I almost took the line about being uninterested in happiness out, since it felt like a non sequitur. I completely agree with you that we are told to be obsessed with other things that will supposedly bring us happiness but then never do – acquisition, falling, redemption. I would add to that list that we are supposed to be relentlessly seeking certain kinds of success – being thin, making money – as if once we get these things we will be happy, but then we are constantly told that we haven’t reached the target yet, so we don’t get to be happy yet.

As odd as it sounds, I was kind of thinking of the Tolstoy quote at the beginning of Anna Karenina when I wrote it “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Though having a quote from a famous writer doesn’t make me right, and on one level this statement is obviously not true – not all happy families can be the same. But how do you have a story without the drama of some kind of unhappiness? I think that quote is asserting that you can’t. Where does the conflict come from? What needs to be resolved? And I’m really asking you, since I know you love stories. You clearly can’t have a capitalist economy without a constant stream of messages about how we should be unhappy now but will be happy if we just buy this thing, but can you have a story?

I’m going to think about this more.

Off to brunch, with you! I love brunch so much.

i think i once, happy and in love, wrote a poem about love-induced happiness and how it’s boring.

i agree with you about love as a shared experience being boring, but i actually think love as an individual feeling for another is fascinating. if that line in the sand makes any sense to you.

we think happiness is boring, as a country, and that, i think, is a serious problem that should be addressed.

but i agree there’s little point talking about love, partly because if you’re lucky enough to be in love you should shut up about it so that you don’t attract the evil eye.