 2021
Stone Brick Yellow Orange Wall Along Asphalt Street Malta Stock Photo - Download Image Now - iStock (istockphoto.com)

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8th Picture- Memme. I Hear You. Bonnie Faye.

 October 15, 2021
(MEMME personally created by Bonnie Faye Gibson-Brydon)

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9th Picture - Memme. Intuition . SOFT Voice Bonnie Faye

Downloaded November 16, 2021
(MEMME personally created by Bonnie Faye Gibson-Brydon)

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10th Picture. - Astrid Hagan. Mother and daughter listening to the story
        
Downloaded November 25, 2021
Personal shot created by Adair Hagan -- permission 11.22.21

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FINAL - 11th Picture Memme (Bonnie Faye). Photo: PIXABAY Einstein.

Downloaded November 16th, 2021
If you can't explain it simply you don't understand it well... | Picture Quotes
Albert Einstein Portrait - Free photo on Pixabay

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