A Friend Indeed
In my quest to read thirty-six thousand books this summer, I've recently begun on Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point. The book is about what Gladwell calls "the tipping point" (duh), which describes how certain phenomenal events (or combinations of a few) make the status quo change very quickly. The running example in the book is about how Hush Puppies, after being ridiculously lame for many years, suddenly made a gigantic comeback. It must have started somewhere--and he places the credit (or blame?) with three types of people--connectors, mavens, and salesmen.
You probably know someone of each type, if you think about it hard enough. Salesmen have a natural charisma that allows them to convince you to do something you may not want to do, without you knowing they even changed your mind. The example he gives is that during the '88 presidential race, for some reason or another Peter Jennings always smiled when he talked about Ronald Reagan (even though independent observers said that ABC's news coverage was anti-Reagan if anything). In turn, it was found that viewers of ABC were remarkably more likely to vote for Reagan in '88.
The second type of person, a maven, is the one I found hard to place. I have maven-ish qualities, but mavens are completely un-snobby, according to Gladwell--so obviously, I'm not a maven. A maven is an information gather and supplier. Mavens notice stuff like where to find the cheapest deals everywhere, and they tell you--sometimes even without you asking. I found that it's hard for me to find a maven among my friends because I generally either ignore mavens' advice or don't converse with them because they annoy me. They're not snobby, and 9 out of 10 times I didn't know the information they were telling me, but I don't like being told things like I didn't already know them. Anyway, mavens do this because they want to help people.
When I read about connectors, there was one person on my mind the whole time...who I'll reveal later. A connector is a person who knows people. Lots of people. They make friends easily, and this helps them make more friends. They're the Kevin Bacon in our Six Degrees of Separation.
Now, maybe it's because I've known him for almost my entire life, but I owe pretty much everything to Jake Kurz. He's my connector. He might not fit all the qualities of the ideal connector perfectly, but I've never met a more lovable, friendly guy, and those are the two most important qualities.
Jake told me the other day that DJ's going to start calling him Jack. I told him he's going to have to start driving a Corvette and smoking Marlboros, which he was fine with. I can't see Jake being that kind of cool. Jake's not prototypically cool, mostly because he's not an asshole. I've never known any cool kids to take time out of their lives to do stuff like Best Buddies, much less wanting to make a career out of it. He's always looking out for his friends.
I remember one night I couldn't hang out with Jake, and I was disappointed. There was a party at one of his friend's houses, but it was a small thing, and I respected that. About a half hour later, I found out my sister had been invited to the party at the last minute, and I went from disappointed to pissed. Jake proceeded to rip the responsible party a new asshole.
Jake's got class and loyalty. He's honest and clever. Every time someone I know meets him for the first time, they tell me how hilarious he is afterwards. I have so many memories that would have left my mind a long time ago if Jake wasn't there to make them worth remembering.
I think I'm going to start trying to call him Jack, too, maybe for selfish interests. I've never had a friend named Jack and I've always wanted to. I can't guarantee it'll catch on, though. For me, the name "Jake" is defined by all the things I admire about him. I couldn't imagine him having another name.
This is Kevin Doran, signing off.
You probably know someone of each type, if you think about it hard enough. Salesmen have a natural charisma that allows them to convince you to do something you may not want to do, without you knowing they even changed your mind. The example he gives is that during the '88 presidential race, for some reason or another Peter Jennings always smiled when he talked about Ronald Reagan (even though independent observers said that ABC's news coverage was anti-Reagan if anything). In turn, it was found that viewers of ABC were remarkably more likely to vote for Reagan in '88.
The second type of person, a maven, is the one I found hard to place. I have maven-ish qualities, but mavens are completely un-snobby, according to Gladwell--so obviously, I'm not a maven. A maven is an information gather and supplier. Mavens notice stuff like where to find the cheapest deals everywhere, and they tell you--sometimes even without you asking. I found that it's hard for me to find a maven among my friends because I generally either ignore mavens' advice or don't converse with them because they annoy me. They're not snobby, and 9 out of 10 times I didn't know the information they were telling me, but I don't like being told things like I didn't already know them. Anyway, mavens do this because they want to help people.
When I read about connectors, there was one person on my mind the whole time...who I'll reveal later. A connector is a person who knows people. Lots of people. They make friends easily, and this helps them make more friends. They're the Kevin Bacon in our Six Degrees of Separation.
Now, maybe it's because I've known him for almost my entire life, but I owe pretty much everything to Jake Kurz. He's my connector. He might not fit all the qualities of the ideal connector perfectly, but I've never met a more lovable, friendly guy, and those are the two most important qualities.
Jake told me the other day that DJ's going to start calling him Jack. I told him he's going to have to start driving a Corvette and smoking Marlboros, which he was fine with. I can't see Jake being that kind of cool. Jake's not prototypically cool, mostly because he's not an asshole. I've never known any cool kids to take time out of their lives to do stuff like Best Buddies, much less wanting to make a career out of it. He's always looking out for his friends.
I remember one night I couldn't hang out with Jake, and I was disappointed. There was a party at one of his friend's houses, but it was a small thing, and I respected that. About a half hour later, I found out my sister had been invited to the party at the last minute, and I went from disappointed to pissed. Jake proceeded to rip the responsible party a new asshole.
Jake's got class and loyalty. He's honest and clever. Every time someone I know meets him for the first time, they tell me how hilarious he is afterwards. I have so many memories that would have left my mind a long time ago if Jake wasn't there to make them worth remembering.
I think I'm going to start trying to call him Jack, too, maybe for selfish interests. I've never had a friend named Jack and I've always wanted to. I can't guarantee it'll catch on, though. For me, the name "Jake" is defined by all the things I admire about him. I couldn't imagine him having another name.
This is Kevin Doran, signing off.
posted by Kevin A. Doran at 6:23 AM
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