what's a degree?

Remember the game 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?' It had to with connections, how far each of us really is from any other person in the world. With the celebrity Kevin Bacon (actor/singer) in particular, lines could be drawn from other actors with whom he has appeared in a particular movie, for example, then from those connections to more connections, and so on. As you can imagine, the process spreads really fast, and suddenly it seems as if the entire movie-making industry is involved. In the bigger picture, I think it's been said that every single person in the world is no more than six degrees from anybody else in the world.

That makes me wonder then about us average folk, the rest of us, oh let's say me for example: what actually qualifies as a 'degree'? How well does one have to know someone to be a degree? Is it mere acquaintance? A brush with somebody famous (such as getting their autograph)... does that count? Someone I haven't seen since college? It's gotta be more than walking by someone, or seeing them across the street or eating at the same restaurant, but maybe a brief encounter will do... hmmm...

The thing is, I may really, truly, be only three degrees from - Paul McCartney! Mick Jagger! Don Johnson and Cheech Marin! ABBA and the Bee Gees! Everyone on 'Dancing With the Stars'! How is that possible?

Let's start with Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger: I recently found out that one of my cousins was once the upstairs neighbor of former Rolling Stone magazine writer and journalist Ben Fong-Torres; I know my cousin (one degree), she knew Ben Fong-Torres (two degrees), and well, that makes me three degrees from practically the entire world of rock and roll! Including, probably, Nancy Wilson of Heart... yowza!

Another person I am rather vaguely acquainted with is a Hollywood writer and producer - I met him through a close relative but I'd still like to think I am one degree of him. He once worked on the television show Nash Bridges, and wait a minute, I guess that makes me just two degrees of Don Johnson and Cheech Marin (I assume he knows them personally), and countless other Hollywood types that my Hollywood writer/producer acquaintance knows. I'm certainly no more than three degrees of practically everyone in Hollywood. Could that be possible?

ABBA and the Bee Gees - this is cool too: back in college, I was a dorm-mate of someone that I am now friends with on Facebook. We were in the same major until we both switched, but for awhile there we took many of the same classes and were even in the same surveying group for a class in that subject. I haven't seen him for over 25 years. Well, he now works as a camera operator for the TV show 'Glee.' And on Facebook, he posted a picture of him standing next to Olivia Newton-John. Sounds like a 'degree' to me! So I knew Duane back in college, he met Olivia Newton-John, and that makes me three degrees from everyone she knows, including ABBA and the Bee Gees! And John Travolta, which makes me four degrees from all of the Sweathogs from Welcome Back, Kotter... how cool is that?

Then going back to the dorms, my actual roommate in the dorms, Mike, now teaches dance at a Southern California studio that belongs to Anna and Jonathan, two of the professional dancers on 'Dancing With the Stars.' So I know Mike (one degree), he knows Anna and Jonathan (I assume he knows them personally - if not, add a degree), and they know everyone else on the show.

I'm so close to fame, I'm practically famous myself... I'm almost famous!