last night j, my mom, & i went to hear ellen johnson sirleaf speak as part of the world affairs council lecture series, the same one that brought william jefferson clinton to town. e.j. sirleaf is the current president of liberia. it was quite interesting to hear her speak about the state of affairs in liberia & africa. my favorite part of these lectures are hearing the guest speaker respond to questions from the audience. the programs given out have slips of paper on which you may write questions for the speaker, and they're collected early on in the lecture by the ushers. clinton spoke at great length answering his questions, and only got through 4 or so, but president sirleaf answered at least 8. very interesting. i'm half kicking myself for waiting until now to be a member of this organization, because past speakers have been bono, the dalai lama, madeleine albright, shimon peres, jane goodall... must've been fascinating. however, you really have to pay for the whole lecture series. at $150, it was a little too much for me to handle on my symphony salary when i was managing a mortgage all alone (or saving up in the first place for the house). ah well. there are plenty of interesting people in the world... i hope to continue as a member in the future.