Once upon a time, raven had a dear friend named Asad (yes, the very one whose Chomsky Reader I recently sold at a yard sale). Asad was some things raven wasn’t — smart, idealistic, a real scientist — and not other things that raven was — greedy, moneygrubbing, mediocre.
Once upon a time, Asad had an adviser named Lisa Randall. Lisa seemed destined for greatness: or at least as much greatness as a theoretical physicist can be destined for. She was young, brilliant, and the first tenured female professor of theoretical physics at MIT. Then, Princeton beckoned and she left. Instead of riding her coattails — the very long coattails of branes — Asad stayed behind.
Years later, Lisa made it to pop stardom. Not the Brian Greene level of pop stardom (not yet, at least) but there was a book. And a spread in the New York Times.
There’s no point to this post other than the thought that it would have been cool if Asad was featured in the NY Times today instead of Raman. I guess idealists and coattails don’t go together. Plus who needs pop stardom when you can enjoy the coffee shops of Amsterdam? Or live in a place where they party all week long and you don’t sound foreign?
