Your favorite band is not my thing, but I admire your passion

February 5, 2022 1:02 PM

"Saying goodbye to Steve, the reader who commented on everything I wrote for 17 years" -- reflections after death closes the door on an exchange of correspondence between a journalist/music critic and an older reader who was always willing to give something a listen.
posted by drlith (11 comments total)

Best.Title.Ever.
posted by y2karl at 1:33 PM on February 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Here's a paywall-free link
posted by signsofrain at 2:44 PM on February 5, 2022 [5 favorites]

That is a nice story. Sometimes I find it astounding that any two humans can communicate at all. Some people are really good at it. I wish I was more like that.
posted by Glinn at 4:47 PM on February 5, 2022 [6 favorites]

That is the loveliest thing I've read in a long time. Thanks for sharing.
posted by mcbeth at 6:16 PM on February 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

This paean to curiosity and connection really hit me today. Thank you.
posted by brainwane at 7:14 PM on February 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

MetaFilter: tossing an affinity out there, and being pleasantly surprised when someone responds to your message in a bottle.
posted by MonkeyToes at 9:20 PM on February 5, 2022 [5 favorites]

Years ago I was a passionate 18 year old traveling through Europe. I ran into another American at a youth hostel somewhere along the way and we hung out for the day. At some point Bush Sr. came up and I set up to go into a long tirade and he simply said “I don’t think we agree so let’s not talk about it”. That has really stuck with me through the years, that you can not talk about politics and faith and still enjoy someone’s company. Seems like a simple thing but to a naïve 18 year old it was really enlightening.
posted by misterpatrick at 11:23 AM on February 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

This is really beautiful.
posted by delight at 2:58 PM on February 6, 2022

.
posted by adekllny at 5:44 PM on February 6, 2022

Back before social media, we all had friends like this, people from the company softball team or work lunch buddies or people you saw regularly at the pub. The friendship, if that is even the right word, lived in its own context and rarely expanded. Your college buddies would rarely meet your work lunch buddies, and when they did, it was usually an accident. Even web 2.0 didn't blow that up. Your Live Journal friends, or the regulars from the comments of a frequently visited blog comments section, typically had zero overlap with anybody in the real world.

Facebook pretty much blew that up, with all those folks ending up in your wall and making it impossible to continue ignoring that the one person from the blog comments with always insightful thoughts is a serious bigot in real life, or whatever.

This was really nice, and I think we'd all be better off if we could maintain relationships like this today.
posted by COD at 5:45 PM on February 6, 2022 [5 favorites]

I love the idea of defining ourselves by how we respond to new things, rather than what we know.

Thanks for sharing.
posted by freethefeet at 9:49 PM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]