Gave the class an ethical dilemma. Suppose you know a musician whose career has taken off and they’re playing to thousands. And you hear they’re soon touring Europe and you send an email pointing out you could be the opening act and you are compact, solo and easy to get along with. Then they write you back and say yes! Great idea! Can you be in Amsterdam in three days? And you look at how much it’ll cost you and you try to figure out where you could sleep in Amsterdam without losing too much money and you agree you can be there but thinking economically, can you also be on their tour bus and they say yes absolutely. The next day their manager writes you and congratulates you and adds that they will need you to contribute to the costs of being on the tour bus, blah blah blah they need you to pay about three or four thousand dollars which more than obliterates what you would earn as the opening act, let alone flying to Amsterdam and finding a place to crash the first night. What should you do? Most of the students had either no answer or else they said borrow the money somehow, swallow the loss, you have to try and make use of this opportunity.
Then I told them the rest of the story. I decided I couldn’t do it but first I wrote to Feist and told her what her manger told me and how it was regrettable but I wouldn’t be able to afford it now, thanks anyway. Five seconds later she wrote me back pissed off that her manager thought to charge me. She said we’ll make it work and you shouldn’t be paying anything. And away we went. We even made a video between Copenhagen and Italy. She later acquired different management. All those students smiling was an enjoyable image for our second last class, like people who just started gaining an appreciation of how to play chess.