When the real meets the virtual, laughter ensues

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The real Rahm Emanuel met up the other day with the fake Rahm, Columbia College professor Dan Sinker, the man behind the @mayoremanuel twitter feed. According to the Trib, Real Rahm was in good humor and Fake Rahm was more than a bit nervous:

"Hi, honey, I'm home," the mayor-elect said as he extended his hand to Dan Sinker, the 36-year-old Columbia College journalism assistant professor whose @MayorEmanuel Twitter account became an online sensation before its anonymous author sent his protagonist into the cosmos the day after Emanuel was elected mayor. "Relax, man."

"I am so not relaxed," Sinker said with a laugh, the cheeks above his pointy salt-and-pepper beard having turned beet-red.

"You have tenure," Emanuel quipped. "Don't worry about it. I already called it in."

Real Rahm also suggested that he'd hook up Sinker with his brother, an agent at William Morris, "so I can get my $5,000 back."

When the laughs were done, the mayor-elect handed over a $5,000 check to Sinker's charity of choice - Young Chicago Authors, an after-school organization that teaches creative writing to Chicago Public School students. Chicago media personalities Dan Coe and Richard Roeper each kicked in $1000 and Causes.com promised to match the mayor-elect's $5,000.

Wanna donate?
Here's the weblink to Young Chicago Authors.

Here's the Sun-Times story.

And WaPo covered it too.

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