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Here’s the transcript that Arvin refers to, in case you want to just read his answers (vs. listening to the audio). I bolded all the references to “Harvard” so you can focus on the times he mentions the school:How I Got Into CollegeTranscriptORIGINALLY AIRED 09.06.2013Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard, not read. We strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.© 2013 Ira GlassPrologue.Ira GlassAll across the country this month, college freshmen are starting their new lives at their new schools. And it is so hard to get into so many schools these days. At Columbia University in New York City, 33,000 people applied. 31,000 were rejected. That is fewer than 7% getting in. And the students who did get in, the students who made it here, they still wonder how they did it. You know, it was so hard to get here. What was it that worked? And they have their theories.Female Student 1I think it's because my application was, like, very focused on physics, and especially females in physics, because obviously that's a problem.Female Student 2I had decent SAT scores. And I had a good GPA. But I think a big part of it was my essays.Ira GlassThese Columbia students talk to reporter Phia Bennin on their very first day on campus. It was obvious who was a freshman, because they all had to wear neon bracelets, like they were at a water park.Male Student 1Well, I've been a competitive gymnast for my entire life.Female Student 3I was a rhythmic gymnast, and I competed for the US National team.Male Student 2I don't know. I'm pretty diverse, I guess-- Hispanic, disabled, good grades.Male Student 3I'm an Eagle scout. That might have helped, too.Ira GlassBut you do not have to talk to many kids or scratch the surface very far at all before you get this response to the question, what got you into this school?Female Student 4I have no idea.Male Student 4I still actually have no clue whatsoever.Female Student 5Just like the percentage of people that get in is absolutely minuscule. So it really is-- it's just kind of what the admissions officers see in you. And I have no idea what they saw.Phia BenninYou have no idea what they saw?Female Student 5No.Ira GlassI totally relate to that. I remember I was completely clueless when it came to applying to college-- what to do to get in, what to stay on the essays to convince them that I was worthy of their schools, and even more basic than that, I really had no idea what would possibly make one school better than another. How to figure out what schools I should apply to-- it was overwhelming.And today on our show, it's September, it's back to school. We have stories of some of the most boneheaded things people try to do to get into college. Plus the truly incredible story of how one man made it into college-- that story from writer Michael Lewis. From WBEZ Chicago, it is This American Life, distributed by Public Radio International. I'm Ira Glass. Stay with us.Act One. The Old College Try.Ira GlassAct One, The Old College Try. So here at our radio show, we went looking for a college admissions officer who would tell us the most misguided things that people do when they're applying to schools. And we found Rick Clark, who is director of undergraduate admissions at the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech. And he said that he and his team are regularly getting emails and phone calls from parents who are pretending to be their own kids. And he sent me some of these emails with the names redacted.Ira GlassYou forwarded an email like this to us. This is from a mom's email address. And then it's signed from a son.Rick ClarkYeah, yeah.Ira GlassAnd it says, "I was impressed by GT's beautiful campus and its close proximity to so many athletic teams and facilities in Atlanta. I look forward to speaking with someone from the business school. Thanks again for taking the time to meet with us on Saturday. And thanks for the awesome t-shirt." Now the word awesome, is that the most common word that parents use to imitate their kids?Rick ClarkI'd say awesome and cool. Those would be-- you know, if they throw those in, I think they feel like they're covering their bases on impersonating a high school student. But ironically, I really almost never in fact see that in an email from a high school student.Ira GlassAh. So duplicitous parents, please take note. And then on the phone, when the parents call on the phone, do they use the word awesome?Rick ClarkI actually just did hear from one of my staff members who said they talked to a mom the other day who clearly was trying to sound like her 17-year-old daughter. Not so much in the language she was using, but masking her voice. About 15 minutes in, she started using "she" instead of "I," even saying "what if she-- I mean I-- wanted to list more activities on the application?"Ira GlassRick Clark says that one thing that has amped this up, all the parents getting in touch, is that lots of schools take into account whether a student shows something called demonstrated interest in their college, meaning did they show up on campus? Did they write emails to the admissions office afterwards? Were they in touch?Georgia Tech, he says, does not take that stuff into account. But parents do not seem to have gotten the memo on that. He forwarded me an email that a mom wrote to her kid offering the kid $20 if the kid would email the admissions office. Which might have been fine, if she hadn't accidentally sent her email to the admissions office. And Rick Clark says that he gets where the parents are coming from. He is a parent himself. He wants to do everything he can for his kids.Rick ClarkIn fact, we've got a five-year-old right now on a waiting list for a charter school.Ira GlassOh, so you have to deal with some admissions persons.Rick ClarkYeah, I'm getting a little taste of my own medicine, because my kid is like seventh on this waiting list. And my wife the other day is like, we're going to call them every week and see where he is. I'm like, whoa, whoa. You are really flirting with the line between loving him and just really being a stalker here.Ira GlassSo you forwarded this email that you all got. And I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by this. But I got to say, I didn't think-- it's from somebody whose kid is not even applying to college. It says, "Dear Sir or Madam, My second grader--"[LAUGHS]Rick Clark[LAUGHS] I'm sorry.Ira GlassI can barely finish this sentence. You can tell you know this email.Rick ClarkYeah, absolutely.Ira Glass"My second grader has decided on a career in electrical engineering. He is leaning towards MIT, but I do not find them helpful and would prefer a Southern culture."[LAUGHTER]Ira GlassI like that he's playing on your pride, on your southern pride. "Would you please tell me how to prepare him for admission? He will be an Eagle Scout by then and wants to go to the best school. Please advise."Rick ClarkYeah. I mean apparently MIT needs to pay more attention to seven-year-olds in their admission process.Ira GlassRick Clark also sent me a bunch of college essays written by kids that they have gotten at Georgia Tech, again, with the names redacted. Turns out one common mistake that kids make when they're writing their essays is that they're sending out so many applications, they leave the names of other schools in their essays to Georgia Tech.Rick ClarkAll right. This is one, in fact, in a-- I don't know-- 14-line short essay, they twice mention a wrong school name. "So after visiting the campus, reading the information brochure, and researching the university website, I understand and believe that Duke offers what I hope to gain from my college experience.Ira GlassAnd they're writing to Georgia Tech.Rick ClarkAnd then it skips down a couple lines. And this is what really blows me away, because there's like four words here separating two school names. "I've chosen to apply early decision to Georgia Tech, because I believe Duke is the ideal university for me."Ira GlassAre there trends in what kids are writing about-- where you feel like you see little fads and you get sick of them?Rick ClarkOh, well the age-old one that-- I mean, again, pretty much anybody that you would interview who's been in college admission for any period of time would be-- you know, we just call it now the mission trip essay. And great to go on a mission trip, great to have a cultural experience. But inevitably, the way it reads is so predictable.You know, we flew down to somewhere in Central America. And we got off the plane. It was really hot. And we got on the bus, and 20 miles outside of the village, our bus broke down. But we got picked up by like a chicken truck and taken into town. And then, over the course of my time there, I went expecting to help others. But it was, in fact, me who was changed.And even just when you first start reading that essay, you're like, oh, here it comes again.Ira GlassMost college essays are pretty bad. Rick estimates that only one out of every 20 or so essays that he reads is any good at all. That is 19 bad ones, if you're counting at home. But he says that he and his colleagues believe that they themselves are partly to blame for the essay questions that they actually put onto the applications, questions that always get the same kind of mundane suck-up-ey answers from kid after kid after kid. Colleges just market themselves so aggressively to so many people.Rick ClarkThere's a girl that lives just on our street. And she's a senior this year. And she brought me over the stack of mail that she got from schools. I mean, this was just the last, like, two months worth of mail. And it had to be two feet tall. And opening those up, you put your hand over the name of the school, and it could kind of be any place.Ira GlassIt's funny when you put it that way. Its almost like the schools are being as generic in what they're saying to the students as the students are to the schools.Rick ClarkThat's right. Nobody puts, like, dead squirrels on the front of their college brochure. It's all like football teams winning, beautiful sunny day, kids under a tree with a professor. That's like every other page. It just runs together.Ira GlassRick Clark, director of admissions at Georgia Tech. Go Jackets.Act Two. My Ames is True.Ira GlassAct Two, My Ames is True. Michael Lewis is a pretty well-known writer and reporter. His books Moneyball and The Blind Side were made into movies. He has two best sellers about Wall Street, Liar's Poker and The Big Short. But this particular story happens long before he was writing books. He was in seventh grade in New Orleans, trying to avoid reading them.Michael LewisAnd the English teacher, Mr. Downer, asked us to write a book report on a novel called Johnny Tremain. And I went home, and I looked at the book. And I noticed on the back there was this great book report of the book. And it was just on the back of the book.Ira GlassOh, you mean like the little summary?Michael LewisThe little summary. And I just copied it out and handed it in and was kind of pleased with it. It came back with an A on it. And it says "see me" on the top, in a big red ink. And I go to see Mr. Downer. And he says, that's plagiarism. Oh my god, what's plagiarism?Ira GlassYou've never heard of it?Michael LewisNever heard of it. And the concept was alien to me. I just thought it was an odd concept, because you repeat what other people say all the time. I was just repeating what someone else said. It just seemed like a very intelligent thing to repeat. And I was telling him this. I thought I was saving us all a lot of trouble.Ira GlassSaving us trouble like--?Michael LewisLike it will save him the trouble of reading something really awful. And I wouldn't have to write a boring book report, or even read the boring book. I was doing both of us a favor. And it seemed kind of counterintuitive to have to generate a thing that had already been done.Ira GlassMr. Downer does not agree. And the middle school principal decides to expel Michael.Ira GlassAnd at this point, do you understand what's wrong with what you've done?Michael LewisNo. I'm indignant. I understand I'm supposed to feel it's wrong. But I don't feel it's wrong.Ira GlassMichael Lewis is-- by the way, if you're a seventh grader hearing us talk about this right now and you want to try this with one of his books in your classroom, you totally have his blessing. He wishes you the best. Though he is pretty sure you're going to get the same results that he did. Anyway, ultimately, his parents get involved. Seventh-grade Michael Lewis is not expelled from school.Michael LewisBut what I have to do is write 100 times a phrase that Mr. Downer has written on the blackboard, I will not plagiarize the work of others.Ira GlassWait--Michael LewisThe punishment is to plagiarize, 100 times, over and over and over. And I didn't understand really the point of this. Because I thought, well this is just plagiarizing again. You just want to show me that it's supposed to be hard work to plagiarize? That was the--Ira GlassSo this has become one those stories that Michael has found himself telling, you know, now and then over the years.Michael LewisEvery now and then I wheel it out. And at some point it occurred to me that the mere fact I like this story says an awful lot about me.Ira GlassSo what does this one say about you?Michael LewisWell, I think it rhymes with sort of my world view, and the general sense that authority is often absurd, a general sense that punishments often don't fit crimes, a general sense that often things that are supposed to be wrong don't actually feel wrong, and maybe they aren't as wrong as people say.Ira GlassYou know, we all have certain stories from our childhoods that we've tried out from time to time, out of all the thousands of things that ever happened to us. And usually there's not many stories that we'll actually trot out, right? And the choices that we make, the selection that we make of which incidents we find ourselves telling people, it says so much about us and how we see the world, which ones we pick.And I bring all this up because the actual, real story that Michael Lewis is here on the radio show today to report is a very good example of that. Of course, this is our "How I Got Into College" show, so this is the story of how one guy named Emir Kamenica got into college. But it's also an illustration of this other thing. Anyway, here's Michael.Michael LewisI think if I were telling you Emir's story, I would probably just start it at the very beginning-- how he was born in Bosnia in 1978, how he grew up in Sarajevo with loving parents and a happy family. But it's his story. So let's let him tell it the way he tells it.Emir KamenicaAll right. Well, I guess the natural place to start the story might just be the outset of the war, which I was 13 at the time. The war, from my perspective, because I wasn't particularly paying attention to the political situation, comes truly out of nowhere. One morning you wake up, expecting the world will look just the way it did yesterday. And instead there are these people in leather jackets with stockings on their heads and machine guns in their hands.Michael LewisSo the Serb troops hadn't gotten to his neighborhood yet. And one Sunday, his mother took Emir and his sister across the river to visit his great-aunt. The walk was about a mile.Emir KamenicaSo when we realize this might not have been a good idea is when we start crossing this bridge. Some shooting starts, and it's clear some people are shooting at us, because you can see the bullets ricochet around. And we just kind of run.Michael LewisThey managed to get to the other side of the bridge without getting shot, but they couldn't go back. And his dad was trapped back where they lived. The Serb troops wound up killing a lot of the men in Emir's old neighborhood and raping the women.But when Emir tells this story, he stresses just how lucky they were to get out. For example, how lucky they were to hitch a ride from two women, complete strangers, and to join a convoy of 5,000 Bosnian refugees, all of them women and children fleeing for the Croatian coast. How lucky it was that they owned a camper near the beach where they spent the summers. How lucky it was that it was May, when the weather was warm. How lucky they were even after the weather turned cold and their camper became uninhabitable.Emir KamenicaWhich was actually another pure, fortuitous coincidence. My mother happen to be in a market and ran across a woman who was my sister's homeroom teacher in Sarajevo.Michael LewisThis woman happened to be moving to London and needed someone to watch her apartment-- more good luck. Clearly, there was some bad luck too, but Emir doesn't mention it. I have to prod him to fill in the piece of the story he most obviously leaves out.Michael LewisSo let me stop you for a second.Emir KamenicaYeah. Sorry, go on.Michael LewisI was going to ask you, do you know exactly what happened to your father?Emir KamenicaI don't know exactly what happened. What I do know is that a neighbor of ours, a person who lived in our high rise, he found my father's body on the street. And he took him to the local cemetery and buried him. So we at least do know where he is.Michael LewisAnyway, Emir and his mom and his sister moved into this apartment in a city crawling with hostile Croat nationalists. His mother wasn't allowed to work. And before long, Emir and his sister weren't allowed to go to school. When he went outside, Emir would be chased by these thugs who wanted to beat him up just because he was Muslim.His family wasn't even faintly religious. They didn't believe in God. They actually defined themselves as atheists. So he thought this was especially bizarre. He was stuck inside this apartment. In his telling, he did almost nothing but read books.Emir KamenicaSo I would get the books from the local library. I would sort of run there to make sure I don't encounter any of the nationalists that are trying to prove their patriotism by beating me up.Michael LewisAnd I'm trying to picture this, actually. So you're actually kind of running through the streets with library books under your arms and running back with other library books under your arms?Emir KamenicaYeah, it was library books. I also tried to teach myself a few things, because eventually you get bored of reading novels. So I tried to learn some more physics. I read a lot of Freud, which I then decided was not that good.And one of the books I read was called The Fortress by an author called Mesa Selimovic. And I do not know why-- I guess 15-year-olds are impressionable-- I was very much moved by the novel.Michael LewisI've never actually read The Fortress, but according to the description on the back of the book, it's about a young man who, quote, "overcomes the psychological anguish of war, only to find that he has emerged a reflective and contemplative man in a society that does not value the subversive implications of these qualities." Emir loved the book. He read it over and over.One day his mother announces that they've had another lucky break. Out of a million Bosnian refugees, they are among the first few thousand being handed tickets to the United States. They packed to leave. But all Emir has is some t-shirts, blue jeans, and this library book.Emir KamenicaWhich is still in my room. And so when we're packing to leave, I decide to bring it with me to the US as my most prized possession.Michael LewisSo when you take this book, are you sensitive to the fact that you're stealing a library book?Emir KamenicaI'm entirely aware of that, yeah. I didn't feel like the community or town had treated me very nicely. So I perhaps had less guilt than I might have in another circumstance.Michael LewisThe UN dropped Emir and his mom and his sister in Atlanta, which was as good as any other place since they didn't know a soul in the entire country. They're picked up at the Atlanta airport, along with an older Bosnian couple they don't know at all, and taken to their new home.Emir KamenicaAnd we pull into this apartment complex. And I remember very well when the van stopped. I just saw this look of terror on my mother and sister's faces. So I immediately turned to them, reassuring them, said oh no, no. They're not dropping us off here. This is just where this couple is going. We're going elsewhere.So the guy opened the door. The other couple got out. And I just sort of with my hand signaled to my mother and sister to sit still. Because surely, surely this is not where we're going. But in fact that was where we were going. And it's just horrible. There's cockroaches running all over the place.Michael LewisSo far as he could tell, there weren't any other white people in the neighborhood. And to Emir, this whole black people white people thing was an entirely new experience. But the first thing that struck him was that the black people didn't really seem to like the white people very much.Emir KamenicaWhich was particularly ironic, given that first, I don't know that I'm Muslim. All of a sudden, people try and kill me because they think I'm Muslim. I did not know I was white. Now all of a sudden these kids want to beat me up because I'm white.Michael LewisOnce again, he couldn't leave his home without feeling a little bit scared, even when he went to school, which was called Clarkston High. Sitting in his literature class one day, Emir heard a kid get shot right outside the classroom.Emir KamenicaThe teacher was reading out loud from Romeo and Julietat the time. I'm not sure if others noticed the kind of appropriateness. There was lots of racial tension. I was one of, I would guess, like, 12 or 20 white kids in a school of 900. There were lots fights, lots of fighting.Probably the worst class of all, by far, was this biology class. And the teacher there, this was, I think, his first year teaching. And he did not have any method for controlling the students. So one day he brought a bunny to class.But the other students decided that it would be much more entertaining to use the bunny as a soccer ball. So they would just kick the bunny around while the teacher sort of ran around the classroom trying to stop this. The bunny survived, but it looked like he had gone blind in one of his eyes. It was completely mangled.Michael LewisIn those first few months, Emir made just a single friend, another Bosnian refugee named Emil. Emir and Emil were inseparable, but they were joined mainly by their fear of everyone else.Michael LewisAnd how is your English at this point?Emir KamenicaTerrible.Michael LewisThat was another problem. He says he couldn't really talk to the other kids or his teachers. And so he sort of walked around the school in silence, like a mute. To improve his English, he returned to The Fortress, the novel he'd stolen from the Croatian library. At night he'd sit down with a dictionary and translate The Fortressfrom Bosnian to English.Emir KamenicaIt was useful, because it did improve my English. And it also gave me this sense of-- it made me feel literary. It made me feel like I was creating something beautiful.Michael LewisSo he was back to sitting alone in his room with his novel. But as Emir tells it, all this really just set the stage for his biggest stroke of luck, the one that would not only get him into college but would change his entire life.It came in the form of a teacher who descended for maybe two weeks upon his English classroom. Emir remembers only her last name-- Ames. Ms. Ames, or maybe it was Mrs. Ames. He thinks she was an intern training to be a teacher. Anyway, she wasn't around for very long.Unlike his regular teacher, she was full of energy. She tried all these new tricks to engage their interest. One day she handed out these photographs to the kids. The one she gave to Emir was of a boy with a haunted look on his face, looking over his shoulder. Then she told them all to write an essay about the pictures.Emir KamenicaWrite an essay-- that's a pretty difficult thing for me, given my limited knowledge of English. So I first thought I'm going to dread this task. But then I realized there's this really beautiful passage, this beautiful chapter I had translated, I had worked on the previous night, from TheFortress. So I decide to pretty much word for word replicate this passage and use that as my essay for Ms. Ames.I still remember a little bit about what the passage was about. The protagonist has witnessed an injustice. I remember I closed my essay with this bit of internal monologue, which roughly says, I'm slowly becoming a repository for decomposing sorrows, regrets, ignored injustice, and forgotten promises. I can still feel its stench. But when I get accustomed to it, I will call it experience. And I think Ms. Ames was impressed.Michael LewisAnd since The Fortress had never been translated into English, there was exactly zero chance she would ever catch him.Emir KamenicaWhat happened is the next day Ms. Ames walks up to me and pretty much whispers into my ear, you have to get out of this school. Which is not what you typically expect teachers to tell you in school. But I'm like, yeah. Where? Where do I go? And she said, well there are private schools. I was like, well, don't those cost money?She says, well, you know, some of them have financial aid. In fact, I have a job interview at a very nice private school on Monday. Why don't you just come with me and ask whether they have financial aid? And I was like, OK.So the following Monday, instead of going to Clarkston High in morning, Ms. Ames comes to pick me up at our apartment complex. And she drives me to midtown Atlanta to this just beautiful, wonderful school with manicured lawns. It just looks lovely.Michael LewisThis new place is called the Paideia School. He's never heard of it.Emir KamenicaSo she goes to have her job interview. And I go to the admissions office. And there's the admissions officer. So she's looking at me, sort of, so? And I remember pretty distinctly, I said, I'm a Bosnian refugee. My school is really bad. Can I please go here?Michael LewisYou'd memorized that sentence?Emir KamenicaI think I had practiced it ahead of time. So it's kind of stuck in my head because I'd planned this, this great pitch that I had, which is, I'm a Bosnian refugee. My school is really bad. Can I please go here?She points out to me that applications were due three months ago. She asks whether I need financial aid. I ask how much it would be. She said something which to me was equivalent to a bazillion dollars. So I say, yes, I need financial aid. She points out those were given out six months ago. She then suggests maybe I should think about applying for the following year.And to that I retort, I'm a Bosnian refugee. My school is really, really bad. Can I please, please go here? And I guess that was effective, particularly in conjunction with the essay, which Ms. Ames brought to her job interview. So that when she was asked why she wants to be a teacher, she pulls out this essay and says, because of children like these.Michael LewisThese children who plagiarize essays from stolen library books.Emir KamenicaBut she didn't know that.Unbeknownst to me at the time, Paideia is the most PC, diversity-obsessed school south of the Mason-Dixon line. I mean, they really think diversity is important. And a Bosnian refugee at this time? That's a very rare commodity. So they basically managed to dig up some money.So I was there sophomore, junior, and senior year of high school. And it was a lovely place. It was a heaven on earth, as far as I was concerned. All the teachers went by their first name. We had couches instead of desks in the classrooms.I mean, not just was the school good, I also felt safe. And this feeling of safety had been lacking for the previous few years. And I think it does something to you. I think you have no new resources to pay attention to things about the world which are beautiful, things about the world which are interesting, things about the world which are intriguing.I'm speculating here. But I think you're somewhere at a deep level distracted by the threat. I could instead focus on catching up on the things I hadn't learned.Michael LewisFour years later, he was a student at Harvard on a scholarship that paid for tuition, room, and board. From there, he went and got his PhD in Economics, also from Harvard. At Harvard, he met his future wife. And from Harvard, he went to the University of Chicago, which gave him tenure at a young age. And he's now a rising star in the field of behavioral economics. All because Ms. Ames read his plagiarized essay and was fooled by it.Emir KamenicaI mean, it is by far the-- in everyone's life there are many forks. This is by far the biggest one. This is what made the most difference. There's no doubt that my life got onto a very different kind of a track. And I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't been for her, I would've stayed in Clarkston High School. I wouldn't have thought to apply to a private school. I most certainly wouldn't have gone to Harvard.And if you gave me a piece of paper and a pen 10 years ago and said, OK, describe what you think of as the most wonderful life, I think I'd come up with something less good than what it actually is.Michael LewisIt's always hard to say how your life would have turned out differently if something hadn't happened to you. But in Emir's case, there's at least one useful reference point-- his Bosnian friend, Emil. Emil hadn't been airlifted out of Clarkston into some fancy private school. Instead, he dropped out of Clarkston, done some bad things, and actually spent some time in jail. Eventually he went back to Bosnia. No Ms. Ames. No rescue.Over the years, Emir's told this story a lot. It might be his favorite story that he tells about himself. It rhymes with this view of the world, that there's just this huge, accidental component to life's outcomes, that everyone owes at least some of their success not just to chance but to other people being nice for no reason at all.Michael LewisWhat became of Ms. Ames?Emir KamenicaI don't know. It turned out she didn't get the job at Paideia. So I never saw her again at Paideia. In fact, I never saw her again.Michael LewisAt some point, the fact that Emir had no idea what had happened to this woman who changed his entire life started to bother him. It's as if the more he told the story, the more grateful he became. And the more grateful he became, the more we wanted to find her, to thank her, but also just to show her the life he had because of her.He Googled around for her, but then realized he didn't have any idea how to spell her name. He pestered both of his old schools, but neither of them had any record of her. No one even remembered her. His investigations, such as they were, were sort of half-assed. But what was he going to do? Hire a private eye?Irving BotwinickMy name is Irving Botwinick. And my business is called Serving by Irving.Michael LewisSo you specialize in finding people.Irving BotwinickThat's what we do. We dig them up. Actually, we have a motto. If they're alive, we serve them. If they're dead, we'll tell you where they're buried.Michael LewisIrving is a private detective who serves lots of court papers. Since Emir wasn't going to hire one, This American Life did it for him.Michael LewisAll right. So we have somebody we need to find.Irving BotwinickOK.Emir KamenicaAll right. So the person that we'd like to find is called Ms. Ames. Not sure how to spell that. I have reasons to think, I can mention later, that she was married at least the last time I saw her, which was in 1993 in Atlanta, Georgia.Michael LewisEmir went on to explain in great detail that he knew basically nothing about her. Height, weight, eye color-- all a mystery. When Irving asked him what she looked like, he said, quote, "She was neither particularly skinny nor fat, not particularly short nor tall." She looked normal, he said.About the only thing he remembers about her is what she had done for him. Irving thought the full-time English teacher would be a good place to start. But Emir didn't remember her name either.Irving BotwinickDo you have a class book for that year?Emir KamenicaOh, no. No.Michael LewisSomehow Irving seemed to find what Emir was saying useful. He wrote little notes to himself, about what I do not know. But at the top of the page, he wrote Ms. Ames. Then he wrote a big question mark. Then he asked Emir to go away and write down everything he could remember from that period of his life. But before he lifted a finger to find Ms. Ames, he said he needed to do a character check on Emir.Irving BotwinickBecause a lot of times, investigators get cases where they're trying to track somebody down, then they go and they kill them. So we have to verify what you're telling us is the truth as well.Michael LewisSo Irving, let's just assume that the facts are as bare as they sound. Is it hopeless?Irving BotwinickNo. There's nobody I can't find. I'll put it that way. I could have found Osama bin Laden if they paid me enough to do it.Michael LewisSo how long do you need to do your search? When can we expect to be sitting down in a room with Ms. Ames?Irving BotwinickOh, probably before the end of the month, before the end of February.Michael LewisThe end of February came and went. March came and went too without the slightest trace of Ms. Ames. It wasn't for lack of trying. Irving had put his best agent on the case, a woman named Gabriella Galindo. The first thing Gabriella did was to try the public school, but only two teachers who had been there in 1993 were still around.Gabriella GalindoThey had no recollection of not even the English teacher, not even the English teacher.Michael LewisShe hired a local detective to go to Clarkston to get the yearbook. But they wouldn't give him one. She learned that the Georgia Department of Education keeps a list of all the teachers ever certified in the state. But she couldn't get access to the list.She called nearby colleges to search lists of graduates from the 1990s. Still no sign of Ms. Ames. Out of desperation, she hunted down all the old phone books from the region from the 1990s.Gabriella GalindoThese are copies of the phone books that we received, going back from 1990 to 1993, of all the people in the greater Atlanta area with the last name Ames, which is a very, very common name, we found. Very common.Michael LewisAnd roughly how many people were there?Gabriella GalindoOh my god. I don't know. Hundreds.Michael LewisAnd you weren't even sure her name was Ames.Gabriella GalindoCorrect. That's the other thing. We weren't sure.Michael LewisThey called every Ames on the list, all these hundreds of names. Still didn't find her. And it was starting to feel just a little bit weird. A lot of the people Irving goes hunting for don't want to be found. But he finds them anyway. Here was someone with no obvious reason not to want to be found. And she vanished without a trace.After a couple months of this, you couldn't help but wonder, why was this woman the most difficult person on Earth to find? Was it because she wasn't an earthly creature? Not once but twice, this boy had found himself in a world more intent on destroying him than in building him up. Maybe he needed evidence that people weren't all bad. Maybe that's where angels always come from.Michael LewisIs this Ms. Ames?Ms. AmesYes it is.Michael LewisOh my goodness. It's like finding a ghost, finding you. It's a pleasure to hear your voice.Ms. AmesThank you.Michael LewisIt's just the two of us talking. Emir isn't in the conversation yet.Michael LewisI'm going to call you Ms. Ames, because I don't want to think of you as anything but Ms. Ames.Ms. AmesI'd much rather be thought of as Lauren. It's a lot sexier.Michael LewisWell, we didn't actually think of you as a sex object when we were thinking of Ms. Ames. We thought of you as an angel coming out of the sky.Ms. AmesWell, that's good too.Michael LewisHere's how they found her. Gabriella finally got her hands on that list of all the teachers certified in the state of Georgia. She noticed one of the women named Ames had allowed her certification to lapse. This one Ames she tracked down in West Virginia and left messages for, saying only that she was looking for an English teacher on behalf of a former student.Ms. AmesAnd I immediately knew. She didn't mention Emir's name. I just knew. It never crossed my mind that it would be anybody but Emir, frankly. I knew one day he'd be a famous something.Michael LewisThe basic plan was to fly Ms. Ames to Chicago to meet Emir. But I wanted to ask her what she remembered, before Emir had a chance to tell her what she should remember. She told me that she was 36 years old when she arrived at Clarkston High as a student teacher. She'd recently married a man named Chris Ames, and they decided they wouldn't have children of their own.She thinks that maybe the faint regrets of that decision made her want to go out of her way to help some kid. Anyway, she noticed this extremely talented boy in her class and watched him-- not for two weeks as an intern, as Emir had told me, for many months, an entire semester in which she was put in charge of his class, she says, as his full-time English teacher. And how was Emir's English at the time?Ms. AmesIt was tremendous. It was absolutely tremendous. Really, really good.Michael LewisThere were other differences in their stories. For example, Emir said the public school was terrifying and useless. Ms. Ames didn't agree.Ms. AmesWell, certainly there were drugs. And I'm sure there was some violence. But it wasn't a ghetto school, no. It was a quirky, quasi-city, quasi-suburban school that had a great student body that was interesting because they were from so many different places.Michael LewisBy that she means from all over the world-- Kenya, Somalia, Bosnia, Vietnam, Korea. The place was like a teenage UN in her telling. But the most glaring gap between their two stories was a central plot point, the key moment-- the plagiarized essay.In Emir's version it's what saves him. But Ms. Ames doesn't even remember it. She recalls the moment she decided to move him to private school this way.Ms. AmesWell, actually, I think it was the day that he diagrammed sentences for me on the blackboard for the rest of the students. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to make them learn it. And it was just mind-numbingly boring.And Emir said to me, I really think I can explain this. And they'll understand it. So he took over, and it was a great class. And he did a wonderful job. And it just occurred to me, right there on the spot, this kid is just capable of so much more than this school can offer him.Michael LewisStill, no essay. I give her a little nudge.Michael LewisAnd do you remember any particular piece of work he did? Is anything come too--- when you think back of his work as a student, did anything in particular catch your attention?Ms. AmesHe wrote an essay about losing his dad in Bosnia and his family coming to America that was incredibly moving and beautifully written.Michael LewisHuh. It sounds like a different essay, but at least it's an essay. But as soon as she brings up the essay, she drops it.Ms. AmesWe took a stab, I remember, at poetry in that class. And he was very good at that. He understood metre right away. But I did speak with his math and science teachers. And they said that he was working at a level that was beyond anything that was taught, even in the senior year at the AP level. And that they just said, we're trying to find things to give him to do, because he was just so advanced.Michael LewisThe essay on which Emir has based his entire life story had nothing to do with her decision to help him. That much was clear. It was also clear that Ms. Ames hadn't grabbed him on some mistaken whim, but only after observing his rare combination of genius and kindness for months. And then she'd gone and created a kind of battle plan to move him out of public school and into private.She didn't ever have any job interview at the private school. She thinks maybe she told him that, just to avoid getting his hopes up.Ms. AmesI'd done a lot of investigation. I met with my colleagues over there and sent records over and made a lot of sales pitches and was told that there may not be enough scholarship money. It was kind of late, this and that. But I kept pushing and pushing, and finally we got him an appointment over there.Michael LewisIt isn't just the details that conflict here. It's the whole moral of the story. Ms. Ames doesn't believe for a minute that she made all that much of a difference to Emir. She thinks he was so ridiculously gifted that he'd have gone on to greater things, even if he'd stayed at Clarkston.Ms. AmesWell, you know, frankly, he didn't even need to go to high school. He could have gone straight to college. He just needed to grow up. Seriously. I'm not joking. I just don't think any teacher would get another student like Emir in a lifetime. I had my once-in-a-lifetime student right off the bat.Michael LewisDid you feel any impulse to get back in touch with him?Ms. AmesNo. Let the chicks fly. I'm not really a kid person. Sorry. No, we had our own lives. And I wanted him to have his life. And I didn't earn his way into Paideia or Harvard. He did it. That's his accomplishment.Michael LewisWhat happens when the story a person is telling about his life gets fact-checked? I don't mean what happens when you say you graduated from college when you actually didn't, and your employer finds out and you get fired. I mean what happens when you really want to believe your life story was this, and then you get told by somebody who knows better, Nope. Actually, it wasn't this. It was that.Michael LewisYou swear you haven't called him.Ms. AmesNo. I wouldn't do-- I'm honest.Michael LewisI know you're honest.A few weeks later, Ms. Ames and I meet up in Chicago. We're visiting Emir at his job at the University of Chicago Business School. Up until the time she got our call, the only way Ms. Ames has even tried to keep track of Emir is by checking the list of Nobel Prize winners each year to see if his name is on it.And oddly enough, it's not a totally crazy way to try to keep track of him. He hasn't gotten the Nobel Prize yet, but he's the sort of person who might. His colleagues say he's brilliant, and half of them already have gotten the Nobel Prize.Ms. AmesExcuse me. Where can we get an elevator to the fifth floor?Michael LewisThe Chicago Business School feels less like a school than the headquarters of a highly successful corporation, or maybe a Swiss resort.Michael LewisThis way. There he is.Emir KamenicaHi.Ms. AmesHello--Emir KamenicaHi.Ms. Ames--gorgeous.Ira GlassOK. And at that point, we have to take a break. What happens when Emir and Ms. Ames sit down and compare notes about his past? Michael Lewis will be back with that in just one minute, from Chicago Public Radio and Public Radio International, when our program continues.Act Three.Ira GlassIt's This American Life. I'm Ira Glass. Each week on our program, of course, we choose a theme, bring you different kinds of stories on that theme. Today's show-- "How I Got Into College." Michael Lewis, if you heard before the break, he's telling the story of two people who are seeing each other again for the very first time in two decades. And let us just pick up right where we left off before the break.Emir KamenicaHi.Ms. AmesHello--Emir KamenicaHi.Ms. Ames--gorgeous. It's wonderful to see you after all this time.Emir KamenicaIndeed. Indeed.Ms. AmesThanks for having us.Emir KamenicaWell, thank you for coming in.Michael LewisEmir and Ms. Ames make awkward chitchat for a few minutes. And then we all go into his office to talk. There's a giant, vaguely familiar painting on one of the walls. Emir explains that it's a forgery by some guy in China who specializes in them. Ms. Ames is more interested in his coffee table.Ms. AmesDo you know my parents had that exact same coffee table in our house growing up?Emir KamenicaYou know this is a knockoff?Michael LewisThat's a knockoff?Emir KamenicaYeah, it's a knockoff.Michael LewisIt's a plagiarized piece of furniture?Emir KamenicaWell, it's a very poorly done knockoff Noguchi.Ms. AmesYes.Emir KamenicaYou can tell it's not real. So I don't think it counts as plagiarism.Michael LewisAnything else around here that's not what it purports to be?Emir KamenicaThat's a fake skull of a giant rodent.Michael LewisWe eventually settle into Emir's office and turn our attention to Emir's memories, which thanks to Ms. Ames, are suddenly a little problematic themselves. He tells his story all over again, until he gets to what he sees as its biggest turning point.Emir KamenicaSo I try to put down, to the extent which I could, word for word, this beautiful passage from this accomplished writer.Michael LewisHe doesn't change any of the facts, but his tone is just a tiny bit less certain, maybe because he sees Ms. Ames rising in her chair.Ms. AmesYeah, I mouthed to you, he plagiarized it. I'm horrified. I'm truly horrified. No one wants to be duped, you know.Michael LewisHere's the safest way to plagiarize-- do it in the distant past. The teacher is no longer capable of getting angry about it, and the plagiarist is no longer even faintly embarrassed. Emir finishes his story with the same punchline. In that brief moment, Ms. Ames mistakes him for a genius and gets him into a school that gets him into Harvard. But Ms. Ames is now shaking her head.Ms. AmesIt didn't happen that fast, though. It was April when we went. I'd already worked with you for a couple of months when we went into see the people at Paideia.Michael LewisDo you remember that?Ms. AmesI'd seen a lot more work than just on essay. And seeing what he could do in class on a daily basis was more impressive to me.Michael LewisIt's about now that Emir begins to see that Ms. Ames is screwing up his life story. The plagiarized essay is the key to the thing. Without it, his story-- and his life-- isn't about luck and chance and the guiding hand of a guardian angel he didn't deserve. It's about something else. And he doesn't want it to be about something else.Emir KamenicaI recognize that my memory of it is someone spotty. But I do have what seems like a pretty distinct memory of the essay sort of triggering the conversation. That you should get out of the school followed very closely on heel of the essay.Ms. AmesIt may have. But I was already convinced, I promise you.Emir KamenicaSo it still could have been like the proximate cause, even if not the deep cause.Ms. Ames[SIGHS] OK.Michael LewisBut not really. There's a bunch of stuff she says which he can't bring himself to accept. For instance, that the school she pulled them out of wasn't an educational dead end, but an interesting and diverse place in which he could have gotten a great education.Emir KamenicaI remember the racial mix as being very few-- I remember being like one of like 12 white kids in a school of 900. That's not right?Ms. AmesI think it was probably more 40% African American, 40% international and kids from all over the world. And so about 20% of the kids were white kids who were longtime Clarkston residents, family after family lived there.Emir KamenicaThat's certainly not my recollection. But then again, this is a matter for research rather than debate. It's probably easy to check.Michael LewisHere it is-- the single objective fact that they disagree about that can be checked, a fact that might shed light on whose version of this story is more strictly true. So later we checked it.The school district couldn't give us statistics for the year Emir was there, but they have them for the following year. Emir's estimate that he was one of a dozen white kids in the school leaves out, oh, roughly 200 other white kids. They made up 17% percent of the school, pretty close to Ms. Ames' estimate.Emir listens politely to Ms. Ames' account of how and why she helped him and how and why it didn't actually matter all that much, as he was clearly destined for great things.Ms. AmesYou would have gotten into the honors program at UGA from Clarkston, or gone to George Tech. And from an undergraduate degree in the honors program at UGA or Georgia Tech, you could've gotten into Harvard for a PhD, or Chicago or Stanford. I mean, it's doable. It happens. I know people who have done it.Michael LewisIf Emir cares what Ms. Ames thinks, he's doing a pretty good job of hiding his interest. It isn't until she describes what happened after she helped him out that he becomes truly excited.Ms. AmesThere were quite a few people at the school who weren't thrilled with the fact that I poached their best student. So they sent me to the absolute worst school in the county and put me under the new principal there, who had been the assistant principal at Clarkston. And he brought me in his office and said, you've got a lot of high-minded ideas. And you don't know what you're talking about. And it's going to be my job to break you in. And you're going to learn how to do this right. And so forth and so on.And it was a really rough year. He did break me in. In fact, he broke me, because I quit. I couldn't take it anymore.Michael LewisSo this-- he did this because you had poached Emir from the school?Ms. AmesTo be totally honest with you, yeah.Michael LewisFor helping Emir to move from the public school to the private school, Ms. Ames was more or less driven out of teaching. She quit, changed careers, and eventually moved with her husband to West Virginia, where she's now an interior designer.Emir KamenicaBut this-- I mean, wait. To get this right, you are telling me only that did you go through all of this trouble--Ms. AmesI told you this wasn't fair.Emir KamenicaWhy is it not fair? It's incredibly important. It transforms what-- this is just changing by the minute from my conceptualization of well, after two weeks, you said you should go to this place. It was fantastic and made all the difference. That's enough, because that changed my life.What I'm learning only now is that you did all of these things, and then you were basically cast out of the apparent paradise, which is Clarkston, which I still find a little doubling, increasing by an order of magnitude what was already an enormous amount of gratitude.Michael LewisThat night Emir invited Ms. Ames to his house for dinner and to meet his wife and 18-month-old daughter. He wanted to show her the life that he never would have had if not for her.[BABY CRYING]Ms. AmesHi, sweetheart.Michael LewisMuch, much later, after dinner and drinks and more drinks and after he's passed out some stiff cocktail from the old country, I ask Emir how it will change his life story now that he's heard what actually happened. He said he'd incorporate the fact that Ms. Ames got punished for helping him, which of course only makes the story better. She's now not only and angel but a martyr. But what about the plagiarized essay from the stolen library book on which the whole story turns?Emir KamenicaI mean, suppose that the story was-- let's do a thought experiment-- there was no recollection of the essay, none whatsoever. I wouldn't enjoy telling the story about the essay at that point.Michael LewisWait. We don't have to do that thought experiment. That's what really happened. Ms. Ames actually didn't remember the essay. Emir's already forgotten that fact.Emir KamenicaI wasn't convinced by the alternative account, genuinely. Because it was so apparent that I was also diagramming sentences, which does make a far worse story, dramatically speaking. I diagrammed a sentence. And boy, you know how well I diagrammed it? It was just fantastic. I mean, the verbs and the nouns and the adjectives and the adverbs were all just separate.Michael LewisI didn't really see the point of torturing Emir any further. He needed his story to be what it was, and so he was sticking to it. The question was why. What did it do for him? Why does a man who makes his career as a scientist cling to his story in spite of evidence that it isn't true?And that's when it dawns on me. Emir Kamenica is just an unusually happy human being. He exudes the emotion from every pore.Michael LewisHave you always been happy?Emir KamenicaI think I've been happy for a pretty long time now.Michael LewisNow, there is no obvious connection between a person's happiness and the way he tells stories about himself. But I think there's a not-so-obvious one. When you insist, the way that Emir does, that you're both lucky and indebted to other people, well, you're sort of prepared to see life as a happy accident, aren't you?It's just very different than if you tell yourself that you simply deserve all the good stuff that happens to you. Because you happened to be born a genius or suffered so much or worked so hard-- that way of telling the story-- well, it's what you hear from every miserable bond trader at Goldman Sachs, or for that matter, every other a-hole who ever walked the earth.It's at this exact moment, when the subject of happiness comes up, that Emir's wife Yelena, becomes very interested.YelenaBoth I know it and all of my friends know that he's the happiest person that we've met. You can't fake it. You can't decide that I'm just going to be happy, right? Because it will unravel very quickly. And you will find reasons to be grumpy.Michael LewisThe reason her husband's so happy, she thinks, has to do with the way he filters the world around him-- the way he decides not just what to think about, but how to think about it. She says she sees him do this all the time.YelenaIt's a micro decision. I've seen him get some news and decide how to feel about that. It's a practiced decision, but I still observe Emir making that decision. And I've tried to crack that code by living with him.Michael LewisCrack what code?YelenaThe code of happiness. Making that decision of how you're going to feel about something.Michael LewisThese stories we tell about ourselves-- they're almost like our infrastructure, like railroads or highways. We can build them almost any way we want to. But once they're in place, this whole inner landscape grows up around them. So maybe the point here is that you should be careful about how you tell your story, or at least conscious of it. Because once you've told it, once you've built the highway, it's just very hard to move it. Even if your story is about an angel who came out of nowhere and saved your life, even then, not even the angel herself can change it.Ira GlassMichael Lewis.Credits.Ira GlassWell, our program was produced today by Nancy Updike and myself, with Alex Blumberg, Ben Calhoun, Sarah Koenig, Miki Meek, Jonathan Menjivar, Lisa Pollak, Brian Reed, Robyn Semien, and Alissa Shipp, our senior producer is Julie Snyder. Production help from help from Dana Chivvis. [? Elliot Stapleton ?] is filling in as operations director. Emily Condon is our production manager. Elise Bergerson is our administrative assistant. Adrianne Mathiowetz runs our website. Research help from Michelle Harris. Music help from Damien Graef and Rob Geddis.[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]Our website, This American Life. This American Life is distributed by Public Radio International.Thanks, as always, to our show's co-founder, Torey Malatia. You know, I beat him at backgammon last night. And I don't know, he took it kind of hard.Emir KamenicaI'm slowly becoming a repository for decomposing sorrows, regrets, ignored injustice, forgotten promises.

1. Run to feed the hungry. You can’t call yourself a Sacramentan until you have participated in at least one Run To Feed the Hungry. This Thanksgiving Day tradition attracts some 25,000-plus people who come out to run or walk 3.1 or 6.2 miles in support of the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services. The race starts near Sacramento State’s J Street entrance and winds through East Sac—and midtown for the 10Kers—and ends just east of Elvas Avenue and H Street, with locals cheering you on along the way.2. Visit the zoos. Who knew we had two zoos in the Sacramento area, but we do! The Sacramento Zoo, located at Land Park Drive and 16th Avenue in Sacramento, and the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary, located at 403 Stafford St. in Folsom. Both offer educational activities and fun events—including overnighters with the animals—but each is unique in its own right. Bottom line: Make a plan to visit both! Sacramento Zoo: (916) 808-5888; Folsom Zoo:(916) 351-3527;3. Explore the old towns.Riverfront restaurants, bars, museums, theaters, kitschy shops and hotels dot the landscape of Old Sacramento these days, but a lot of history has happened on them thar streets. Check out the website—there’s always something going on. Folsom, Roseville, Fair Oaks and Elk Grove all have “old towns,” too. Wander through them all and get a little taste of history.4. Watch the Kings. We nearly lost the NBA team to Anaheim a few years back. All the more reason to cheer on our local royalty. So put on some purple and head out to Power Balance Pavilion. You’ll be in good company. King’s fans have a reputation for being the league’s most vocal.www.kings.com5. Tour the Capitol. It’s architecturally stunning, rich with history and free to the public. The California State Capitol Museum is open daily, except for major holidays. Note: The museum and the Capitol are one and the same, so as you are walking the halls, you are right in the heart of California’s working seat of government. The Capitol is located on 10th Street between L and N streets, downtown Sacramento. (916) 324-0333; www.capitolmuseum.ca.gov6. Work out on the “bike” trail. The Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail, better known as the American River Bike Trail, is the crowning jewel of Sacramento—at least for outdoor enthusiasts. On any given day, but particularly weekends, you’ll find cyclists, runners and walkers of all ages, sizes and abilities somewhere along its 32 miles. During the week, bike commuters take to the trail, which starts at Discovery Park in Old Sacramento and ends at Beals Point at the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area in the city of Folsom.7. Go down to the rivers.Sacramento has not one but two rivers surrounding it: the Sacramento and the American rivers. On a (warm) day, you’re likely to see boaters, water skiers, kayakers, fishermen and fisherwomen, and others out enjoying the waters.8. Browse the Crocker Art Museum. The museum has been around since 1885 but underwent a major expansion—unveiled Oct. 10, 2010, its 125th anniversary—which more than tripled its size. In addition to housing world-class art, the museum also hosts lectures, films, concerts and more. 216 O St., Sacramento; (916) 808-7000;www.crockerartmuseum.org9. Hit some golf balls. With our mild weather, golfers can enjoy hitting balls just about year-round. Want to practice your swing? The driving range at Haggin Oaks is open practically 24/7 hours May through September. For a list of area golf courses—and links to their websites—click here.10. Splish-splash at a water park. Picture it: A scorching 100-degree day, but you don’t mind because you are slippin’ and a slidin’ down the Dragon’s Den tube slide at Raging Waters (www.ragingwaters.com) or The Vortex at Roseville Golfland SunSplash (www.golfland.com/roseville). Both parks have wave pools and more kick-back “current” pools as well as other attractions.11. Ice skate at our version of Rockefeller Plaza.OK, we might not have the East Coast’s colder winter climate, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ice skate outdoors in the cooler months. The Westfield Downtown Plaza Ice Rink opens the first Friday in November at St. Rose of Lima Park and stays open through Martin Luther King Jr. Day so you can skate to your heart’s content throughout the holidays. www.downtownsac.org. If you’re itching to go ice-skating in, say, July (not a bad idea!), Skatetown Roseville welcomes you to skate, learn to skate, enjoy theme nights and more. www.skatetown-roseville.com12. Amble up to Apple Hill. Only about 45 minutes from downtown Sacramento, Apple Hill is a fun, quick day trip. With some 50 ranches to visit, wineries, a microbrewery, arts and crafts vendors, fun runs, apple delicacies and more, Apple Hill is a must-do for fall. The place is hopping from Labor Day Weekend through Christmas Eve. Not sure where to start? Check outwww.applehill.com. A tried-and-true favorite: High Hill Ranch, where you can shop for apples (and various incarnations of all things apple), peruse the crafts, stop in the fudge shop and indulge in a sweet treat—though sometimes deciding what to go for could take a day itself.13. Wine taste at the otherwine countries. Closer and less crowded than Napa, nearby El Dorado and Amador counties—and the Lodi region—grow award-winning wines and offer wonderful wine-tasting opportunities. Pack a picnic and go for the day, or stay at a romantic wine country B&B. Getting married and love wine? This is the place! For more info, log on to www.eldoradowines.org,www.amadorwine.com and www.lodiwine.com.14. Experience the area’s cultural diversity. Attend the annual Festival de la Familia at Cal Expo in April, a celebration of nearly two dozen Latin cultures, and enjoy a day filled with music, dance, food and more. The annual Pacific Rim Street Fest in Old Sacramento happens in May, with dance performances, music, cultural presentations, and crafts and foods representing more than 15 Asian and Pacific Island cultures. Everybody’s Italian at the annual Festa Italiana, put on by the Italian Cultural Society every August. Attendees can play bocce ball, hear Italian music, dance, shop the Italian Marketplace and, of course, mangia Italian food. And you might just want to turn Japanese after attending the annual Japanese Food & Cultural Bazaar, held in August at the Buddhist Church of Sacramento. View Japanese exhibits and demonstrations such as flower arranging (Ikebana), classical dancing (Odori), a tea ceremony, Taiko drum concerts and (need we mention?) feast on plenty of Japanese food.15. Cheer on the Sacramento River Cats. Spend a late spring/summer day or evening watching the Triple A affiliate of the Oakland A’s play at gorgeous Raley Field in West Sacramento. The team has won numerous Pacific Coast League championships since coming to Sacramento in 2000. But baseball aside, with entertainment throughout the game, various “theme” nights and a lovable mascot named Dinger, you can’t go wrong with a day at this ballpark.16. Ride the “Screamer” at Scandia Family Fun Center—and try not to scream. Seriously, don’t scream. You will be asked to leave. Screaming is banned on the ride—which spans 165 feet and swings thrill seekers around up to 65 miles per hour—because it’s disruptive to nearby neighbors. 5070 Hillsdale Blvd., off Interstate 80 near Madison Avenue , Sacramento; (916) 331-5757;www.scandiasports.com17. Tour a mansion or two—and while you’re at it, a fort.The Leland Stanford Museum, theGovernor’s Mansion and Sutter’s Fort offer a wealth of history about the area. To whet your appetite: The Leland Stanford Mansion, the former home of the eighth governor of California (Leland Stanford), was built in 1856, was home to three governors in the 1860s, and later became the Stanford Home for Children. The Governor’s Mansion, built in 1877, housed 13 governors. (Current Gov. Brown never lived there but visited when Dad Edmund G. held the office.) Built in 1843, Sutter’s Fort, originally called “New Helvetia” (New Switzerland), has served as a trading post, a rehabilitation point for Donner Party survivors and a refugee camp for people displaced by the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.18. Go for a walk. From historical building tours to public art tours to neighborhood tours to cemetery tours, there are organized walking tours aplenty to get you intimately familiar with our fine city.19. Go down under. You’ll never think of history the same way after taking an Old Sacramento Underground Tour. Get a glimpse into what life was like some 150 years ago while going below historic buildings and exploring excavated foundations, enclosed pathways and old artifacts while your tour guide recounts stories of days gone by.20. Hit the bars. Sacramento’s nightlife has exploded in recent years, with brewpubs, wine bars and nightclubs peppering the landscape, especially downtown and in midtown.BarWest, deVere’s Irish Pub, Streets of London Pub, Firestone Public House,Track 7 Brewing Co. , 58 Degrees and Holding Co., Faces, Parlaré Euro Lounge, The Park Ultra Lounge, Social, District 30, MIX Downtown and Rail Bridge Cellars—and many, many more—the social scene offers plenty to do after hours in our fair city.21. See a show at an historic theater. Head to theTower Theatre (2508 Land Park Drive)—built in 1938—for an arthouse flick. Check out the Crest Theatre (1013 K St.)—built in 1946—for movies, concerts and other special events. Visit the Guild Theater (2828 35th St.)—built in 1915—for the same. Though modernized, each theater retains its historic charm.22. Tap your toes at the Sacramento Music Festival.Held every Memorial Day weekend, the festival—formerly known as the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee—changed its name in 2012 to reflect its wide range of music: swing, blues, zydeco, rockabilly, bluegrass, Latin music and, of course, jazz. Whether you’re into the music or the people-watching, this four-day event is the quintessential way to kick off a Sacramento summer. (916) 372-5277;www.sacjazz.com23. Do Dovewood Court during December. You don’t have to celebrate Christmas to enjoy the holiday spirit displayed at this Orangevale cul-de-sac each holiday season. Every house on the court—and we mean everyhouse—is decked out in all things Christmas. Walk the court, drive the court, it’s all good in this ’hood. All the neighbors ask is that you bring nonperishable food for area food banks. www.dovewoodcourt.com/index.html24. Go for fun at the California State Fair. Carnival rides, games, animals, exhibits, concerts and fried food—what more could you want? The fair comes to town each July and is a summertime must-do. (916) 263-3247;www.bigfun.org. Local fairs: the Sacramento County Fair, held in May, www.sacfair.com; the Placer County Fair, held in June, www.placercountyfair.org; the Amador County Fair, held in July,www.amadorcountyfair.com; and the Nevada County Fair, held in August, www.nevadacountyfair.com25. Walk the crooked mile at Fairytale Town. Walk the Crooked Mile at Fairytale Town, a low-tech fhildren's play park in William Land Park where fairy tales and nursery rhymes come to life. (916) 808-5233; www.fairytaletown.org. Afterward, head over to Funderland Amusement Park, located across the street, where the rides are all little-kid friendly (916) 456-0115; www.funderlandpark.com26. Pick produce at a farmers market. Take advantage of living in our agriculturally rich region by enjoying farm-to-you fresh produce at area farmers markets. Depending on when you go—many are open year-round—you’ll find tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, sweet Bronx grapes, spinach, lettuce, herbs, winter squash, persimmons, pomegranates, mandarins, sunchokes . . . the list goes on and on. To find a market near you, go towww.cafarmersmarkets.com or www.california-grown.com.27. Immerse yourself in the vibrant social scene at Second Saturday. These art gallery open-houses, held throughout the region, draw crowds, especially during warm-weather months. In midtown, start at the corner of 18th and J streets, near several galleries, shops and restaurants. Another option: Fair Oaks Village in Fair Oaks, where you are just as likely to run into neighborhood chickens as you are people. Other monthly art walks in the region: Winters’ First Saturday Art Walk, Davis’ ArtAbout Art Walk (the second Friday of the month) and Placer Valley Third Saturday Art Walk, which encompasses galleries in Roseville as well as High Hand Gallery in Loomis.28. Meander down to the Delta. Though the closest town is only about 15 minutes from downtown Sacramento, the sleepy communities that make up the Delta region—Freeport, Locke, Walnut Grove, Isleton, Ryde, Rio Vista—feel a lifetime away. Wander through historic Locke, the only town in the United States built for and by Chinese immigrants. Taste wine at any (or all) of the nine wineries at the Old Sugar Mill (www.oldsugarmill.com) in Clarksburg. Have brunch at the historic Ryde Hotel (www.rydehotel.com) in Ryde. For more information, call the Delta Chamber at (916) 777-4041 or log on to http://www.californiadelta.org/.29. Stroll the Carolee Shields White Flower Garden ("Moon Garden"). Ah, we can feel the serenity now just thinking of this tranquil garden located in the UC Davis Arboretum. Picture it: a sultry summer night, your honey by your side, the two of you taking in the fragrant scents of Chilean jasmine, mock orange and myrtle as you walk amid this garden, best illuminated by the full moon. Go at dusk. This place is a treasure. UC Davis campus,(530) 752-4880; www.arboretum.ucdavis.edu. Other walk-worthy gardens in town: Jensen Botanical Garden, 8520 Fair Oaks Blvd., Carmichael; (916) 485-5322. World Peace Rose Garden, State Capitol Park, between 10th and 15th streets and L and N streets, Sacramento; (916) 381-5433. McKinley Park Rose Garden, H Street near 33rd Street, East Sacramento.30. Catch a thrill on the water.Whether you are looking for a float trip suitable for the whole family or an adrenaline-filled-glad-I’m-in-the-water-because-I-might-pee-my-pants thrilling trip, there’s a portion of the American River (as well as other, nearby rivers) for every type of river rafter. There are numerous rafting companies ready to accompany you down the river. For local float trips, try: River Rat Raft & Bike, (916) 966-6777; www.river-rat.comand American River Raft Rentals, (888) 338-7238;www.raftrentals.com.31. Dine by the water. Sit outside at one of the many restaurants along the Sacramento River. You can dine at a different restaurant every day of the week. A few options:• Alamar Restaurant & Marina, 5999 Garden Highway, Sacramento; (916) 922-0200;www.alamarmarina.com• Chevys Fresh Mex, 1369 Garden Highway, Sacramento;(916) 649-0390; www.chevys.com• Crawdad’s River Cantina, 1375 Garden Highway, Sacramento; (916) 929-2268;www.crawdadsrivercantina.com• Joe’s Crab Shack, 1210 Front St., Old Sacramento; (916) 553-4249; www.joescrabshack.com• Rio City Cafe, 1110 Front St., Old Sacramento; (916) 442-8226; www.riocitycafe.com• Scott’s Seafood on the River, 4350 Riverside Blvd., Sacramento; (916) 379-5959; www.scottsseafood.net• The Virgin Sturgeon, 1577 Garden Highway, Sacramento;(916) 921-269432. Board the Delta King. No, you won’t sail anywhere. This ship is permanently docked in Old Sacramento. However, you can dine at the Pilothouse restaurant, take in a murder mystery dinner show at Suspects, spend the night in one of the ship’s staterooms or (especially nice on a warm summer night) enjoy a relaxing drink in the outside lounge.www.deltaking.com33. Patronize a local mom & pop shop. No offense to big box stores and chain restaurants. We love them! But we also fully support showing the love to the mom & pops that keep this city alive and vibrant. You’ll find them everywhere, so we suggest asking locals in the neighborhood you’re in for some great recommendations. Here are a few picks: When in the Greenhaven/Pocket area, stop by Pet Haven (352 Florin Road, Sacramento;916-421-7387; www.pethaveninc.net) to pick up food, toys and perhaps some pet fish. In Land Park, check out Optimum Health (3220 Riverside Blvd., Sacramento; 916-443-6795; www.optimumhealthonpurpose.com) where owner Nancy Yilk and staff will direct you to a supplement to aid what ails you (and tell ya when seeing a doc is the thing to do) and, in the Arden Arcade area, cruise into the Dimple Vinyl Store (a small store located to the side of the Dimple Records building), where helpful staff will assist you in finding that LP (or 45) you’ve been looking for (2433 Arden Way, Sacramento; 916-239-3760;www.dimple.com).34. Hit the drive-in. Our weather—especially during the summer—is perfect for a night at the drive-in. Pack some lawn chairs, some blankets (for when the famous Delta breeze kicks in) and some snacks and head to the West Wind Sacramento 6 Drive-In (9161 Oates Drive, Sacramento; 916-363-6572; www.westwinddrivein.com). But be sure to buy a tub of popcorn or an ice cream novelty if for no other reason than to check out the retro snack bar and restrooms. By the way, admission is $7 for adults, $1 for children 5 to 11 and free for children younger than 5. What a deal!35. Explore Effie Yeaw Nature Center. Located within the American River Parkway, the Effie Yeaw Nature Center houses exhibits, information, live animals and a book, and gift store. Outside, three self-guided trails allow you to explore the area. Check the website for tours and programs taking place at the center. (916) 489-4918;www.sacnaturecenter.net36. Pick some berries. Patrick’s Mountain Grown Berry Farm allows visitors to pick berries straight from the vine during the summer. While paying for your pickin’s in the small store, be sure to taste-test some homemade jam. We’re sure you’ll be buying a jar or two to take home.(530) 647-2833; www.patricksmtngrown.com37. Go on campus—without the stress of being a student. Nearly 100 years old, UC Davis’ Picnic Day is a Davis community favorite packed with entertainment, activities, exhibits and more. In addition, world-renowned performers grace the stages at UC Davis’ Mondavi Center and Folsom Lake College’s Three Stages. And don’t bypass student-performed theater, music and art shows at our two universities and five JCs: Sacramento State (916-278-4323, www.csus.edu), Cosumnes River College (916-691-7344; www.crc.losrios.edu), Sacramento City College (916-558-2111; www.scc.losrios.edu), American River College (916-484-8011; www.arc.losrios.edu), Sierra College (916-624-3333; www.sierracollege.edu) and the aforementioned UC Davis (530-752-1011; ucdavis.edu) and Folsom Lake College (916-608-6500;www.flc.losrios.edu)38. Behold the Sacramento Ballet. Whether you attend the annual production of The Nutcracker, the more casual Beer and Ballet fundraiser or one of the company’s other productions, a day or night spent at a Sacramento Ballet performance will have you dreaming of pirouettes long after. (916) 552-5800; www.sacballet.org39. Spend an evening (or an afternoon) at the theater. Our area is rich with wonderful local theaters offering productions for every age and interest. To name just a very few: in Sacramento, Sacramento Theatre Company (916-443-6722; www.sactheatre.org), Buck Busfield’s (brother of Tim) B Street Theatre (916-443-5300; www.bstreettheatre.org) and the always-entertaining Big Idea Theatre (916-960-3036;www.bigideatheatre.com). Also, visit Placerville’s darling Imagination Theater (530-642-0404; www.imagination-theater.org) and Folsom’s intimate Sutter Street Theatre (916-353-1001; www.sutterstreettheatre.com)40. Compete in the “World’s Oldest” and only nonswim triathlon: Eppie’s Great Race. Ever say to yourself, “Man, I’d do a triathlon if only I could kayak instead of swim.” Step right up to the Eppie’s Great Race, my friend. The race—which takes place every July—consists of a 5.82-mile run, a 12.5-mile bike ride and a 6.35-mile kayak. You can take on all three legs yourself or form a team. Founded by restaurateur/entrepreneur Eppie Johnson, the race raises funds for Sacramento County Therapeutic Recreation Services. (916) 480-0270;www.eppiesgreatrace.org41. Love a parade. Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. at the March for the Dream “Marade” (march and parade) in January (www.mlk365.org), gay pride at the Pride Parade, which kicks off the Sacramento Pride Festival, in June (www.sacramentopride.org), veterans at the Veterans Day Parade in November (www.cityofsacramento.org) and the holiday season at the Christmas Parade in Placerville in December (www.placerville-downtown.org). And if that’s not enough parade, there are numerous Fourth of July parades to choose from on our nation’s most patriotic holiday.42. Museum hop. Learn about California history at The California Museum (916-653-7524;www.californiamuseum.org) and about all things science and space at the Discovery Museum Science & Space Center (916-575-3942; www.thediscovery.org). Railroad buffs will want to check out the California State Railroad Museum—train rides are available on weekends April–September (916-445-6645; www.csrmf.org). Car enthusiasts will want to cruise into the California Automobile Museum (916-442-6802;http://calautomuseum.org)43. Attend an outdoor concert. There are many to choose from during the dog days of summer: Pops in the Park in East Sacramento, Friday Night Concerts in the Park in downtown Sacramento, Live on the Boulevard in El Dorado Hills or the summer concert series taking place in both Roseville and Folsom.44. Go back in time at two annual festivals. Watch exquisitely costumed dancers waltz (and polka) to a choreographed storyline, all set to the music by the family of Johann Strauss at the Strauss Festival of Elk Grove in July (www.straussfestival.com). Fans of the Bard won’t want to miss the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival in William Land Park, which takes place in June and July (www.sacramentoshakespeare.net).45. Find your way to a fruit festival. Foodies (or should we specify fruit-loving foodies?) will want to check out the BerryFest (www.feedmestrawberries.com), which takes place in Roseville Mother’s Day Weekend, the Courtland Pear Fair (www.pearfair.org), which takes place the last Sunday in July in the quaint Delta town of Courtland and the Mandarin Festival (www.mandarinfestival.com), which takes place the weekend before Thanksgiving in Auburn.46. Catch the Causeway Classic. This annual football game between Sacramento State and UC Davis is a fall tradition around these parts. The two schools—separated by the 3.2 mile Yolo Causeway (hence the name)—have been battling it out each year for more than 50 years. It doesn’t matter which team you’re rooting for, if you like football and you like a good college rivalry, you’re sure to have a good time.47. Look up to the trees. Did you know that Sacramento has been referred to as the “City of Trees”? And with good reason: From the palm trees on the perimeter of Capitol Park to the river birch on the banks of McKinley Park pond to the eucalyptus trees of the University Arboretum at Sacramento State and the verdant archways over midtown’s streets, our trees shade us from summer sun and show us their colors come fall. Explore for yourself: The Sacramento Tree Foundation has maps of popular parks and the trees that inhabit them. Go towww.sactree.com/treetours to download your copy.48. Go the distance or cheer on others at the annual California International Marathon. The 26.2-mile run from Folsom to the state Capitol, held the first Sunday in December, brings athletes from all around the world. Participating in the marathon makes you intimately familiar with every nook and cranny of Fair Oaks Boulevard—you cover nearly the entire stretch of road. Feel the rush of running through the (normally) traffic-heavy intersection of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Howe Avenue. And get chills up and down your spine as you cruise down L Street toward the finish line, the pulse of the crowd providing you with momentum.www.runcim.org49. Pedal around town on a bike. It saves you money on gas, it makes it easier to find parking, it’s good for the environment, you get some exercise and you get to take in the sights. Many businesses—especially in the downtown and midtown area—offer bike racks and the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (www.sacbike.org) provides free bicycle valet parking at some events.50. Eat a local tomato.Seriously! We’re not called “Sacratomato” for nothin’!Source: Sacramento Magazine

I want to attribute this content to Breaking news and opinion on The BlazeI find their content to be pretty reliable and without further wait, here's the list... Enjoy!1. TONY DANZAActor Tony Danza is known for his popular role on the 1980s sitcom “Who’s the Boss?,” for his former talk show gig and for appearing in some popular feature films. But the New York City-born actor is also a Republican who may even have political ambitions of his own.In fact, in a recent interview, he told The Wall Street Journal that he’s thought about running for NYC mayor:“I’m of a certain age, and you see things, and you think maybe you could help,” Danza said. “You say: ‘Let me fix the city. Let me run for Mayor.’” [...]Danza declined to say which party he’d run for, adding that he’s never made a monetary contribution to a politician. “The country’s been hoodwinked into thinking we’re supposed to do that,” he said.While he didn’t share his political persuasion, numerous outlets have reiterated his right-of-center views.Actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tony Danza attend the 'Premium Rush' New York premiere at Regal Union Square on August 22, 2012 in New York City.2. SARAH MICHELLE GELLARWhen she’s not slaying vampires, Buffy (also known as Sarah Michelle Gellar) is apparently donating to charity and…being a Republican (allegedly). Gather news writes, “It’s probably no surprise that Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar is Republican. She’s all about what is right in the world and fixing whatever’s wrong.”While she’s purportedly right-minded, Gellar is reportedly tight-lipped about her political affiliation.Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar visits the SiriusXM Studios on February 7, 2012 in New York City. Credit: Getty Images3. PATRICIA HEATONFrom “Everybody Loves Raymond” to “The Middle,” actress Patricia Heaton has been a television fixture for over a decade. The outspoken actress has made her pro-life views known, as she has often come out to publicly support anti-abortion causes (although she has also been openly supportive of gay marriage).The actress is a fan of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, too. In July, POLITICO reported:Actress Patricia Heaton thinks Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is pretty great.“Met Gov. Romney last nite – excellent human being,” the star of ABC’s “The Middle” tweeted on Tuesday.Heaton is one of a few outspoken conservatives in Hollywood and regularly shares her political musings on Twitter.While everyone may not love Heaton’s political views, she’s certainly a successful example of a political rarity in Hollywood.Actress Patricia Heaton attends Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel's 2012 'TCA Summer Press Tour' on August 2, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. Credit: Getty Image4. ADAM SANDLERAdam Sandler is a well-known comedian. He’s also a Republican who financially-supported 2008 presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. Numerous media outlets have reported that Sandler is a registered GOPer. Like Heaton, he, too, has stated his support for gay marriage, a stance issue that tends to rile social conservatives.Actor/executive producer Adam Sandler attends the screening of Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation's 'Hotel Transylvania' at Pacific Theatre at The Grove on September 22, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.Credit: Getty Images5. ANGIE HARMONAngie Harmon is a Republican and she’s apparently not afraid to show it. The star of “Rizzoli & Isles” spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Naturally, she’s been more than open about her conservative views. In a 2011 interview, she spoke about the experience of “coming out” as a GOPer:“Here’s the thing about that. When I quote, unquote came out I had no idea I was doing something that was detrimental to my career. It never occurred to me. I’m an American. I’m going to have an opinion as everybody else does and I was asked a question. The fact that it was turned into that I was a gay hating racist was just heartbreaking. It was really horrible. The fact that most of my close friends are gay. After I quote unquote came out as a Republican, one of my dearest gay friends said to me, ‘You’ve got to go on a T.V. show and tell everyone you like gay people.’ I was like, ‘Why?’ He was like, ‘Because you’re a Republican.’ I was like, ‘I’m sorry who’s stereotyping who?”Interestingly, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly made a guest appearance last season on ”Rizzoli & Isles.”WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - JUNE 19: Angie Harmon arrives at Gilt Baby and Kids celebrates Wendy Bellissimo collection launch at Palihouse Holloway on June 19, 2012 in West Hollywood, California.Credit: WireImage6. HEATHER LOCKLEARWhile there’s not much known about Heather Locklear and her Republicanism, the “Melrose Place” actress has been known, for years, to be right-of-center. Like Gellar, she’s tight-lipped about her views and hasn’t been quoted much speaking on-the-record about conservative values.Zimio adds, “Heather Locklear has been known as a Republican for years, but is stubbornly quiet on the issue. She declined to participate in a 2004 documentary called ‘Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood,’ in which celebrity conservatives talked about being a cultural minority.”Actress Heather Locklear (R) and Ava Locklear arrive at Summit Entertainment's 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1' premiere at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on November 14, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Credit: Getty Images7. JOAN RIVERSJoan Rivers isn’t known for being a Hollywood sweetheart. That being said, the 79-year-old comedian and actress is, at least constitutionally-speaking, a Republican. New York Magazine has a few sentences that perfectly encapsulate her views:Though she calls herself an independent and voted for Obama, she is constitutionally Republican. Friends with Nancy Reagan. Thinks we should just bomb the shit out of Iran. Ambivalent about feminism. Detests whining and victimhood and laziness. Hated Precious. “I got very annoyed,” she says. “I thought, Oh, get a job! Stand up and get a job!”Despite voting for Obama, Rivers has agreed that his policies are unfair to the wealthy, telling POLITICO, “I think if I work very hard, I should be able to gather the fruits of my labor. And I think if you’re not about to work, you should get minimal and leave me alone. I think if you don’t wear a helmet and you fall off your bike, you pay for the doctor.”Comedian Joan Rivers arrives to Us Weekly's 25 Most Stylish New Yorkers Event at STK Midtown on September 12, 2012 in New York City. Credit: Getty Images8. BRUCE WILLISActor Bruce Willis has a penchant for small government. While he may not be on board with all (or most) GOP proposals, in 2006, he made his pseudo-conservatism known.“I’m a Republican only as far as I want a smaller government, want less government intrusion,” he said, going on to make it clear, though, that he is not political. “I hate government. I’m apolitical. Write that down. I’m not a Republican.”Willis did support George H.W. Bush in 1992 and President George W. Bush in 2000, but, today, he remains “apolitical.” In fact, he recently said that he doesn’t care who wins in the upcoming election and that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is an “embarrassment.” Still, he embraces right-of-center sentiment and, because of his smaller-government views, he qualifies for this list.Actor Bruce Willis attends the 'Looper' opening night gala premiere during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. Credit: Getty Images9. SHANNEN DOHERTY“90210′s” Shannen Doherty has been vocal about her Republican views in the past. ”I realize that the majority of people in the entertainment business happen to be Democrats. I have no problem with that. And they should have no problem with the fact that I’m a Republican,” she once said.In a recent interview, Doherty proclaimed that, while she’s a conservative, she needs to believe in a candidate in order to cast a vote for him or her. The actress said that she supports people who are willing to “evoke change and to stand for something.” The actress is also passionate about educating students on what unfolded on September 11, 2001:“…9/11 affected me, as it affected everybody in this country and most people around the world. It was horrific and scary, but it also elicited feelings of pride, camaraderie and patriotism. You saw a country pull together and support each other. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve bared witness to, while also being a horrific event with how many people were murdered on that day. My political mind comes into play being that I’m confused as to why we don’t have some form of a curriculum in our schools for teaching about that day.I don’t think it’s a day that should ever be forgotten. We certainly didn’t forget about Pearl Harbor and we teach about Pearl Harbor. I don’t see why 9/11 is any different, and it’s something I am going to be fighting for. In life, you have to get passionate and stand behind something and fight for it. It takes one person to evoke change, to start a movement to make the world a better place. Education is first and foremost, which is again, why I believe that 9/11 is something that should be taught about in school.”While she was once known as a wild card and a Hollywood bad girl, Doherty is nowadays calling herself a conservative.Actress Shannen Doherty arrives at the 20th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party at The City of West Hollywood Park on February 26, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. Credit: WireImage10. 50 CentPerhaps the biggest surprise is rapper 50 Cent. In the past, he’s stated that he is, in fact, a Republican. Inquisitr writes, “Rapper 50 Cent allegedly leans to the right and once noted he would vote for President George W. Bush if it weren’t for his felony conviction.”However, some outlets have shown that 50 Cent, though he once showed his love for the nation’s 43rd president, eventually soured on Bush. Entertainment News | Entertainment Photos | Entertainment Video | Starpulse.com has more:The hip-hop star – real name Curtis Jackson - was a one-time fan of the political figure, telling interviewers in 2005, “I wanna…shake his hand and tell him how much of me I see in him.”However the In Da Club hit maker has made a dramatic u-turn, accusing Bush of being cruel and heartless. He tells New York Magazine, “George Bush has a talent: he has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don’t aspire to be like George Bush.” The President has lost public support in the polls in recent years following wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.Either way, 50 Cent has shown his support for Republican ideals — a fascinating notion, considering his stature in the entertainment industry.Singer '50 Cent' Curtis James Jackson arrives at the premiere of Open Road Films' 'End of Watch' at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on September 17, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Credit: Getty ImagesThere you have it. Ten of the most fascinating (alleged) Republican celebrities