It's another one of those random twists of fate about working at ASB. Being a leading education institution in a major city of the world, ASB was chosen to host Dr. Gardner on his new book tour that is visiting India. Now, since ASB was only the host and not the operator of the tour, we only were reserved 40 seats to the lecture and Q&A. We all put our names in a hat, and, 10 or so of us unfortunate ones got pulled out. I figured I would just then buy a ticket ($40-100), but, these had apparently sold out long before. Sigh. So close. Luckily, Reid was still in the mix so I figured I could just get a first hand account of the lecture later. Then, our superintendent, not wanting to disappoint anyway, decided to schedule a half hour coffee date for those of us that didn't win out on the lottery.
So, today after my last class, I walked to the library, thinking about the Gardner that has been more of a theory, books and articles I've read, a name on a notecard for my oral exams in grad school, a cornerstone in my own education philosophy,-- and today I shook his hand and he became someone whom we chatted with about interesting books, India, education, and a few other random topics. And then, half an hour later, off he went, a short stop amongst his many interviews and stops before his lecture to a few hundred people. Just like that.
Did this really happen today? Crazy India. This is one of those things I can safely say probably would never have happened to me back home.
Side note: I did however get to attend a session with Ellen Winner, his wife, on her research on the arts and improving other subjects (like math, test scores). She is a real proponent for advocating for the arts for ARTS sake, not because the arts supposedly improve other areas. The best part is I felt like I could keep up with what she was saying, and could actually add to the conversation. Thank you St. Thomas.
Rachel
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