CURVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (INTRO)

By: Adam McGovern
July 1, 2023

Introduction to a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of reconsidered passions, reassessed hates, and reversed feelings everywhere in-between. Series edited by Adam McGovern.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

We know what we like, but sometimes after a while we don’t recognize it.

What we value today we may despise tomorrow; what was sought after in youth might be barely noticed in maturity. People evolve and the course of public taste changes; algorithms are operating all night calculating where both these private impulses and external currents will go next.

But no matter how big the catalogue of our previous purchases, political donations, entertainment preferences and app-selected romantic partners may grow, it’s a portrait of the past. Nothing guarantees what our next move will be, and the same systems of commerce and culture that seek to lock it in, also flood us with a multitude of choices to change our minds.

Our decisions are made not to any fixed formula, but brewed in the unstable medium of social standards, stylistic trends, and whatever tribe we associate with this music genre or that milkshake flavor, and wish to count ourselves among. Or sometimes, in our current moment of reevaluated history and reconsidered identities, it can be a parting of ways with the person you thought you were.

This series collects 25 contributors’ views from that curve in the road. “First thought, best thought,” we’ve heard it said; but each of us has taken positions we later thought better of. Not regret, rejection or betrayal; just ideas, beliefs or tastes we’ve taken a turn away from. Far away. This is the territory traveled in CURVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM.

Tom Nealon rethinks personal inflexibility as once defined by his prescriptions for the proper pizza; Heather Quinlan reconsiders her position in the celebrity/fan compact as triggered by the baseball team that quit her.

Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons falls out of love with one longrunning TV series, while Nikhil Singh finds himself obsessed with a reality show he’d never dreamed of watching; Mandy Keifetz and Whitney Matheson note how different their fav movie and band respectively look and sound from the vantage points of free-range kid and obligated parent.

Illustration by Bishakh Som. Click for larger version.

Jeff Lewonczyk and Michele Carlo find common ground in childhood hunger-strikes against very different cuisines, while Bishakh Som and Mariane Cara make their separate peaces with concepts as divergent as summer and the color orange. Christopher-Rashee Stevenson revisits his hometown of Baltimore both literally and metaphysically, and Ronald Wimberly rebounds between classic computer-gaming and dystopian dating apps.

Does Art Wallace still believe in UFOs, and does Marlon Stern Lopez place his trust in revolution? Sometime in the next 11 weeks you’ll find out! And discover many more reflections on roads taken, retraced or left behind. Join us in negotiating this CURVE! Because while it’s the journey that matters, often it’s the left turns you learn the most from.

***

MORE ENTHUSIASM at HILOBROW

CURVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (INTRO)

Categories

Tags