First Lady Dines Out in New York *By Robin Givhan* On her first trip to New York City as first lady, Michelle Obama continued her thank-the-worker-bees tour with a stop at the United States Mission to the United Nations yesterday afternoon. Later, she attended a dinner celebrating Time magazine's 100 most influential people -- of which she was one. The magazine's black-tie publicity extravaganza, in Rose Hall at the Time Warner Center, was attended by about 300 people including Oprah Winfrey, Claire Danes, John Legend, Valerie Jarett, the women of "The View" (Sherri Shepherd and Elizabeth Hasselbeck were tardy, one couldn't help but notice) as well as a host of faces famous only to those who prefer The Economist over People.
Obama entered stage left wearing a black gown with a corset bodice and long strands of jet beads. She spoke for a few minutes about how a single individual can have a huge impact on the world. And she announced that the administration had created the Social Innovation Fund "to help innovative nonprofit groups and social entrepreneurs . . . expand their successful approaches to tackling our most pressing national challenges." After shaking a few hands, she settled in for dinner at a table with Time managing editor Rick Stengel, Winfrey and her-best-friend Gayle King, A.R. Rahman, the composer from "Slumdog Millionaire" fame, as well as other honorees and Time honchos. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/05/06/first_lady_dines_out_in_new_yo.html?wprss=44 -- regards, Vithur
