Oops, my bad. I nominated Magic.
How say I? I’m sorry, Taylor Swift, you ARE the weakest link. Good-bye.
-“BB”-
By my unofficial count, we have a tie between the ex-coach and the ex-cheerleader. AFAICT Elendil hasn’t said how this situation will be handled.
Ha!
Our votes this round:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Athlete, writer, activist - 1 vote
Simon Biles: GOAT gymnast - 1 vote
Amanda Gorman: Poet, activist, prodigy - 1 vote
Amory Lovins: Physicist, energy activist - 2 votes
Taylor Swift: Musician, songwriter, icon - 5 votes
Tim Walz: Honorable political messenger - 5 votes
With a tie vote, both Taylor Swift and Tim Walz - each nemeses of Donald Trump, in different ways - are out. Future tie votes will have the same effect for those involved.
Our remaining nominees:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Athlete, writer, activist
José Andrés: Humanitarian, chef
Joe Biden: President, uniter, overcomer
Simon Biles: GOAT gymnast
Judy Blume: Children’s literature icon
Warren Buffett: Level-headed billionaire
Bob Dylan: Poet of generation
Anthony Fauci: Physician, immunologist, scientist
Bill Gates: Futurist, philanthropist, billionaire
Amanda Gorman: Poet, activist, prodigy
Jesse Jackson: Civil rights leader
Magic Johnson: Superstar, survivor, inspiration
Mark Kelly: Senator, astronaut, aviator
Stephen King: Great American writer
Spike Lee: Filmmaker, Knicks fan
Jim Lovell: Apollo 13 astronaut
Amory Lovins: Physicist, energy activist
Barack Obama: President, statesman, lawyer
Dolly Parton: Artist, humanitarian
Bernie Sanders: Democratic Socialist leader
MacKenzie Scott: Philanthropist, prize-winning novelist
Steven Spielberg: Director, writer, entertainer
Bruce Springsteen: Singer, songwriter, activist
Elizabeth Warren: Fighting political foes
Janet Yellen: Economist, Treasury secretary
Eliminated
- Jim Gaffigan: Comedian, author, commentator
- Craig Ferguson: Polymath, director-writer, comedian
- Mitt Romney: Senator, impeachment juror
- Buzz Aldrin: Second on Moon
- Taylor Swift: Musician, songwriter, icon
- Tim Walz: Honorable political messenger
Voting for our second round will end at noon EST on Mon. June 30.
I will vote this time for Simon Biles. A remarkable athlete but not GLA material, I’d say.
Magic Johnson
In doing pairwise comparisons of similar people, I don’t think Jim Lovell belongs any more than Aldrin did - some great astronaut work, followed by various small business executive jobs and a restaurant. I’m voting Jim.
Magic vs Kareem is very interesting. I think Magic was, well, more magical - the guy played every position (including center a couple of times) and sped up the game massively. I like Kareem better outside of playing, however.
Not voting for either yet, just thinking about it.
Jim Lovell was even more heroic an astronaut than Buzz Aldrin. I hope he stays on the list for a lonnnnnnnng time to come.
I’ll go with Bob Dylan. Maybe I’m of just the wrong generation*, but I just don’t get his music. Since other than his music I’m not sure what else is supposed to make him great, he gets my vote.
- I think that people tend to find the icons of the generation just before them as being old fashioned. For me as a Gen Xer, a lot of artists popular with the Boomers seem old fashioned in a way that artists and things in general from even older generations don’t.
Simone Biles
“Icon. Champion. Human.”
Probably the minimum epaulettes needed to make this GLA list, after being living.
Amanda Gorman.
Based, in essence, on impact. Her reading of “The Hill We Climb” at Biden’s inaugural was inspiring, but I don’t see how much of a change it made. Could she have more impact later in her career? Quite likely. She has more potential for future greatness than anyone else on this list, as I see it - but in terms of right now, and what I know, I don’t see her passing others on this list.
I’ll vote for Judy Blume this round. Nothing against her, just not that important, IMO.
Judy Blume
Mark Kelly – there have been scores of astronauts, and a couple who have dabbled in politics. The only reason he’s on here instead of John Glenn, for example, is that Kelly ain’t dead yet.
-“BB”-
Until someone convinces me otherwise I’m sticking with Amory Lovins.
Well, he’s our only living Nobel Prize winner for literature, for one thing.
Oof, I didn’t even realize Louise Glück had died.
To expand: We have two candidates on the list best known for poetry.
One is a Nobel laureate who is also one of the best-selling musicians in history, whose music inspired millions of young Americans to support the civil rights and anti-war movements, and who continues to perform and make critically acclaimed new music well into his eighties.
The other was once on TV for a couple minutes.
Not really seeing how this is a tough call.
Sorry, this slipped my mind yesterday.
Our votes this round:
Simon Biles: GOAT gymnast - 2 votes
Judy Blume: Children’s literature icon - 2 votes
Bob Dylan: Poet of generation - 1 vote
Amanda Gorman: Poet, activist, prodigy - 1 vote
Magic Johnson: Superstar, survivor, inspiration - 1 vote
Mark Kelly: Senator, astronaut, aviator - 1 vote
Amory Lovins: Physicist, energy activist - 1 vote
Another tie vote, and so both Simone Biles and Judy Blume are out.
Our remaining nominees:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Athlete, writer, activist
José Andrés: Humanitarian, chef
Joe Biden: President, uniter, overcomer
Judy Blume: Children’s literature icon
Warren Buffett: Level-headed billionaire
Bob Dylan: Poet of generation
Anthony Fauci: Physician, immunologist, scientist
Bill Gates: Futurist, philanthropist, billionaire
Amanda Gorman: Poet, activist, prodigy
Jesse Jackson: Civil rights leader
Magic Johnson: Superstar, survivor, inspiration
Mark Kelly: Senator, astronaut, aviator
Stephen King: Great American writer
Spike Lee: Filmmaker, Knicks fan
Jim Lovell: Apollo 13 astronaut
Amory Lovins: Physicist, energy activist
Barack Obama: President, statesman, lawyer
Dolly Parton: Artist, humanitarian
Bernie Sanders: Democratic Socialist leader
MacKenzie Scott: Philanthropist, prize-winning novelist
Steven Spielberg: Director, writer, entertainer
Bruce Springsteen: Singer, songwriter, activist
Elizabeth Warren: Fighting political foes
Janet Yellen: Economist, Treasury secretary
Eliminated
- Jim Gaffigan: Comedian, author, commentator
- Craig Ferguson: Polymath, director-writer, comedian
- Mitt Romney: Senator, impeachment juror
- Buzz Aldrin: Second on Moon
- Taylor Swift: Musician, songwriter, icon
- Tim Walz: Honorable political messenger
- Simon Biles: GOAT gymnast
- Judy Blume: Children’s literature icon
Voting for our next round will end at noon EST on Weds. July 2.
I will vote again for Simone Biles.
Magic Johnson.
Also, @Elendil_s_Heir, it appears that Biles was just eliminated, but you voted for her again.