The Literary Personality of a City

I'm so delighted after I finished reading a story (http://www.startribune.com/12853301.html) that Minneapolis as the most literate city in America. The study used several indicators to scale over 60 major US cities. Of those indicators, the number of newspapers, book stores, and public libraries were all seemingly sufficient in Minneapolis to accelerate it past last year's winner, Seattle. St. Paul was not far behind at at third.

The reason for such excitement is that upon reading stories of this nature, my faith in the capacity for critical thought and intellectual advancement increases. I can validate this study in a very non-scientific way by commenting on the observations of a good friend of mine who maintains the well-manicured nooks of Half-Price books in St. Louis Park (disclosure: my hometown--go Orioles!).

He reports incredible movement of both new and used books at this location. In fact, as he reports, they often are the second highest in revenue of all location nationwide, just behind the original store in Texas. Quite simply, St. Louis Park's Half-Price Books is the undisputed leader among other locations in the region. My friend asked me once, "Pete, the neighborhood you grew up in consumes so much literature, non-fiction, and other media. It's incredible."

My only response was that as I was growing up in St. Louis Park, I rarely interacted with a parent that didn't have a solid grasp on current events, history, law, even some familiarity with the annals of architecture. I was exposed to formidable minds and intellectual expectations. I remember a book appearing on every one's coffee table when I was a kid, Thomas Friedman's "From Beirut to Jerusalem." Again, disclosure: Friedman is a Parkee. But that alone stands as testament to my argument which I am finally arriving at: communities marked by the mass consumption of intellectual media often produce children bearing the distinct ability to think critically.

Well, that was a wonderful trip though la-la land.

That argument doesn't seem to hold water anymore. Some of my peers I interact with (not so much discussing my friends here) are often at a loss for words when I reference the most basic of cultural icons, like Kenneth Starr or Steve Jobs. Their attention is focused intently forward. Material goods trump intellectual goods as conversational pieces. Lohan and Spears are brought up with the same frequency that Reagan and Gorbachev were in the 1980s.

But the worst part is, I'm getting there too. If my peers cannot discuss why Dick Cheney is so frightening to the sanctity of civil rights, then what will it matter when they are lost so long as the subject has been pacified with an iPhone.

The news tries very hard too. So much so that know every other headline spells a doomed future in a feeble attempt to scare readers into subscriptions. But their yelling becomes so monotonous it's easily filtered out as the sound of that student screaming "Don't taze me bro" tunes in. Question, did anyone watch the video all the way through and listen to his question before he got the preemptive shock that could stop a 900 pound gorilla? It was actually a good question. Poorly delivered, yes, but a good question.

I'm overwhelmed, and due to this, I don't even try to explain the complex, or the historical perspective that informs us of our troubled future to my peers. But there's a sparkle at the end of this doldrums. It's just a matter of getting there. That small amount of light being emitted can only be one thing: awakening. And what better place for it to start than Minneapolis.