I LIKE PEOPLE WHO ARE OBSESSED WITH SOMETHING.

I like the person who notices every window. Not because every window needs to be noticed, but because attention has become a practice rather than a mood. The collector knows which edition has the better paper. The designer can tell when a chair is trying too hard.

“The work is to stay near the things that make you curious.”

Obsession is often described as excess, and sometimes it is. It can make a person difficult at dinner. But there is generosity in knowing a thing closely. The obsessed person returns detail to the world. They make a street, a song, a garment, or a building less anonymous.

I do not want to become an authority on everything. I want a few subjects that keep opening. A room where the light changes and there is still something to see.