David Letterman used to have a feature on his show called "Brushes with Greatness." Members of the audience would share stories of encounters with famous people. And so...

1. Tell us about a time you met someone famous.

Hmmm...It's weird, but I've had more than my share, but not many of them are all that interesting.

Here's one I don't think I've mentioned before: I had been practicing law for about 7 or 8 years. I was a partner and I was about to take my first "partner" style vacation...Friends were getting married at UVA (a gorgeous campus for weddings) and so I decided to spend a week in D.C. at the end of the wedding weekend. The entire trip had been a dream...great wedding with great friends, gorgeous weather in DC, fabulous hotel, powerful experiences...and then it came time to fly home...

Continental Airlines cancelled my flight...and so I found myself in line at the customer service line at Reagan National...and someone else had also just been cancelled...

She was right in front of me, she was a very, very petite woman, with big, but classy looking blonde hair (at least from the back)....and she was REALLY mad...never unprofessional, but sort of scary...

The customer service person stepped away for a moment and the relatively famous, hopelessly sylish middle aged celebrity stood silently, in 3/4 profile turned away from me.

And so I made some casual comment about the insanely high level of cancelled flights on Continental...and CBS news queen Leslie Stahl turned to me, gave me a look that said, "I have no interest in having a conversation with you," and turned back to the counter and her Filofax.

I've been given the 'cut direct' by a 60 Minutes anchor!

2. Tell us about a celebrity you'd like to meet.

Hmmm...I'd like to meet a nice talented person who would make for good conversation...I think I'd like to meet Meredith Viera. Is that weird? Oh yeah, I'd also like to meet John Mahoney...but since he lives here, that might be possible.

3. Tell us about someone great who's *not* famous that you think everyone oughta have a chance to meet.

She is a legendary figure in Chicago LGBT circles. Her name is Mary Mary. That's the name she goes by when she volunteers for various gay causes, including the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus, where she helps out at the money table every Sunday night. None of us knows her full name. She's in her 70's, had hip replacement surgery this year, is a devout (but radical) Roman Catholic, widowed, and is a bit of a prude...but it doesn't stop her from spending at least one night a week holding court at the bar of a major gay leather bar in town. She's nice, she's funny, she's sassy, she's utterly self-less. She's a treasure. She's one of the few straight people inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame (at the Chicago Cultural Center on Michigan Avenue if you are interested), but I wouldn't say that she is famous.

4. Do you have any autographs of famous people?

Paula Dean
Andrea Marcovicci
Whoopi Goldberg and the entire voice cast of "The Lion King"
The cast of Broadway's "Rent"
The cast of Broadway's "Jeckyl & Hyde"
Julia Child
Jacques Pepin
Augusten Burroughs and a few other authors

5. If you were to become famous, what would you want to become famous for?

Writing something that brings people together in reconciliation.

Bonus: Whose 15 minutes of fame was up long, long ago?
Donald Trump
Paris Hilton
Tom Cruise