Like most of my work, HOW TO BE A PERSON is inspired by my bottomless well of embarrassment. The concept for the series is lifted directly from a bizarre coping mechanism I had as a teenager — which was to obsessively read “How To” manuals in search of instructions on everything from my first kiss to my first heartbreak. At that age, so much felt entirely out of my control, so the idea that life’s most formative experiences could be broken down into a step-by-step guide brought me a lot of illusory comfort. Of course, I didn’t know then what I know — which is that there are no instructions for life. No one has any idea what they’re doing. Everyone’s first kiss involves way too much saliva. We all make a mess of it, but we learn way more from the mess-making than we ever could from following instructions on how to be a person.