Oregon Humanities

You’re a Cynosure, No Matter Who You Are

I had an O. Hm moment during the Live Wire! Wordstock Extravaganza earlier this month. As a producer for Live Wire, I frequently work with people who are famous. Sherman Alexie is arguably one of the most widely known and hottest guests we’ve had to date (hot in the cultural sense of the word though I could argue for both meanings). I’ve been excited to meet Sherman for some time so having our mutual friend Wesley Stace on the show gave me a chance to chat him up without seeming too much like a teenage stalker. While other cast members were nervously giggling and touching their hair around him (and by cast members, I mean the boys) I was casual, chill even, imagining our new friendship, our families hanging out at a Sounders game, shopping with his wife, wondering about their New Year’s Eve plans, getting to call him Sherman, maybe even Sherm. (Okay, I wasn’t really, but you get the idea).

At the after-party next door (I know, we are so all that), Sherm(an) and I were chatting with Wes and somehow we found ourselves talking about You Tube: how it serves pretty much as a home/office pet antics delivery system AND a machine that turns unknown people into famous ones, not for their body of work but for, well, their bodies and the odd things they can do with them. It’s a 24/7 Gong Show without the gong. Which, as I told Sherman, is exactly what had just happened with my nephew Andrew when he posted his video spoofing Shakira’s “She-Wolf.”

Before I could even finish, Sherman started gushing stuff like, “Oh my god!! He-Wolf’s your NEPHEW? He’s AWESOME! Our kids LOVE that video. He’s your nephew? WOW!!!” He was fascinated. And suddenly, I felt famous myself. Sherman Alexie was now the one acting like a teenage stalker, touching HIS hair and staring at me like I was wearing nothing but team spirit and a giant bong.

I have never felt famous for anything before; no one has ever said, “WOW! That’s YOU? You are that..um,You…that you are!” Now there it was—someone who blows me away as an artist was treating me like the famous one, simply by being related to the He-Wolf. I don’t want to imply that Sherman wasn’t warm and friendly before—he was. You could not ask for a nicer guy and perhaps we will be having family potlucks in the future. It was just a great reminder that there’s a famous someone for everyone, no matter how undeserved or removed. But when someone who is deservedly famous for their work, looks up to me because of my nephew’s You Tube artistry, we may need to rethink the fame criteria just a bit. Perhaps fame really is relative. (Or in my case, relatives.) I, however, would rather earn the word legitimately, maybe by writing this blog?

About Kate Sokoloff

Kate Sokoloff is the producer/artistic director of Live Wire! Radio. She appears in the third “The Power of a New Idea” film produced for Oregon Humanities by Jelly Helm and Grow Film, which will debut online this week.

20 October 2009 | Posted by Kate Sokoloff in New Ideas
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