Columnist David Brooks of the New York Times in an online chat session a couple of weeks ago on the decline of cultural discourse:
“One of the things that has always bewildered me is that [Americans] have a surplus of television shows that feature political chat and almost no TV shows that feature cultural or sociological chat — despite the fact that the latter topics are of more interest to people. You can turn on the TV at any moment and find 5 shows debating the Tea Party movement, but almost none debating changing parental norms, changing definitions of masculinity, etc. It’s hard to recall the last time a novel generated a national discussion, or even a history book. This imbalance also holds outside of TV — on blogs, op-ed pages and so on.”
department alive with a book group and much more, and then the sublime sounds of the Society of Orpheus and Bacchus from Yale (pictured in full voice at right in the Reading Room). The day was climaxed with a gathering of spelling bee contestants for a screening of “Spellbound” and the eating of 