I'm on a 6:35AM flight from Newark, NJ to Charlotte, NC. It's one of those ExpressJet flights with about 50 seats on the whole plane. One of those seats is occupied by Dr. Cornell West, formerly of Harvard University, now at Princeton University, and frequent guest on various TV talk shows, including Real Time with Bill Maher.

At this moment, the passengers that know who he is are busily explaining him to those who don't. As for me, a 6:35AM flight means the alarm goes off at 4AM. Dr. West is one of those guys it would be fascinating to talk to for a couple of hours, but at this hour, the priority is getting back to sleep, only to be awakened by the plane landing in Charlotte. I'm guessing Dr. West feels the same way. So chock this up to opportunity lost.

As a wise man once said, "I should be sleeping."