Paper Clip Extraordinaire

In America, you are regarded as a genius/prodigy/Renaissance man (not even woman) if you are knowledgeable and/or skilled in the following arenas:

• Jeopardy! and all other academic trivia games
• world wars and battles
• classical piano and chess
• manifestos and books written in Old English, Latin, Ancient Chinese, Ancient Japanese...
• the French language
• golf, tennis, and baseball

Really, such a list should instead consist of:

• the Spanish language
• current political figures, their stances, and the effects of their decisions
• guitar and Cranium
• grassroots movements, human rights violations
• nutrition, cooking
• communication skills, social skills
• religions from around the world
• number sense
• handy with tools, resourceful
• compostables and recyclables

= = =

Yes, I am aware that my list is a product of my public school upbringing and living amongst liberal, hippie intellectuals.