Thoughts on the “25 Things about Me”

The “25 Things about Me” Facebook craze, sad to say, seems to have died down, no doubt because some wag-journalists and computer-culture experts have offered their learned opinions on how stupid it is in order to shame people into silence. Again.

Claire Suddath’s withering, mean-spirited critique in Time struck me as typical, but I imagine I could find others more artfully written and more insightful. Among other things, she estimates that 800,000 hours of worktime productivity have been lost as a result of “this recent bout of viral narcissism.” (Well, Mr. Scrooge, I guess it’s time to fire all these layabouts on the job so we can improve the world economy.) And Claire laments that most people wrote only trivial, unfunny lists that were far too personal; I’m sure everyone feels awful about wasting Claire’s valuable time.

I loved doing this list. I found out about it because I’d been tagged by my wonderful friend Chris Mandra, a fine composer and artist and an endlessly fascinating raconteur. And so I wrote my list, in part, knowing that it should be interesting (and funny) enough for Chris. After I finished (below), Chris and I had the best conversation we had had in years; that alone was worth the 10 or 15 minutes that it took me to write it.

1. I was fascinated by dinosaurs growing up; I knew the names of all the different ones.
   
2. Once I tried to write a book about the Civil War, but I realized what I knew filled only half a page.
3. I make technology work for me.
4. I love chicken tikka masala; I also love peanut butter.
5. If I had to pick one book that summed up the way I feel about life, it would be The World According to Garp.
6. My (somewhat dubious) gift: making complicated ideas understandable with a few pithy remarks.
7. I transcribed a Scarlatti sonata by ear when I was 14.
8. I often have dreams in installments, like a TV miniseries; I once had a dream with credits.
9. I generally find composers the most interesting people.
10. I sometimes think I should have been a psychologist.
11. I have 25 bow ties; if anyone’s ever stuck on a gift to buy me, I suggest a bow tie.
12. I think that courtesy is probably the most important thing in a civilized society.
13. It’s often foggy outside my house; it makes me imagine I’m on the moors.
14. I think that everything could (and should) be done more artistically.
15. I would like to meet Peter Tork.
16. I watched The Shining 24 times. At least.
17. I find people with OCD charming.
18. I thought the world was going to end before 1998.
19. I believe in reincarnation.
20. I learned most of what I believe about morality from watching Dark Shadows.
21. I think William Schuman wrote the greatest American symphony.
22. I hate humidity.
23. I love the sound of wind.
24. I enjoy eating in restaurants when there are only a few people in them.
25. I’d like to be a cat, but only if someone like me was my owner.

After I posted it, several old friends commented on their favorites—some of them, like David Kase, I haven’t seen in years, might not see again. But for that brief moment, we had a chance to be together again. And it seems to me that whether or not the occasion of bringing people together leads to the exalted or the ridiculous, a little more community is better than none at all.

I heard a computer-culture expert talking about the phenomenon on NPR—can’t remember the name of the show now so I can’t locate it online. This expert made the logical point that older authors indulge their sense of nostalgia and history in their lists, while younger ones—who lack the same amount of life experience—tend toward the spontaneous and, perhaps, idiotic. So what? Let them write another “25 Things” in 5 years, or 10 or 25; taken together, the lists could make for a very poetic form of autobiography.