Reply to Becoming a cultured person, “just like NYC intellectuals”

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Please forgive me if this is entirely ridiculous but I have nowhere else to ask and it’s bothering me.
I have to say I am an immigrant, for context. I’ve noticed that it is fairly difficult to “become cultured” here in the US. I don’t mean to criticize, just trying to gauge my observations. My son goes to public school and there is hardly any classics that they read, and it mostly depends on the teacher too. Seeing ballet or even a play that’s not local amateur level is very expensive. Museums are mostly natural history and not art museums, and if it’s art it’s mostly modern art. At least that’s true for where we live, and we have moved away from the DMV.
Anyway, I’ve become a little obsessed with what I call the NYC intellectuals. For me it’s the people from Woody Allen’s earlier movies with their clever puns and references and allusions to great works of art, and also some of the NPR programming like Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and all the smart people there. I know it’s probably a very limited view :)
So anyway, my questions are two:
- what is considered cultured, refined, etc in the US? 
- can a child who grew up far away from NYC become a true NYC intellectual? Or it’s just something only for 2nd+ Gen New Yorkers?

Again, I apologize for the limitations of my questions, I am trying to get a good understanding of intellectualism and “culturedness” (if that’s even a word) in the US but I don’t see much discussion honestly!

[/quote]

I don’t think that NYC intellectuals are really a thing anymore. We (doctor and journalist) live in NYC, and nowadays money rules - not culture.[/quote]

What a silly thing to say. OP never said being cultured "rules." [/quote]

We have many friends who are professors and print journalists in NYC, and we are all just grinding it out. When we get together it’s not like a salon - we just complain about the MTA and rent and stress about (public) middle school and high school admissions.

We of course go to museums and plays, etc, but in my experience there isn’t a vibrant intellectual class n Manhattan or Brooklyn anymore. When I was little they were more apparent, but the quirky intellectuals/ artists been priced out (unless there’s family money).

With the rise in COL since the mid/late 90s or so, the monied class is just far more visible/influential.

Our friends and colleagues do read the New Yorker and go to plays and museums (the Cloisters on a beautiful spring day is transcendental!).

But mostly we have our nose to the grindstone trying to keep up with COL.

And our kids are just like their suburban cousins. The main differences are they seen a lot more broadway shows (they loved Aladdin and thought Hamilton was boring), have been dragged (whining) through a lot more museums, and are not as good at sports.[/quote]

Thank you so much, this is a very very enlightening post! 
[b]Basically culture is for the rich now. [/b]As my dad would say, it’s the damned capitalism! lol
[b]I also see that it’s important to live in a big city (not imperative but a huge factor) and that most kids and teens whine when being dragged through museums [/b]- not just mine! 
One of the issues that I have is that I am so, so tired of the whining :) But maybe it’s time to be back to dragging DS to cultural establishments lol 
-OP
[/quote]

DP. None of this is true. But it sounds like maybe your kids don’t care about being cultured as much as you seem to. [/quote]

This may be true as well. That’s what I am trying to understand. -OP[/quote]

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