Columbus

Professor!

Professor!

Professor!

No, we were at the Miller House,

and now we're at the church.

Yeah.

It's good.

That's nice.

Yeah, I will.

Yeah, later.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

Well.

Right.

Great.

First Christian is considered

one of the first modernist churches in America.

In the United States.

Designed by Eliel Saarinen,

and Christians consider...

Notice how the cross and the doors

and the clock are all off-centre.

This design, Saarinen's design is asy...

Saarinen's design is asymmetrical,

yet still remains balanced.

Here you go.

All right.

- There you are, hey. - Look, marginalia.

Nice.

Anything good?

Not sure.

Might just be grad student gibberish.

If you do a database dive, let me know.

Yeah, of course.

What's up?

Wanna catch a film tonight?

I can't tonight, sorry.

I'm having dinner with a friend in Bloomington.

Like a date?

No, no, it's just an old school friend.

Mm-hm, whatever.

Do you have your Master's?

Sadly, yes.

Was it hard to get?

Depends on what you mean by hard.

Why?

I was just talking to Aaron,

and he told me that as a rule they only

give full-time positions to MLS grads.

That's not completely true.

Claire doesn't have one.

She doesn't?

She has a Ph.D. in Lit.

Great.

Yeah, whatever you do, don't get an MLS.

It was recently declared the worst Master's for a job.

Really?

Yeah.

And yet you have a job.

Well, I'm an exception.

Anyway, you don't want to be a librarian.

I might.

No, you don't.

What about that Deborah Berke?

You'd be crazy to pass that up.

Yeah, that's not gonna happen.

Why not?

It's just not.

You wouldn't understand.

Yes, I would.

What?

Nothing.

Come on, let's go see him first.

I still can't believe how old you are.

You look just the same.

That's not true.

- You do. - But thank you.

You're sweet.

So how do you like being back in Seoul?

It's okay.

What are you doing there?

I got a job at a publisher,

translating books into Korean from English.

That sounds interesting.

It is. Not.

It's pretty painful, actually.

I'm on deadline now.

I just got off the phone with them.

They don't expect you to work

while you're here, do they?

I think they do.

You know, it's that Korean thing.

We're so sorry. Family is the most important thing

but really work is the most important thing.

So, you better finish that fucking translation on time.

That can't be true.

We'll see.

I wish you were staying another day.

I know but I was supposed to be in Chicago

a few days ago with your father.

And I have my work.

My husband.

I know, you've already done so much.

I can't believe this happened.

He was doing fine and then just...

I'm sorry.

I just...

I owe him so much.

Your father means everything to me.

Is there anything else I can get you guys?

No, I think we're ready for the...

Can I get another beer?

Definitely.

- Another glass of wine? - No, thanks.

He didn't even tell me he was coming on this trip.

Did he tell you that?

No.

That's about right.

Did he mention me at all?

We talked a little.

What did he say?

Jin.

Did he tell you that we haven't spoken in over a year?

You're all he has.

That has never been the case.

He has his students, his work.

You're his son.

You've been watching too much Korean drama.

- Here you go. - Thank you.

Can we have the cheque?

Sure, I'll be right back.

I have to leave so early in the morning.

I should go to bed.

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up.

The Inn knows about the situation.

You should be able to stay in his room as long as you need.

Shit.

Hey, are you expecting anyone?

Do you know what he's doing on Sunday?

No, I'll just drop you off in the morning

and then take it over to Kenny's.

It'll cost us more if it breaks down on us.

Ugh, I hate cars.

Me, too.

I think this could use just a... bit more spice.

You think it does?

Maybe.

I was going for something a little more subtle.

I don't even know what that means.

You know, less obvious.

Why?

Because sometimes you can taste the food better

and then there's a better aftertaste.

You crazy.

You are.

This is the Irwin Conference Centre,

formerly the Irwin Union Bank.

It was completed in 1954 and designed by Eero Saarinen,

son of Eliel Saarinen, who designed First Christian Church.

Now like the church, banks in the U.S.

did not look like this in 1954.

They were big, imposing buildings

that had tellers behind bars.

No, no, he's not saying it's an actual myth.

He's just questioning this common usage

of attention span.

Or really this idea of a shortening attention span.

So he doesn't think that this is happening?

You're constantly talking

about how no one can finish a book anymore.

Yes, that's exactly the point.

I'm bookish.

We're both bookish.

So what he's saying is that when we talk about attention

we're biassed toward reading.

Like, I had this professor who used to go on and on

about the idiocy of video games.

He talked about how his son would play for hours

and that he once tried playing with him,

but found it completely dull after just a few minutes.

Now, if this was reversed,

if the son was talking about

how his dad would read for hours

and he once tried reading with him, but found it boring,

after a few minutes, well, he would accuse the son

of having a short attention span, right?

But why don't we accuse the professor

of having a short attention span?

Because it's not about attention for him.

It just seems idiotic.

But what if that's exactly the case for the son?

See, what he's saying is that this boy

is actually able to give hours of attention

to a video game because it's interesting to him.

Yeah, but that's because video games are designed

for people with short attention spans.

Yeah, see, that's what bookish people say.

But no, what this guy is saying

is it's not a matter of attention, but of interest.

The professor doesn't have patience for the video game

because he's not interested in that kind of experience.