He was inadvertently responsible for one of the most surreal moments of my life. In the fall of 1996 I was on my way to an 8:00 class at the University of Virginia, wending my way completely alone through the paths behind the buildings on the Lawn, turning corners often, when I suddenly came across another lone figure, dressed in a nicely tailored overcoat and laughing at something said by an unseen person in the Mercedes into which he was leaning. He noticed me and looked a little perturbed. My brain was racing trying to figure out why his face seemed so familiar, when I realized I'd seen it many times before but only when mediated by a TV screen or printed page. I nodded, he relaxed and turned back to the car, and I went on to class. He taught at UVA, so it made sense for him to be there, but wow anyway.
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