how to maintain grace under fire = for me, this is Hillary Clinton. She's faced a lot, and she always gets up, dusts herself off, and keeps going! I'm also a big fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder as portrayed in the "Little House" books.

Tom Smothers had a huge formative influence on me when I was a pre-teen.

There are a lot of people I respect and admire for various reasons but I've never had anyone I would call a roll model.

My grandfather "Boompa" ; and t/y for reminding me.

Hmm. I'd say that the closest thing I have is Julie Andrews. She has the most beautiful, refined diction in the world, but from what I understand, she swears like a sailor. And of course there's every single thing from Sound of Music, which I consider my Bible :)

All my role models are fictional, which is great cause they can never disappoint me.

Except for Shackleton. Dude was like how we want people in books to be.

But yeah I got through High School by going "what would Buffy Summers do?" And having a whole library meet up of the characters in my head.

This is also why I own a lot of tweed.

The mister (stop rolling your eyes!). He's a really good, truly nice person.

No. Maybe if you asked me six months ago I'd have said Malcolm X but I am not made of that mettle at all. lol

Dave King, drummer for the jazz group The Bad Plus. You need only watch some well-lit performance video to see what it is about him that sets him apart. I want to do things in life the way that he plays the drums.

I've always strived (striven? strove?) to be my own role model.

Probably explains a lot about me. =\

Koucha, i just saw the bad plus play a few months ago. The drummer is indeed awesome

Patti Smith. And I'm not even a musician.

Buckaroo Banzai.
Ya know, this is hard to answer, because I didn't see the speech and I'm not sure if we are talking about a template or a hero or what have you--
Almost everything fails under real scrutiny or repeated viewings.
I've got one person who I considered a mentor, just by being truly different, unapologetically, and a master of his craft, and funny, and wise, and I'm pretty sure the better I got to know him, the more personal details I knew, the more information I have would cause me to question this position he has for me now.

Five good minutes, a solid ten minute set, a good three minute song, a solid hour of lecture-- in a lot of ways, a relatively brief moment in passing, one life brushing past another life, can have a much more tremendous effect. It can be simple and pure, idealistic and unadulterated, imbued with the power of an icon or a beacon.

I like knowing things simply exist, that people have or once existed. And sometimes that's enough. But do you measure a person by their most acclaimed achievement or their most shameful moment? Does knowing about Gandhi's weird sexual issues color his contribution?

So, yeah, I don't know. There is no real life model out there for me to follow footsteps or anyone who has already done the things I want to do. There are admirable people, and moments, and events. But there are no saints. And who wants to hang out with saints?

People are flawed, horribly, terribly flawed, and so you accept them as such or just pick and choose the parts you want.

There is a great purpose to mythologizing people. Maybe we should write our own, for our heroes and ourselves. With accompanying take down piece about that time in the parking lot.

Frank Zappa.

+1 ethylene.

Gaspode, then you have indeed been in the presence of greatness.

Did they play anything off the new album?

They said they did, but I hadn't heard of them before we went to see them, so I couldn't tell what was what. It was all good, though.

I've never had anyone I would call a roll model.

May I suggest the Pillsbury Dough Boy?

I didn't see the speech and I'm not sure if we are talking about a template or a hero or what have you--

It's really not based on the speech. Jill Biden was introduced by her student who said Biden was her role model, and that's what got me thinking about it.

I certainly think you can have more than one role model.

"People are flawed, horribly, terribly flawed, and so you accept them as such or just pick and choose the parts you want." Yup.


And...

...lets roll the Dough Boy!