The day I met Bill Clinton

Erica and Bill Clinton

Yesterday I met Bill Clinton. He lived up to all of my expectations - eloquent speaker, friendly, charismatic. I've been told that even when he has a schedule laid out by his aides he will always do what he wants to do. For example, besides the fact that he was late, he was supposed to walk into the conference room from the front door where was would all see him, at which point we were supposed to stand and applaud. In reality he walked in through the back door, and luckily I had been looking back behind me right as he walked in. So he came in, most everyone else unaware, then me with my mouth said, "Well hello there!" I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who have heard this phrase come out of my mouth and know exactly how it sounds. Well in a silent room it sounded quite loud. I got a little bit of a sideways look from him and laughter from Kathy and Kevin, then started applauding while everyone else was in silence. Not quite the planned entrance, but memorable for me nonetheless.

After about 10 awkward seconds of nobody knowing what to do (he walked almost all the way to the front of the room in near silence) everyone else caught on and stood up to applaud him. He then began his talk. He first started talking about an HIV/AIDS conference he just attended. Saying that it was full of good news as well as bad news, which called a metaphor for the world today. I would go into details, but he was speaking off the record, which means I can't get detailed. But what I will say is that my favorite part of his talk was when he said, "The world is not gonna stop spinning and you can't get off."

I loved that statement because that is how I feel about life. Life is a ride where you can't just decide you don't like it anymore and hop off, and when it is your turn to leave, the world will still keep spinning. So all we can do now is make the most of our lives, move forward one step at a time, do the best that we can do, and be grateful for every bit of it.

Kevin, Erica, Bill Clinton, & Kathy

After his talk we went into a Q&A session. I submitted a question but it didn't get the most votes - oh well. I think the best question came from the very small group of high school interns. They asked something to the extent of, "Looking back to when you were our age, what was the best piece of advice you received?" He sat for a little bit and thought. It was the first time I had seen him stop for a beat and really ponder. He then went on to tell us three stories from his pre-teen and teenage days. All three of them involved teachers - which is where I have to point out the value of teachers, not necessarily for the value of their teaching, but for those golden nuggets of wisdom and advice that they drop, often unknowingly, which, if you catch, will be carried with you for the rest of your life.

I won't recount the stories here, but I will tell you what he calls, "The best advice I have ever received and have ever given."

• Never be afraid to fail
• Everyone wants to feel beautiful
• Always do what you love

Never be afraid to fail. This makes sense. He has this Abraham Lincoln photo with a list of all of his failures, and there were many of them, and at the bottom is ends with, "Elected President of the United States" (something similar to this and this). He explained that even if there is a huge chance of failure (he related it to failure in the eyes of the media) but there is a chance to at least make progress towards success you should go for it, because that progress will mean something to somebody.

Everyone wants to feel beautiful. He explained that just like you or I, everyone else has the desire to feel beautiful, to feel important. He explained that this is why he will walk way out of his way in a huge crowd, with secret service trying to move him along his way, to go and shake the hand of a person in a wheelchair who can't make it to the front of the crowd - because that person too wants to feel beautiful and acknowledged just like everyone else (and from what I hear he does this all the time to the discontent of the secret service and his staff who are trying to keep him safe and on schedule). He said that this is also why you have to really listen to what people tell you. Get to know where they come from and learn about their culture. This in not only to make people feel like they have value but it is also to be able to create solutions that make people feel like you have listened to and incorporated their hopes, wants, and desires.

Always do what you love. People often concentrate on their weaknesses rather than their strengths. This is not how it should be. Usually you are good at what you love and this is where you should focus your efforts - not on how to improve you Chemistry grades, but on enjoying and further exploring the American Literature you love, for example.

The great thing about his advice is that I feel that I already incorporate all of it into my life - so I think I am on a pretty good track.

After Q&A came photo time. Pretty much we got lined up and walked one by one to take a photo and have a short chat. I told him my name and told him that I am a Clinton-Orfalea Fellow. He said, "Nice to meet you," we turned smiled and I was on my way. But Kathy, Kevin, and I asked if we could get a photo of all of us to send back to the Global Studies Program and Paul Orfalea. We were supposed to leave the room directly after taking our photo, but I lingered, and got at least two secret service men telling me hey you need to leave.. to which I replied, "Just hold on." I doubt they hear that very often. I later apologized for sounding so rude - they just laughed, so I don't think it was a big deal. We also got to chat with President Clinton about Paul Orfalea for a little bit and "what a great man" Paul is.

And then like that it was over and I was back on the 4 train on my way home. What a great experience.

Yes, it's hot - but I'm still enjoying this city!

Yesterday, despite the record breaking heat, Kathy, Kevin, and I went out to dinner with the Mohantys (two professors from our graduate program) who are in NYC visiting family. We went to this AMAZING Thai restaurant and with five people you end up trying a little bit of everything! I usually get curry and pad thai but this time I also got to try papaya salad (green papaya, carrot, string beans, tomato, peanut, and lime juice), crispy whole red snapper topped with sweet tamarind chili garlic sauce, panang curry, yellow curry, pad thai with squid, and something else that was delicious but I'm not sure what it is called. Then Mano ordered a desert of sticky rice and mango, which sounded really strange, but  is incredibly delicious! What a great night - excellent food with wonderful people!

Professors Manoranjah & Bidyut Mohanty, Kevin, Kathy, & Erica

People have been asking me about the heat wave that has settled over the East Coast - yes it is hot, but I have spent a few summers in the tropics and I grew up where the thermometer can reach over 115ºF so for me it is hot, but definitely bearable. Last night I had to run the air conditioner for the first time because it has been difficult to sleep when it is so warm and I really wanted a good nights rest (I only used it to cool the room then shut it off and turned on the fan). The gal I am subletting from also gave me a good tip before she left for France - sleep with frozen water bottles wrapped in cloth. I did that last night and it works really well! I will probably do that again tonight, although the breeze has kicked in and the temperature today was only in the 90s. By Friday it will be back in the 80s. One thing I do love about the hot weather is that the sorbet people come out and sell small refreshing cups of it for only $1. It is a perfect cool down treat to take down into the sweltering subway tunnels (the trains have air con, though).

I am still enjoying work. Right now I have 3 projects, well the third one starts tomorrow. They are keeping me busy, but I like it that way. Kathy and I are still working on the new filing system, I am running an online test forum that I created (which I think is starting to come along quite nicely), and tomorrow I start doing some research - basically finding ways that the same amount of money can reach more people with HIV/AIDS (value for money). It is shaping up to be a good summer and a good internship...it is true what they say, internships are what you make of them, and I plan to make the most out of this opportunity.