As a third Hinge date with Tone, we decided to ride the subway in total silence for an undecided number of hours as a performance piece. We were interested in the strength of our nonverbal communication and intuitive and collaborative decision making as we changed subway lines. During the duration of this piece, we shared one bottle of water, mixed nuts, a pair of headphones with music from my phone constantly streaming, and a journal where we alternated writing our thoughts. Neither of us read each others entries until after the piece was finished.
(Gracie)
9:30 met outside 14th st union sq
9:40 tone solved rubriks cube
9:52 left train to find tissue
9:53 gave tone headphones to listen to swan lake pas de deux
9:55 re-boarded train at Dekalb Avenue
9:56 gracie started reading
9:57 tone went back to solving rubiks cube. the song is now juba dance
(Tone)
10:00 Gracie showed me a song but the title was too long to write. Its very pretty piano. She’s fiddling with the cube and we are on the L.
(Gracie)
10:05 I got too motion sick from trying to solve the Rubik’s cube for too long so tone finished it
(Tone)
10:07 Golliwog’s Cake Walk-Classical piano is so silly. Me and Gracie are reading the book together. My mom loves natural farming stuff too.
(Gracie)
10:08 Tone gave me the headphones back. I don’t think he liked Golliwogs Cake walk. I wonder how much I can keep reading before I get too motion sick.
10:10 “This is the natural pattern” quote from a book by rirkrit on doing less
10:12 gave tone the headphones back because it was a really swag Liszt piece
10:13 confused about if the book is advocating for or against metaphorical pruning. Somehow I’m not motion sick anymore. We just got to 8th st NYU. I wonder if this stop is closest to Washington sq park where there’s free salsa dancing Wednesday nights. It would be interesting trying to do this again with nonverbal dancing.
(Tone)
10:16 I think this guy has some ideas for sure. The comments about schooling interest me. The train is starting to get full.
10:18 This song has some crazy french title but the piano is so whimsical. my hair looks really weird with headphones. It’s hard to write while the train is moving.
(Gracie)
10:20 Can’t tell if I’m motion sick again or if I just have to take a shit. Made eye contact with a stranger and it made me wonder if we look natural or not. Like a couple or strangers or something else. I wonder if people can tell we’re intentionally not talking. I wonder what seems more natural-for two people who really know each other. I thought silence for sure, but now that I’m in it i don’t know. I wonder if Tone’s reading any of this. I think I’ll wait til after to read his parts.
(Tone)
10:25 This song sounds like Mr. Rodgers neighborhood. My handwriting needs work oh my goodness. We passed 42nd a little while ago and I thought about getting off. Maybe at 51st.
10:29 Gracie showed me the poem at the beginning of the book. I gave her the headphones back with LP1 by American Football.
(Gracie)
10:32 We’re sharing a bag of mixed nuts now. Its been an hour but it doesn’t feel like it. I think Tone’s gonna start eating his pistachios now. This will be fun. I wonder if he’ll drop any shells. This feels way more comfortable than I was expecting.
(Tone)
10:36 P.I.M.P By 50 cent lol. We are about to transfer at Queen’s Plaza. I feel settled in now. Not talking is hard I’m such a talker.
(Gracie)
10:39 We suddenly left the train. Tone seems to know where we’re going. Just boarded train going the opposite direction towards Queens + Jamaica center. I hope its not over yet. Tone just started eating pistachios.
10:42 I ate 3 pistachios. They were good and easy to open. Tone’s eating them at 3x the rate I am. There’s 19 people on this train. It feels like a lot.
10:45 Tone put on Mom Jeans and gave me the headphones back which is good cause my ears were starting to get cold. He’s still eating pistachios. He’s cracking them open with one hand + his teeth which probably makes it faster. I’m honestly impressed. He only dropped 1. Only 5 stops til the end of the line.
(Tone)
10:49 I put on Edward 40 hands. I get so self critical at my music taste when I show other people. I made a little bag with pistachios. They’re so good. I love the mechanics of eating them. We are almost at the end of the E train. Maybe we head in the other direction soon.
10:52 A little kid and his mom are on the car with us. He’s running around and she’s reprimanding him in Spanish.
(Gracie)
10:53 I just realized everywhere we sit I can see tone’s reflection in the opposite window but I can’t see mine.
(Tone)
10:54 Someone is watching tik tok with no headphones. Skull emoji. I’m zoning out a little bit.
10:57 Damn she put on radiohead. Classic I can’t lie.
(Gracie)
11:00 We got off at Jamaica van Wyck. Its a creepy station.
(Tone)
11:01 Jamaica van Wyck is so beautiful. I love the stations in Queens. So expansive.
(Gracie)
11:18 back on the train toward Manhattan. We got off to get coffee. Mines still too hot to drink and im sort of regretting the amount of things I have to carry. 18 people on the train not including us. We did some coloring in the starbucks and tones turning into a paper airplane like I did with my gum wrapper earlier. Its like our cycles are syncing.
(Tone)
11:20 Back on the train to manhattan. Its weird I’m starting to feel in sync. I feel very aware of everything Gracie is dong sorta like when I’m watching a sibling/babysitting. I just notice things out of the corner of my eye without really trying.
11:24 MF DOOM now. Hearing what goes on in someone else’s ears is so interesting. Gracie is wearing very trendy shoes. they’re cute though they match the fit. I wonder what we look like from an outside perspective.
(Gracie)
11:26 There’s this feeling I’m always struggling with in relationships of feeling like there’s a glass wall between us and I can see them but they can’t see me. I’m not sure if this is an exercise in seeing each other. We’ve barely looked at each other this whole time. But we are practicing intuitive decision-making and a type of communication. It feels immediately like I know this person so maybe that’s successful in a way. But if we started talking I wonder if some kind of foreignness or awkwardness would return. He’s holding my coffee while I’m writing all of this.
(Tone)
11:30 We are sitting much closer than when we first got on. That’s cool. This is what it feels like making friends with animals. You can’t talk with your words so you have to show with your actions. Its hard at first but it does start to feel like language.
(Gracie)
11:32 Theres a couple on the train who have been embracing for who knows how long. It definitely feels different than what this is. I asked a stranger to take a candid photo for us for documentation and immediately regretted it. It felt like I exposed our project and now everyone knows this is not real intimacy or “knowing-ness” of each other. I’m sweating.
(Tone)
11:53 We are at court street. I haven’t been paying great attention to where exactly we’ve been because I feel like the subway is my home at this point. This experience has been both what I expected and something I did not foresee at all. I’ve never done anything like this before. There’s something weirdly intimate about being on the train with someone. You’re sharing this journey. I’m a fan. I wanna do this again but with different variables.
(Gracie)
11:40 Tone was writing for a long time. I’m excited to read it later. It feels like doing an exquisite corpse drawing. I don’t think either of us are reading each others writing which is funny it worked out that way. I didn’t expect us to write so much. The train’s full again. The guy across from us has been biting his nails for about 10 minutes. We’re almost back at our original stop. I’m motion sick again which is funny. Was it in my head this whole time? This is a really good art piece I think.
(Tone)
11:44 Gracie has this thing where she nods to confirm a change. I like it. Easy to read.
(Gracie)
11:48 things we shared: music/headphones, pistachios, water, subway bench space, bag of mixed nuts, gum, tiny bit of eye contact
(Tone)
11:51 I am this train. There is no discerning between the subway and I. This car is an extension of my body. I move when it moves. I ride the momentum changes like one great big wave. i love trains. I am getting a bit sleepy now. You can’t sleep on the train though. that’s bad news.