I liked the NYT’s obituary for New York (and Boston) this weekend. As I’m about to leave this city, I’m pleased that the paper of record is finally acknowledging that New York is not as intellectually alive as so many insist.
Posted by Ethan Leib on April 26, 2005 at 10:06 AM
Comments
Ethan, I can empathize easily with your viewpoint here. I’m sad that Boston seems to be losing its grip too, but on the other hand, DC’s reputation as a place where ideas are taken seriously should be recognized (more). I do think that the more telecommuting becomes prominent, the more geographically diffuse the intelligentsia can become. Oddly, the blogosphere (or at least the part we occupy) evidences this in spades: Brian’s in Austin, Larry’s off to the stix in Illinois, Right Coasters in SD, Vic and Eugene in LA, you in SF, me in t-town, Froomkin in miami, and Ann A. and Gordon in Madison, Christine in Milwaukee, Orin in DC. And on and on. This is an incredibly diffuse national conversation in which we engage and geography seems almost immaterial. Indeed, you and I are closest of friends even though we’ve breathed the same air in the same room fewer than a handful of times. That to my mind is as unusual a development as the shifting of “action” from NYC to DC…and yet a function of many of the same causes.
Posted by: Dan Markel | Apr 27, 2005 1:16:50 PM