Celebrity Sighting Numero Uno

So I had my first celebrity sighting since moving to NYC. It's pretty pathetic. I mean, I know this city is lousy with famous people, but apparently I don't run in the same circles with them. No, my first celebrity sighting is the man who coulda been president had about a zillion more people taken him seriously and someone other than Jamie voted for him (seriously, I have no idea if Jamie voted for him, he just seemed like the friend most likely to). I crossed 5th Avenue today at 54 Street around 5:30 p.m. and was momentarily confused by seeing the shorter-than-expected Rev. Al Sharpton right in front of me. A young black man ran up to him with a disposable camera and got his picture taken. And then off Al went.

I turned to my brother and said, "That was Al Sharpton!"

To which my 25-year-old brother replied, "Who?"

So I turned to my cousin, who is about 7 years older than me and said, "That was the Rev. Al Sharpton."

I got the same response.

Quite frankly, I was a little flabbergasted. Then again, the same cousin on Saturday when we were out at the Statue of Liberty asked me why the flags were half staff.

I said, "Because a president died."

And she said, "Which president?"

I don't know why we in the newspaper business even bother. We should just write about puppies and babies and weird crime because nobody cares about anything else.