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MONDAY, 26 JUNE, 2000, PHILADELPHIA |
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Hey, wanna hear the penultimate non-committal adjective? No? Okay, here it is: I have been “interesting!” since my zygote stage. I used to think it was a compliment and beamed a happy little smile when I received the accolade. In Angry College Days (A.C.D.™), I came to realise that “interesting!” is what one says when one “doesn’t like it” — whether “it” is a piece of writing, a painting, a musical piece, or a personality. For some years in my early 20’s I would scowl when I received the condemnation of “interesting!” Scowling is, after all, sew goth! But in the last five or so years, I have once again changed camps on the use, and more importantly, acceptance, of “interesting!” I believe I understand all its nuances, implications and subtlties now, after a lifetime of the word being hurled at me willy-nilly and pell-mell. I think I know what people are saying when they mutter, pressed and on-the-spot, “That’s … innnnteresting!” They are saying, “I have yet to form an opinion about that object. I may end up liking it, although at the current time, it unnerves me somewhat; I can’t say why. If I choose to give the matter some thought in the future, I may have a more substantial adjective to use, but it will be doubtful if I will say it directly to your face because it won’t be entirely complimentary and I’m trying to get out of this uncomfortable situation without being insulting. While there’s something in the object-of-discussion that I find intriguing, something else just doesn’t sit well with me. I can’t put my finger on any of it — can I go now please?” And I confess that I am the most flattered by the word “interesting!” above all others, but only when its subtext runs along the lines of the above hypothetical outline. I consider my projects successful if they 1)don’t please everyone 2)don’t offend everyone 3)leave some people confused and agitated. I should like to live in extremities only. I should like never to find a market. In my perfect world… Anyway, so I read a review of Metamorphosis the other day, the play for which I designed the sound, and I’ll be damned if the reviewer didn’t mention, “…and an innnteresting use of sound…” All the implications — the yins and yangs — went flooding through me and I grinned a big, stupid, shit-eater’s grin. It is my greatest fear to inspire nothing but indifference in people. 
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