So, what did you do in the war?

I don't know about leadership, not a clue. The day I met Tom Hayden, he sat in the audience at an SDS conference and didn't say a word. There are days when I'm sure that I've never had an original thought. I am good at seeing the stuff that's good enough to borrow. In churning out prose I do make original, unique observations and draw conclusions for which others ask for footnotes. I read ideas and just percolate things to do... a non-stop fountain of things flowing from those ideas.

After my election I had only one thing I demanded from the University of Hartford: You must treat the Student Faculty Association (SFA) / Student Association (SA) as a legitimate government. We will take no shit. I'm only going to negotiate all the other stuff with someone who can make a deal that sticks.

I had a half-hour sit down with Dr. Woodruff. His contempt level blinded his ability to take anything as real. Autocrat. I told him he had to give me someone else I could do business with. He had a part-time/retired administrative assistant, Hector Prud'homme.

Hector had headed a team of foreign specialists at the World Bank and had worked for the State Department... and probably for the CIA, but I never got around to asking. He was accustomed to dealing with third-world governments. He had a quiet voice, but he said, "If I agree to something, it will happen."

We developed an excellent relationship. His deals stuck; and even when we broke our money deal he kept his side of the bargain. He was a truly nice person and became a friend. He was very smart and had his own radical perspective.

If you and I were to negotiate anything of substance, I guarantee that I'd show up intellectually prepared and read the small print. I'm ADHD {or whatever) and I can keep three-four balls in the air at the same time – multi-tasking. I may not outthink you, but you will not outthink me. And I will make you laugh.