“Professor” is a title granted virtually any teacher or holder of a diploma, earned or bought, so we are amused but not surprised to hear an elderly professor on a local television game show misidentify Mariah Carey as the scientist responsible for discovering radium. No, Professor—I’m sorry but the ‘T’ in ‘NATO’ does not stand for ‘Turkish.’ Let’s not be hasty to judge him. Trivia, like bread and liquor, is a cultural phenomenon. The boundaries of societal knowledge are drawn by need, and even intellectual nonessentials must be accompanied by the appropriate documents and a wad of Euros before being cleared through Customs. Like everything else, even trivia clears Customs twice: one upon entering, and once on leaving, on its way to the halls of other government buildings.

I am just back in Chicago after a week in independent Kosovo. While I was there, I talked to Prime Minister Thaçi, President Sejdiu, other senior political leaders and more than a dozen young professionals, most of whom are old friends. All are proud of independence.

Historically, one of the more well known places in Kosovo is “Kosovo field” (Fushë Kosova/Kosovo Polje). It is known due to its history of acting as a battle ground for local and foreign forces.