Eric Liu is an author, a fellow at the Center for Social Cohesion, and the founder of the Guiding Lights Weekend conference on creative citizenship. Before talking about the duties of citizenship, he revealed in the green room that he was briefly nicknamed “Spike,” and that he wore “Reggie” eyeglass frames in honor of his favorite Yankee for almost two decades.
Q. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
A. I would be a bird. I don’t know what kind of bird, but I want to fly. When I was a kid my dream was to be a fighter pilot. And then I got glasses! I still want to fly.
Q. Did you have any nicknames as a child?
A. In eighth grade on a dare I got my head shaved, and I’ve worn essentially a crew cut ever since. The first summer after I got it shaved, some friends called me “Spike”-but it didn’t last.
Q. How would you describe your style?
A. Earnest with a dose of looseness.
Q. What’s your first memory?
A. Sitting on the stairs of my childhood home, and being mesmerized by particles of dust that were visible in a sunbeam.
Q. What’s your hidden talent?
A. I throw a pretty good cut fastball.
Q. What’s your favorite theater monologue?
A. Controversial though it may be, The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Mike Daisey’s play. As a piece of theater it’s brilliant.
Q. Who’s your favorite baseball player?
A. Reggie Jackson is my primal Yankee hero. I learned to play baseball the same year-1977-that he hit three homeruns off three pitches in three swings during the World Series. In honor of him that next summer, I got glasses with “Reggie” frames. Which I wore ’til 1996.
Q. If there was a citizenship test for everyone, what would the extra credit question be?
A. Can you sing a song with the word America in it?
Q. What do you wake up to?
A. A view of Lake Washington and the Cascade Mountains in Seattle.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.