DINNER WITH THE UNDEAD
This week, I’m ruminating about food – again.
A few weeks ago I ruminated about throwing a dinner party for guests I would love to meet and converse with, but who were dead. Of course, that guest list generated some controversy, and I am now considered an existist – a person who discriminates against people who are alive and kicking, or at the very least hopping, or barely existing. So, in order to prove that I am not an existist, today’s rumination concerns who I would invite to dinner even though they’re breathing.
Similar to my dinner party for the dead, this list includes people I don’t know, but would like to get to know. Not because they may be famous or accomplished, but in order to hear their stories, experiences, and anecdotes. Since these folks are alive, I suppose I’d have to put some thought into the dinner menu and cleanliness of my home, but not too much. I’d still have the Babel Fish from the dinner party with the dead, so that’ll help. Hopefully they’ll be happy with grilled cheese sandwiches or chicken casserole. If not, my hubby, who is miles away the better cook, could whip up a delicious dinner with salad and vegetables. Obviously, I’d provide the jello. Prolly without the slivered carrots, though.
Why thirteen guests? That seems like a lot of people to have over. I was an educator for 30 years, and 15 people (including hubby and me) is a great number to break people up into smaller groups to play get-to-know-you-games. Everybody loves icebreakers and Twister! Therefore, I present to you a baker’s dozen of the people I would invite to dinner in spite of the fact they’re undead:
Beck
Jane Smiley
Forest Whitaker
Dylan Moran
Louise Erdrich
Peter Riegert
Rosalie Sorrels
James Serpell
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Ringo Starr
Dorothea Taylor
Steve Cauthen
Peter Davison
Can’t accuse me of being existist now, can we? Now that I’ve compiled this list, I think these folks are just as fascinating as my list of the dead as outlined in Weekly Rumination10. Now, if only I could get myself together enough to invite my own family and friends around to dinner, then I might develop a social life. Besides, their stories and life experiences are just as interesting. ‘Twould be nice.
~ Emery Lamb
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