Why One Former CIA Executive Never Stopped Playing (opens in new tab)

When I was three years old, I fell in love with the violin thanks to an unlikely duet between Itzhak Perlman and a grumpy green Muppet. Watching Perlman’s bow dance across the strings on Sesame Street, I was transfixed. I turned to my parents and announced with all the gravity a toddler can muster, “I want to do that.”After months of pleading, they relented. That decision didn't just set me on a musical path; it quietly forged my philosophy on joy, participation, and what it means to keep a p...