I think what attracted me to my college’s “student brochure” was the phrase "with its sophisticated academic environment". While the high resolution, glossy tri-fold had other advantages, I remember that line being the closer, cinching my decision to go here. Only in retrospect do I see the humor in it.
"Sophisticated"
For a while I didn’t know what the word meant. Sure, I understood its everyday meaning, conveying some notion of refinement, class, or grace. But actually, it comes from the greek word “sophos” which implies a worldly, or skilled, knowledge.
So yes, I guess the brochure has been right, hasn’t it? We have surrounded ourselves with the sophisticated; from the sharp, deliberate wording of a romantic era satire to the slurred, incoherent conversations among groups of drunk strangers, we have seen worldly knowledge at its very best and very worst. But these are not the reasons why I’m writing this, my poor hand’s attempt at its own sort of sophistication. Here I’ll make my hand stop, since, at the heart of this ramble, there is little skill and even less of the world, only my true appreciation and admiration toward a great friend.