September 19, 2005
Cornell West Meets Anthony Bradley
I talked to Cornell West today. Seriously, I literally talked to him. It was a moment I'll never forget.
Here's what happened: so I'm flying to D.C. today (Wed., Sept. 14th) and guess who's in the row behind me? Yep, Cornell West. So after the flight I initiated what I consider a life changing event that I will forever refer to as "my Cornell West moment."
As we walked off the airplane and down the airport terminal we began talking (actually, I did most of the talking) about what I was doing, etc., what my dissertation was on, and then he said, "send me a copy of that chapter." By the way, "that chapter" is the chapter where I'm exploring some of his ideas (albeit critically). He was asking me questions about where I was from, etc. Very personable guy.
He'll have it in couple of weeks.
When he walked on the plane I was like a deer in headlights. After he sat down it took me another 10-15 minutes just to get back into my readings. I was totally star struck. I got really nervous (but I said to myself, this may be the only shot you'll have at this guy).
Here's what sucked though:
This other dude walked up and started talking to him as well about halfway down the terminal and I was like "bro, are you kidding me? I'm having my Cornell West moment here." So after a couple of minutes Dr. West left us both.
Although my time with Dr. West was brief it was incredible. He has my card and I wrote a little brief resume on it. He put it in his left coat pocket.
Posted by anthony at September 19, 2005 04:37 PM | TrackBack