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Illuminati

From an article in the Globe and Mail:

The world gasped last week as rotund, owl-browed author Salman Rushdie, 62, attended a writers gala – with 26-year-old Harvard grad and stunner Min Lieskovsky on his arm.

… Mr. Rushdie has become the poster boy for the intellectual who routinely lands babes much to the bewilderment of everyone.

… The brainiac holds a particular sex appeal for women. From Woody Allen, who dated Diane Keaton and married Mia Farrow, to Malcolm Gladwell, who according to the Daily Beast’s Sean Macaulay is quite the “love guru,” and Freakonomics co-author Stephen Dubner, who reportedly gets hit on by breathy groupies at book signings, it’s clear that geeks can captivate.

… “The idea of dating or hooking up with a prof [remarks one female student] is one of those kinky dreams I’m sure many girls have.”…

Nothing kinky about it, and it happens so often… and the student gets pissed and tells on her professor so often … that University Diaries constantly has to decide whether to blog about the latest imploding professor/student affair.

But what UD finds strange about the Globe and Mail story’s effort to explain this phenomenon is this: The article never considers, as it maunders on about power, the most likely explanation of all.

People with highly educated, original minds know stuff. They are much more cerebrally organized, and thus probably much more interesting, than other people. They have wit. They may even – a few of them – have wisdom. As we stagger about in the dark, desperate to understand the world and ourselves, we’re drawn — sometimes deeply — to people who seem to shed lots of light.

Margaret Soltan, November 1, 2009 11:18AM
Posted in: professors

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3 Responses to “Illuminati”

  1. Rita Says:

    Min is a writer too: http://ellegirl.elle.com/guys/content/how_to_date_a_male_model__1.html

  2. Bill Gleason Says:

    You’re right, UD.

    She’s after these guys for their brains…

  3. Townsend Harris Says:

    The attractions go every which way, regardless of gender or orientation or age. My favorite hetero male lyricist here is, as always, musician Richard Thompson:

    I’ve been studying your every need
    
I’ve got statistics that’ll make you plead
    
I’ll put my thesis right in your hand
    
I’m fully qualified to be your man

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