This weekend, the New York Times published an essay by Pamela Druckerman, a former Miamian, that was part jab at the "vapid" city where she grew up, and part backhanded appreciation of Miami's cultural developments since the 1970s.
Druckerman is now a Parisian. Her piece -- titled "Miami Grows Up. A Little" -- included statements like "And while there are some thinkers scattered around town, Miami is overrun with lawyers, jewelry designers and personal trainers, all trying to sell services to one another." And there other belittling comments about our metropolitan maturation and the industry growth it comes with.
You really oughta read it. To me, it felt filled with disdain for Miami's large immigrant populations -- I'm an immigrant myself -- denoting that "Anglos" make up only 15 percent of Miamians these days. But during her childhood here, when she apparently learned the proper ambition for a girl (as her article's lede points out) was to covet a plastic-surgeon husband, the demographics were much different.
In short, the essay was a passive-aggressive depreciation of Druckerman's hometown. Does it feel like the Times does this to Miami every year?
Anyway, today local poet P. Scott Cunningham, of the WLRN partner O, Miami Poetry Festival, came to the city's defense -- in tweet.
Numbered thoughts about @pameladruck’s @NYtimes piece from a “normal-looking” Miamian with “semi-intellectual aspirations”...
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
1) “Grows up” was a bad choice for a metaphor. Cities aren’t people. It’s a poor analogy. Simplifies w/o providing clarity.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
2) Just because you were a spoiled teenager, doesn’t mean Miami was one. False equivalence. You grew up. Not Miami.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
3) The structure of your lede (conditional tense, adverb) makes it feel like a fib to set up your analogy.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
4) If you struggled to find good conversation, tell us where you were looking, not how many laps you swam. Makes it hard for us to judge.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
5) The piece has true parts. Inequality is indeed a serious problem here. But the piece doesn’t communicate a serious concern about it.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
6) To wit: who is this “normal-looking” person you’re looking for? Is she Cuban? Haitian? Overweight? College-educated?
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
7) Or does “normal-looking” means “no plastic surgery?” In that case, inequality has made sure that 99% of us can't afford it.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
8) Miami did not get more interesting “just by existing.” It’s gotten more interesting thanks to the work of people you haven’t met yet.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
9) Maybe the problem is that you were looking for people with a “mild social conscience.” The Miamians I know have a major one.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
10) Since when is sentimentality about one’s city a sign of immaturity? No one is sentimental about Paris, huh?
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
11) Places you alluded to visiting: Mall. Pool. Spa. If I go to the Eiffel Tower and the Mandarin Hotel will I understand Paris?
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
12) You felt superior to Miami then. You’re acting superior to it now. That’s what Miamians are objecting to. Not the criticism.
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014
13) We know the city has real problems that have nothing to do with adolescence and plastic surgery. Or mangoes. Mmm, mangoes….
— P. Scott Cunningham (@cunningpscott) August 11, 2014