Brains

I met Bob Kerrey last week. He's the former Nebraska gov. who is now president of New School. I've seen a lot of him but I think that has to do more with the fact that school just started.

I was with Gray in my building and he was walking around with this woman who is always a couple of steps behind him. It's kind of annoying. And not in the "women shouldn't be walking behind men" way. It's more like, why does he need an entourage of one?

I overlooked this fact as he approached and after just having told Gray that there are some Vietnam issues in his past, I made sure to make eye contact with him. That's when the perfect politician moment came for him. He put out his hand and asked my name and wanted to know what I was studying. It was nice to meet him. Even though I'm sure he purged my name from his mind after stepping away, I've heard a couple of his speeches up to this point and he thinks highly of the Graduate Faculty. That makes me feel good.

Another thing I like is that the actors had their orientation last week and they were told that the Graduate Faculty consisted of the brains of the school. We had a block party last week and, once again, I found myself surrounded by actors. This time they had James Lipton with them. He's the host of "Inside the Actor's Studio," but I like him better the Will Farrell-portrayed (Saturday Night Live) way. He's shorter than I am. But it was nice standing right next to the man who's met the likes of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Whoopi Goldberg, Juliette Binoche, Gwyneth Paltrow....