People who know me probably think I'm about to boast about my once-well-known father, Stewart, and uncle, Joseph. But that's not my topic: Instead, I've had a uniquely modern, Internet experience about my last name. I put on a daily Google Alert, mostly to keep track of what people are saying about my living relatives like my brother Joe (one of five Alsop brothers); my sister's name is Elizabeth Winthrop, a well known author but alas no longer an Alsop, so keeping track of her requires a separate Google alert). What I've discovered is that I share a last name with quite a gaggle of people, mainly in England, the United States and Australia. I get 6-12 items in each daily alert, including frequent references to various rugby and football (otherwise know as soccer) players. Nearly every day, though, there is one or more reference to three Alsops I'm particularly proud to share my last name with.
Ron Alsop: I've been aware of Ron for quite a while, since he's bylined regularly in the Wall Street Journal, where he's worked for as long as I can remember reading the paper. But he's exceeded the normal bounds of a reporter/journalist and has a reputation that leads him to be a frequent speaker and a published author.
Marin Alsop: I heard about Marin Alsop when she was appointed conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, since it made quite a stir: first woman appointed conductor of a major city symphony. A number of friends and acquaintances wanted to know if she was a relative. (I thought they might want to get good tickets. Turns out that, at the time, the president of the BSO actually was someone I knew; he worked in one of my portfolio companies.) But Marin shows up almost every day in my Google Alert as she tours the country and the world, guest conducting and presenting her ideas about symphony.
Will Alsop: I learned about Will entirely from my Google Alert. Along with the various English rugby and football players, he kept showing up as a somewhat eccentric and controversial architect in England. He is particularly noted for a concept that he calls the "Creative Prison", a prison designed to make the inmates want to run it themselves (as far as I can tell). This guy has made some really interesting buildings, as you can see from this Flikr collection. I particularly enjoy the building known as The Tabletop, which he designed for the Ontario College of Art & Design.
This leads to an Google Alert Story that can only happen in this day and age: I went to London (and Paris and Amsterdam) recently and decided to kill some time going to see an exhibit that I'd seen in my Google Alert about Will Alsop's Creative Prison. I Googled the address and found my way via Tube and walking, only to discover that the exhibit had ended more than a month earlier. I learned a key lesson: Modern technology does not make up for operator error...
