Debra Pickett

"Fair Harvard has her crimson, old Yale her colors, too, but for dear Pennsylvania, we wear the red and blue."

This is an actual line from the official school song of my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. And, while I've never done any sort of scientific research on this, I am fairly certain that it is the only school song so wrapped up in an institution-wide inferiority complex that it actually mentions other, better schools before mentioning its own name.

It's one of the many reasons I've always adored Penn, which, should I ever strike it really rich, I plan to endow with the Debra Pickett Fund for the Employment of English Majors. There will be a special office in the Career Planning and Placement Center dedicated to finding jobs for kids like me, whose educational training prepared them to be exemplary cocktail party guests, but fell slightly short in the practical skills department.

I was invited to speak, this morning, at a breakfast meeting of the local Penn alumni organization and, though it was mildly difficult to make it downtown for the 7:30 am start (note to organizers of future events: I'm really more of a brunch person, thanks.), the event proved to be very cool indeed.

I introduced myself briefly (being sure to mention how I managed to get fired from my job as a columnist for the school newspaper after a single semester) and then answered a bunch of questions on topics that ranged from media bias to restaurant recommendations. I was having an almost inexplicably great time talking with everyone, when it occurred to me why this was so fun. We were talking.

Where does anyone go, once you're out of grad school, to have actual conversation about stuff that matters? When do you get a chance to talk to people outside your usual circle, with perspectives that differ from your own?

I'm inspired, at the moment, to found some sort of salon, just to try and replicate this morning's experience. But I'd be happy to give up if someone else would like to do it for me. (Or has already done so.)