The Challenge of "Culture"

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Very interesting topic!

I'm a culture geek, and I'm not sure how it happened. My mom grew up on a working farm and clawed her way into college-- she was the only one of eight children who went, though she was unable to finish because my parents married and had children and she couldn't afford the time or money that college required. My father grew up in an upper-middle big-fish family in a small pond-- and although dad's aunt was a symphony violinist and owned a Stradivarian, my grandfather lacked her talent and resented her, and forbade any of his children to play or appreciate music; it was science or death.

Together, my parents sought to understand culture and travel as much as they could, but art museums and operas weren't really within their reach or their taste. Mom dabbled in poetry, dad thought wistfully of buying classical albums, but they never really broke out of their comfort zone. My two siblings, who are ten and twelve years older than I, didn't have extravagant tastes. My brother eventually sought out film, my sister did crafts and marched in band.

Then they had me. And I wanted to take ballet. And I wanted to understand Shakespeare. And I wanted to visit the Detroit Institute of the Arts. And I liked jazz. And I tried to make them listen to Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers." And I wanted to get a couple of useless degrees in literature and theatre directing. And I don't know why I'm different, but they're all out there in the midwest, and I'm living in Los Angeles trying to soak up as much culture as I can afford (which sadly, is not as much as I'd like.) They were always supportive of me and my black sheepish grin-- but I've never really entirely felt like one of them. Except for maybe mom-- I get the feeling that had she more resources and less emotional challenges in her youth, she'd have really loved living the life I'm living now. It's partly why I'm living it-- because I grew up watching her dream of exploring, and for a variety of reasons, she never did. And I didn't want that. I wanted experience MoCA Ecstasy. I wanted to see passion from the perspective Bourne's dancers. I wanted to listen to animators talk about Walk Disney, three feet from my seat. So here I am.

I guess what I'm saying is: no. I have not come across any "culture" that I don't jive with. There have been specific examples. One artist calls to me more than another, for instance. You walk through a gallery and some things call out to you and some things leave you cold-- but that's never stopped me from going into galleries. Or alternately, rap does not always speak to me but there have been songs that penetrated my heart completely.

I've a critical streak that sometimes prevents me from enjoying things to the fullest of their depth. But as far as genres of creativity, any example of it makes me feel more human, and I can't say there's anything I don't enjoy in one form or another.