How I [almost] Met Bill Clinton: and some thoughts on encountering fame

When I was an English teacher at A. Philip Randolph high school in Harlem NYC, in the Fall of '06, Clinton came to the school to campaign against childhood obesity.





(Incidentally, the school building has two film roles: it is the building used in the film "Fame," because it once was the original Fame high school; and it is the high school in the Tupac Shakur film "Juice.")

I was teaching in the afternoon, in room 417. In the room next door, 415, literally right behind the chalkboard I was writing on, was Bill Clinton being interviewed. I didn't get to see him or meet him (secret service was all over the place). The students had difficulty concentrating, but they still pulled through. At one point, while I was trying to get them to concentrate, one of the students said, but Mr. Tramantano, he's right next door.

Something interesting though, a colleague who got the opportunity to meet Clinton on that day also met Clinton a few years prior as he was entering his Harlem office. Years and millions of handshakes later, Clinton actually remembers this man's name!

The LA Times comment blog was asking about this. See other stories there if you're interested.


Some New York Philosophy

It is typical of big city dwellers to feign disillusionment when in the presence of the famous. We act like we don’t know who they are, hoping that someone will see us acting so cool and maybe wonder who we are. I’ve heard two stories of ex-pats living in this city who couldn’t contain themselves and were both rewarded for it, and it was by the same celebrity: Alec Baldwin.

I’ll leave the stories untold—back to the philosophical considerations. One reason celebrities often live in cities like New York is because they can blend in, to some extent. But, what I’m more interested in is how us non-celebs deal with that internal giddiness, and why we do so. This speaks to the public/private contrast that living in cities presents us with. As a New Yorker, I well know that it is quite possible to live in the same building as someone and not even see the person for years. There’s a joy to the anonymity that large cities offer.