I recently went to an interesting event where I was exposed to something that I should have known, but didn't until I thought about it.
At this event, Mike Sullivan was an attendee. Actually, more of an honoree. If I recall correctly, he received the University of Wyoming College of Law Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award. (That's a lot of capitalized words.) Most people outside of Wyoming won't know the name Mike Sullivan. He was a governor of Wyoming during the early 1990s. He's famous here for coining the saying that "Wyoming is one small town with really long streets." Or something to that effect.
What is not widely known, even in Wyoming, is that he was also ambassador to Ireland during the late 1990s. One of the speakers at the event pointed out that this was the time that the US brokered a significant Northern Ireland peace agreement, and credited Sullivan for his role.
I'll be the first that I don't know much about this particular peace settlement. I vaguely remember that Something Important happened during Clinton's presidency, but I'm not even sure of the lasting effect. My friend, the Dancer, is the one that I consider the expert on the Troubles--historical context, the various peace plans, the whole shebang.
Yet, I do remember that Something Important happened at that time, but I never really connected Sullivan's role with these events. Even once I found out that he was once the Ambassador, I never really put it together. When I did hear some mention of it recently, one of my most prominent reactions was to simply be surprised.
The moral of the story? I'm not really sure. Maybe I'm just rambling about how I was surprised and thought it was kinda cool. Or maybe I'm suggesting that you Look Closer. Or maybe I'm publicizing that this little state has a bit more import than most people believe.
Chances are, it's some combination of those. Plus I'm looking for good blog subjects.
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