<p>If you want to. "Lucy", our common ancestor was named after "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" because the song was playing when her skeleton was discovered. Is that intellectual or a pop culture factoid?</p>
<p>The complete quotation is: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." </p>
<p>Do I get brownie points too? ;)</p>
<p>Why yes, you do, Mathmom! (I was just thinking about posting that, too.) I think the inclusion of the word "foolish" changes the meaning of the quotation significantly.</p>
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I think the inclusion of the word "foolish" changes the meaning of the quotation significantly.
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<p>nceph , I agree and that's the way we were taught the quotation at Hooterville College , oh... probably about the same year it was written. ;)</p>
<p>Coming to this thread late but this article so thoroughly contradicts my Ds experience at Harvard, that I feel I have to say something. From day one she has been encouraged to find her intellectual passions vs just filling requirements or planning for the future. Basically they said you can major in folklore and still go to med school, use this time to do what you want. The shopping period for selecting classes also really gives students the opportunity to explore the incredible variety of courses offered.And what is offered far exceeds the breadth of courses offered at my son's college, not to be named. And coming from a large public high school, my D is in heaven. She says for the first time she is surrounded by people who want to talk about ideas and issues. She is exploring fields she never dreamed of, without a thought as to whether they will lead to a high paying job, and her delight in her learning experience is a delight to me. She says it H has its share of kids who feel entitled to be there, but there are many like her who are grateful for the chance not only to take advantage of what the university has to offer but also to meet so other student like herself, and after 4 yrs of a boring public high school, Harvard is like a dream come true.</p>
<p>leonine: So happy for your D. Does sound like a dream come true. I heard the same thing from the young woman I know well who attended.</p>
<p>leonine,</p>
<p>This has been my D's experience as well. She loves Harvard for the very reasons you say. She's a senior now and often gets very sad at the prospect of having to leave the place this spring.</p>
<p>I had been intending to post the observation that people who are concerned about intellectualism--however it's defined--are probably intellectuals--however that's defined.</p>
<p>But before I got around to it, I found quite a few of the posters on this thread also contributing to "21-st century rituals," in the Parent Cafe, writing about the Monkees.</p>
<p>(<em>shuffles feet and does not mention Monkees album in the garage, "Auntie Griselda," or the fact that we're still the young generation, as far as I'm concerned</em>)</p>
<p>OK, "quite a few" is an exaggeration--but some.</p>
<p>
What are you suggesting? Not all of us could be big "intellectual" fans of acts like Tommy Roe or Circle (Cyrkle). Some of us had to listen to music that matched our lunch pails, ya know? I was so upset at your posting suggesting the Monkees as anti-intellectual, I spit my drink all over my Hang-Ten shirt. (I think I had 13 of them. I was too :cool:.)</p>
<p>I thought the Monkees were intellectual when I was fifteen. Discovering how witty the Beatles were in Hard Day's Night was one of the most sensibility defining events of my life, and the Monkees were the faux-Beatles. The quick cutting and antics of the show were hyper-intellectual in the pomo (that's post-modern at my house) way.</p>
<p>But I'm too busy singing to put anybody down. (Wish I had keys for notes.)</p>
<p>Also Ilya Kuriakin on the Man from Uncle. Too much swooning to be intellectual there I suppose.</p>
<p>H just got a CD of the Baroque Beatles. I had trouble not spitting my soup while listening to "Help!" done as a recitative!</p>
<p>Is it this one that's on youtube? YouTube</a> - "Help" from The Baroque Beatles Book</p>
<p>Wow! How did we get here from talking about intellectualism? LOL</p>
<p>Yes, that's the one. I was trying to gently steer the conversation back to more elevated planes. But maybe mythmom is right: the Monkees were faux Beatles. I think I shall do some research into the Monkees as a demonstration of my pretensions to intellectualism.</p>
<p>Well, there are very fancy conferences on popular culture where people often give boring faux papers. Just about putting the pseudo back into intellectual. And I don't mean to be criticizing, have considered submitting a paper to such a conference myself. Sounds like "Monkees Faux Beatle Song Spread Sixties Style" would make a good offering.</p>
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<p>No one can resist the gravitational pull of the combined planets of Micky Dolenz, Peter Torkelson, Davey Jones, and the man himself - Michael Nesmith. It's simple physics.</p>
<p>From there , I guess we just lost track of what's important - the Monkees.</p>
<p>Pop culture has long been a rave fave of intellectuals.</p>
<p>My father is a rabid Dodgers fan, for example. I once listened to a long conversation between him and his professor peers about why baseball was so compelling to intellectuals as a sport.</p>
<p>I kid you not.</p>
<p>^^Kinda like Joyce Carol Oates and her curious obsession with boxing.</p>
<p>Well I'll take the Monkees over boxing any old day.</p>
<p>Don't forget the former Commissioner of Baseball, Yale English professor Bart Giamatti (the late father of the actor in Sideways).</p>