Dinner and Carolyn

Then we all got together for dinner at Mio Vecino, an Italian restaurant near the campus. The thing of note: my former professors all eat way too much bread. Bread baskets, garlic bread and bruschetta as appetizers. I felt it would be too rude to say no. Great conversations with Barbara about life and writing. Great talks with Jerry about his Japanese, although he didn't get I was joking when I said I knew there was a reason he was so nice to me when I was a student. Yellow fever! I was kidding, Jerry! I swear!

Slant Eyes adores Jerry!

So then my favorite professor, Carolyn came in. And when I say favorite, that doesn't mean that I don't love everyone else. It's just that Carolyn had the greatest influence on me. She helped birth my creativity.

Carolyn Silberman was the person who let me create dances and taught me about Justice in the Arts and art as a social service. She told me that doing art and doing service were not mutually exclusive.

So Carolyn comes in with her slender, young self, jean jacket and warm face. There are so many things about that night with Carolyn that meant so much to me. First of all, the revelation that she thought I was going to pursue dance after college. What? I was the kid who danced in Adam Zotovich's shadow. Yes, I choreographed dances and was pretty good at it, but pursue dance? Wow. I guess the thing that meant the most was that she thought that I warranted giving it a shot. Please, I love writing. And I'm glad that I pursued writing. But I always wanted to be a dancer, since I was six and my mom told me my family couldn't afford jazz dance classes. It was a 12 year old dream I took with me to college. So it meant a lot to me to have her say that. Especially since I respect her so much. She said that I had just begin to come into my own when I left college. All I can say is wow. That means a lot.

We decided to go grab a drink at Fiorello's and some of my favorite quotes included:

"You can never go wrong with Kendall Jackson."
"Okay, if you can't decide on a wine, you can never go wrong with a Martini."
"I didn't have anything to eat. So sugar isn't a good choice. Let's see the wine list."

And she's not a lush, I swear. She's just amazing and a great character. She's so inspiring and artfully articulate, that I forgot how funny she is without even knowing it. I adore her and I'm proud that I'm someone she shone her light on. It was the best night.

When Carolyn dropped me off, she asked me if I keep in touch with my English professors (I was an English major, not a theatre or dance major). And I don't. I only keep in touch with my theatre and dance professors. And the only people I made it a point to see individually were my two dance professors. Because they encouraged me to be creative and make my own original art. And years later, I'm still making original art. Thank you.

I'm about music, humor, art, and service. And that describes my college education to a T.