We Believe in Zayn: A Friday Chat About Work and Connection

MEGHAN: Hi! I’m en route to Tucson.

NICOLE: Happy Friday! What awaits you in Tucson?

MEGHAN: My bf got his Ph.D. there, so we’re going to see some of his friends.

NICOLE: Oh fun! ASU, right?

MEGHAN: Yup! I’m nervous! Meeting his peeps for the first time. What should we chat about this week?

NICOLE: LOL I’m still thinking about all of the financial stress we all deal with.

MEGHAN: Oof.

NICOLE: And hey, world news isn’t that great either!

MEGHAN: I know! The worst!

NICOLE: What’s on your mind this week?

MEGHAN: Jian Ghomeshi, whether my boyfriend likes my parents, Brussels, Zayn’s new album. Also cacti.

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NICOLE: I am thinking about… two of those. I bet your boyfriend will like your parents. What’s up with Zayn’s new album?

MEGHAN: WELL. He dropped his first solo album today. Mind of Mine, one year after leaving One Direction. It’s great. It’s his coming out.

NICOLE: I’m looking at it on Billboard right now. That cover art is adorbs. Is that Baby Zayn, or a baby model?

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MEGHAN: Baby Zayn! I’m really proud of him, which is an odd emotion to have about someone I have no relationship with.

NICOLE: I don’t know if “pride” is the right word, but I’m always impressed when someone whose work I admire does something even better than their previous work.

MEGHAN: What else are you thinking about this Friday?

NICOLE: All the work I have to do today and this weekend. Most of it is fun work. I’m going to be at Norwescon talking about writing and creativity and money. But it is still work and I have to put it all together!

MEGHAN: What makes work fun for you?

NICOLE: Oh wow, Meghan, that is a HUGE question.

MEGHAN: I knooooowwwww.

NICOLE: But I think I have a decent answer, keeping in mind that I have only thought about it for the past 20 seconds.

MEGHAN: Lay it on me.

NICOLE: Fun work is work in which I get to share a part of myself with an audience likely to appreciate it. Like talking about writing and creativity and money.

MEGHAN: That exchange feels very important. That it is a two-way street.

NICOLE: YES. Which, by the way, totally ties in to Zayn’s album — which I am listening to right now and which is great.

MEGHAN: Nicole! That makes me so happy.

NICOLE: I didn’t listen to Hamilton until Mike told me I should. I am very happy to take recommendations, otherwise I’ll just listen to the same five albums I put on my phone two years ago.

MEGHAN: The 1D fandom is excruciatingly concerned with making sure the boys know they are being heard and received. That is so important to them, that the boys know they are loved and appreciated.

NICOLE: It makes sense. There’s so much emphasis on loving brands and brand loyalty. So being very clear that it’s about the person, not the brand is a key element of some fandoms.

MEGHAN: Yes, exactly.

NICOLE: I mean, I don’t know, I thought about that even less than I thought about the “what makes work fun” question.

MEGHAN: It’s about honouring them as individuals.

NICOLE: YES.

MEGHAN: It’s something that is often hard to find in writing, and it’s why I miss theatre — that level of communion.

NICOLE: YES YES YES. The comment culture, when it’s good, replicates a little bit of that. Social media did for a while. Some social media still does.

MEGHAN: It does, definitely. But it’s still a degree removed?

NICOLE: Right. (Also, I love BeFoUr. The harmonies!)

MEGHAN: (It’s so good Nicole! It’s so good.) Even though I would rather crush Zayn’s album to a pulp and drink it than go and speak like you’re doing, I am jealous that you get to connect to people like that!

NICOLE: I often feel like I can connect with people better in that type of structured environment (vs. hanging out with a bunch of strangers at a bar or party or whatever), which I’m not sure I feel all that great about. But I enjoy setting up spaces for people to discuss ideas, which is probably also why I consider blogging “fun work.”

MEGHAN: Channeling our social anxieties into tiny little mole people jobs.

NICOLE: We are not mole people! We are new media professionals! We are newing the media!

MEGHAN: For me, fun work is doing something wholly in the service of something else. So like, writing about Zayn. I believe very much in Zayn.

NICOLE: I like your definition of fun work. Also: WOW EVERY TRACK ON THIS ALBUM IS BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE

MEGHAN: This is your awakening! Zayn up.

NICOLE: I believe in Zayn too! You have made that connection.

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