Skinny Dip with Bobbi Miller

Which celebrity, living or not, do you wish would invite you to a coffee shop?

My definition of celebrity is someone whom I admire, who I think has contributed to society in his actions or words. To me, celebrity is more than a pretty face. He does more than recite words that someone else wrote, acting out a story that someone else has planned out and directs.

Eric Kim­mel is my favorite celebri­ty. I always love talk­ing to him. Anoth­er celebri­ty I can’t wait to meet is Mon­i­ca Kulling.  Of course, I’d love to talk to Mark Twain, too, about his adven­tures rid­ing the stage­coach west and his time in San Fran­cis­co. And Abi­gail Adams, wife of John Adams, about the times she lived in.

But let’s be real: my friends are the celebri­ties in my life.

Eric A. Kimmel, Monica Kulling, Mark Twain, Abigail Adams

Which book do you find yourself recommending passionately?

John Adams by David McCullousI am cur­rent­ly read­ing — for the sec­ond time—John Adams by David McCul­lough. I love McCullough’s blend­ing of nar­ra­tive and research, cre­at­ing such a pow­er­ful sto­ry. Of course, we know all of his­to­ry is a sto­ry. He does it so well. I just fin­ished Ein­stein, by Wal­ter Isaac­son. For a long time I always thought I’d love to meet Ein­stein, speak­ing of celebri­ty. It turns out, while he didn’t like the label “celebri­ty,” he cer­tain­ly lived the life. Ein­stein was such a hound dog. For all his lofty thought exper­i­ments about space and time, he real­ly didn’t have a clue about life on this plan­et. He had an inter­est­ing, com­plex life, and saw a lot of his­to­ry. It would be more inter­est­ing to speak to one of his friends, wives, or girl­friends, to see their reac­tion to nav­i­gat­ing such a com­plex per­son­al­i­ty. One of my favorite movies is IQ, in which Wal­ter Matthau plays Ein­stein as an old man. I like that Einstein.

Even more inter­est­ing, I bet it would be cool to lis­ten to a con­ver­sa­tion between Ein­stein and Stephen Hawking!!

Anoth­er book I just read was Hap­py Birth­day, Alice Babette, writ­ten by Mon­i­ca Kulling and illus­trat­ed by Qin Leng. This books tells a gen­tle sto­ry about a birth­day par­ty between two friends, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tok­las. Of course, we know the his­to­ry of those two celebri­ty writ­ers, which makes this book all the more impressive.

Favorite city to visit?

Big River's Daughter Girls of GettysburgI’ve visited many historical cities and towns as I researched my stories. I visited Gettysburg, PA several times, walking the battlefields, as I researched my Girls of Gettysburg. I’ve driven along the Mississippi River for a ways, as I researched life along the river for my Big River’s Daughter. I’ve been to Boston and the surrounding area, which is intently interesting as it relates to John Adams. I’ve been to Washington, DC, of course, and just love that history. I’d like to go again and check it out more, especially Arlington National Cemetery.  And I’d love to go to Philadelphia, for all the history.

Tea? Coffee? Milk? Soda? What’s your favorite go-to drink?

Diet Coke, most definitely. Although I’ve cut down quite a bit since my young years and now drink more water. I recently had my first cup of coffee, made very weak and included sugar free hazelnut creamer. Very tasty! And it did the trick: I was up at 4, and I had a long day of traveling ahead of me. I was able to make it through without nodding off.

gr_plutoIs Pluto a planet?

What a tricky good question!

Plu­to is a hound dog, and he’s every bit as loy­al a friend as Lassie and Old Yeller. Just like Mick­ey Mouse!

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Rebecca C
Rebecca C
7 years ago

I’m with you – a celebri­ty in my eyes is some­one who’ has actu­al­ly con­tributed to soci­ety and isn’t just a pret­ty face. I enjoyed the book rec­om­men­da­tions and want to know more about Ein­stein now. Thanks for an inter­est­ing and infor­ma­tive read!

Bobbi Miller
Bobbi Miller
Reply to  Rebecca C
7 years ago

Thank YOU, Rebec­ca! You’ll love the Ein­stein book, for sure!

Julie Fulton
7 years ago

Inter­est­ing thoughts and I too want to know more about Ein­stein now!

Bobbi Miller
Bobbi Miller
7 years ago

Ein­stein is so much more inter­est­ing the more you get to know him. But he had a dark side. He reminds me of Shel­don Coop­er on the Big Bang sit­com, minus the occa­sion­al per­son­able insight into human behav­ior. While Ein­stein could see and ana­lyze the big pic­ture, com­ing up with solu­tions how to bet­ter human­i­ty, he was­n’t all that inter­est­ed in mak­ing indi­vid­ual con­nec­tions — unless it served a per­son­al pur­pose. He must have been very charismatic.

Marcia Strykowski
7 years ago

All of your answers are awe­some, espe­cial­ly Plu­to! I’m a David McCul­lough fan, too.

Yvonne V
7 years ago

Fun inter­view!