Are you interesting?
Or are you performing?
Aren’t we all performing? For an audience so imaginary that from the second we get ourselves out of bed each morning, we are playing our role of a lifetime. The morning person. Some do it for the content, which means they have to get up once to press record, get back into bed, perfecting their bed tousled hair, until on the count of three, they arise camera ready. For the non-performers, such as myself, who become fully awake when I’ve seen what I look like in the mirror. Total bedhead, face feels flat or sometimes looks bloated depending on what I ate or drank the night before. Not camera friendly.
I am not a walking aesthetic like the girls you see in street style videos with much planned out outfits. Nor am I the girl you’ll meet through a friend, at a social gathering where I divulge every topic of interest I attach myself to. You know this type. An hour after being introduced everyone is well aware how much yoga she does a week, that she’s into reiki, lived in Alaska for two years with her boyfriend, but for now they’ve settled in BedStuy, loves to travel, their next move might be Dublin Ireland where she’s always wanted to since she lived there as a kid, yet she mispronounces Cillian Murphy’s first name with a “S”. She performed her little song and dance to let everyone know that she’s having a good life. Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with that. Out of all those tidbits, the one I was most interested in was her time in Alaska. Why is a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos something insane, like $35 for one bag (saw it on a TikTok)? And I could’ve asked her, but learning her life dossier tired me out. Alaska is Alaska. And not being able to say a famous person’s name correctly, especially if you’ve heard it enough for an entire year plus a three month awards season — I didn’t find her interesting at all.
To be interesting, you have to be interested. In many different things, not just one or two subjects that you tirelessly overdo to the point of bland obsession. I think the more things you’re interested in, there’s more connection and then somewhere in between curiosity, adoration, learning and doing, your charisma is born.
The kind of person I find interesting is someone who is not fully aware of everything, but is knowledgeable about so many other things. She doesn’t know or care about the current trends. Even if most of her knowledge comes from a nightly deepdive from Wikipedia on subjects or people none of her friends even think about or know of, that makes her even more interesting. And even if she is well-traveled, only a few know that she is, her life experiences don’t come with stickers or watched on Instagram Reels. There’s no blue checkmark by her name. Her opinions, if and when made public, are thoughtful, well-researched and probably took years to culminate. Her adorable dog does not have a social media account. And if she had children, you would never know what they looked like in the digital world.
I don’t want to make it seem like a halo is placed around this kind of person. Maybe this person maintains the ability of fostering experiences through curiosity and action. This person I’ve devised in my head is most likely an intellectual snob. Right now in this overgrown question mark of a world, we need more intellectual snobs to come out proudly and say ever so dryly, ‘I think Facebook marketplace is widely dangerous and rather desperate.’ Of course it is, why shouldn’t you make plans to go check out flea markets on the weekends instead? I love hearing a person’s discovery story of how they found a vintage 1960’s marble ashtray for $5 at a flea market or happened to come across a 2nd edition hardcover of a classic literature novel, all because they weren’t looking at their phone.
Do I want to know where you’ve hiked around the world? Sure, as long as it comes with a good story and sentiment on what the experience meant to you. I don’t want braggers, that’s what a lot of mainstream content creators offer is bragging rights disguised as something interesting about them when it’s actually not real.
Your downfall and how you rose above it all makes you interesting. The way you talk about you and your elderly neighbor going for walks twice a week is so interesting and endearing. You read a lot of books without making it known that you do, you have an artistic side that is a passionate hobby that surprises some people when they find out. The standards you have for yourself is based on the value of your time and the quality and humanity of what something or someone stands for. Not everything impresses you. You remember the small details and the tiny moments that go unnoticed, because what matters to you might not matter to everyone else.
The most interesting part about you is that you own experiences, some of it remains private and that’s okay. You learn things, you feel and you listen. You become the most interesting person in the room by simply listening, because you’re not greedy or loud. The conversations you have are rarely about you, because you understand that the art of conversation is asking genuine insightful, engaging questions that make the other person comfortable. Sometimes the smallest questions leave a big impact on a person. That connection is how they remember you. The way to be interesting is to be interested.
〰️ now hiring 〰️
Are you hiring?
〰️ 5 good things 〰️
The best music video I’ve seen in the last 10 yrs is GENER8ION - STORM I & II starring Yung Lean. I’ve watched the dance scenes over a dozen times already. It’s like a fast short film that eases into music video with conflict-resolution storytelling, character arcs and choreography that is hard to take your eyes off of. I hope more music artists take note and continue with hands-on art direction, it makes all the difference.
New Anthony Bourdain biopic trailer, Tony starring Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) as Anthony Bourdain. A lot of high hopes that this film excels in depicting the well-beloved chef/writer.
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus received the Pulitzer Prize Award 2026 for Fiction, a book that had not been buzzed about on social media prior to this week’s announcement. Two things — this is a horror genre, which is a different pick, but I think that’s great. Story takes place during World War 1 where 5 soldiers stumble upon a fallen angel that could hold the key to ending the war. Secondly, the entire novel is written as one continuous action-packed sentence. From start to end of the book it is one long run-on sentence and from the reviews it’s a major page turner. Even though war stories and horror are not my genres to read, I’m going to have to read it and see what a Pulitzer Prize winning run-on sentence looks and feels like.
I am replacing my summer flip flops with a pair of thong kitten heel sandals, an upgraded flip flop if you will. My budget is under $85 since it really only gets 3 months wear and you can’t wear socks with them. Under consideration are these from Anthropologie appropriately under budget and very cute w/a fresh pedicure. Bear in mind, a real city girl still carries her trusty flip flops (inside a dust bag) during commuting hours, because that hot summer pavement is no joke, who needs the blisters.
I watched The Devil Wears Prada 2 and it was okay.
🕶,
dnamag
Love this perspective ✨