What you want

I was describing what the SAL receptions are like to a friend who will be at the upcoming Annie Leibovitz lecture. I told her that it is kind of a mob scene but then revised it. For the most part it seems that people just want to stand near the author. If you wanted to actually speak with them you could, usually, just walk right up, introduce yourself and enter into conversation.

I have a firmly held belief that you get what you ask for. It started my junior year abroad in Nepal where we had to conduct independent research projects. I studied AIDS education. I would just call up people...government officials, heads of NGO's, performers, doctors...important people. And they would meet with me. Maybe it was easier because I knew what I wanted. The hardest part now seems not in asking for something...but in knowing what I want to ask for.

I love this photo because even though this group paid for a special walk and luncheon with the well know poet WS Merwin, he is listening to her, delighting in her presence.

Can you imagine just looking at a painting and suddenly you are discussing it's subtleties with John Updike? Or, you hand him the sketch you made of him during the lecture and he kindly tucks it into his jacket pocket...