Right off the top of my head, I'd have to go with the Dalai Lama. He seems like a cool guy, and I'd really like to discuss stuff with him.

Karen, 20
Marshelltown/Ames, IA

Michael Stipe of the pop band R.E.M.. . . .To tell him how much of a creative genius God I think he is and to see if he is as much of an arrogant nasty dickhead as I suspect. . . .

(David Fincher directed Seven, The Game and Fight Club. . .I remembered just a few minutes ago. . .)

mothmc, 35
Pensacola, FL

the word "meet" needs clarification. I have no desire to simply shake hands with anybody, living or dead, if the handshake were to be the only contact. I have contacted many, many minds through many, many books and magazines and newspaper stories, learning from great men and women without being distracted by any physical or metaphorical warts--or invading their private lives.

Jill, 59
Saylorsburg, PA

Kurt Vonnegut, Maynard James Keenan, 0t+> , Shakespeare, Charles Simic, Jim Henson, Christina Ricci, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, Joel and Ethan Coen, and Terry Gilliam are all very high on my list for the beauty and brutality of their additions to what i consider art. The number one though has to be the great, lost, poet, Manny Carcano.    Bless you, Manny, wherever you are.

Anthony, 24
Baton Rouge, LA

ANY famous person?
I'll divide this up into two categories: dead and alive :) I would love to meet Emily Bronte and Mary Shelley. Both women fascinate me; I've based my life's work around them. I also put Lord Byron into the dead famous category; I've been obsessed with him since I was 8. As for alive breathing famous people, there are only two people I want to meet: Kevin Smith and Christina Ricci. I met all the alive writers I love over the years, so there's no one there. I guess that only leaves Smith and Ricci.

Kevin Smith is absolutely adorable. I think his scripts are brilliant, his directing fun, but most of all, I think he's absolutely adorable. I'm convinced I was first attracted to my SO because he reminds me a bit of Kevin Smith. As for Ricci, she's my favorite actress. I guess that's good enough :)

Amy, 23
Baton Rouge, LA

Ben Affleck. The reason is pretty obvious. :)

Lindsay, 21
Harrisonburg, VA

Chiara Lubich, founder of a Catholic lay movement that I'm a part of. She's been given a tremendous gift, and her teachings have had a tremendous impact on my life. I'd like to thank her.

Laura, 34
Lowell, MA

Mark Twain. I've got a lot of questions for him. I want to know how he feels about Huck Finn being his most well known work or how he feels about being called a racist by people who were too busy counting words to actually read him. He was also an extremely funny, cynical and intelligent man who had a very simple approach to writing.

Alias Irrelevante

It's no question. I'd meet dc Talk. They're a Christian band that completely changed my life. Hopefully I could meet all three of them, but if I couldn't, I'd go with Michael Tait. They all are so absolutely influential to me. I can't even begin to describe it. I'm sure I'd burst into tears the seond I saw them. I love those guys.

Elizabeth, 18
Rochester, MN

Madonna, for her comedy, charm, beauty, endurance, and strength over so many years,...decades really.

Helena, 31
Sydney  AUSTRALIA

I think I would like to meet Jackie Kennedy (if she were still alive), just because I think she was the most graceful, sophisticated, strong woman I've ever seen on television. Every interview I've ever heard or seen her do, she was always witty and sharp, and very interesting to listen to. She's someone I have always wanted to emulate as far as her personality and strength is concerned.

Nicole
Elk Grove, CA

For the life of me I cannot think of one famous person I would be dying to meet in person. Seems to me I would want one of two things from that person. I would want to include in my circle of friends, which is not likely to happen or can they answer some burning question that has not been covered in writing or in some inane TV or magazine inteview and I don't think I would have the courage or time to ask such questions.

I guess I am happy with my public perceptions of the many famous folks that are out there. That meeting them would only serve to destroy what illusions I have.

Felicia, 34
Somerville, MA

I would like to meet Einstein. I think it would be interesting to see how he thinks and operates as a human being. Examine and observe his behaviours and ways of thinking. They preserved his brain and maybe they'll be able to reconstruct him somehow one day. That'll be the day.

Ray, 17
Toronto  CANADA

If I could meet any famous person: living, it would Terry Goodkind, my favorite current author, who writes the Sword of Truth books. Non-living, Homer, so I could talk to him about the Oddysey, Iliad, and whether that stuff actually happened, or how much of it happened.

Ernest, 29
Washington, DC USA

This is a difficult question to answer, because these days "meeting" a famous person means nothing more than attracting their attention for at least a second. If I were going to meet a famous person, it would have to be in a situation where I could really talk to them. I'd like to meet Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I'd like to meet my hometown's founding fathers, and pretty much anybody who lived before 1900. It would be interesting to have a conversation with a character from biblical times, too.

Kristin, 20
IA  USA

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