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Time 100 Gala: From Michelle Obama To M.I.A.
By
Jen Chung
Published May 6, 2009
Modified May 6, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 6, 2009
Modified May 6, 2009
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Last night, Time magazine held its annual Time 100 Gala at the Time Warner Center. Emceed by Jimmy Fallon, the night celebrated those featured in the issue, a range of people from the First Lady to the Twitter guys, from Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. to financial advice guru Suze Orman. The attendee list was long and glittering, including a wide variety of people, like Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman (a Time 100 honoree), SNL producer Lorne Michaels, former JFK speechwriter Ted Sorenson, and the joined-at-the-hip celeb-trio of Liv Tyler, Stella McCartney and Kate Hudson.
First Lady Michelle Obama spoke to the crowd about public service, and named examples of young people applying their skills and passion to help society. Her examples were Charles Best who founded DonorsChoose (people can donate to public school teachers, who often pay for supplies out of their own pockets), Rebecca Onie who founded Project Health (college students volunteers at urban medical centers) and John Alford who created NOLA 180 to transform failing New Orleans public schools into charter schools.and said that there would be $50 million in next year's budget to promote national service and advise nonprofit groups," according to the AP.
She said the money would start up the Social Innovation Fund "to help innovative nonprofit groups and social entrepreneurs... The idea is simple: Find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country. By focusing on high-impact, results-oriented nonprofits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable and worthy of the public trust."
Back to the frivolity: According to Gawker, it was a night when party affiliations didn't matter as much: "Everyone, it seemed, was friending everyone; Glenn Beck was even snapping fan pics of Michelle Obama and chatting up liberal internet publisher Arianna Huffington." The Post has a breakdown of the seating arrangements. And Time reporter James Poniewozik Tweeted, "Jimmy Fallon cautions waiters not to overserve the ladies of the View." (The View ladies' Time 100 feature was written by... Mayor Bloomberg.)
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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