Ordinary Life

There are just so many stories out there that are never heard. Millions of interesting people, and thousands of fascinating ones, living lives made anonymous by the fact that nobody ever bothered talking to them and asking them to reflect on where they are, how they got here, and where they see themselves going. Instead, the media dwells on the famous, the glamorous, the star-powered (temporary) marriages, the gorgeously empty people who have nothing worthwhile to say. Those whose sole purpose for opening up is to shill their latest movie.

I'd love to start a magazine called "Common Man: Celebrating Ordinary Life." It would be entirely devoted to interviewing everyday people, the kind who fly completely under the media's radar, asking them about their lives, their dreams, their fears, their quirks. Studs Terkel would be an obvious influence, though the magazine would be more freeform and less thematically-based than Terkel's books. The only drawback I see, other than the likely lack of marketability, is that my inward nature makes me more observer than interviewer. But maybe a project like this would draw me out of my shell. We'll see.