[WS:] Same here - the minstrel show comment nails it down rather well. Which makes me wonder - he is a smart guy, the analogy certainly has not escaped him. Could it be that he is playing a double edged game with predominantly white academic establishment? I mean, acting like a dandy character in a minstrel show while holding professorship at Princeton hints that Ivy League is a high brow minstrel show, no?
Wojtek