I had the honor of attending a lecture at Court of Appeals Hall in Albany (NY's highest court, for you out of staters), featuring Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. To put it mildly, the man is an amazing speaker. He took a routine first-year Con-law lecture and turned it into a hearty discussion of what happens when we have no clue what the hell the Forefathers were thinking when they drafted the Constitution. Here he makes a good point though, in saying the very openness of the Constitution that perplexes us was completely on purpose. Twas not the result of a huge generation gap, but rather a built-in assurance that the power is with the "People." But when the "People" don't participate in their communities, politically or otherwise, it all falls to shit, and the Court ends up with the fractured opinions that reflect a serious lack of unity in our country. He didn't quite say that in his lecture, but it is the implication I took home.

I'm afraid the implication he took home of me may have been a little less astute. The end of his lecture was more or less a hint that America needs to beef up it's civics lessons. The youngin's need to learn early on that they need to work with society, not against it. In saying that, he looked straight at me--probably because I was likely the youngest in attendance. And that was solidified when he approached me after the lecture in the reception room and said politely,

"You must be one of the young ones!"

I was stuffing my face at the time, caught unawares with a piece of cheese hanging out of my mouth (on which I subsequently choked). I managed to stammer out an affirmative response.

"Are you a lawyer?" He asked.

"Um, uh, um, no....but my dad is?"

I wish I'd taken civics in highschool...But those who witnessed my first and probably only interaction with a Supreme Court Justice assure me that I was more graceful and intelligible than I'm crediting myself.

I'm hoping that's the truth, because I just joined the Screen Actor's Guild and the ability to make my idiocy pass as cool would be a credit to my skill as an actress...