Yesterday evening at Klaudio’s I found myself talking with a few friends about places where I had lived, of which there were many. I found myself comparing them aloud. And the winner turned out to be Cambridge, Massachusetts, the proverbial Ivory Tower of the East Coast. “That is where I had felt most at home,” I repeated a few times. “I am not comfortable among the peasants or industrial workers,” I kept going. “I am not comfortable among the bourgeois, either. I am most comfortable among the academics, students and teachers alike.” Casting back for decades, I found myself enjoying my words: “I was surrounded by clever people from every corner of the world, and I loved the mesmerizing mix of races, colors, features…” Indeed, Cambridge is the winner. Although I cannot imagine myself ever returning to the Ivory Tower of my youth, at this stage of my life I have nothing against rarified places where intellectuals engage in pursuits that have little to do with practical concerns of everyday life. God forbid. If only such a place were within my reach!