Leave it to liberal academia to romanticize soft-ass Europe and the continent's history of thinking and talking and stuff. And we don't mean thinking and talking about who got kicked off of Survivor, either; we mean intellectual stuff. It's so un-American. Thursday, University of Puget Sound Prof. Laurie Frankel, fast off the release of her latest book - The Atlas of Love - will hold shop at a UPS English Department sponsored "Coffeehouse Conversation." There'll be light snacks, refreshments and big words.

[UPS-Trimble Forum, 5:30-7:30 p.m., 1500 N. Warner St., Tacoma, 253.879.3100]