Panelists:
Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, and Teacher Man
Poet Nikki Giovanni, author of On My Journey Now and Acolytes
Larry Gelbart, producer/comedy writer.  M*A*S*H/Tootsie
Marc Freedman, founder of Civic Ventures

Larry Gelbart:  We spend so many years going to school and getting ready for the younger part our life, and no one really helps us understand what we're heading toward and how to deal with it, you know, at this point.  We're out of school far too fast, in a way.

Marc Freedman: Some people have proposed a midlife sabbatical where after working so hard in the middle years too, that it's hard to think about what's next.  We really need a chance to catch our breath and to think about what we're going to do next but just as much to think about who we want to be next, to do that kind of reimagination that Nikki was talking about.

Frank McCourt: What about an old fart university of some kind?

Larry:  Go O.F.!  

Frank:  It's a two-, three-, four-year course where you go back go through--you can call it an "agonizing reappraisal."  But it will be a reappraisal, what we've learned from living this long, what we can pass on to younger generations who are coming up who are going to be as startled as we are.  

Alan Rosenberg:  Well, good luck in America in this day and age.  It'd be lovely if older people could be subsidized too, to go out and seek such an education because a lot of people just don't have that luxury.

Frank:  Well, why couldn't we start it ourselves? Why couldn't we start using public libraries? Why couldn't we start a whole network of informal, ah, university level courses taught by people who are specialists, who are retired and so on, or simply people who are street philosophers.  Get up and tell the story of your life, and then you get college credit, you get credit for this.

Larry: I think that's a great idea.

Alan:  I think it's a fantastic idea.  I think we'd have a start to a pretty good faculty right here!  "Life Part 2 University."

Frank: Life Part 2, yeah.

Nikki Giovanni:  Just in agreement with Frank. You know, schools should be 24-hour day facilities.  It is such a waste that we close schools probably around 5:00 in the evening, and nothing goes on.  School buildings should not be empty.    

Frank:  I'd like to teach remedial dreaming! [all laugh]    

Alan: Larry, what, what would you like to teach?

Larry:  Um, given this opportunity, maybe if there's a girl's gym class...
[all laugh]  I could help out.  I mean, it would be wonderful to go to school once your skin's cleared up!