Flashing lights, portraits in magazine spreads, endorsement deals, paparazzi . . . sound like your lifestyle? I didn’t think so. The elusive nature of Hollywood habitués renders their way of life all the more intriguing. For many of us less glamorous folk, this fascination with fame causes us to break into a cold sweat and lose our ability to speak when we find ourselves in the presence of royalty—whoops, I mean celebrity.

I know the feeling. My first celebrity encounter was with Olympian Sasha Cohen. It was my tenth birthday, and my mom had taken me to an ice skating show that Cohen was performing in. I was in awe, while Cohen was flustered and composed all at once, and referred to me as “sweetie.”

I’m not the only PSG member who has encountered fame. Ever taken an elevator ride with baseball legend Sammy Sosa? Ken has. He also got Sosa’s autograph (despite never having asked for it). Sports players must ride a lot of elevators, because Don once rode in a hotel elevator with former Celtic Larry Bird. Another time, Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day told Don he admired his bowling shoes. Not too shabby!

Because of where our interests take us, many of PSG’s celebrity sightings have been literary in nature. Annette has met humorist David Sedaris, New York Times best selling author Elin Hilderbrand and music journalist Rob Sheffield—all at book signings. Sheffield was signing a book about karaoke, so the audience members were performing. He complimented Annette’s rendition of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar.

Tess also met David Sedaris at one of his readings. Instead of merely signing Tess’s copy of his book, he drew a cartoon of her as a cat. Kate chatted with Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Junot Díaz at a book signing she was working at, and she met actor John Krasinski, best known for his role in The Office, at an event he did for his film adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.

At a library event, Alyssa met author Margot Livesey, who happens to be a writer-in-residence at Emerson College, where Alyssa completed her undergrad. Also at Emerson, Eileen’s thesis advisor was poet Jonathon Aaron. She also got to learn from Jon Papernick, Lise Haines and Gail Mazur—all published writers and professors.

Colleen may take the cake when it comes to the most spottings—both literary and otherwise. She has met Andre Dubus III, who wrote House of Sand and Fog. She also met Bill Simmons at the release of his book Now I Can Die In Peace. A huge Indigo Girls fan, Colleen has met Amy Ray and Emily Saliers multiple times. She even ran into actor Mark Wahlberg in Gloucester while he was filming The Perfect Storm.

Considering this wide variety of celebrities PSG has met, there’s no telling who we’ll encounter next!

Did You Know?

Film director, Steven Spielberg, was diagnosed with dyslexia at 60 years old. He grew up in the 1950s before dyslexia was a diagnosis. Filmmaking was his escape from his struggles and from being mislabeled as lazy.