LOB Book Club - The Big Sort: Introduction
I'm kicking off our second book discussion of the summer season today and I hope all of you will consider chipping in on the discussion, whether you have a chance to read the book or not.I've been reading accounts of Bill Bishop's book "The Big Sort" for quite some time now and I thought it might appeal to a lot of us who have migrated quite a bit in our lives. The book has resonated with lots of people because it corresponds with what they've experienced themselves. He opens with an anecdote about his family moving to the Travis Heights area of Austin, TX, long known as a liberal bubble in the heart of the Lone Star state, so let's start there. Does Bishop's account jibe with your experience in Austin, Bivalve?
posted by The Blue Devil @ 10:39 AM
5 Comments:
Very interesting. I had a feeling that this book might spur on some good discussion....
Of course, you're absolutely right that there is a long history of "sorting" in our country, a history that probably starts with Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson getting on the wrong side of John Winthrop and getting themselves chucked out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and forming Rhode Island next door. I'm hoping that Press will address some of the following in his historical chapters (Jim Crow segregation, the Chinese Exclusion Acts, Sundown ordinances, anti-immigrant politics, the Know Nothings, Japanese internment, the parochial school movement, 1960s "White Flight," etc.).
And, yes, Boston - like most old Northeastern cities shows this "sorting" in stark relief. Anyone who has spent any time in the city can do the following word association (North End=Italian, Southie=Irish, Somerville=Portuguese/Brazilian, Watertown=Armenian, Brookline=Jewish and so on).
So Press's argument can't be that "sorting" is new but rather that the type of sorting that he's talking about is more specific and more potentially harmful. Here, he may be on to something. I certainly have had the experience of straying outside of cultural comfort zone (especially in Jacksonville, FL). And as someone who researches on academic freedom and teaching controversy, I have a vested interest in promoting civic discourse.
I do recognize some of the "sorting" phenomenon that Press is talking about in myself. When I moved up here to western NY last year (and again when Karen moved up here recently) I had an almost unconscious list of cultural needs in mind. Here are some of them:
*Good bookstores
*Farmers market
*Art theaters
*Microbrewery
*Free concerts available
*Swimming pool with flexible hours
*Art galleries
*NPR station with strong signal
*Independent coffee shop
What about you? What's your list of cultural needs?
Leaving the Ocean State? Do tell! Where are you considering moving?
No, no. I can completely understand. That's quite a haul. I reminds me of the years that I trekked down Rte. 301 from Jacksonville to Gainesville 70 miles away for my doctoral classes. It was all worth it in the end, but I'm really glad that I can walk to work these days.
So, the next question is whether the lists that we made involve implicit political choices, as Bill Bishop (I'm not quite sure why I was calling him "Bill Press" - early onset dementia?) argues in his introduction. As he puts it on page 14, "Feminist synchronized swimmers belong to one part and live over there, and calf ropers belong to another party and live over there." I'm not so sure.
For one thing, Bishop has collapsed the entire political spectrum into Democratic Party (liberal/left) and Republican (conservative/right) as if there are no displaced centrists in the middle of the spectrum and no disgruntled radicals on either end of the spectrum. And he also subscribes to the irritating recent media habit of identifying Dems with the color "blue" (traditionally a conservative color) and GOP with "red" (traditionally a color of the left). I'm going to have to swallow those complaints as I continue reading.
Thanks for your patience with my dementia!
I've certainly had to suffer my fair share of sanctimonious lifestyle lefties over the years, especially during my time in Boston. Indeed, I can well remember a time in the 80s when "political correctness" was a gentle jibe at the kind of behavior you're describing in Travis Heights, before it became a sledgehammer wielded by the right.
I'm happy to find myself among a lot of down-to-earth mainly liberal sorts here in Fredonia. That said, my research partner here is an evangelical Christian who is somehow able to compartmentalize her religious views so that they don't interfere with her teaching and scholarship. I don't know how she does it but we agree to disagree on those matters.
I thought we might discuss Chapter 1 over the weekend. How about if I post a thread on Saturday morning?
Great!
One more question about Bishop's introduction before we get on to his ideas about political polarization in Chapter 1:
We seem to agree that the treatment that Bishop's neighbor Mason received on the listserve was less than ideal. So, how should a community deal with the views of outliers such as Mason? I've spent a lot of time thinking about this issue in relation to students, but I'd love to hear your experiences with the communities (choral, church, school) that are a big part of your life.
Post a Comment
<< Home