Getting an e-mail from a famous person isn't necessarily cool--fame doesn't guarantee intelligence, quick-wittedness, or kindness. In fact, sometimes I've wondered if fame doesn't cultivate the exact opposite personality traits.

However, getting an e-mail from a famous person that you've admired for a long time, an e-mail that suggests the author is exactly as intelligent, insightful and warm as you'd hoped she'd be, *is* cool, and being able to follow it up with a phone call...well, then you get into something that is so far beyond cool that I can't even think of the appropriate words to describe it.