Popularity Contest

 

Stephen Hawking, in a conversation about who he would visit if he could time travel, came up with a couple of odd, confused answers- Marilyn Monroe and Galileo. Galileo was a creative genius constrained by the iron fist of the Catholic Church, so maybe Hawking, imprisoned in a wheelchair, identifies with him.

But Marilyn Monroe? Stephen, Marilyn's art was cosmetology. Cosmetology, not Cosmos. Oh well, the 'ology' could throw anyone off.

If I had a chance to meet two people from history who would I choose? Most of the people whose names survive in the history books are stone-cold psychopaths. Alexander (AKA, the great)and Cleopatra used killing for fun and profit as a diversion. Kings, Queens, Popes, creepy, creepy, creepiest.

I think everything that fascinates about Leonardo de Vinci can be read in books.

The people who I would like to meet remain anonymous. Like the woman who invented the wheel- you didn't really think that it was a man who needed an easier way to haul things from place to place? Or the man who invented the lute- you didn't think women had time to mess around with frivolous things like music?

I see a pattern here. The people I would like to meet are ordinary people who created small but culture changing tools. I don't need a time machine for that.

Nancy Sherer

 

 


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