TBT #31, Part I: It’s in his eyes

This post was originally written by Pearle Tuason.

I thought I would do something different, since the very act of my posting on this site is different from the norm here. For those in need of a formal introduction, I’m Pearle, an old friend of Matt’s, and this is his blog. I’ve been privvy to a large amount of his writings over the years, and, interestingly enough, he rarely writes about himself in any sort of direct way — he would rather let himself permeate his writing and then pass it on to you. Appropriate, given the subtlety of his nature, and yet too bad, because he’s — well, it would be difficult to encapsulate him in one or two words. Every day, I’m reminded of who he is, by what I see around me now, and what I’ve seen with him.

And so this is where I’ll try to be different, while I have the ability to do so: every night, different thoughts about him and his writing, presented in a way that’s a bit more direct than the norm. The goal: to show Matt and his work as I see them both, for those who want to know more about the person who writes to you every week.

This is the best thing ever for February 22, 2005.

I meet a lot of people in my line of work. I meet a lot more at church, on the street, some new, a few old, all varied and, to be honest, incomprehensible. You might be listening to a woman on the other side of the phoneline, one who’s yelling at you for trying to help her fix something, and think “She’s got to be crazy.” You might be talking to one of your friends from work and he’s asking you why you don’t feel like talking, and, knowing full well that, in order for you to answer the question, you’d have to talk, you push the aggravation inside you away just enough to think to yourself, “You’re crazy, man.”

If you think about it long enough, though, you’ll eventually come to the idea that you’re only thinking these people are crazy because of your perspective on things. I mean, it’s only a matter of time before you meet someone who’ll look at you and go “Man, she’s got to be crazy.”

So tonight I was making my way up to bed, thinking about all the crazy people in my life, including myself, and how some people, including myself again, drive me insane, and I got to the question of why we’re all insane. It’s because we can’t see each other as well as we would all like.

And then I got to thinking if there was anyone out there who didn’t drive me insane. Matt’s one of them, to be sure. You might try telling the lamest joke ever, and he’ll still find a way to laugh at it, if only just because you’re laughing at it yourself. You might be a million miles away from him, having the worst day of your life, and somehow he can lighten the load. Seriously, he can do those things; easily, he’s one of the most sympathetic, empathetic people I’ve ever had the fortune of meeting.

I’ll tell you what his secret is, too: it’s because of the way he sees people. It’s embodied in the various characters he’s created over the years for the writings hosted here and elsewhere. His characterizations are efficiently rich, vivid, and so so human. You saw it in the rage of a frustrated man in An Ending and the sweetness of first lovers in Spoken Word. Factor in the idea that, you know, he doesn’t spend THAT much time sketching these characters out, and what you have is the notion that all his characters come from the heart.

It’s a gift, it truly is. And the people who’re lucky enough to be with him get to witness it first hand. That’s the reason why it’s so easy to connect with him, so easy to go out and have fun with him, and talk to him on even the most serious of levels. He can just see people that clearly. It’s in his eyes.