As 2014 draws to a close, here’s a recap of the strangers I met during the year.
Early in the year I was interviewed by Perry Stein of the Washington City Paper for an article about Dining With Strangers. I had a fun time talking with the reporter, and it was unusual to be the one getting interrogated.
In addition to the publicity from the subsequent article, I’m also grateful to the piece because I said I was planning on doing at least one interview a month throughout the entire year. I’m happy to say that I’ve stuck to that minimum and in several months exceeded it by one or two, meaning I got to meet plenty of people.
From a zydeco dancer down in New Orleans to the manager of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, and from a jazz musician to a two-part breakfast in Los Angeles with actor Stephen Tobolowsky, I had a blast with these 19 strangers:
- Stranger #52 (January 30): The first interview of the year took place in Washington, DC, with local jazz musician Aaron L. Myers II. Getting serenaded at dinner was a great way to start off 2014.
- Stranger #53 (February 19): Matt Abbruzzesse told me about his campaign for a slot on a local DC municipal board known as an Advisory Neighborhood Commission — a race that he eventually did not win.
- Stranger #54 (March 6): Dinner in DC with Jeffrey Johnson, also known as Special Agent Galactica, his musical alter-ego who sings songs and tells stories about traveling through time and space.
- Stranger #55 (April 21): Elizabeth Moore, a DC resident, told me during dinner about how she came to adopt a philosophy of saying “yes’ to as much as possible — and how it’s helped her life.
- Stranger #56 (May 6): Costume technician Edwin Schiff told me about his career working backstage in theater.
- Stranger #57 (May 8): Serenaded once again at dinner, this time by ukelele-playing singer-songwriter Louisa Hall from Washington, DC.
- Stranger #58 (May 24): The first-ever two part interview on Dining With Strangers, and that’s because New Orleans resident Mary Burns had so much to say. In part one she talked about her experiences growing up in the Big Easy and working as a Catholic school teacher. In part two she detailed her experiences in Hurricane Katrina and her new love of zydeco dancing.
- Stranger #59 (May 25): Another interview in the Big Easy, this time with Daniel Lelchuk, who is the assistant principal cello for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
- Stranger #60 (June 30): Brendan Kelleher and I ate pizza and enjoyed several beers as he told me about his website, Behind The Craft, where he interviews the owners of craft breweries.
- Stranger #61 (July 21): Off to New York City for a dinner interview with Matt Bauman, a man of many trades. He’s an actor, real estate agent, and owner of a website for theatrical coaches.
- Stranger #62 (July 22): I spent an enjoyable afternoon touring the Jim Henson Creature Shop and learning the art of making puppets from the company’s Production Manager Melissa Creighton.
- Stranger #63 (August 12): The first time I’ve interviewed the sibling of a prior stranger. I got fish and chips in Virginia with Louisa Hall’s sister Marlene Hall, who works with veterans organizations.
- Stranger #64 (September 16): During a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, married couple Jesse and Sarah Smith told me about their discovery of omnist religious beliefs and how that changed their lives.
- Stranger #65 (October 11): Actor Michael Hitchcock, recognizable from Glee, Best In Show and a million other films and television shows, reminisced about his work and talked about his future projects.
- Stranger #66 (October 13): Another two-part interview, this time in Los Angeles with actor/writer Stephen Tobolowsky. In the first part, Stephen told me about how he got into acting and his experiences in that career. In part two of the interview, he explained how he got into writing and why he now considers that to be a greater passion than the thespian life.
- Stranger #67 (October 31): Perhaps the most lavish meal with a stranger of 2014, I spent almost three raucous hours at Galatoire’s restaurant in New Orleans with long-time French Quarter resident Dr. Brobson Lutz.
- Stranger #68 (November 28): Single mother Caecilia Kay told me about her struggles balancing her dreams of developing a career in social media and public relations with making sure her children have everything they need.
- Stranger #69 (December 22): Lunch in Hull, a city in northern England, with Jean Bishop, also known in her town as the Bee Lady. For years she’s dressed up in a bumblebee costume as an eye-catching fundraising effort for Age UK, England’s largest charity offering support to older people.