Individual: So what do you do?

Me: I’m a philosopher. I put lives in order.

—

Institution: So what do you do?

Me: I’m a philosopher. I bring lives to order.

—

Him: So where are you from?

Me: The Midwest.

Him: And why’d you move?

Me: I set out to make life work.

—

Her: So where’d you go to school?

Me: In the gardens.

Her: With whom did you study?

Me: With the hydrangeas and the camellias.