Why I Love our Speaker Series

Once a month, for an hour and a half, I get to be a thinking adult again. Of course, I use my brain when I work, but that's a very part-time arrangement and this is different. When my hubby and I go to our monthly speaker series (called "Celebrity Forum") at De Anza College, we're transported. For an hour and a bit, we get to listen to fascinating people talk about their lives, their work, and their passions. They share tales of engagement with the world, of careers in the arts, media and politics that truly give me a window into the lives of other people. On those random Wednesday nights once a month, I feel totally removed from my daily reality of two screaming, tussling, giggling preschoolers that it's like I've hopped a rocket ship and sped off to a faraway planet.

A few nights ago, we got to listen to the actor Martin Sheen speak about life, politics, religion, acting, families, addiction, fatherhood and even funnily, memory loss.

He told a hilarious story about seeing a woman at an event recently who said, "Hi Martin!". He didn't recognize her, so she finally said, "Don't you know who I am?" He had to sheepishly admit that he didn't. She said, "I'm Paula Abdul and I used to be your daughter-in-law!" Wow. Now I don't feel so bad when I bump into people all over town who I used to know in high school twenty years ago and whose names always escape me. (More disturbingly, many of them have now "friended" me on facebook and I still don't know who they are.)

What amazed me about Martin Sheen's life was his decades-long commitment to political activism for social justice and peace. (There is a great page on www.martinsheen.net about his activism. His motto is "You know what I do for a living -- this is what I do to live!") He told us about the San Carlos Foundation and its work with impoverished people in Central America and invited a woman on stage to share her decade of work in the slums of Guatemala with us. Sheen donates all of his speaking fees to this charity or two others. He told several great stories about all the times he has been arrested for peaceful protest and civil disobedience. One of the stories he told has stuck with me and I think of it every day. An Irishman dies and arrives at the Pearly Gates. Saint Peter says, "Show me your scars then." The man answers that he has no scars. Saint Peter replies, "That's too bad. Was there nothing worth fighting for?"

I never thought that an actor would give me so much to think about. I'm still mulling over the things he said about how he has helped his son, Charlie Sheen, battle with addiction and how his own alcoholism both created problems and gave him some insight. My children are little, but problems like these can loom in any parents' future.

Later this year, we have the talk-show host Charlie Rose to look forward to as well as New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria. On each of those Wednesdays, you'll know where to find me. I'll be with the grown-ups!

This is an original post to Silicon Valley Moms blog. When not refereeing fights between her preschoolers, Erica blogs about her three passions: parenting, politics and public policy on www.wellthoughtoutspot.blogspot.com