Red Burns Was an Oracle for Our Digital Age

The first time I came face-to-face with Red Burns, she was considering my application for the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

I was 25 years old, and Red — 40 years older — already looked ancient to me, in spite of the fiery red hair that gave her her name. But she hardly seemed feeble

“Your GPA was 2.97,” Red said of my undergraduate transcript from several years earlier. “The minimum GPA for admission here is 3.0.”

I went into sales pitch mode, talking up all my worthy extracurricular activities, and the fact that I had worked all through college (selectively omitting mention of the 60 or so Grateful Dead concerts). “And it was nearly a 3.0,” I said earnestlyRed’s lips curled ever so slightly into a smile. But she was noncommittal, and I walked away uncertain. Read more...