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.

Which book do you find yourself recommending passionately?

I 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?

I’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.

Is 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!