Today, Nagle and I went down to Boston Commons and spent a couple hours asking passers-by what 3 skills they’d most like to acquire. I’ve got pages and pages in my diary full of the responses, but by far, the two most common are learning another language and being able to play a musical instrument. Flying comes in a close third, as do non-musical expression-related activites, from sculpting to stained glass-working.

So, what does it mean that a random sampling of Bostonians want to play instruments and speak other languages? I guess it’s not all that strange–as my friend Will puts it: “those are skills that get you chicks.”