By popular demand...

The casual dress question received a multi-part response. As I recall, he hoped people in this program would not judge others by the way they looked; his current environment is casual dress so his wardrobe doesn't include the professional suit & tie--he can manage a wedding or funeral but that's about it --and he's saving his money to pay for Naropa; he may be unconsciously trying to not look like an authority figure to counteract certain authoritarian tendencies that he tries to not engage; and asking the interviewers what they thought the reason might be.

Tom says the content of the answer was not so important but that at some point during his response he felt the woman get engaged and then they got a dialogue going.

Anyway, I've been feeling this week that I'd like to go, too--sooner rather than later. The finanical/retirement aspects of my job is the big reason to stay--and it make sense to let him try a semester to see if it sticks. We'll have to see how things progress over the next weeks....

K