There’s something special about going to lectures as an adult, because it combines the thrill of a music concert with the enthrallment of a great professor you once had in college. You leave feeling not only more educated but also more inspired. Listening to people talk about what, why, and how they create has the effect of an adrenaline rush, pushing you out the doors, onto the nighttime streets (probably glistening with water, let’s face it), already figuring out how to apply their lessons to your own output. The test is not in essay format and does not yield grades, but it most definitely presents itself as an evaluation of what you’ve learned.

The 2006-2007 Lecture Series at Seattle Arts & Lectures begins this fall, with a dazzling list of options. From Art Spiegelman, comic pioneer, to Frank McCourt, touching memoirist, to Suzan-Lori Parks, Pulitzer-winning playwright. Also Edwidge Danticat, Frank Rich, and Jonathan Lethem. See the whole schedule here.

Also, it’s pleasantly affordable, exceedingly so if you are lucky enough to be a student or under 25. Tickets here.