<p>I used this question once at a corporate dinner that was going nowhere fast. It really shook up the evening! I’d have Laura Ingraham, David Brooks and Dominick Dunne. ( like controversy when I eat!)</p>
<p>Jonas Salk
Obama
Whichever researcher makes significant contributions to unraveling Alzheimer’s disease</p>
<ol>
<li> Jerry Garcia</li>
<li> Desmond Tutu</li>
<li> The man who marries my youngest daughter because he’s going to have to be independently wealthy and have the patience of a saint.</li>
</ol>
<p>1) Mozart</p>
<p>2) Paul McCartney</p>
<p>3) A conductor of a major U.S. Symphony orchestra</p>
<ol>
<li> Groucho Marx</li>
<li> Obama</li>
<li> One of my great-great grandkids</li>
</ol>
<p>I’d invite Mozart, Yo-Yo Ma and Billie Jean King to dinner. Then I’d have the first two alternate playing music while Billie Jean and I discussed tennis.</p>
<p>Just kidding–well, not about the Billie Jean King part. I would invite John Steinbeck to dinner. I bet he would be a fascinating storyteller.</p>
<p>I would also invite a very high up member of my church from 100 years in the future. I would like to see to what extent the religion “progresses” in the future. Judging by the slow rate of change in most organized religions, maybe I should make that 200 years in the future.</p>
<p>1- Thomas Jefferson (so he can see how far we’ve come)
2- Obama (I’d bet he’d want to meet Jefferson too)
3- the Global President of the World</p>
<p>compare and contrast</p>
<p>I’d have two of my favorite authors.</p>
<ol>
<li>Jane Austen</li>
<li>Lois McMasters Bujold</li>
<li>Some future granddaughter (who I trust would like the same authors I do.)</li>
</ol>
<p>My grandfather, who was a trader on the Chicago Commodities Exchange during the Great Depression. I’d love to see him again, and he could probably answer a lot of the questions I have now</p>
<p>Paul Krugman, Princeton economist and writer</p>
<p>A grandchild at middle age who can talk about the impact of the current economic crisis on the family and speculate about the years ahead</p>
<p>Shakespeare</p>
<p>Thomas Pynchon</p>
<p>A fan of my writing</p>
<p>1) My sister-in-law Donna who lost her battle with breast cancer five years ago (I miss her dearly)
2) Melissa Etheridge (I love her music and she is a breast cancer survivor)
3) the researcher who finds the cure</p>
<p>Rachacha, can I come to the dinner?</p>
<p>Jane Austen–great choice!</p>
<p>1) My paternal grandfather, who died twenty years before I was born, but with whom (according to my late grandmother) I share a number of odd similarities. I would finally meet my father’s father, learn the family secrets buried with him, and find out just how similar the two of us are.</p>
<p>2) My still-unknown “soul mate” (for the lack of a better term, given that I don’t believe in “souls” or “soul mates”). I would look that person straight in the eye, and say, “Where’ve you been all my life? And now that you’re finally here… stay.”</p>
<p>3) The last of my species, who (hopefully) could tell me the reason he or she became the last.</p>
<p><a href=“…”>quote</a>
-the person who finally negotiates peace in the Middle East
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I didn’t know fictional characters were permitted.</p>
<p>I’ve thought long and hard on this, and unbelievably, my choice come back to pop culture icons…</p>
<ol>
<li>Elvis (a personal icon, who I briefly met when I was 12)</li>
<li>Oprah (because I really want Elvis to stay up all night and sing and tell stories, and if anyone could convince him to do so, I believe it would be Oprah)</li>
<li>The child(ren) of my D as adult(s) (should they be), just so I can see how lovely they’ve become</li>
</ol>
<p>past - my grandmother who passed away when I was 1</p>
<p>present - Michelle Obama</p>
<p>future - my grands</p>
<p>You met Elvis? Tell!!!</p>
<p>I grew up on the west side of LA and I was friends with a brother & sister (she was 6 years older than we were) who lived in Bel Air, just up the street from Elvis & said they were friends with Lisa Marie’s nanny/babysitter. I didn’t believe them when they told me, so we all walked up the street, rang the bell at the gate, were let on to the property (which at the time reminded me of the White House lawn), and went to the door. The nanny/babysitter let us in and as I turned the corner to go into a living room, I walked right into Elvis, who put his hand on my head, and said “whoa, slow down there little girl”. I simply looked up and thought I would stop breathing right there. It was early 1970 (maybe spring break?) and I thought he was beautiful. I got to go to the house once more but didn’t see him again. And I never saw Priscilla. I did “meet” Lisa Marie who was not more than a baby, and she was adorable. The nanny/babysitter lived with them in Tennessee and traveled to LA with them when they came out this way. She was only a little older than my friend.</p>
<p>Past…Jackie Kennedy
Present…Sarah Palin
Future…The first female president</p>