Hillary, I have one word for you: Esperanto

"Incubus" co-star Allyson Ames, the once wife of Leslie Stevens,who wrote and directed the all-Esperanto 1965 horror movie "Incubus," starring William Shatner. See video clip below.
Hillary mentioned during last night's debate that she has had trouble learning another language. I hear you! Myself, I am actively considering learning Esperanto, thanks to Steve Brewer, who leads a local conversation group at UMass.
I wrote a story for the Amherst Bulletin after joining him and a half dozen or so other Esperanto speakers for lunch last week. Turns out one of them, Allan Boschen, of Windsor, was my dad's Esperanto teacher in Pittsfield. My daughter Ana has long been an "Incubus" fan, she told me. Who knew?
A virtue of Esperanto is it's allegedly easy to learn and then you can go all over the world, where fellow speakers often welcome you into their homes. Could be a useful diplomatic tool for Hillary OR Obama.

I love this picture of Esperantists at China Dynasty, last week. Basil Coffin, in light green one-piece suit, is learning Esperanto, English and Russian. His parents, Lena, who is Russian, and David, who is American, met at a 2003 Esperanto conference in Yalta. Esperanto, which is said to be much easier to learn than either English or Russian, is their primary language at home.




My brother Billy sent me this great photo from Singapore, where he is now. Wonder if they have many Esperanto speakers there.