I looked at my Twitter account and could see a stream of people suggesting there was a racist undertone in my piece, or at the very least, an idiotic use of the word. I received an email from someone I respect, shocked that I had used the word ‘lynched’ in an article about Kevin Hart. I wrote something to the tune of ‘had anyone other than Kevin Hart done that they would have been lynched.’ It reminded me of the time I wrote an article about Kevin Hart dry-humping a poker table in the wake of eliminating someone in a high stakes event. The pair hugged, and Brown became the woman’s most important teacher in life, once more. The woman explained that the word ‘gypped’ is an anti-semitic term that degrades gypsies.īrown started to cry, and the woman realised her heroine had no idea that the term ‘gypped’ had such an anti-semitic connotation. The point of anger for the woman was Brown’s use of the word ‘gypped.’ Brown thought she had misspelt the word, so confused was she as to why the woman was so angry. I trusted you, and you’ve proven to be a fraud.” Then fifteen minutes after you start, I learn that you’re an anti-Semite. I came here today because you are an important teacher in my life. It saved my marriage and shaped my children. The woman said: “Your work has changed my life.
In Braving The Wilderness, Brown, shares a story about teaching a course on shame, when during the break, someone came up to her, and said, “I can’t tell you how much you hurt me this morning.” Fear from partly not understanding fully what I want to say, but more appropriately the fear of judgment, and the shaming that will inevitably follow – and that’s what I believe is at the core of what I want to share, today – shame. I wanted to put thoughts and feelings into words but felt uncomfortable. I’ve read ‘Gifts of Imperfection’, ‘Daring to Lead’, and am in the midst of a book club reading of ‘Braving The Wilderness’.Īfter I had finished interviewing Cordeiro and had slipped beneath the sheets without waking my wife and daughter, I switched on my Kindle, and read a few chapters on ‘Inclusive Language’, ‘Using Words as Weapons,’ and ‘Dehumanisation,’ and the thoughts and feelings that emerged through bibliography kept me awake. Marle tells me about the VLOG that caused quite a stir.
INTO THE WILDERNESS BRENE BROWN SERIES
Marle Cordeiro, host of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro, sits opposite me, dictaphone amongst knives, forks and wine glasses window ajar allowing the acrid stench of expensive cigar smoke to leak into the world the Adriatic Coast beating up the shore. It’s a restaurant for VIPs in the Maestral Resort and Casino in Budva, Montenegro.
I’m in the ‘Red Room’ as we’ve christened it.
An opinion piece inspired by an interview with Las Vegas cash game resident, and VLOG star, Marle Cordeiro, focusing on the lessons poker can learn from Brené Brown’s Braving the Wilderness.