This past Thursday, while attending the GT Tested Awards event, I was lucky enough to meet Terrence Howard. Fran Gallagher had told me the day before the event that I would be handing Terrence the awards during the presentation, so it made sense for us to meet. And this is why, not even a half hour into the event, I found myself sitting in a private area, chatting with the chairperson of the Mentor Foundation and Terrence Howard. Had I not already had a few glasses of wine, I would have found the experience much more surreal than I did, but, in reality, talking to Terrence Howard was surprisingly easy.

I can’t recall how the subject came up, but we discussed music and the recording process for a long time. Before our conversation, I had only associated Terrence Howard with acting. While I enjoy movies, it is music that keeps my heart beating day in and day out. It’s amazing to me that as successful as he is as an actor, it seems his true passion is music.

Of course, I was not able to be smooth and play it cool the entire time I talked with Terrence Howard. At one point, when he was explaining how he took on the task of putting lyrics to music, I started babbling about the difference between homophones and homonyms. Oh well, once a grammar nerd, always a grammar nerd — even when chatting up celebrities.

— Kate Gallagher, advertising and editorial coordinator