Well, meet is a state of mind, no?

She smiled dutily and posed for a photo with Kay and me, and swiftly moved on to the next person in the receiving line.

Marlo Thomas - 69 and poured into a little black dress and black patent stilletos - was in town for the Star Tribune Womens’ Lecture series some weeks back. Kay scored us a couple of tickets and we had a Cribsheet night out.

I was too young for “That Girl” but not too young to enjoy the fruits of the group she later co-founded - the Ms Foundation. But I have to confess I really only discovered Marlo Thomas when my sister-in-law gave my little girl a CD of “Free to be (you and me)” last Christmas.

The audience was filled with her contemporaries - silver-haired women who’d come to see the woman who’d lived the life of a young careerwoman on the screen, when the idea was still vaguely scandalous. (Marlo herself has retained her trademark hairdo with the flirty flip.)

Some nuggets from her talk:

“I get very concerned when I hear young women say I don’t want to be a feminist.”

“I always felt I was putting the flag on the moon for my mom.”

“My legs are still good but my brain is gone.”

“Put some highlights in your hair. Go shopping and get yourself another pair of black shoes.”

And finally, how her father told her to always “Run your own race, baby.”

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