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

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[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!

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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]

I agree, not a thing anymore, mainly because the pockets that used to have a concentration of educated people with middle class income (like what Park Slope and UWS used to be) don't exist anymore.  The high stakes parenting is also in direct competition for the time that used to be spent on adult cultural stuff.[/quote]

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