Speak to me in Scottish.

September 11, 2009 in Uncategorized
Globe I think it's fairly clear that I want to speak with a Scottish accent. Or perhaps I want to be Craig Ferguson's next door neighbor and listen to him read the phone book to me over bowls of tofu haggis and stovies.

So imagine IMAGINE my surprise and THRILL beyond THRILL when I got a note from a woman named Amy Palko on Twitter suggesting there was a surprise on her blog for me. She had written ALL THE WAY FROM SCOTLAND where Craig Ferguson is from!:

"Lastly, it was a very special someone’s birthday recently.  Patti Digh, author of Life Is A Verb and blogger over at 37 Days, turned 50 and as a special treat, Caren KH got in touch and asked if I could read out one of Patti’s posts as a voicethread.  Patti has in the past professed her love for the Scottish accent, so how could I refuse such a request!?"

Caren also wrote, after I had heard the recording, so as not to spoil the surprise beforehand:

"As we were leaving messages on Facebook about Scottish accents … I started to write, "Wouldn't you love to hear LIAV read in a Scottish accent?"  Then I realized… well, that's completely doable!!  I contacted Amy, and she was more than willing to record a voicethread. I mean, that was a day and a half ago, that we were having that conversation! I was willing to be very patient, because I love to stretch people's birthdays out to a birthday season… and as long as someone, somewhere is telling you 'Happy Birthday', it's still your birthday!  I figured it would be at least a couple of weeks.

I sent her links to four essays, because there was no way I could pick a favorite, and asked her to pick which one inspired her most. I really enjoyed listening to 'Dance In Your Car' out loud, and Amy put so much LIFE into her reading. And, yeah, that accent… It's just lovely, all the way 'round.

In her beautiful Scottish accent, Amy read my story called "Dance in your car." (You can play it by clicking that link or the player in the post immediately prior to this one, but be prepared to want to be Scottish.) I swooned with delight. I think I might have to send her a phone book to read to me, since Craig hasn't answered any of my tweets or emails. Smile.

To Caren for thinking of such an amazing, globe-crossing idea, my deepest thanks. And to Amy for saying yes. FOR SAYING YES! What a special surprise for me. Truly. Each of them will receive a copy of Christine Kane's latest CD for this fabulous treat!

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

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