Hi Herb,

Thanks for the question. It’s difficult to get around the standard questions — it would be odd to ask an interesting question without first learning basic information like the person’s name, for example. So I try to ask the “safe” questions first to acquaint, but within a few minutes hope to move on to something more meaningful for both of us.

“I’m curious” functions as a nice transition to start asking non-standard questions.

At the house party, I asked several non-standard questions, including who the social workers would vote for (they said Elizabeth Warren), what the Mennonite believes about technology, and why a flexitarian chooses to not eat animal products — I was genuinely curious in learning from them, without judging, and I found their answers and stories absolutely fascinating.