Last night the Academy of American Poets invited a number of noted intellectuals to read their favorite poems in front of a sea of old people at Lincoln Center. Historians David Halberstam and Simon Schama were there, ditto Dr. Bill Baker and of course, Ethan Hawke. Yes, by all of today's standards the star of Reality Bites is a public intellectual. And so we listened as the former Mr. Uma Thurman read his favorite poem, As I Walked Out One Evening. His stentorian voice soared through the auditorium. His limber tongue made quick work of Auden's trochees and spondees and thankfully, Gawker's Richard Blakeley was there to get it all on VHS.