For friends of Leonard Peikoff. (If you are not an Objectivist, skip this.)
Leonard; my romantic partner, Julie; and I had a delightful dinner for Leonard’s birthday at my home last Tuesday night.
Leonard was upbeat and in good health; the best I’ve seen him in years. He was energetic, spirited, humorous, and delightful as ever. I was particularly pleased to see how well he is.
What was on the menu? Leonard loves “black and blue” filet mignon, and he loves the way it’s prepared by my chef, Nelse. The tangy sauce and the hollandaise sauce with mashed potatoes and carrots were spectacular—absolutely a 10.
He had said on Zoom that sometimes he feels that he has been forgotten. I assured him that he has not been forgotten (and never will be) by the thousands of people just like me who have enormous admiration, gratitude, and affection for him. He will also be remembered for his courses and books (particularly OPAR).
What did we talk about? Loads of things. We started by talking about the birthday celebration organized by Razi, his reactions to the compliments paid to him, and, in particular, his pleasure at hearing his daughter Kira’s reflections and sentiments. We talked about his emotional reaction, and emotions generally, and Ayn Rand’s view of emotions. We talked about his courses and the impact they have had, as well as how best to deliver his courses going forward. We talked about generosity, which had been raised at his birthday party, and his views on that, and my views. We talked about romantic relationships—his and mine. We talked about his love of dogs, and in particular his dog Kiki, who he brought with him.
We talked about exercise—he’s spending over an hour each day working out with a coach We talked very briefly about the election and the horrors if Biden and his gang of statists (Harris, Warren, Sanders, et al) are elected; and more.
What we didn’t talk about? We didn’t talk about ARI, except he briefly mentioned Yaron’s tirade against President Trump; we didn’t discuss Yaron; we didn’t speak a word about Craig, or Onkar, or any other Objectivist (except a few sweet comments he made about Lisa VanDamme). It was just a delightful evening. He was in fine form in terms of humor—we had lots of laughs, and it was a really fun evening.
Leonard wanted to keep the dinner small and private, and we did social distance (see photo) in respect of his health, which worked fine.
