From left to right - Eartha - College Classmate and fellow student senator - Michele - exgirlfriend and my vice-president of the student senate, me, Dr. Naim Akbar, the president of William Paterson College, and David Lamb. David and I have been friends a long time. We were together when we took over Dean Sexton's office at NYU Law School in 1990. I directed his first two plays over ten years later. Notice how close to Dr. Naim Akbar I am. This was the third time we had met. We shared a platform when I was the president of the student body in college. He is undoubtedly one of my major influences as a public speaker and independent thinker. HIs books should be required reading in high school. But those people who believe the western cannon has some magical powers resist the independent African-American thinkers...resistance is futile...in some ways thought is not advanced in this country without the independent African-American thinker. David and I were - at the time of this photo - the vanguard of the independent African-American thinker. I cannot nor do I need to speak for David - his work does that - but I often feel too damn independent. I have created the possibility for myself of being an interdependent thinker. Thank you Dr. Akbar for your influence.