Discussion Cafe

What’s a Culture Snob to Do?

Published on July 22, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
Vanity Fair | August 2009
"What’s a Culture Snob to Do?"
Pity the culture snob, as Kindles, iPods, and flash drives swallow up the visible markers of superior taste and intelligence. With the digitization of books, music, and movies, how will the highbrow distinguish him- or herself from the masses?
By James Wolcott

Discussion Questions:

1. Why are people's identities tied with their possessions? What other definitions of identity are there? Which frameworks of identity have prevailed throughout history?
2. Where is the line between "cultural snobbery" and "keen connoisseurship?"
3. How do you identify with your possesions? How do you relate to others based on their possesions?
4. Wolcott suggests that our stuff will shift from expressing our aesthetics to expressing our ethics. Do you agree or disagree? On what grounds might he be holding this forecast?
5. Do you take Wolcott to be more of a prophet figure--reproving cultural waywardness--or a nostalgic luddite simply complaining about the changing times?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the July 22 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

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Home Sweet (Urban) Homestead

Published on July 20, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
The New York Times Magazine | 5 July 2009
"Home Sweet (Urban) Homestead"
A new kind of preservation society attends a D.I.Y. dinner party in Oakland, Calif.
By Christine Muhlke

Discussion Questions:

1. What is "urban homesteading?"
2. What might be some reasons that people are so eager to learn it?
3. Are we, in fact, disconnected? How has this come to be, or why do people think we are?
4. What is your experience with food as it relates to family, community, city?
5. What is the relationship between food and our connectedness? Between food and community? How can it help? Can it hinder?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the July 15 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

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Beauty and Desecration

Published on July 09, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
City Journal | Spring 2009
"Beauty and Desecration"
We must rescue art from the modern intoxication with ugliness.
By Roger Scruton

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the "illunminated sphere of contemplation?" What are your expereiences with it?
2. What is the relationship between beauty and home? And then, what of your own home? House -> Neighborhood -> City -> etc.
3. How has it come to be that "[f]or the most part, trasitory purposes orgainze our lives?" Do you, in fact, find this to be the case in your own life?
4. "But why is beauty a value?" (emphasis added)
5. As we live in a Scruton's so called "culture of transgression," what, if any, responsibilties fall to us, especially regdarding beauty and the sacred?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the July 8 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

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Show or Tell

Published on July 07, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
The New Yorker | June 8, 2009
"Show or Tell"
Should creative writing be taught?
By Louis Menand

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the arguments for and against creative writing programs?
2. How do learning and teaching creative writing differ from learning and teaching other arts? (What if we pose the article’s underlying question to painting, singing, designing, etc.?)
3. How has contemporary fiction (a specific work or in general) affected your life?
4. “Universities have become restaurants that bake their own bread.” Is the cycle of universities studying works by the very authors they train (or “encourage”) more like a refinery or a royal family?
5. How has writing/creating affected your reading?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the July 1 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

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Class Dismissed

Published on June 22, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
The Atlantic | March 2009
"Class Dismissed"
A new status anxiety is infecting affluent hipdom.
By Sandra Tsing Loh

Discussion Questions:

1. What are some standards that have been the basis of class distinctions?
2. How has the prizing of self-expression affected our society?
3. What is the relationship between a society's economy and its classes?
4. What is the significance of understanding people as a part of a class?
5. How have classes affected our city? Our culture?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the June 17 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

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The Case for Working With Your Hands

Published on June 18, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
The New York Times Magazine | 24 May 2009
"The Case for Working With Your Hands"
Changes in the economy have had the surprising effect of making the manual trades more attractive as careers.
By Matthew B. Crawford

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the relationship between the nature of the work and the worker?
   (Crawford talks about how he "had to suppress [his] sense of responsibility..." What does this say about the work he is doing, and what does it say about him? What does it say about him that he left the job? What is integrity?)
2. How do we deal with jobs that damage to the "best part" of ourselves? Are there other options than leaving?
3. What about the world of information makes it more likely to be a "moral maze" than the world of manual trades? What is the realtionship between "concreteness" and morality?
4. Is Crawford asserting anything more than his preference, i.e. "I like manual labor"?
5. How would you respond to: "It's not what you do, but how you do it"?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the June 10 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

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The Eternal City: On Urban Ecology

Published on June 04, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
BookForum.com | June/July/August 2009
"The Eternal City"
Despite New Yorkers' powerful nostalgia for the Gotham-that-was, the city's urban ecology has always thrived on change.
By Philip Nobel

Discussion Questions:

1. Many New Yorkers feel a deep and personal connection to their city. How does the city in which you live affect how you feel about your own life? Do you feel as passionately about your city as these authors feel about NYC? Why or why not?
2. What is the general "personality" of your city? What five words best describe your city? What are some of the stigmas associated with your city? Are they true or false?
3. What are some of the most inspiring and rehumanizing areas of your city? What are some of the most uninspiring and dehumanizing?
4. Which of the arts seem to be thriving in your city? Which seem to be missing or underrepresented?
5. This article features three books about New York, in which the authors are telling stories (historical and personal) about their city. How long have you lived there? Why do you live there? What do you love about your city? How are you affecting the general climate of your city? Share a story about your life in your city.

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the June 3 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

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On Developing the Imagination

Published on June 02, 2009 by Discussion Cafe

Discussion Resource:
The Nation | 6 May 2009
"Into the Wardrobe: C.S. Lewis's Narnia"
By Jordan Davis

Discussion Questions

1. Is true genius a result of nurture or nature? Or both?
2. What were some of the things that influenced the development of Lewis's imagination as a child?
3. Discuss the importance of developing reading habits during childhood and adolescence. What role does howwe read play in the development of imagination?
4. How does modern technology affect reading habits of today's children? What effect does that have on the development of the imagination?
5. What are some of the biggest influences on a child's imagination today?
6. Lewis acknowledged Christian influence on the Chronicles of Narnia. Yet a reader need not share his faith in order to appreciate, and even love, the books. Discuss the role of one's faith in imagination
7. Discuss the fact that many Lewis fans completely miss the Christian influence on his writing. Is this positive? Negative? Does it matter?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

This article was the source material for the May 20 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.

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