~Tuesday~ Yesterday, I attended NC State’s 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr. Campus Commemoration, at which author, businessman, veteran, and the current host of Beyond Belief on the OWN network, Wes Moore, talked about his book, “The Other Wes Moore.”
A blurb about the book: “Two hauntingly similar boys take starkly different paths in this searing tale of the ghetto. Moore, an investment banker, Rhodes scholar, and former aide to Condoleezza Rice, was intrigued when he learned that another Wes Moore, his age and from the same area of Greater Baltimore, was wanted for killing a cop.”
In the Q&A session, Wes admitted that he probably wouldn’t have given this story a second thought when he read it in the newspaper one day if the person arrested hadn’t shared his name. That’s what really made him follow up on the story.
That made me think about some of the John Martins I have come to “know” as a result of the Google alert I have set up on my name. Once a day, I get a report of the results of an automated Google search on my name and see what my namesakes out there are up to.
Let’s see, recently, there has been:
- John Martin, who pinned one Sebastian Burbano in three minutes and thirty-five seconds in a recent high school wrestling match.
- John Martin, who evidently has his own rare book room.
- John Martin, the UFV professor and former Times columnist who evidently will be acclaimed next week.
- John Martin, the journalist who covers education for the Evansville Courier & Press.
- John Martin, the Chairman and CEO of Gilead, who recently reviewed the history and opportunities for Gilead’s HIV and hepatitis B and C franchises before addressing the topic on the minds of most audience members: the impending $11 billion acquisition of Pharmasset Inc.
- John Martin, the chairman of the Garfield, Colorado Board of County Commissioners who recently met behind closed doors with a consultant to discuss the hiring process for a new county manager.
- And finally, the John Martin who has his own show.
I guess, from this group, the John Martin I’d be most inclined to follow up on would be the one with his own rare book room.
Interested in your own namesakes? Set up a Google Alert for yourself!