MindCasts
Working in customer service -- even in a library -- you come across so many daft brains and unresponsive eyes -- that you can fall into thinking the entire world has forgotten how to think an interesting, crooked line, forgotten how to do anything but use their cash-eye coordination. Depressing.
When you hear about anyone with an actual tick upstairs, all you hear is "They are SO smart!" Well, that hardly describes the complexity and variety of all the minds I am lucky enough to rub elbows with.
And then I think of older fiction that actually attempted to DESCRIBE folks' noggins, what the cast of their thought was like. Which makes me think of the peeps I know -- and their qualities of thought. Examples:
Humor: Dark and impish? Forgiving and leveling? Bitingly satirical? Adolescent, bodily? Self-deprecating?
Pace: Impish and sporadic? Easy-going and patient? Multi-tasking? Caffeine-injected and focused?
Quality of imagination: Detail-oriented? Associative and symbolic? Philosophical? Moral? Attentive to system? Rebelious?
I find it interesting that my own vocabulary for people's qualities of thought has become incredibly narrowed, sometimes by default limiting my abililty to recognize, describe, and appreciate the amazing quirks of one of the most fascinating parts of any person.
And that would be a shame -- as surrounded by characters as I am and always have been.
Resolve, resolve ....
When you hear about anyone with an actual tick upstairs, all you hear is "They are SO smart!" Well, that hardly describes the complexity and variety of all the minds I am lucky enough to rub elbows with.
And then I think of older fiction that actually attempted to DESCRIBE folks' noggins, what the cast of their thought was like. Which makes me think of the peeps I know -- and their qualities of thought. Examples:
Humor: Dark and impish? Forgiving and leveling? Bitingly satirical? Adolescent, bodily? Self-deprecating?
Pace: Impish and sporadic? Easy-going and patient? Multi-tasking? Caffeine-injected and focused?
Quality of imagination: Detail-oriented? Associative and symbolic? Philosophical? Moral? Attentive to system? Rebelious?
I find it interesting that my own vocabulary for people's qualities of thought has become incredibly narrowed, sometimes by default limiting my abililty to recognize, describe, and appreciate the amazing quirks of one of the most fascinating parts of any person.
And that would be a shame -- as surrounded by characters as I am and always have been.
Resolve, resolve ....