Liberal arts at play; that's the steel behind the joke™

The joke is the pants; here is the steel. The surface bit is the self-jab; a liberal arts grad reads out loud as liberals, not at work (an Albion man with the degree and no job on the record; so hirable he's not). But spot the steel behind it; the steelman is the real coin. Most people are liberal arts at work; he has always been liberal arts at play. He doesn't clock into the liberal arts; he plays them; the whole museum is a liberal-arts playground (the music game where every key is a real note, the coins, the games, the joy). And playing is not the lesser form; it is the higher one; work extracts, play creates, and joy is the point. Take the joke off and the steelman is still standing; liberal arts, at play, on purpose. Kin: the joke-that-wears-an-argument-as-pants, spot-the-steel, the front-door-is-the-music-game, joy-not-survival. (His coin; machine's read, refine to his.)