NotSpeaking.com

Forget about Coolidge. Silent Cal was a sellout.

Tossing off a two-word bon mot at a dinner party and then remaining smugly speechless for the rest of the evening just doesn't cut it. At least not as far as self-imposed silence goes. Coolidge was at best merely an aphorist, and at worst an opportunist who used selective silence as a means of self-promotion. True silence demands dedication.

Take out all references to Calvin Coolidge above, and you have the basic premise of NotSpeaking.com, a site that describes itself as "The Resource Center for Those Choosing Not to Speak" and poses the question, "Have you spoken lately?"

Well, have you?

I have. I turned around and asked a co-worker, "Hey, have you heard about that guy who's not going to speak for a year?" Because that's what the site is about. Brett Banfe, a New Jersey 18-year-old, has decided not to say anything for a year. This announcement has generated a considerable amount of media attention, including an appearance on the Howard Stern Show. Yes, the Howard Stern radio show. Banfe hasn't stopped speaking just yet — he gets to talk until September 1.

From his site, we learn that Banfe is taking his vow of silence for reasons that initially involved a bet with a friend, but have now come to encompass a desire to "inspire [teens] to take that same gritty no-nonsense attitude toward their goals." This is real earnestness. Well, it's earnestness that's being employed in the interests of getting lots of attention. But he could have just as easily launched a hip, self-aware, ironic quest to stop speaking. NotSpeaking.com is truly none of those things. Banfe does have a publicist, but the site, in both text and design, is almost painfully non-slick. You have to admire the unspoiled enthusiasm of a guy who writes "I thought it would be cool if you all sent in pictures of yourselves with your index fingers to your mouths (making the shhhhh sign :))"

As a resource center, NotSpeaking.com is a little wanting. There aren't any links to other sites about keeping silent. There's no historical information, either. It is, however, planning to bring the power of the Internet to fellow nonspeakers; soon, Banfe writes, "anyone who wants to try not speaking for a period of time can choose a user name and password and get their own webpage which they can use to put up a picture and recount what it was like for them not speaking." We also discover from the site that Banfe teaches breakdancing to the singer of "punk/pop band Big Fat Huge", doesn't "currently have a girlfriend," and has a lot of pictures of himself on the Internet.

So is this strategy working? Well, you decide. A typical quote from a female poster on the NotSpeaking.com message boards runs like this:

Hey Brett what you are doing is great it shows people that teens do have self-control, and that we're not just a bunch of horny alchol-craving kids trying to act older! I wish I had that kind of control! I hope that you have a great year, and that you have the best freshman year ever. By the way you start your year of silence on my birthday. Your success will be my birthday wish.
c-ya round,
Breanne.

Male posters, on the other hand, tend to agree more with "joe", who writes:

Dude you are a loser, this is nothing more than a publicity stunt. Its one thing if you were doing it for a cause, but there is no cause, no distinct message. On one hand your message is that you want to show people that they can do something if they put their mind to it(there's a fucking noble cause you loser) and then you let someone else put words in your mouth that it's to show we have a communication probelm. make up your mind shithead.

Oh, you mean, is the strategy of gritty determination working as a means of keeping silent for a year? It's really too soon to tell. But it's safe to predict what Howard Stern and all the naysayers on the boards will say if Banfe doesn't make it: You lose.

— Julia Lipman (julia@flakmag.com)