Brice Kennedy and President Bill Clinton at Woodburn Circle (May 2008).
Okay, the new job has nothing to do with the president. Sue me for sensationalizing. Nonetheless, the
42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton III, fulfilled a life long wish by meeting his favourite actor,
Brice Kennedy, on the campus of West Virginia University where he was otherwise actively stumping on behalf of the presidential campaign of his wife,
Senator Hillary Clinton.
So yeah, I got to see and meet President Clinton! He came to WVU's Woodburn Circle in May and along with mom, Cara and friend Matt (who was in from Illinois and slept in his car in the Mountainlair parking garage just to see him), I was front row to watch the nation's first black president wow the crowd with his memorable and inspiring speech... oh wait, wrong "first black president".
Nevertheless, and all jokes aside, it really was something special. After an hour long speech, he began to make his way through the crowd. Mom and sis reached out and touched his hand, Matt got a brief hug from him (damn parking garage slumber story exploiter!) and I got my chance to shake his hand and exchange a few words. I was five feet from the former most powerful man on the planet and just couldn't settle for touching his cufflinks. So, after he retracted his hand for a split second, I jutted out mine at full arm's length to meet him in "how do you do"-like fashion and he obliged. While exchanging a hearty handshake, I told President Clinton that this country needs to get back to the prosperity we enjoyed in the 90's. He thanked me and continued to schmooze his way through the thousand-plus crowd, dazzling as many folks as he could before making his exit.
It was a memorable day, despite standing for two hours in the rain waiting for the event to start
and despite some pudgy, cigarette smoking loudmouth who insisted on spouting his political views in the most obnoxious way possible to an audience of a thousand (yet also, zero). Nonetheless, the day ruled.
Bill Danoff, co-writer of the West Virginia anthem
"Take Me Home, Country Roads", was on hand to lead the crowd in a rousing rendition of said classic and to sing a few politically-charged protest songs. And then there was the nice girl who held my umbrella over me whilst I scarfed down a
McDonald's Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit. Now,
that's Americana. A couple of weeks later, my family and I went to
Fairmont State University for Hillary's rally but the crowd was a little bigger, we were a little later and she was little farther away our seats. While taking nothing away from Senator Clinton, it was far more memorable to have an up close and personal with President Clinton on a day I won't soon forget.
In other news... I got a new job! No longer am I one of the countless minions of the evil empire of the University of West Virginia. Now, instead of "helping" college students interpret their confusing itemized account statements on behalf of the worthless diploma-granting, money-making racket passing itself off as an educational institution, I'm helping people who really need it. These days, I'm putting smiles on the faces of patients at
Mon General Hospital by using my superior comedic skills and intellect to wow them in their time of sick. Oh, and I also help them fill out a few forms on occasion. Of course,
technically, I wasn't a WVU henchman since it was a temporary position (thank god) but still, I'm grateful to be in a position to actually make some kind of a positive impact. In short, and in case you haven't guessed, I hate WVU. Of course, as these stories tend to go, I'll soon hate Mon General too, but at least I'll have some fulfillment rather than guilt in a day job. I mean, I'm not helping out capitalism by producing TV commercials for local businesses anymore. I'm also not helping a university collect even more money to squander on erecting ugly buildings and overpaying their
jackasses in suits but hey, putting a smile on a patient's face to help make their journey as painless as possible... I can live with that.