band Yo La Tengo Zoë Keating, composer and cellist from the band Rasputina Stacey Kent, jazz vocalist Josh Mancell, freelance composer and multi-instrumentalist Rhett Miller, singer/songwriter and member of the band Old 97's David Porter, TV composer for Breaking Bad JD Samson, member of the band Le Tigre Carly Simon, singer and songwriter Joanna Simon, vocalist Stewart Lupton, poet and singer-songwriter from the bands Jonathan Fire*Eater, the Childballads, and the Beatins' Dana Williams, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet. Politics and public service Brooke Anderson, diplomat; Deputy Ambassador to the UN; former chief-of-staff to the White House National Security Council; VP Communications, The Nuclear Threat Initiative Lisa Anderson, scholar; President of the American University in Cairo, Egypt; former dean of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Amanda Burden, director of the New York City Department of City Planning Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago; former White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama; former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Fifth Congressional District of Illinois Sharon Hom, director of Human Rights in China Sue Kelly, U.S. House of Representatives, 19th Congressional District of New York Clifford D. May, President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Writing and poetics G. D. Baum, writer Melvin Jules Bukiet, novelist Carolyn Ferrell, writer Amanda Foreman, award-winning biographer Louise Gluck, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in poetry and former Poet Laureate of the United States Rebecca Godfrey, novelist Philip Graham, writer Lucy Grealy, writer Karl Taro Greenfeld, journalist and author David Grimm, playwright Allan Gurganus, writer Benjamin Hale, novelist Justin Haythe, novelist and screenwriter Kaui Hart Hemmings, writer A.M. Homes, writer Nancy Huston, Canadian author who writes primarily in French Porochista Khakpour, writer Carolyn Kizer, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Christian Kracht, Swiss writer Phillis Levin, poet Bennett Madison, writer Jeffrey McDaniel, poet Giulia Melucci, writer Brian Morton, novelist Sharyn November, editor Ann Patchett, author Anne Roiphe, novelist and essayist Esmeralda Santiago, Puerto Rican writer Alice Sheldon, who published science fiction as James Tiptree, Jr. Leora Skolkin-Smith, novelist Alice Walker, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Color Purple Visual and performing arts Janine Antoni, sculptor, installation artist Ian Spencer Bell, choreographer Mary Griggs Burke, largest private collector of Japanese art outside Japan Lucinda Childs, postmodern dancer and choreographer, member of the Judson Dance Theater Alexis de Chaunac, Contemporary artist Jean Erdman, dancer and wife of Joseph Campbell Mary Heilmann, painter, sculptor Dan