It seems that New York City is recovering its negatives, as well as its postitives. Extracted from the recent Chicago newspaper, whose link will soon expire.

New York Literati are Back to Normal, Dissing Us as Clods

Think of it as a sign of recovery -- a return to normalcy. New York intellectuals were back to their old, arrogant ways last week, dismissing Chicago and the rest of the nation as "the provinces" and characterizing citywide reading programs as a literary form of fast food. "They basically called us hicks," said Christine Rodrick, the assistant press secretary of the Chicago Public Library, which sponsored a highly successful reading initiative last year centered on Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird."

The literary pronunciamentos came as New York was trying to catch up with Chicago and other cities. Not surprisingly, a variety of [New York] luminaries said the fuss wasn't worth all the trouble, especially for such cosmopolites as New Yorkers. The carpers included:
--Ann Douglas, author of "The Feminization of the American Culture," who said: "Chicago is different. The New Yorker disdains to be a booster, of his own city or of his own culture. That is for the provinces. As far as reading goes, we are the most important group of readers and critics in the world. I would prefer to let us go on our merry way as we have for the last hundred years, deciding what everyone else should read."
--Harold Bloom, who opined: "I don't like these mass reading bees. . . . It is rather like the idea that we are all going to pop out and eat Chicken McNuggets or something else horrid at once."
--Phillip Lopate, who said: "It's a little like a science fiction plot -- `Invasion of the Body Snatchers' or something."

Such haughty judgments didn't sit well with the primitives out in the hinterland. In Chicago, Jordan Miller acknowledged that he was peeved, while Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey counted herself amused.

"What is their problem?" Miller asked. "I was appalled by it. It's so silly. If you have to plump up your own importance by denigrating other people in this pointless, infantile way, then you must be feeling pretty insecure about yourself." And Dempsey wasn't averse to needling the New Yorkers back: "New York is the center of publishing in the United States, and it would make sense that they do a program. And it's nice to know that they think the `provinces' did such a good job that they want to do it themselves."

Even in New York, there were those who were embarrassed by the condescending remarks. "Don't these guys know what's going on?" asked Fern Jaffe, a member of New York's selection committee. ... "We are the most provincial city in the world."

Douglas was less than apologetic... She said, "It was a fun but intellectually irresponsible thing to do. I regretted it only because [with the city seeking federal aid to rebuild after the World Trade Center attacks] this is not a time for New York to be advertising its arrogant side." ... Besides, she added, "To me, it's a sign of the healthy state of America that cities should be freely insulting each other."

Gotta love them thar New Yorkers! [hic]