【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 。39。t a Presidentamp。39。s Day. There was Abraham Lincolnamp。39。s birthday, George Washingtonamp。39。s birthday and Flag Day ... And lots of little parades. My grandfather used to take me and weamp。39。d stand on the street corner, heamp。39。d hold my hand, and Iamp。39。d look up and Iamp。39。d see a tear running down his eye. And he meant a great deal to me.
　　And he used to write presidents of the United States. Every letter started, amp。quot。My dearest, darling Mr. President,amp。quot。 and heamp。39。d tell him something wonderful about what he did. But when he disagreed with the President, he also wrote, amp。quot。My dearest, darling Mr. President, Didnamp。39。t I tell you last week ...?amp。quot。
　　And I would run down the stairs every now and then and pick up the mail. We were three flights up, 74 York Street, New Haven, Connecticut. And Iamp。39。d pick up a little white envelope reading, amp。quot。Shya C. called at this address.amp。quot。 And thatamp。39。s the story I have told about my grandfather
　　EH: They wrote him back on the envelopes
　　NL: They wrote back. But I have shown them myself, going way back to Phil Donahue and others before him, literally dozens of interviews in which I told that story. This will be the second time I have said the whole story was a lie. The truth was my grandfather took me to parades, we had lots of those. The truth is a tear came down his eye.
　　The truth is he would write an occasional letter, and I did pick up those little envelopes. But amp。quot。My dearest darling Mr. President,amp。quot。 all the rest of it, is a story I borrowed from a good friend whose grandfather was that grandfather who wrote those letters. And, I mean, I stole Arthur Marshallamp。39。s grandfather and made him my own. Always.
　　When I started to write my memoir amp。quot。Even this amp。quot。 How about that? amp。quot。Even This I Get to Experience.amp。quot。 When I started to write the memoir and I started to think about it, and then I I I did a reasonable amount of crying, and I realized how much I needed the father. So much so that I appropriated Arthur Marshallamp。39。s grandfather. So much so, the word amp。quot。fatheramp。quot。 I have six kids by the way. My favorite role in life. It and husband to my wife Lyn. But I stole the manamp。39。s identity because I needed the father.
　　Now Iamp。39。ve gone through a whole lot of shit and e out on the other side, and I forgive my father the best thing I the worst thing I The word Iamp。39。d like to use about him and think about him is he was a rascal. The fact that he lied and stole and cheated and went to prison ... I submerge that in the word amp。quot。rascal.amp。quot。
　　EH: Well thereamp。39。s a saying that amateurs borrow and professionals steal.
　　NL: Iamp。39。m a pro.
　　EH: Youamp。39。re a pro.
　　And that quote is widely attributed to John Lennon, but it turns out he stole it from . Eliot. So youamp。39。re in good pany.
　　EH: I want to talk about your work. Obviously the impact of your work has been written about and Iamp。39。m sure youamp。39。ve heard about it all your life: what it meant to people, what it meant to our culture, you heard the applause when I just named the names of the shows, you raised half the people in the room through your work. But have there ever been any stories about the impact of your work that surprised you?
　　NL: Oh, god surprised me and delighted me from head to toe. There was amp。quot。An Evening with Norman Learamp。quot。 within the last year that a group of hiphop impresarios, performers and the Academy put together. The subtext of amp。quot。An Evening with ...amp。quot。 was: What do a 92yearold Jew then 92 and the world of hiphop have in mon? Russell Simmons was among seven on the stage. And when he talked about the shows, he wasnamp。39。t talking about the Hollywood, George Jefferson in amp。quot。The Jeffersons,amp。quot。 or the show that was a number five show. He was talking about a simple thing that made a big
　　EH: Impact on him?
　　NL: An impact on him I was hesitating over the word, amp。quot。change.amp。quot。 Itamp。39。s hard for me to imagine, you know, changing somebodyamp。39。s life, but thatamp。39。s the way he put it.