Bruce Kimerer wrote: "Her interviews: She was so relaxed, grounded, warm-spirited, candid, real - -- with no sense of the bitterness that's been inferred from her other recent interviews. Makes me wonder how words on the page divorced from the voice and expression of the speaker can communicate a meaning not truly present."
Bruce, I've thought for a while that this was true, especially with regard to Joni. As one who has had the privilege of meeting her (YIKES! It still confounds me sometimes that that actually happened), I found her way of communicating in person to be thoroughly and completely captivating. Her conversation includes so much to enrich it that is utterly lost on the printed page: a sparkle in the eye, a sly smile, a little twist of the mouth, the raising of an eyebrow, and other similar mannerisms that Joni may have to an even greater degree than the rest of us do. Some of that came through to good effect in the contemporary interview used in the program. As many here have said, Joni is a storyteller, a raconteur. I think you almost have to hear her TELL the story to get its full meaning and effect. In any event, I wondered, after meeting her, just how much of the misunderstandings with the press over the years have been due to the fact that, for one who has such an advanced appreciation for the nuances of words, Joni seems remarkably tone-deaf to just how her words will appear on the cold page, devoid of their context. But if I criticize, I do so out of appreciation, and much, much respect. Mary. P.S. Wasn't it amazing to see the great tenderness Graham Nash and Larry Klein still obviously have for Joni? Perhaps it's not surprising that they feel it, but that they are both so open about it, so many years later (especially in Nash's case). My favorite part of the whole show, though, was probably Klein's comment that, with the advent of Kilauren and her grandchildren into her life, Joni was now experiencing "a master class in love." As Sue Mac might say, WAAAAAHHHH!!! ;-)
