Jam-packed Weekend

On Friday afternoon, I drove up to Haverford College, outside Philadelphia, for Saturday’s inauguration of the College’s new president Dan Weiss. Haverford is my undergraduate alma mater and I had the joy of representing one of my graduate schools, Cambridge University, in the procession. Over 100 colleges and universities were represented, from the oldest in the world (Cambridge and Oxford) to more recent fly-by-nights like Harvard and Yale. Much feasting and partying accompanied the 2-day inauguration festivities, and we all wished our 14th Haverford President well as he begins his journey at this magical place.

As soon as the inauguration was over, I drove down to The Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington, Delaware to see their production of Lend Me A Tenor, which runs through November 3. The cast was stellar and the direction by Executive Director Bud Martin was fantastic. They found laughs in the script that I never saw before. Best of all, I had the chance to meet the cast and crew after the performance and thank them for their outstanding work.

On Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Park Library here in Washington, DC hosted an author event for How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare. The librarian Barbara Gauntt did a wonderful job organizing the event – and I loved finding out that all the DC Public Library’s copies of the book – throughout the whole system – were checked out. It made me feel like I’m really spreading the gospel. Meanwhile, I signed loads of books sold by a representative of our wonderful DC bookstore Politics and Prose. (Anyone who has never been to Politics and Prose should rank it high on their list of bookstore destinations; it is one of the greatest in the world.)

The event itself was loads of fun. Both kids and parents were there, and together we all memorized the first ten lines of the speech “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Thanks to everyone for coming.