I’ll start with a humblebrag: At work today, I got a chance to hang out with a couple of world-class athletes, an Olympian and a Paralympain. We had a really nice chat, talking about our kids and paint colors for my new house and Sam Kavanagh’s bike-helmet tan lines. You know, just hanging out, as you do at your office on a Friday.
I shared with friends as more a bemused aside, an island of weird fun on a stressful Friday. Someone inevitably asked whether I’d taken any pictures with the guys.
Well, no. That would have been… weird. Was that weird of me to think?
A disclosure: I am sometimes rightly called out for documenting instead of living in the moment. After all, I am an introvert and a former reporter. Documenting makes me feel safe. So why didn’t I document this moment?
I think it comes from that reporter background. When I was out interviewing or writing about a famous subject, I was there as the audience. I wasn’t Larry King or James Lipton, almost a celebrity myself. I was just this guy, you know?
The comedy team of DeMong and Grieser
I can’t even think of many folks with whom I’d have wanted selfies (or whatever we called them way back when). Douglas Adams, surely; he’s my biggest missed opportunity there. Who knew he’d pass so soon? I probably assumed I’d interview the guy a ton more times. Lawrence Block, the great mystery writer, because he introduced me to a clean, wry, eminently readable tone.
Nobody else comes to mind. I feel like it ruins the professionalism of an interview, and conversely, that it can turn fun low-key social time (like today) into a weird fandom dynamic.
So: What are your selfie rules? When would you or would you not take a selfie with someone famous?
(One last contradiction: I did take a selfie goofing around with Olympian Billy DeMong when he was here. So who knows?)
