The humanities are dying and I’m angry. As an English major, watching literacy rates plummet in this country makes me want to ring alarm bells. Some days I feel like going door to door, giving free books away, begging the general public to read anything at all. Anti-intellectualism is running rampant. It’s as though people don’t want to think critically anymore.
If I hear “it’s not that deep” one more time, there’s going to be little pieces of me scattered all over Bobet Hall.
Loyola English, this one’s for you. I have a little bit of a proposition to make.
When most people hear the term ‘literary salon,’ what comes to mind is the distant realm of ivory tower nobility. Sixteenth century France. Enlightenment, exclusion, prestige, superiority. That isn’t fully the case. Salons have a much richer history–they acted as informal universities for women when they didn’t have access to secondary education. During the Harlem Renaissance, they boomed as a creative outlet for black artists of all kinds.
Through basically every movement in the United States, salons were present. Think about the suffragettes, the Civil Rights activists, LGBTQ+ activists. Even during war times, salons existed as a place for artists and writers alike to exchange ideas.
For decades, the marginalized and the disenfranchised found community at salon gatherings. At its absolute core, the definition of a salon is simply an environment that brings creatives together to create a safe space for free expression. This expression and informational exchange eventually paved the way for organization, activism, and grassroots work.
I’m of the strong opinion that we need to bring salons back now. Conservatism is on the rise – we’re living in Trump’s America. Writers, artists, and musicians are being traded up for Artificial Intelligence. Myself and other writers are getting accused of using Chat GPT simply because we know how to properly use an em dash or a semicolon in a sentence. False consciousness is swarming people are aware of what’s going on but won’t do anything about it because they’ve taken on such nihilistic ways of thinking. More than ever, we need the safe haven of a literary salon. We need to be able to connect with each other somewhere besides required writing workshops.
Salons don’t even have to be exclusive to writers or artists, either–they’re open to everyone as a multicultural space. All I want to do is engage in conversation about the arts & humanities. Is that so wrong?
As a writer, there is nothing more important to me than communicating with other writers in a carefree way. I love to talk about books, film, music, current events, history, and anything to do with the arts as a whole. No egos, no devil’s advocates, no pseudointellectual superiority–just conversation with peers. If there are any students out there who can relate, this one’s for you too. Call me. Let’s host a salon. I want to know what’s inspiring you.
