The Creation (Museum) Of A Cincy Culture Clash

Vanity Fair's piece on the Creation Museum here in NKY is a must-read, but it also suggests the Tri-State area has "meager pickings" culturally.  That's just not true.  Donald over at Cincinnati Blog is of the same mind I am:

I'm all for being scornful of the strict creationist approach to history, as I believe carbon-dating is a much better method of determining the age of the earth than is the "begat method." So if someone wants to ridicule the Creation Museum, I'll not get in the way; I've done it myself.

But for some reason, a funny thing happened on the way to the museum: the article's author, A.A. Gill, developed (and now expresses) an intense dislike of Cincinnati. I was prepared to do a thorough fisking of Gill's little screed, but Kate the Great has done it better than I would have.

I thought, though, that maybe we could all debunk Gill's swipe at Cincinnati--that the city has "meager pickings to boast about." (He goes on to suggest that if cities had highlight reels, ours would be dominated by the Creation Museum.) So, dear, readers, what do you think Cincinnati has to brag about?

I'll play.  The American Classical Music Hall of Fame, the often overlooked jewel of the city.  Is that one in New York?  LA?  Chicago?  Dallas?  Nope.  Right here in Over-The-Rhine on Elm Street, just next door to Music Hall.

Yeah, I give the Creation Museum a lot of well-deserved crap.  But as annoyingly conservative as this area is, we do have culture and a pretty damn strong background in the arts here.   Yeah, we get laughed at for that, and I'm often the one doing the laughing.  But "meager pickings?"  Having grown up in barely urban western NC, I can honestly tell you that's not the case.  Cincy has a hell of a lot.

Even an IKEA store.