Our latest book is one of our best! Not only does it explain numerous novel insights about how to form deep connections, but it’s very enjoyable to read, with half the chapters written as a fictional story about a Chicago newspaper reporter who gets assigned to write a viral article about, vaguely, “What people want.”
She soon realizes that what people want is deep, satisfying connection, and the rest of the book explores and reveals how to make that happen.
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And to get you started, here are the first few chapters about Jane’s quest:
Chapter 2: Quest
“Consarn it, people!” Larry shouted through the office. “We need a human-interest piece for the Sunday edition, and it’s gotta be good!! Better than good!”
The various reporters and section chiefs kept their eyes studiously glued to their computer screens, hoping not to get noticed by the senior editor and assigned extra work.
“Jane!” Larry shouted, selecting her from across the room despite her best efforts to crouch down and hide behind her monitor. “What are you working on?”
“I’m up to my neck in the suicide surge.”
“Not good enough! We need something warm and fuzzy! Something to show the Trib they’re not the only ones who can go viral with a fluff piece!”
Well, that explains it, thought Jane. The Tribune ran a story two days ago revealing the human side of sanitation workers, and it had caught on via social media all around the world. It presented a rather ingenious blend of facts, humor, disgust, irony, and the tough-but-tender sarcasm of Chicago’s garbage collectors and their bizarre you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up experiences while picking up trash.
Now Larry’s pride, or ego, or competitive attitude, as he called it, needed do the same, in order to prove that his paper wasn’t second rate to the big guys in their fancy building down by the river.
Jane tried to think of an excuse, or some way to deflect Larry’s attention away from her and onto someone else, but she hesitated a moment too long.
“Go find it!” Larry commanded. “Figure out what people want, and give it to them! We’re all counting on you, Jane. Knock it out o’ the park.”
Great, Jane thought. There goes my week. It was only Tuesday morning, which would have left her plenty of time if only she knew what she was looking for. She’d better figure it out quick.
But whatever. It would be fine. This was just part of the job, and this sort of thing didn’t happen too often. Her suicide story could wait a few more days. It was mostly filled with facts and quotes from mental health professionals, and those wouldn’t change by next week.
“And I’d like to see a draft of the suicide piece by tomorrow morning,” Larry added.
Jane slumped in her chair and sighed. It was gonna be a long week.
Discussion Quotes & Questions
- What do you think people want most? What do you think Jane should write the article about?
- Is what people want and what they need the same thing? Explain why or why not.
Chaper 7: Quick Fix
Jane dropped her computer and mini recorder into her bag, tossed her bag over one shoulder, and left the office.
She would have to think about her new assignment later, because right now, she had an interview scheduled with a high school guidance counselor who had been fighting to stem the tide of despair and bullying and other pressures among his studentbody in hopes of helping them survive, at least until graduation.
She grabbed some lunch on her way, then walked across the street to Millennial Park and sat watching people wander around the giant mirror-surfaced bean while she ate.
The sculpture itself was amazing. It bent the light in the most surprising ways, and looked like something aliens might deliver to earth as either a sign of peace and good will or a trojan horse designed to study our primitive species and then take over our minds. It’s official name, Cloud Gate, only served to reinforce that impression.
In reality, it wasn’t the artwork itself that caught and held everyone’s attention, but seeing themselves reflected in its shiny surface. They delighted in it. They walked toward and away and underneath, all the while watching their reflections grow and fade and contort. They took out their phones and snapped selfie after selfie to share on social media. They pointed and posed and laughed and could scarcely tear their eyes away from their reflections.
“What do people want?” Jane asked herself quietly between bites of her pizza slice. “And how can I give it to them?
“Well,” she began as she studied the creatures before her as if she were the observing alien, “we’re obviously obsessed with ourselves.”
Her eyes looked beyond the shiny bean toward Navy Pier, and she thought of the two-hundred-foot-tall Centennial Wheel and other carnival-style rides there. “And we like distraction,” Jane continued. “Once basic needs get met, we pursue fun, or relaxation, and pleasure.”
But there must be something more, something better! she thought to herself. Something more deeply satisfying.
She finished the last of her pizza and got ready to walk back to the train and her interview. There’d better be something better, she reasoned next, because none of this could possibly top the Tribune story.
She continued combing through her thoughts as the train jostled from station to station. It should be something fairly durable, not just fleeting, but that doesn’t take too much effort.
Americans didn’t like hard work, not when it came to their enjoyments. Sure, plenty of people loved to climb mountains and run marathons and learn languages and discover ancient Spanish gold at the bottom of the ocean, but that wasn’t the sort of thing she could sell to relaxed readers glancing lazily through the paper over Sunday brunch.
She needed something not too difficult, yet extremely satisfying. A quick and easy fix. A harmless miracle pill. But those don’t exist in the real world. Do they?
Her train of thought derailed when she realized she was coming up on her stop, and she moved toward the doors as the train slowed, along with a small crowd of fellow passengers.
She watched them all as they stood, clinging to seat-back handrails or walls or dangling plastic loops, bracing against the shifting momentum of the train.
She noted their differences first, how the diverse crowd included representatives from at least three different races, at least two genders, and a variety of ages, ranging from young twenties to fifties or possibly sixties.
Next, she noted their similarities. The way everyone, including herself, all stood together quietly, not speaking or making eye contact, together yet separate.
She found the crowd endlessly interesting, and couldn’t help but wonder what they were thinking, where they were going, who was waiting for them at the other end of their commute, and above all, what they wanted.
Wanted from life in general, and from today, and tomorrow, and most of all, from Sunday morning and from her upcoming amazing, brilliantly insightful, mind-blowing, earth-shattering, life-altering article.
She would take up her quest again soon. She would find her quick fix and write her article and change the world, if at all possible.
And if not, Larry would just have to deal with it.
Chaper 10: Miracle Pill
Mr. Jefferson was on the phone with a parent when a secretary ushered Jane into his office. He motioned for her to take a seat and held up two fingers to indicate that he’d be with her soon.
“So,” he said after hanging up the phone a minute later, “you said you’re writing an article about teen suicide? And you wanted to ask me a few questions about my views on it?”
“That’s correct,” Jane confirmed. “What with you working right here in the trenches, I thought you might have some valuable insights or things to say about it.”
“Do I ever!!” Mr. Jefferson almost thundered. Jane started, her head jerking backward instinctively, and she couldn’t decide whether he looked angry or insane or like he was on the verge of breaking down and sobbing.
Passionate, was the word she settled on. He clearly feels very passionate about this topic. I’ve come to the right place.
Mr. Jefferson ranted for a few minutes about the social, financial, academic, and other pressures that his students endured, the challenges of dealing with social media along with their still-developing brains and self-image, how teachers were overworked and couldn’t take the place of the kids’ parents, how the parents were often overworked and couldn’t be there for their kids the way they’d like to, how social programs could only do so much, and on and on and on.
“These kids,” he explained as he drew to the close of his monolog, “some of them are half-dead inside long before they become dead outside.
“Don’t quote me on that,” he added. “That sounds way too raw.”
Jane nodded her ascent.
“Do you know what I’d really like to see discussed more widely, Ms. Passeneau?”
Jane raised her eyebrows and leaned her head forward slightly toward him, inviting him to continue.
“Prevention!” he declared in ringing tones. “I’d like to see us tackle this problem before it even begins! I’d like to see us save these children’s lives long before they even think about buying a gun or stealing a bottle of pills or stepping in front of a train. I believe that’s the only battlefield where we can win this war.”
“And what does prevention look like?” Jane asked. She already had the quotes she needed for her article, but Mr. Jefferson clearly wanted to talk for a while longer, so she coaxed him along.
“It looks like connection!” he boomed passionately again.
“There you go again, Samuel!” said a voice from the next office over. “Up on your soapbox.”
“Because I’m right!” Samuel declared toward the disembodied voice. “And you know I am, Ronald!
“If these kids could see themselves for one second the way I see them,” Mr. Jefferson continued, turning his attention back to Jane, “I swear it would change their lives forever.” Tears welled up in his eyes now, and he didn’t wipe one away when it spilled down his cheek.
“They’re so beautiful!” he continued, “So amazing! They have so much promise, so much going for them, no matter how they feel about their situation!”
Jane’s voice caught in her throat, caught up as she had become in Mr. Jefferson’s fervor, and she could do nothing but nod in agreement.
“We’ve all but forgotten what connection even means! What it looks like! We oughta take a tiny, tiny slice from the military budget and use it to teach people how to live together in peace and harmony, rather than how to kill each other, or ourselves!
“Anyway, connection is easy,” he concluded. “It’s simple. It’s effective. It’s deeply rewarding for everyone involved and it doesn’t cost the taxpayer a dime!”
“A miracle pill,” Jane whispered thoughtfully, an imaginary light bulb beginning to glow above her head.
“Exactly!” Samuel affirmed, stabbing one finger in the air for emphasis. “See?!” he shouted toward Ronald’s office. “She gets it! Maybe you should read her article so you can catch up with the rest of the class!”
Yes, thought Jane. My article. Not the suicide one, but its very own, glorious, Sunday-morning, society section, above-the-fold exposé all about the miracle pill of human connection.
That’s what people want. That’s what people need. And she was about to figure it out and deliver it to them in a way they could not possibly misunderstand.
Discussion Quotes & Questions
- At this point, before reading the rest of this book, on a scale from one to ten, how passionate do you feel about human connection? Why?
- Do you believe that connection can be taught, and that it’s as simple and easy as Mr. Jefferson declares?
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” ― Desmond Tutu
- Do you believe that human connection could serve as an effective antidote to people who lose hope and get caught in downward spirals of unhealthy lifestyles? Why or why not?
- “You learn to love yourself in the context of your relationships with others.” – Esther Perel
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