Memes--you can't blog without 'em.

[Update II--D'Oh! I conflated celebrities and authors. Corrected.]

Dave Pawlak tags me with this one:

If you could meet and have a deep conversation with any five people on earth, living or dead, from any time period, who would they be?" (Explaining why is optional.) Name five people from each of the following categories:Saints, Those in the Process of Being Canonized, Heroes from your native country, Authors/Writers, celebrities.


The following are in no particular order.

1. Saints.

a. Teresa of Avila.

b. Thomas Aquinas.

c. Thomas More.

d. Paul.

e. Robert Bellarmine.


2. To be canonized.

a. Ven. Solanus Casey. He's a Detroiter.

b. Bl. Marco D'Aviano.

c. Bl. Giovanni Palatucci.

d. Leo XIII (not sure of his status, but doesn't get enough credit).

e. Ven. John Henry Newman.


3. American Heroes.

a. Lincoln.

b. Gen. George H. Thomas. *The* underrated general of the Civil War. Thomas was a Virginian who stayed loyal to the Union and his leadership was indispensible on numerous battlefields in the Western theatre.

c. Gen. Nathaniel Greene. One of the most underrated generals in American history, his leadership kept the Continental Army in the southern colonies together. Also had a grim case of asthma, which I can identify with.

d. Branch Rickey. The general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the man responsible for scouting and signing Jackie Robinson. He told Robinson that the man who broke the color barrier had to "be strong enough *not* to fight back."

e. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Yeah, I know--PP, moral failings, etc. To which I reply thusly: Yadda yadda yadda. His leadership and example ensured that America's struggle over racial issues would be fought with paper, not bullets. In most times and places, it hasn't worked out that way.


4. Authors/Writers.

a. Oriana Fallaci. Yes, I'd basically just sit there and let her hold forth.

b. Steve, OFA. It would, after all, be cool to speak in person. I'll even buy the first couple of rounds.

c. Philip K. Dick (is dead, alas). Now that would be a trip.

d. Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn.

e. G.K. Chesterton.


5. Celebrities.

a. Steve Yzerman. I have half a shot at this one--he's a Michigander.

b. Muhammad Ali. Without the scourge of Parkinson's, the stories he could tell.

c. Curt Schilling. The bloody sock, politics and his wargaming company. Break out the microbrews.

d. Johnny Cash.

e. Russell Crowe. Sure wouldn't be dull.


[Update I--Oh, right. You have to hit people with the meme. Okey:

My nearest and dearest

Chris Johnson

Zach

Terry

Tom Fitzpatrick

Anyone else so inclined (leave notice in the comments box).]