back in my grad school days i used to cover the governor. (no. really. i did. i WAS cool. i SWEAR). and I would wait for HOURS to talk to the man. and then sometimes, i’d get little more than one sentence from him. and it would be the ever-so-un-useful explanation of why in fact, he did NOT want to talk to reporters.

one time, i waited FOUR hour to talk to the man. and i was wearing HEELS. and i stood in the capital building’s basement doorway, which has a not-so-nice breeze.

and then his possy’s black suvs showed up.

and then his press secretary showed up.

and then she forcefully explained to me that he would not in fact be taking any questions.

and i explained to her that i had just waited four hours in heels and i would in fact be asking the questions anyway. and by that i mean, i actually just gave her a blank stare and refused to leave.

and then the governor came in.

and i was all “governor, governor! answer my question!!” (or something like that). but he didn’t.

so i gave up on real life and decided to ask him instead about the cubs (he’s a fan.)

and because he’s such a fan, he responded. and then i wrote a story about how thought the cubs would go to the world series that year. (they didn’t). and in that moment, he seemed like such a simple man.

ahh. times they have a changed.