The 92nd Street Y gig advertised
■"92nd: Lectures & Conversations," advertisement, New York Times, 8 September 2005, p. B6.
I was approached by Manhattan's 92nd Street Y for their speakers' series a while back, and I steered the date to fall during my book tour (Sunday, 23 October).
I have a form from the Y that I keep meaning to fill out regarding the event. I will try to get it done tomorrow. Not sure if I'm being interviewed or what, but for some reason I feel like I'm giving a short PowerPoint presentation. If so, that event will constitute the debut of my new brief on Blueprint for Action.
I've found neither the time nor the inspiration to start up this brief. A few abortive attempts on my own and I gave up a while back, instead sub-contracting the effort to my old alter ego Bradd Hayes, whom I recently managed to lure away from the Naval War College to join us at Enterra Solutions. Bradd's perusing the book and coming up with a host of new slides for me, which I'll start manipulating into the shapes I want.
Does it seem odd for the PowerPoint maestro to outsource the initial drafting of slides? Not really. In fact, Bradd has created plenty of original slides for me in the past, including the entire Leviathan-SysAdmin sequence at the end. Typically, I end up altering his slides a lot (his color schemes and graphic choices tend toward the more colorful), adding layers upon layers. But it really helps to have him start the process for me, because he's a gifted storyteller with an eye for which details in the text can be brought to life.
I am very excited to see the package he eventually puts together for me.
It's pretty cool to be asked to speak at the 92nd Street Y. You wouldn't think it, but it's a significant NYC milestone. It was set up and underwritten by some patron there, who remains nameless to me for now, but that's apparently how these things get done there.
The entry for me in the ad reads:
Sun, Oct 23 WAR, PEACE & THE PENTAGON Thomas P.M. Barnett
I'm followed that week by Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jerry Lewis. My wife will be impressed by that, as she's a big fan of both.
Me, I enjoy living on the shadowy margins of fame. While waiting today for my USAIR flight to take off (two hours late, natch) from Reagan National, I wandered into two bookstores there. At Olsson's, I signed 2 hard copies (the first I've seen in a very long while) and four paperbacks. Then at Border's I signed six paperbacks, only to have someone recognize me as I was penning my name and scoop it up. He explained that he had seen me on CSPAN and really enjoyed the brief.
To me, that's a nice level of fame, and about where I'd keep it for now if possible.
Then again, I'll be a full-time bookseller in 42 days.