Annual Birthday Dinner Questions.

Here they are, for in an hour the Dinner begins, at Penang Malaysian restaurant. This year, for the first time, I have written two sets, one for the dinner itself, and one to offer people as they leave for further reflection. Enjoy!

QUESTIONS FOR THE DINNER

(1) If you were to write an opinion on any matter that were guaranteed a unanimous vote of the US Supreme Court and would set precedent for the next 50 years, what would you rule and why? (For this question, you may ignore issues of federal jurisdiction.)

(2) If it were possible to re-experience one event in your life directly in the perspective and perception of each person involved or present, what would it be and why?

(3) If you had $2 billion to support any kind of research – including sciences, humanities, arts, or policy – for the next five years, what 2 or 3 questions, areas, or projects would be your top priorities to fund and why? (Assume for this question that the $2 billion would allow for a major advance in the field(s) you select.)

(4) If you had to give $2 million to support an organization in the world (corporate, nonprofit, governmental, religious, or NGO) whose mission, goals, and members/supporters you find deplorable, what organization would you fund and why? (Assume for this question that your donation entitles you to no control over how
the organization uses the money.)

(5) If you were given a lifetime contract to teach one course to undergraduates at any university in any way you want, what course would you teach, where, in what way, and why? (The course can currently exist or you can make it up.)

(6) If you could have, for the next 10 years, the artistic abilities and productivity of any artist (living or dead) in any medium – though with your own style and artistic vision – what artist would you choose and why?


ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS

(7) If, due to the policies of the US government, your US citizenship were revoked and you were permanently deported to another country, of what currently existing liberation or resistance movement in what country would you become part (after, of course, an organic, accountable process of community participation) and why?

(8) If you were to be imprisoned for life without parole for a particular political cause or a specific action, what cause or act would be worth it and why? (Admittedly, a choice such as this implicates many kinds of privilege.)

(9) If you could choose either (a) to add an explicit power to or (b) to remove a power from the President of the United States (current and future), which power would you add/subtract and why? (For this question, you may ignore issues both of federal jurisdiction AND of separation of powers.)

(10) If you could eliminate one public or civic or social or national ritual and replace it with another, what would you eliminate, what would replace it, and why?

(11) If you could eliminate one technology or process – either extracting materials from Earth or producing from those materials – and immediately replace it with a sustainable solution, what would you eliminate, what would replace it, and why?