There is a scene in the great Herb Gardner play and movie A Thousand Clowns when the "mature" character accuses his brother of being a dreamer and demands that he "get back to reality." The dreamer brother, played by Jason Robards, retorts, "I'll only go as a tourist!" One of the great exchanges in American literature.
I think of this because today one of my daughters is visiting Madison, Wisconsin, location of the University of Wisconsin--one of America's great universities and one of the great college towns. People sometimes say that college life is not reality. But it is a version of reality (there are many many realities!), and the best version I know. Imagine a peaceful environment where people are devoted to learning and growth, tolerance and fun. Where all varieties of the arts flourish. Where you don't have to be embarrassed about loving ideas and books and the intellectual life. Where peace and dialogue flourish. Where people strive for a kind of communal life (or community life, if you will).
Who wouldn't want to live in this version of reality! I celebrate all the great college campuses and college towns: Ann Arbor, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin. And in my own state of Ohio, Athens; Oxford; Oberlin. And so many more!
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