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Thursday, October 11, 2007
There Was a Moment... ...a rather long moment, on the George Washington Parkway, when UD despaired. The cabbie was sure we'd get to the WETA studio on time, but we were stuck in thick slow traffic and had a way to go. The News Hour producer shared my worry. He called every five minutes wanting to know our exact location. "We're at Key Bridge... Traffic's moving pretty well..." "We'll keep our fingers crossed." The driver told me harrowing stories about his long 9/11 afternoon, when he went back and forth to the Pentagon taking injured people, people in shock, to the hospital. "Okay, looks as though you'll make it," said the producer in his last phone call. "I'll be standing outside the building with the makeup person... It's all going to have to happen very fast." So UD was whisked, with five minutes to go to our segment, to the makeup room ("Can I...?" "Do whatever you want with me."). As UD was powdered, she chatted with her interviewer about how it'd go. Under big lights and cameras, UD fixed her stare 'pon her interviewer, as per instruction, and felt oddly calm. It occurred to her that if she'd gotten there a half hour early and had to listen to everyone giving her advice and shit, she'd maybe have been nervous. But the rush of it all was kind of fun, and she was so delighted to have gotten there on time, and after all she admires Doris Lessing and wanted to say why... In short, as close to a piece of cake as you can get when it's live and in front of millions... |