Everyone is a Mystery

One of the motivating factors in resuming my everyday blogging schedule was a moment last week when I realized how much information I've had the opportunity to absorb in just a few days.

I'm working on a documentary project that will bring me aboard tall ships in the Port of Los Angeles, so I've been learning about the different types of sailing ships.

I'm creating a documentary about high school students in the regional Science Bowl competition. I can't say I've learned much about science (they compete at a level far above my science knowledge!), but I've had the opportunity to learn more about L.A.'s diverse cultures. In particular, I learned about President Coolidge and the Armenian Orphan Rug. The rug was handcrafted nearly one hundred years ago by 1,400 orphans of the Armenian genocide as a thank you to the United States for its help in relocating thousands of orphans to what is now Lebanon. To this day, the rug remains hidden in White House storage, a victim of political sensitivities between Turkey and the United States.

More indirectly, through my interaction with documentary subjects and crew, I've gained knowledge about fine wine, as well as hacking a conventional oven to properly bake a pizza [it involves breaking the safety lock that kicks in during the self-cleaning process, so that the pizza can be super-heated - be forewarned - it's a safety lock!]. I've heard the works of Chinese and Armenian composers placed by vastly talented teenage musicians and young scientists (there's a fascinating correlation there).

I suppose the richness and variety of all of this information seems exciting. What we experience everyday could either be seen as trivia - or as small pieces of a larger puzzle. We can either devalue information as random, or understand it as clues to individual lives and experiences.

In the midst of writing a novel, perhaps I'm hyper-aware of the clues we all offer to our our individual personalities just by sharing information.

Social interaction suddenly becomes much more fascinating if everyone is a mystery...