I love reading the annual announcement of the MacArthur Foundation “genius grants.” This year’s crop is science-heavy, unlike some previous years when (as I recall) more humanists made the cut.
But this year, I actually have a (verrrrry) weak personal connection with one of the awardees: in June 2006, I sat about three feet from Miguel Zenón at the Village Vanguard jazz club in New York, and enjoyed his incredible sax playing. After the show, I literally bumped into him as I came out of the men’s room. I said, “Nice playing!” and he said, “Thanks.” Who’s the genius, huh?
This is tangentially related. It’s about bumping into people. Why is it that people act as if Sarah Palin were the first woman to run for VP? Does no one remember Geraldine Ferarro? I mention this because, in graduate school, I was once late for class and came barreling around a corner in the art building and “bumped into” Geraldine Ferarro’s daughter, who was an undergrad at Brown. I full-body slammed into her and sent her books flying out of her arms. Amy Carter was at Brown at the time, too. You literally couldn’t run down the hall at Brown in the 1980s without running into the child of some down-and-out Democrat.
Wonderful “bumping-into” stories!!!!! I once bumped into Gallagher in Madison, WI. Not quite genius level, but fun all the same.
Rob, Brown sounds like some sort of refuge for the children of failed liberals. Is it the name? Kinda down, kinda blah?
Mnmom, did he whack you over the head with a giant plastic hammer?
Is he of the, “my nose is famous” trip?
That’s right – my nose, in the NY Times.