This had to be one of the best days of my life. Amazing. Surreal.
I was notified about a month or so ago by my linguistics dept. that there was a special syntax program to be given at Princeton featuring Noam Chomsky, father of modern linguistics and cognitive science.
To start, it was a beautiful day and the Princeton campus is gorgeous.
The lectures were great, had breakfast and lunch with the group (about 70 or so people -- including Chomsky and his wife), and a group photo with my linguistics dept. . . .
I'm still pinching myself.
Yep. The witness kid who was literally beaten by his mother for even expressing an interest in college; who was dragged before the elders to "readjust my thinking" when I got too excited about college after a class trip to our state university; and who eschewed college for pioneering out of high school because the end was sooooo close twenty-something years ago.. . . . . . spent the entire day with Noam Chomsky.