{"id":108564,"date":"2023-07-17T13:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T17:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=108564"},"modified":"2023-07-20T09:34:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T13:34:55","slug":"how-to-initiate-a-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Do you avoid making the first move to talk with someone? If so, what opportunities are you missing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Social interaction specialist Patrick King argues that the oft-dreaded small talk is actually the best way to start a conversation that eventually can go in any direction and to any depth. He shares practical tips for approaching and engaging someone effectively and comfortably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn how to initiate a conversation and make a good first impression in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-to-initiate-a-conversation\">How to Initiate a Conversation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>King writes that we\u2019re often afraid of making the first move because we feel we\u2019re intruding. We lack the confidence to simply approach someone and introduce ourselves with the obvious intention of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-strike-up-a-conversation\/\">striking up a conversation<\/a>. King&#8217;s first piece of advice on how to initiate a conversation is designed to help you get around this fear: <strong>Find an <em>excuse<\/em> to approach someone<\/strong>. This lets you feel that you have a good reason to talk to them and overrides your fear of annoying the other person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shorform note: Another reason we might be hesitant to approach someone we don\u2019t know is because of <em>in-group bias<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/thedecisionlab.com\/biases\/in-group-bias\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">We tend to prefer being around people who are like us<\/a>, and this preference might make us reluctant to reach out to someone who has different affiliations. When in-group bias is strong (you find yourself in a group that supports a sports team you despise, for instance) and you don\u2019t even <em>want <\/em>to find an excuse to talk to them, think about how engaging with people from different groups will <a href=\"https:\/\/greatergood.berkeley.edu\/article\/item\/tips_for_rooting_out_bias_in_yourself_and_your_organization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expand your horizons and make you a more tolerant individual<\/a>. You might even think about how this will make the <em>other <\/em>person more tolerant so that you don\u2019t allow yourself to back out because you worry you might annoy them.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>King notes that there are a few common \u201cexcuses\u201d you can use to approach someone:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Ask a question (to which you might even already know the answer).<\/strong> This could be something like, \u201cDo you know what time the class starts?\u201d or \u201cHave you found a good parking garage nearby?\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Ask about or note something you have in common.<\/strong> This might simply be the situation you find yourselves in. For instance, if you\u2019re both at a yoga class, you might say, \u201cI think I saw you here last week. How long have you been doing yoga?\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Make an observation the other person can respond to. <\/strong>This might be, \u201cThe teachers here are terrific,\u201d or \u201cThe yoga mats are brand new.\u201d In this case, the other person has no obligation to respond to your observation, so you don\u2019t risk putting them out.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Excuses and Icebreakers: Two Ways to Get to Know Those Around You<\/strong><br><br>The types of questions King recommends are sometimes referred to as <a href=\"https:\/\/teambuilding.com\/blog\/icebreaker-questions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">icebreakers<\/a>: questions you can ask others to encourage conversation and connection right away. Icebreakers differ from King\u2019s questions in a few ways, however: Icebreakers are more institutionalized than King\u2019s questions, and they\u2019re often used in workplaces and during meetings (where people are expected to get to know each other and will feel less uncomfortable about being asked questions). They also tend to be more probing and to reveal more about someone in less time than King\u2019s questions would. In this way, a single icebreaker question can likely create the same connection that asking all three of King\u2019s questions would.&nbsp;<br><br>For instance, an icebreaker question might be, \u201cIf you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?\u201d This, in turn, will likely yield an answer that other people would also give, creating a sense of connection\u2014in any meeting, there will invariably be several people who\u2019d eat pizza for the rest of their lives. Those other people can then respond to that observation by chiming in with their opinion or feeling\u2014which, in this case, might be the pizza topping they could eat for the rest of their lives.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if you start with a great question or observation, for small talk to be pleasant and easy-going, you must <strong>create a pleasant and easy-going <\/strong><strong><em>atmosphere<\/em><\/strong>. People adjust to the tone you set in the conversation, so if you behave and speak playfully and with a sense of humor, the other person will likely feel that way, too, leading to better, easier conversational flow.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Humor and playfulness are helpful in both new and old relationships. Some describe humor as a buffer that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.helpguide.org\/articles\/relationships-communication\/managing-conflicts-with-humor.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">helps prevent friction between people<\/a> and makes it easier to get over squabbles. If you can make a joke about your repeated disagreement over whose turn it is to pick up the kids or what movie to watch, those disagreements will probably be less unpleasant, for instance. Humor and playfulness also help you become closer to people you already know because fun and laughter increase your sense of intimacy. Consider if you can establish pleasant, fun atmospheres in <em>existing<\/em> relationships that tend to have a lot of conflict.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you avoid making the first move to talk with someone? If so, what opportunities are you missing? Social interaction specialist Patrick King argues that the oft-dreaded small talk is actually the best way to start a conversation that eventually can go in any direction and to any depth. He shares practical tips for approaching and engaging someone effectively and comfortably. Continue reading to learn how to initiate a conversation and make a good first impression in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":80784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,43],"tags":[1104],"class_list":["post-108564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-self-improvement","tag-better-small-talk","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you avoid making the first move to talk with someone? Get tips from a social interaction specialist on how to initiate a conversation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you avoid making the first move to talk with someone? Get tips from a social interaction specialist on how to initiate a conversation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-17T17:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-20T13:34:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-17T17:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-20T13:34:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/\"},\"wordCount\":855,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Better Small Talk\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/\",\"name\":\"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-17T17:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-20T13:34:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"Do you avoid making the first move to talk with someone? Get tips from a social interaction specialist on how to initiate a conversation.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk - Shortform Books","description":"Do you avoid making the first move to talk with someone? Get tips from a social interaction specialist on how to initiate a conversation.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk","og_description":"Do you avoid making the first move to talk with someone? Get tips from a social interaction specialist on how to initiate a conversation.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-07-17T17:01:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-20T13:34:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk","datePublished":"2023-07-17T17:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-20T13:34:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/"},"wordCount":855,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg","keywords":["Better Small Talk"],"articleSection":["Communication","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/","name":"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-17T17:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-20T13:34:55+00:00","description":"Do you avoid making the first move to talk with someone? Get tips from a social interaction specialist on how to initiate a conversation.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-initiate-a-conversation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Initiate a Conversation by Leveraging Small Talk"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/party-gathering-social.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108564"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108647,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108564\/revisions\/108647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}