This is my daughter and I in the car on our road trip. We were discussing her crush… the singer she is currently crazed for. My daughter is 12.

“So why don’t you like this guy?” she asked.

“Like I told you, I think he’s a bore.”

“He’s a rebel,” she said.

‘No, he’s not. He wishes he was a rebel. Actually I think he’s a conformist. Too bad he doesn’t know it. Or he may know it. He may know his whole image is packaged but he is definitely not an authentic rebel. He’s not an actual interesting person. He’s a person who wishes he were interesting and has somehow he’s become a symbol for this. I’m sorry I don’t like him but I think he’s a fake rebel.”

“Am I a fake rebel then?’

“No. You are real. This is why this bothers me so much. You are way better than this guy. You’re smarter and you’re more creative.”

“You think that?”

“I know it. Look When you were 5 you told me you were a cat in a room full of dogs. Remember that? That came out of the mouth of a 5 year old which tells me you could write better than this guy when you were 5 years old. You were already actually interesting as opposed to wishing to be interesting or wanting to be perceived as interesting. So anyway, I don’t think he is good enough for you. He is not smart enough for one thing. He’s not even close.”

“Okaaaaaaaaaay,” she said. I think she was liking what she was hearing but queasy about letting go her projection.

“Anyway, back when you were a cat in a room full of dogs you got up on that dance floor and just walked out there. You were this weird little eccentric 5 year old and you just got up and started dancing because you damned felt like it. You were dancing with a couple, do you remember?”

“I do.”

“Well you danced for a few minutes and you were chatting the whole time You’re social, see? So you’re out there chatting with these people and you only danced one song. Less than five minutes and then what happened?”

“I met the Captain of the ship?”

“Yeah, that happened too. And you got a trophy and one for your brother but something else happened. That woman you danced with was an English teacher. And she came up and told me that my 5 year old was going to be a writer. This was obvious to her. And thinking people are psychic and woo woo , I asked her how she knew this. I wanted to know where she got her information and guess what she said?”

“What?’

“She said you used interesting phrases. She said she had never heard a kid talk like you did… you were completely original and she was shocked.”

“She was?”

“Yes. So here you are with this guy and he sings all these songs, which all sound the same. And there is not an interesting phrase in anything he’s got. So when you tell me about all this worship, well I’m sorry. But you are talented beyond his wildest dream. I don’t care how famous he is. He can try until he is blue and hire people but he will never be as interesting as you were at 5 and he’s what? 35?”"

“Yes.”

“Well there you go. So what do you want me to say? He’s great? He’s grand? What he is, is mediocre. But he’s very, very famous, I will say that. He’s got a lot of fans so good for him. But I don’t hear any innovation whatsoever. You on the other hand are innovating non-stop. You innovate as easily as you breathe so that’s it. This is my story and my opinion of you and this guy, like it don’t.”

skip to Part two

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