Coates in Eugene

Today was the long-awaited lecture by Ta-Nehisi Coates at our local university. He spoke to what I'd guess was about 10,000 people in the basketball arena, and about 50 of us in the overflow room in Straub Hall. Me, with my cold, I headed directly for the overflow room and didn't even try for the arena. I had a very comfortable seat right by the door, so comfortable that I didn't mind waiting in it for an hour before the talk (I had been worried about getting a seat at all, so I was very early). If my coughing had gotten out of hand, I could have easily stepped out into the lobby. So... it would have been nice to be able to see that I really saw him, but comfort and consideration won out.