Clubhouse and the Finnish soul
It’s been a few weeks since I joined Clubhouse, and the first impression I had was: “This feels like a telephone party line!” Because it is a little bit like that. No images, except your bio photo. No text, except the bio text, which some people use as a spot to type an essay and inlcude lots of emojis.
At this time you need an iPhone to join Clubhouse. If you’re curious to try it out, reach out to me. I might have a few invites I can share.
A couple of observations:
Big American run clubs and rooms are frequently crowded, fast-paced, high-energy conversations that are sprinkled with VIPs and their adoring fans. Lots of people who love to listen to their own voices. Sometimes interesting, like the time Elon Musk tweeted that he might put an NFT on the market. A few minutes later someone opened a room on Clubhouse to everyone could freak out about this moment. I happened to see it right as it happened and listened to the fallout. Cool stuff in that moment. Thousands of people flocked to Clubhouse to listen in.
Then there’s Finland. Curious about how my Finnish is holding up, I joined some Finnish clubs and began to listen. Finnish is a beautiful and poetic language. It is phonetically strong and each syllable is distinct and pronounced. I was glad to discover I understand about 95% of all conversations, and it is a bit of a miracle since I have not spoken it for a very long time. As I listened to the conversations between these complete strangers something struck me. I, a Finnish person, began to grasp my own home country in a way that I never have before. This filled me with joy. The moments of comfortable silence. Polite and supportive voices. A certain lack of hesitancy to speak one’s mind. Humility and a sense of equality. And a subtle but noticeable tone of something lyrical and poetic. And that was when I realized I might have heard a glimpse of the actual Finnish soul. For example, one day I was in a Finnish room where the conversation meanders hither and thither. Then someone asked if we would like to hear some poems. One poem was read, and then another. Something new unraveled itself. There was Finland.
Do you have a Clubhouse account? What corners of it do you explore? Feel free to reach out to me if you’d like an invite to try it out!