John Hodgman

Drove over to Salem College after work Friday for hors d'oeuvres, wine, discussion, book signings, photos, mingling, and VIP seating within an austere and bucolic setting. Salem College was the setting. John Hodgman was the reason. Sound elitist? I hope so, you fucking bloody commoner!

Brandy and robustos in the drawing room, anyone? From April, 2008:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Hodgman - Elitist Persecution
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

A book tour commenced to celebrate the paperback release of his book More Information Than You Require. Winston-Salem was the only North Carolina stop on his tour. Heard about it on NPR as the alarm clock went off one morning at 7am. In a sleepy haze I thought I heard that John Hodgman was coming to Winston-Salem. No, that couldn't be true. Alas, upon checking WFDD's website, it was TRUE! Instead of the usual 7:00pm auditorium-only ticket, I opted for the 5:30pm pre-show meet-n-greet on campus. What a treat! Hodgman was genuinely pleased to meet those of us who were there. With a warm and caring smile he engaged us all individually with empathy and care. It was really pretty sweet.

Books were signed. Wine was drunk, specifically for me the Cupcake Merlot. Photos were taken. Schmoozing and mingling were occurring. Then it was time to walk over from the fancy campus house to the auditorium and our VIP front 4 row seats. Life is indeed difficult. He spoke for almost two hours in a loosely moderated Q&A forum.

It was indeed a fantastic evening.

Paul Krugman

Tuuesday November 3rd and it was time for another Guilford College Bryan Series lecture, this time with Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman. It was a sobering evening of financial crises, looming despair, and "avoiding catastrophe but facing tragedy". Ugh.

Not blessed with the business mind, I found myself wandering at times. A heavy topic that SHOULD hold my attention, but business and economics and accounting hold no interest for me. A speaker whose merits and knowledge are unsurpassed, yet I struggled to pay attention. I struggled to decipher the topic.

You can see a clip here as embedding is not authorized into websites.

Paul Krugman—Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Paul Krugman is an American economist, columnist, author and intellectual. He is a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, a centenary professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences “for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.” Krugman is well-known in academia for his work in international economics, including trade theory, economic geography and international finance. His most recent books are The Return of Depression Economics and The Conscience of a Liberal.

Read and respond to Paul Krugman's New York Times blog here.

Yo-Yo Ma

A bonus program in the Guilford College Bryan Series of lectures, Monday October 26 saw a concert performance and discussion session with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Third row seats in the orchestra pit. VIP, baby! It was intriguing and engaging. He discussed various levels and pockets of development in his life. I was mesmerized.

No embedding onto websites, so you have to go to YouTube for a brief discussion clip here. His main focus on performance was the Bach Cello Suite. He talked about it being the first cello piece he learned. He broke it down for us all. Pattern recognition is the foundation of most of life. Listen to the patterns. Listen to the repeating theme. Beautiful.

Garry Trudeau

Doonesbury in a Time of War.

Wednesday night was the first lecture in the 2009-10 Guilford College Bryan Series The American Experience. Doonesbury cartoonist and satirist Garry B. Trudeau was the speaker. The topic was his coverage of various wars from Vietnam to the present with main character D.B. and his multiple stints and tours in the military. For background and context of his strips, Trudeau makes it a point to go behind the scenes and immerse himself in the story. Trips to Kuwait, Walter Reed Army Hospital, etc. help give the story relevance. If memory doesn't fail me, it was a longer talk than previous ones. Full of historical Doonesbury strips on the screen to augment his talk and give a timeline. Vietnam, Grenada, the Cold War, Iraq I, September 11, Iraq II: all were topics of social commentary in 4 panels in the newspaper. An interesting lecture from an otherwise quiet and publicly mysterious satirist.

Here's a clip posted on the Bryan Series Facebook page (yes, even a lecture series has a Facebook page):

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1125525619636&ref=mf

Garry Trudeau—Wed., Oct. 7, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Garry Trudeau created the cartoon Doonesbury (in 1970), now syndicated to almost 1,400 newspapers worldwide. In 1975, he became the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer at the time, since it is traditionally awarded to editorial-page cartoonists. He was also a Pulitzer finalist in 1990. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1977 in the category of Animated Short Film. Trudeau has been called “far and away the most influential editorial cartoonist of our time.” He is married to the former broadcaster Jane Pauley and maintains a low personal profile.

Anna Quindlen

Tuesday night was the final night in the 2008-09 Guilford College lecture series. The speaker? Anna Quindlen.

It was refreshingly better than I had expected. I guess going in I thought this would be the weakest of the bunch this season, but it was surprisingly entertaining.

As a commentator, columnist, social critic, Quindlen manages to grab a rope and pull down huge national issues to the common citizen viewpoint. Her first person view on national stage issues and how they relate to regular people is unique.

Giving me a huge smile tonight, she expounded on reading and its place in society. Reading gives you a window to other worlds. Reading places you in the mind of authors long gone. Reading holds a solid spot in our daily life...as it should.

She held up a sheet of paper with the words: Call me Ishmael. What does that mean? Sure, it's the first line of Melville's epic Moby Dick, but it is more? Is it just a sentence? Is it something else? To the common 3-year-old it means nothing. A curvy line, a round one, then two straight black marks on white paper. That's all. But eventual learning and mind development allows us to appreciate this sentence. A simple sentence that over 150 years later gives meaning and purpose and basis for debate and reflection. Intriguing.

With the current state of the economy, she lamented the possible cut in library funding. What would endanger us as a society more over the long haul (do not think myopically in the short term here, think long term)....cutting library or defense budgets? What would harm us day-to-day as a people more?

She states empathy is a tennant of humanity. Reading allows you to feel empathy towards the protagonist, antagonist, author. So essentially, reading helps define what humanity is. Deep.

All in all, an evening that left me with a smile on my face and a refreshing take on her public speaking. I don't know why I thought it would be weak. Maybe I foresaw a "girlie" talk. Who knows. But it was great.

2009-10 starts up in October. Mailers go out first of May. An easy renewal for me.

Sir Salman Rushdie

Yup. You read that correctly.

Author, political critic, and dare I say humorist Sir Salman Rushdie paid a visit to Greensboro last night for the next installment in the Guilford College lecture series: Literature and Politics in the Modern World. Riveting. Fatwa be damned!!!

At one time, novels were one of the main sources for news and information concerning the world around us. Take Charles Dickens. Whether it was reporting on substandard children's orphanages or frankly inventing a lot of Christmas, his novels reported on the state of the world, fomenting change where needed. With the multitude of avenues to receive news nowadays, some say today's novels fall by the wayside and do not provide this service to society anymore. Rushdie says hogwash.

When the state mandates that Item A is the "truth", and an author writes a novel from his/her own perspective and states the TRUE Item B in their book, the author has become a political author.

The differing importance of the Napoleonic Wars to Tolstoy and Austen are interesting. Tolstoy brings a version of the Russian front in War and Peace from his own perspective, virtually bringing to light a worldview of the Russian military leader Kutuzov that stems mainly from the book's exploits versus more timid real-time "newsy" accounts. Jane Austen uses military figures in her romance novels merely as pretty party guests in impeccable attire, nevermind the war of the time that was ravaging. The war did not affect her lifestyle as it did Tolstoy.

The novel is not a mouthpiece of the state, a nation, a religion, a cause. The novel is the perspective of the author alone; the thoughts and vision of the world through the eyes of the author. The novel still has a place in the world for political and newsy topics.

Afterward, I had the privilege to have three books signed by Rushdie. Invigorating. So cool to meet the man. The line was immense and time was short, so no personal photo op with him. But he's caught for posterity signing my books, including the eponymous The Satanic Verses.

Christiane Amanpour and James Rubin

Tuesday night was the next lecture in our Guilford College lecture series. This time, "America and the World" with CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour and her husband, former assistant Secretary of State James Rubin.

The discussion was America's place in the world, the world's view of America, and the changing relationships between America and the world.

Amanpour spoke for about 30 minutes, then Rubin for 30, then a Q&A for about 30 minutes.

It was interesting to say the least. Amanpour is truly a world traveler and has interviewed many heads of state and common citizens throughout the world. Her travel resume is extensive. However, it seemed that she was rushing to squeeze in any interview anecdote she could within her time frame. Not too much detail. She could have expounded more on some topics instead of hurrying on to begin the next "Oh and then I interviewed so-and-so...."

Rubin, more reserved and stately, spoke of his experiences in the State Department and the goings on with that cabinet position. I'd hoped to hear more from him about his thoughts and stories, but Amanpour is the face on TV and the star of the night, so it was her voice heard most. A fascinatingly mesmerizing voice, but a little too much grandstanding for our tastes.

Khaled Hosseini

Our first lecture in the newest year's installment of the Guilford College series was Friday night: Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. The Afghanistan native and his family were relocated to Paris by the Afghan Foreign Ministry in 1976. In 1980, the family was to return to Afghanistan, but instead were granted asylum in the United States to flee the Soviet invasion. He then earned a medical degree and practiced medicien from 1996 to 2004. He had then fallen head first for his first love: writing. The Kite Runner was published in 2003 and thereafter made into a film; and A Thousand Splendid Suns published in 2007. He has since been named envoy to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

He spoke of his life, his books, and the process involved in publishing those books. Afghanistan was "old news" literary agents told him over The Kite Runner, the "headline" at the time was Iraq now. His books were the first to really showcase the Afghan people in a light other than terrorist, Taliban, refugees, or dealers in the narcotics trade. He spoke of current events in his native land, and the positives and negatives of a U.S. military presence there. The window of opportunity to save the country may be closing, he believes. But the Afghans are a fiercely independent nation. Once the U.S. is seen as an occupier and not a guest, all hope will be lost.

An intriguing insight into one man's view of his homeland and its place on the world stage. Fascinating.

Speaking of Guilford College lectures...

The 2008-2009 series was announced (and we've already paid up) and it looks to be a good one! Even if there are no Ohio Northern graduates but rather a substandard John Carroll graduate involved. Tee hee hee. ;-) That is the one to get seats for! Tim Russert, a favorite House of Gordon talking head? A mere two weeks after Election Day? Too too cool.

Khaled Hosseini - Oct. 14, 2008, 7:30 p.m.

Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, where his father was a diplomat with the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught high school. In 1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated the family to Paris. In 1980, they were ready to return to Kabul, but Afghanistan had witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States. He earned a medical degree from the University of California-San Diego’s School of Medicine, completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, and was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004. In 2001, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner. Published in 2003, it has become an international best-seller. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, was published in May 2007. In 2006, Hosseini was named a goodwill envoy to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Tim Russert - Nov. 18, 2008, 7:30 p.m.

Russert is the managing editor and moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press since 1991, as well as political analyst for NBC Nightly News and Today. Russert serves as senior vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News. He anchors The Tim Russert Show, a weekly interview program on MSNBC. His two books—Big Russ and Me in 2004 and Wisdom of Our Fathers in 2006—were New York Times No. 1 best-sellers. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., he is a graduate of John Carroll University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. He was admitted to the bar in New York and the District of Columbia. Before joining NBC News, he served as counselor in Gov. Mario Cuomo’s office and was chief of staff to Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He has lectured at the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Reagan Presidential Libraries.

Sir Salman Rushdie - Feb. 10, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Rushdie is author of the international best-sellers Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses. The former was recipient of the Man Booker Prize and the latter was deemed sacrilegious by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa against him in 1989. Despite that proclamation and the international controversy that followed, Rushdie went on to produce some of his most compelling work, including The Moor’s Last Sigh and The Ground Beneath Her Feet while living under the constant threat of death. His most recent novel, Shalimar the Clown, was an international best-seller and a nominee for both the Man Booker Prize and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize. Rushdie, a native of Bombay, India, is also a prolific essayist. Step Across This Line: Collected Non-Fiction, 1992-2002, contains many of his most provocative articles, some of which explore his own reaction to the fatwa, as well as reactions of the media and various governments.

Anna Quindlen - April 14, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Quindlen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author, writes Newsweek’s popular column “The Last Word.” During the past 30 years, her work has appeared in America’s most influential newspapers and magazines and on fiction and nonfiction best-seller lists.
Her best-selling novels include Rise and Shine, Object Lessons, One True Thing and Black and Blue. While a columnist for The New York Times, Quindlen became only the third woman in the paper’s history to write a regular column for its influential Op-Ed page when she began the nationally syndicated “Public and Private.” A collection of those columns, Thinking Out Loud, was a national best-seller. In Loud & Clear, a collection of her Newsweek and New York Times columns, she combines commentary on American society and the world at large. In 1992 Quindlen was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. She is a native of Philadelphia, Pa.

"Democracies die in darkness."

Award-winning journalist Bob Woodward was in Greensboro this afternoon for the fourth and final lecture in our Guilford College lecture series tickets. It was only about 70 minutes or so, but packed with wisdom and insight.

He began with a neutral third-party observation on the three remaining presidential candidates. Each has their positives: McCain has a willingness to accept and admit faults, Clinton was the de facto Chief of Staff during her husband's administration and was the organizational engine of his brain, and Obama is the fresh politician with a positive vision of the future.

He then discussed his superior at the Washington Post who gave him frank advice in 1973. When asked if he would ever be able to get to the bottom of the Watergate investigation, Woodward told her "he never would." She then retorted: "I never want to hear 'never'." He took that advice to heart from there on out.

President Ford's decision to pardon Nixon was next, discussing the initial shock and disbelief of the action. During later years, as Woodward interviewed living presidents for his book Shadow, Ford's decision was largely understood and accepted, resulting in Ford receiving a Kennedy Library Profile in Courage award in 2001.

President George W. Bush and the Iraq war were next on the docket. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld commenting on the "ignorance and incompetence" of the intelligence (Rumsfeld's words) was an eye-opener. Sources stated Iraqi WMD evidence was "shaky at best", but the sources believed themselves that WMD's in fact existed. Woodward's great regret was his lack of pushing those sources more and to print the empirical lack of evidence rather than the hunches of insiders.

Book Four in his Woodward's Iraq war history is on the way, with vigorous work to be done in the upcoming three months to finish it. (That will make it Bush at War, Plan of Attack, State of Denial, and the yet-unnamed Book Four.)

Next topic, the public has a right to know what is going on, good news or bad. Transparency heals all ills. This disturbing notion recently of "secret government" does no one any good. "Democracies die in darkness." Nixon's rage and hate toward his enemies ultimately destroyed him, and the Bush administration delicately walks that fine line. Those who hate the political enemies who hate you will end up ruined in the process. Those presently or recently employed towards the top of our "secret government" are teetering on this ruination.

Woodward wrapped it up with tying the three candidates back into the fold. None of the three in Woodward's opinion are "haters" with respect to possible self-ruination. So there may be hope for our government in the near future after all.

(Of course if you ask us, there's only one candidate who adequately expresses hope, but you already know who that is...)

Helio and Julianne

Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves and his partner Julianne Hough won Season Five of Dancing With the Stars Tuesday night, and we couldn't be happier.

Time out. What? "Dancing With the Stars"? The television show? Seriously? Have you gone mad?

Yes (to the "seriously" question; but No to the "mad" query). Chris and Kimberly had a 10-week obsession with the series, and loved every second of it. Every Monday (for the competition) and Tuesday (for the results) had episodes recorded for later viewing once our work schedules allowed a mutual block of time to watch them. Dancing With the Stars? Come on. How in the name of Tom Bergeron did THAT occur?



It all started back on September 18, 2007 when our blogging hosts attended a lecture through their Guilford College Bryan Lecture Series season tickets. Kathleen Turner, Louis Gossett Jr., and Jane Seymour comprised the panel for an evening entitled "Leveraging Star Power for Social Change". Ahhh, liberals. Chris happened to become quite smitten with 56-year old hottie Jane Seymour. And when she mentioned her appearance on Dancing With the Stars, it was decided that the ABC show would indeed become a Season Pass recording on the Gordon DVR. The joys of Mayfield Hts., OH with 1995's "Let's take ballroom dancing classes so we kinda look like we know what we're doing at our wedding reception" were pleasantly brought back to the forefront of our memories. And lo, because of hottie Jane's appearance at a modestly liberal lecture, the Gordons finally hopped on the Dancing With the Stars bandwagon.

And what a fun bandwagon ride it was.

Season Six of Dancing With the Stars cannot arrive soon enough.

By the way, Julianne wasn't bad eye candy either. And I'm allowed to say that since Kimberly herself said she was beautiful.