I Really Hate Coffee

-I sometimes find myself being a bit of a Cultural snob in my choices of music and art. I listen to the CBC all day long, sometimes even (gasp) to Radio Two, just for the classical music. I have, in my time, been the proprietor of an art gallery, in a city that appreciates artists. Given all that, you would think that my lifestyle choices would reflect my affinity for high art. This isn’t the case, though. I eschew the accumulation of money and a fancy lifestyle. I think that nature is far superior to culture, and when I’m not listening to snobby music or writing academic masterpieces, I’m out in the woods.
I see plenty of examples of my contrary nature, when I come to really look at it. I am a strong proponent of decolonization of all kinds, which poses an issue for my dual Métis heritage, but no matter. This should suggest that I would enjoy the emergence of a more global form of popular culture, but when it comes to sitting and relaxing, I like watching American Idol, and Modern Family. I recognize the fact that I have been programmed, by American popular culture, to expect a certain amount of action, presented in a specific time frame. When I went to the theatre to see the movie Thor last week, I noticed that I was feeling vaguely dissatisfied with the pace of the movie, regardless of the fact that my dissatisfaction was alleviated by the main character’s physique.
In the midst of younger students, I feel that I have the advantage of a time-traveller, who has lived through the cultural changes of the past few decades, both in our Canadian culture and in people’s views of and participation in Culture. Art and music are so much more accessible now, through museum programs and social media like YouTube. I am the happy recipient of an education changed in nature by theorists like Leavis and Williams, and by the feminist movement, although a little more decolonization wouldn't come amiss there, either.
I can appreciate the cultural microcosm of ‘having a coffee’ as a social need for community. But this appreciation will never make me like the taste.