EDWARD: Thepigeonqueen asks: I've always been described as academically smart during school days ("gifted and talented" was a phrase thrown around), yet have also always been told I have no "street smarts" or common sense by people who know me. I never knew which was the more valuable and thus tended to result with referring to myself as dumb as default. So! Considering your affinity for intelligence, which form of "smarts" do you value more?

I would prefer that you do not refer to yourself as "dumb", in the first instance. If you are truly as gifted or as talented as you say, then surely your realise that such a thing precludes any instance of being "dumb". I concede that there are experiences that contribute to the furthering of one's intelligence, but I would hesitate to call mere "common sense" a valuable form of mental acuity. It is a product of experience, as opposed to one of talent. Next to which, I find that the so-called "streetwise" among us tend to have far murkier morals than the less gifted. I see the irony of this message coming from me, but you must concede that there are depths to which I will not plunge. I confess to a lack of experience compared with the large multitude of people out to take me for a ride, as my own intellectual prowess was nurtured by living inside the makeshift bubble formed around a book. I know that there are people in this world who possess both academic talent and the ability to spot a charlatan from a thousand paces - Oswald Cobblepot tops that list, for my money - but I cannot accurately say that I am one of those lucky few (sarcasm). For all my brilliance, I do still make foolish mistakes. But, through experience, I am becoming more adept at spotting the pitfalls.

It should be obvious now to you that I have answered your question, albeit in my typical roundabout manner. I value innate mental acuity far more highly than the smarts possessed by any Dickensian street urchin. I find, however, that these can still be learned when one is older, and far more easily than climbing the mountain of intelligence. So though you may be "dumb" now, you still possess the ability to improve yourself. However, I must implore you not to accept the descriptor of "dumb" and refer to yourself in such a way. It makes none happy but your detractors, and sooner or later, you begin to believe that such a thing could be true.