Hudson Talbott: Hi, my name is Hudson Talbott. I have come to love my name. It's taken on such a different, fuller meaning for me as I've grown up and grown older. I'm named after my grandfather. It's a family name. And I hated it as a kid. My brother was Jim and all my friends were Billy and Bobby and nice, easy names. And I was Hudson. It was just such a weird name to carry around. I even asked my mother if I could change my name and she said, "Well, let's talk about it later, after your grandfather passes away," because I was named for him.

Anyway, I got stuck with it and little by little I decided it was kind of a good thing, because it made me who I was. It made me slightly different in a lot of ways, at least in terms of the name. And as time went on, I knew about New York City and I wanted to go there. And it was this great city on the Hudson River. And pretty soon I was living in New York City, and I wanted to get a house out in the country. And so, that led me to the Hudson Valley.

And somebody, a nice, wonderful teacher, as a matter of fact, suggested I should write a book about Henry Hudson, since I live in the Hudson Valley and my name is Hudson. I've just come to love my name and it looks pretty good on the jacket of a book; Hudson Talbott, not bad.

And most of all, I'm really glad to honor my grandfather, that I'm still here doing stuff with his name, because he was a wonderful man and he had so much to do with what I feel like is my sense of integrity and honor and compassion for people. I feel like I inherited so much more than just his name, and that makes me feel great, to have a name like Hudson.