Daily Blague

I was racking my brain, or what’s left of it, trying to think of my word for you. This was, of course, brought on by your observation about not being ‘brilliant,’ in ‘On Cultivation.' Well, I’m not so sure about that, but I do know you are curious, curious about so many things, and I am not sure I have ever known anyone as well read or as generally knowledgeable about so much. You do have one obvious and, to me, fatal flaw :: sports. But other than that…..

Your gentle readers will, I hope, enjoy a tale of thwarted revenge, revenge for years of hearing my Mother exhale when I talked about trading bonds or baseball and then beam ecstatically when you walked in the room. The night I was to introduce RJ and Kathleen to a new friend, the Costume Curator at the Met, I was anticipating gleefully that, for once, Mr. Keefe would know nothing about this subject. Gotcha! I thought! And within moments I was crushed and morose, as you launched into a discussion about a new biography of Worth. %$%!@#@ I have not tried that gambit again........

Cultivation seems to be a lost art (goal?) these days. I wonder if the masses have an inkling of what they miss in not becoming cultivated, and the risks to their health and psyche as well. Cultivated people never grow old, just happier and more well-rounded, which should be the goal of all humankind.

Bravo, RJ, on another brilliant piece, which, in my opinion, should be required reading for anyone (teachers, administrators, etc.,) involved in education at any level today. To the extent that I am at all cultivated (probably not much--'dilettante,' in the sense of 'dabbler,'is a more appropriate description), it is entirely due to the educational system in which I was raised, in which learning was an end in itself, rather than a means to an end (i.e., a high school diploma, a college and perhaps an advanced degree followed by a well-paying job). I don't doubt that there are teachers, adminstrators, etc., who try to instill the desire for cultivation in their students, but given what I've heard about the state of the education system (at least the public education system) today--and, having no children, I have no first-hand knowledge on which to rely, so I stand prepared to be corrected--it seems to me that the prevailing attitude is quite different from that of my day. By the way, 'brilliant' and 'erudite' are used routinely in our household in conversations about you (also 'bad influence,' in that you are responsible for my ever-increasing stack of books to read and CDs to listen to and DVDs to watch).

I never disagree with LXIV (after 26 years I realize it is fruitless) and in my case as I get older I am certainly more well rounded, but, alas I fear in the wrong way......