Time to break the ten things up

This started out as a 10 things. It got to be too damn long. From now on I'm only penning one at a time.

Six years ago I was a junior at Stout. Just saying that absolutely floors me.

Anyway, I was in a critical writing class and one of our assignments required us to take a side in a specific question asked in a text book and then defend the stance with evidence to back it up. Pretty straight forward.

I don't remember the exact question or problem I chose. I know it had to do with drug abuse and and that's about it. But whatever, that's mostly irrelevant. What I most took away from that assignment is how the people you respect and admire from afar are also people like you and I at their core.

While doing research for the drug assignment one name came up more than any other: Maia Szalavitz. She'd helped write a book, been published in leading scientific and medical journals and was quickly on her way to being known as one of the foremost experts in drug addiction and treatment.

Finding material wasn't tough. Her stuff was everywhere to read. After one particular article, one on an obscure site, was something I don't often see online: a phone number. It didn't necessarily say to whom, it was just at the bottom in a brief explanation of who Maia Szalavitz was. I thought it might have been her publisher's office. Or maybe the number to the organization for which she'd written the article. Hell, maybe just an answering service. But that night I'd been captivated by her writing. She wrote with authority and compassion and personality and heart. So even if I got the brush off from a literary agent I figure it wouldn't hurt to dial the number up.

So I did, and Maia Szalavitz answered. It was, of course, her home fucking number in New York City.

So immediately I do a quick, semi-audible, "Oh shit". Then I re-group and try to offer an explanation of who the hell I was, why the hell I was calling and (maybe most important) how the hell I got her home telephone number.

She was amazing. If you've ever spoken to someone passionate about their work you would know what it was like to speak to her that night. This wasn't a woman who did what she did solely to earn a paycheck. She legitimately cared about what she researched, studied and wrote about. It came through loud and clear in our conversation.

After the shock had subsided of finding out her home number was published online, I told her about my assignment, how I'd found out who she was and why I was interested in picking her brain. She was more than acomodating. We talked about specific articles she'd written, her personal views, public policy and how it might help me out. I gave her my e-mail. She sent me a volume of resources specific to what I was looking for. I said thank you, goodnight and she wished me well.

My paper ended up being one of the best I'd written. I've included it with my resume in past job applications even if the position didn't require any writing at all. I got a fucking B. My instructor was floored with the lengths I'd gone to write a great paper. It was was loaded with resources, my critical views on the subject, technically correct, etc. Unfortunately the end result had almost nothing to do with the original question posed. I had intended to stick with the goal of the assignment but my paper morphed into something else and I ran with it. So I was docked a letter grade.

Whatever. Like I said, the paper itself wasn't what I was taking out of this little exercise. It was that there are professionals out there that you only ever see and read that appreciate interacting with their readers. Authors, journalists, reporters, athletes, actors, government officials.....whatever. These people that care enough to put themselves out there on display aren't always doing this behind a glass wall. If you take the time to drop them a line, I think you'll be surprised what you get out of them.

Since that day if I've happened to read something I appreciate I'll probably find a way to drop the author a short message. I would estimate that 95% of the time I get a thoughtful response. Many times I'll get posed questions in return and discussions or debates start. Hell, a couple times I've been offered home phone numbers so they could talk to me after the work day was done. In each occurrence, I said that I was sincerely grateful but would respectfully decline. But I do appreciate the gesture more than these people will probably ever know. I think it's great that they're so willing to hash it out with the public.

On a closing note, not until today did I go back and google Maia Szalavitz. I wanted to thank her and let her know how I did on that paper she helped me write. I lost her email years ago and it was one of those things I always intended to to but never did. As it turns out, her career has absolutely taken off. She's written couple books, been published in some of the most respected news papers in the world, had articles published in Time magazine and is now a featured blogger for the Huffington Post. She's written more entries than I think I can count. Not surprisingly, as she's become more successful she's gotten tougher to get ahold of. I couldn't find an email or phone number. Maia, if you ever happen to come upon this blog, "Thank you".