Education in the United States

I got back to work at about 1 PM, as usual. There was a message on my desk phone, from Sybil. Am I interested in going to a lecture this evening at Columbia College? What else was I going to do tonight, watch reality shows? I called her back. The line was busy. I tried her again at about 2:30, once I’d completed a certain amount of publishing blurbs. Sybil wanted me to know that this lecture was about art. Just warning you, she said. I told her that I have nothing against art; in fact, I have a couple of really nice print copies of Kandinsky and Rothko in my apartment. She said she already knows that; she’s been there plenty of times. This lecture, she told me, is about antique art in Chicago by one of the professors there. Where to find it, who some of the top dealers are, even a little bit about how to tell fakes from genuines, all that sort of thing. It’ll kill a couple of hours for both of us. I’m game, where should we meet? Sybil paused on the other end of the line. We always eat at Pizza Hut, she said, let’s splurge. Let’s go to one of those fancy little steak houses on Wabash or Dearborn. It’s right on the way. You’re paying? I asked her, putting a little extra sugar in my voice. Sybil’s in upper management. There was a pause of about 20 seconds, then she replied, Uhh—sure!