If you could shake hands with any one person in the world

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

who would it be?

I think I'd have to pick Ray Bradbury. I've been reading his short stories, books, and poetry all my life, and they have as much depth and meaning to me as they had when I was a teenager. The man is magnificent.

I just obtained one of his books in audiobook format: "The Golden Apples Of The Sun". Gonna listen to it in a while. Last night I listened to "The Illustrated Man".

http://www.raybradbury.com/

[robbedvoter]

1. You do know he is a freeper who loved BFEE?

His books were about Russia, Everything the BFEE does is OK in his book. He was furious at Michael Moore for "stealing " his title for his movie.
I liked his writing too.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. I don't give a damn

He's still the greatest author I've ever read.

[amitten]

14. Ditto. Politics be damned...talent is talent. I will always treasure

his fantastic books, and I'm genuinely thankful that he and his writing talent exsist.

[amitten]

16. And yet his books seem to be written with a liberal point of view.

Go figure. But I simply don't care either way...the guy is my favorite writer and can do little wrong in my eyes.

[RevolutionaryActs]

2. The Dali Lama.

Because he seems like a pretty cool dude. ;)

[LaurenG]

33. Me too. nt

[jus_the_facts]

3. I'd love to meet Stephen King....

...he's my favorite writer of all time. :)

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. Have you read "Cell" yet?

Just finished it earlier this week :thumbsup:

[jus_the_facts]

9. No I haven't read it yet...for some insane reason my mail carrier...

...sent my copy back to the book club...I got a postcard from the book club that said my last shipment was sent back and I no longer lived here...I got it straightened out but still haven't gotten my book...I was furious to say the least!! :evilfrown:

[ScreamingMeemie]

36. I just finished it this week too.

:scared: I don't want a cell phone anymore. :hi:

[SmileyBoy]

4. One of the two Coen Brothers.

Their movies are phenomenal, and they are alums of my old high school. The stories they tell in their movies have such a uniqueness to them.

Now if they could only donate some cash for a new basketball gymnasium.;)

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. Helen Keller

Have always admired her.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. There are so many people I would like to meet.....

I could NOT pick just one.......:shrug:

[applegrove]

10. Mandela!

:loveya:

[neweurope]

25. Hi applegrove - I picked Mandela, too:)

He's always been my heroe, way before people were singing "Freee-eeeeee Nelson Mandela" ;)


-----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[applegrove]

27. Yes - ge us just one of those icons that when you hear about him -

that is it! Thankfully once the assholes were gone the whole world got to share.

[BrotherBuzz]

11. Bobby Seale

Would have, could have, should have been.

[liberaltrucker]

12. President William Jefferson Clinton

'Nuff said.

[WCGreen]

21. I met both Billy and Al....

[amitten]

13. I DID shake Mr. Bradbury's hand!

Jealous much??!! :P

It was at a local book signing. I told him he was my favorite author, and handed him an envelope with a very nice fan letter enclosed, which detailed the impact his stories have had on my world view.

He is a writer after my own heart. Have you read Dandelion Wine? Gorgeous.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

15. Green with envy.

:toast:

[amitten]

17. So...

Did you like Dandelion Wine?

I find a lot of his fans ignore it altogether because it isn't "sci-fi" (though I don't really consider Bradbury true sci-fi). Dandelion Wine, in my opinion, is Bradbury in a nutshell. A great representation of everything that makes him what he is--a dreamer, a poet, a time-machine.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

18. Not much of his stuff IS "sci-fi"

Hard to really define it as one thing or another. I LOVE Dandelion Wine. It, like most of his work, brings back a time long gone. A simpler, more peaceful time. I get very nostalgic when reading stories like that.

[amitten]

20. Me too. If I've read that book once, I've read it ten times. I love

every word of it.

My favorite part is when he's horsing around outside with his brother, and feels "something big" is sneaking up on him. Later in the day, it hits him...that he's alive. I remember having that realization, around the same age. Like suddenly I was more lucid, and everything around me was more vibrant, and I was filled with the joy of just being alive, and feeling alive. It was an electric feeling I've never had since. It was like waking up from a long dream.

I never knew anyone else had that same feeling until I read it in Dandelion Wine. It made me tear up...his account of it is so much like what I felt myself at the same age. Bradbury reaches to the core of the common human experience, the things no one ever talks about, and writes about it in a manner so beautiful it is almost prose.

Can you tell I love the guy??? :D

[alphafemale]

19. Michael Moore. I've admired him since "Roger and Me"

And he seems to not have a hyperinflated ego.

[saltpoint]

22. I've met Ray Bradbury and taught his books & stories. While I wish he

were a blue stalwart instead of a red stalwart, his writing is tremendous.

A terrific presence in any room, too. And my god can that man turn the air blue, and I don't mean 'Democrat.'

What a writer he is.

[WCGreen]

23. Christopher Hitchens....

So I could yank his arm in close ond cold cock him in the fae with my other hand....

[neweurope]

24. Nelson Mandela

-----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Kire]

26. Mohammed Ali

He's the greatest.

[sarge43]

28. Jimmy Carter n/t

[two gun sid]

29. William J. Kimbro

The USNavy Master-at-Arms mentioned in the Taguba report who refused to use his Military police dog to "soften up" prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

From The Taguba Report:
4. (U) The individual Soldiers and Sailors that we observed
and believe should be favorably noted include:

1. (U) Master-at-Arms First Class William J. Kimbro,
US Navy Dog Handler, knew his duties and refused to
participate in improper interrogations despite
significant pressure from the MI personnel at Abu
Ghraib.

2. (U) SPC Joseph M. Darby, 372nd MP Company
discovered evidence of abuse and turned it over to
military law enforcement.

3. (U) 1LT David O. Sutton, 229th MP Company, took
immediate action and stopped an abuse, then reported
the incident to the chain of command.

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/iraq/tagubarpt.html

[pokerfan]

30. Neil Armstrong

I settled for shaking Buzz Aldrin's hand about five years ago.

Shaking the hand of a moonwalker!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

31. I met Buzz Aldrin once

He was at Neil Armstrong's Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta Ohio (I lived across the lake in Celina at the time). Great museum to just wander around in, but still not quite as great as the one on the NASA base in Huntsville.

[OzarkDem]

37. Met John Glenn once

had a nice conversation with him at a cocktail party. You feel like you're talking to someone who should be in a museum. He's a very, very nice man. WC Green, you've met him too, haven't you?

[GalleryGod]

32. Her

Royalty.

[OzarkDem]

38. Oh, yeah

I'd love to sit down and have a girl to girl talk with her.

[converted_democrat]

34. Jimmy Carter.. n/t

[lpbk2713]

35. Jimmy Carter

While trying to keep a low profile he's done more humanitarian work and has presented the best image of any ex-president ever.

I would also like tell him the RWers are full of shit, no matter how much mud they like to throw at him. But I'm sure he knows that.

[hippywife]

39. Howard Zinn!

And I'm less than a month from meeting and shaking hands with Fr. John Dear!

[buddhamama]

40. there's no possible way for me to pick just one person

how others do it is beyond me.

I admire and respect many people and would love the opportunity to tell them so.

A DUer I would welcome the chance to meet in person is ulysses. there are few others whom I respect more.