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This past Wednesday, Rob Kuchar and I received tickets to CBS’s Late Show with host David Letterman.  The show featured acclaimed actress Ashley Judd, along with singer/songwriter Ben Harper.

Every day, I can catch a one-man band, some breakdancers, an a capella group, and a lady lip synching and dancing to “I Will Survive” (you get what you pay for sometimes). It can be hard to step back and appreciate during the morning and afternoon rushes, but the chance to admire the city’s subway culture can often be worth a lot more than the price of admission.

Living in New York City is interesting because many trends that spread throughout the United States begin here.  Trends in everything from fashion to food to politics often start in New York, where there is a concentration of people in these fields to forge new concepts.  These trends then gain popularity in the rest of the nation.  Being at the cutting edge is exciting.  You are part of a group that experiences ideas first and creates rather than accepts them.

I had my first brush with fame this week.  True, I work at ABC and I see celebrities such as Diane Sawyer, John Stossel, Charlie Gibson, Peter Jennings, and Barbara Walters every day. But meeting these accomplished anchors is not quite the same as shaking the hand of Jessica Simpson or Tom Cruise.  While I did not meet Ms. Simpson or Mr. Cruise, I was given the opportunity to chat with the cast and writer of Sex & the City this week.  Yep, I shook the hands of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda. 

I flip-flopped lives - country to city, New Jersey to New York.  I spent my first twenty years living on the Jersey side of the river and now that I am across the Hudson, I never want to leave. 

I went to the Late Show with David Letterman. In Times Square a young man asked me if I would like two free tickets to see David Letterman. At first I (thought) it might just be a scam. After talking to him for a few minutes I realized it was the real thing.

Paul Allen Miller, professor of classics and comparative literature at the University of South Carolina, will present, "Satire is Wholly Roman," as the next speaker in the Winslow lecture series at Hamilton College.  The lecture is Thursday, March 4, at 4:10 p.m. in the Science Auditorium, and is free and open to the public.

As soon as I could see the school, however, I felt reassured.  Just as I remembered it - everything was in the right place and everyone still looked the same.  Over the course of the weekend, I was constantly amazed how easy it was to fall back in to the Hamilton rhythm.  Aside from minor layout changes in Commons that caused me some trouble finding a fork and some new freshman faces, I still felt like I belonged on campus. 

On Feb. 19, Susan Rosenberg, an activist, writer and former prisoner, and Joy James, Brown University political theorist and activist, dicussed the issue of "Democracy and Captivity." The lecture was part of a number of events this week on the topic of incarceration and democracy, including the screening on Feb. 19 of the film Through the Wire, which documented the treatment of prisoners in the U.S. penal system, including Susan Rosenberg. This event was part of the Kirkland Project's 2003-2004 Series, "Technology, Science and Democracy: What's At Stake?" It was also co-sponsored by the program in Africana Studies and Faculty for Women's Concerns.

Ali Mazrui, Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and the director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University, presents "The Roots of Rage: Why is the U.S. Unloved in the Muslim World and Beyond," Monday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. in the Chapel.  The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Dean of the Faculty's Office, chaplaincy, religious studies department, anthropology department, Africana studies department, history department and the Dean of Multicultural Affairs.