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You are a minority in that you like to visit all of the cultural attractions that a large city offers. Majority of people in the Bay/NYC/DC/Chicago don't care about a symphony or ballet and probably won't visit them outside of grade school or college trips. Not too young, no one from Louisiana (or America) and likes hip-hop is too young for Mr. Ice Cream Man. But, how are you gonna tell me about swamp culture? There are no swamps in the city, people don't go gator hunting and fishing in New Orleans. Kids don't wake up and go catch crawfish out of a bayou in the middle of the 8th ward. Master P didn't grow up with a couple pero in his front yard.
And I still do not think I am in the minority that I like to visit all of the cultural attractions that a large city has to offer so we can leave it at that.
Thanks for the replies everyone. Sometimes it seems as though people here (which may be true for some users) feel like the only culture that exists is symphony, opera, and that kind of stuff, and so they bash cities like Phoenix, Miami, Houston or LA for 'having no culture' (which isn't true, especially for LA). Loved hearing y'all's thoughts.
Well that is not the swamp culture I'm talking about, I'm just saying people identify with the surroundings, not saying lil weezy was out catching crawfish (though maybe he was) of course there are none in the city, I am talking about the metro area.
That is swamp culture! People identify with Louisiana, which has swamp culture. Metro New Orleans doesn't have real swamp culture. I grew up in this state, I know. You are describing Houma-Thibodaux MSA, New Iberia micropolitan, and Lafayette MSA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minervah
And I still do not think I am in the minority that I like to visit all of the cultural attractions that a large city has to offer so we can leave it at that.
One thing that no one in this discussion has mentioned is that "high" culture -- the symphony, opera, ballet and dance, live theater, big museum shows -- is very expensive to produce, especially at world-class levels. The money to do that can often only be found in bigger, richer cities. So when a city has "culture" it's often a proxy for the level of wealth and educational attainment in the city/metro area -- and this is a strong indicator of its attractiveness as a place to live regardless of whether an individual, like the OP, decides to attend these things or ot not.
If one city is doing a major renovation of its big museum while another may sell off its matsterworks, I think that tells you something about a city's health, priorities, and overall QOL. (The Baltimore Museum of Arts vs The Detroit Institute of The Arts)
If the city's only big opera company collapses and there is mad rush to replace it with a new, fiscally sound opera company, (Opera Boston vs the new Odyssey Opera) that tells you something important--and good IMO--about place.
If one city's symphony is close to collpase, while another got a huge donation that will will keep it stable for years to come that tell you something about the respective cities. (The Minnesota vs the San Diego orchestras).
The way a city treats its arts institutions is NOT the perfect indicator of its desirability as a place to live by a long shot. Many, many other factors obviously come into play. But the OP asked why so many folks on CD care about this, and I think the answer is that the state of a city's "high culture" says a lot about it, whether one participates in those activities or not.
I believe that the frequency of people touting the existence of opera/symphony/art museums as a barometer of culture in a city seems to far outweigh the actual use of these institutions. Look at how much fundraising they need to do, and where they would be without the old money coming in year after year.
I think people just see a healthy fine arts environment to be an indicator of the existence of other good things.
I don't care about symphonies or the like as you mentioned, I do care about local community activities. For example here in St. Augustine Florida we have local events all the time, Halloween fests, Jazz festivals etc...it's great to see people get together and celebrate the place they live in.
I do love Southern Culture, it's not racist or backwards like a lot of people not from here falsely assume.
Libraries and book stores aren't being mentioned. The NY Library itself is better than many cities museums plus there are others such as Morgan, Film Archives. And the quality of the book stores and literary scene in NYC destroys most other cities.
Libraries and book stores aren't being mentioned. The NY Library itself is better than many cities museums plus there are others such as Morgan, Film Archives. And the quality of the book stores and literary scene in NYC destroys most other cities.
Who cares about a library?
I wouldn't fit in with New York because of the culture. I will pass on being around a bunch of pretentious people who would oppress me for being a cowboy. I like my line dancing bars, cowboy culture, rodeos and college football….. NY or any yankee city for that matter can't provide it. I would entertain Denver, Nashville or Wyoming though.
No even in NYC you can still go to Coyote Ugly even though it's tourist area... or there is the Naked Cowboy. You act like it is a Pace Picante sauce commercial.
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